Kamau Peterson
CFL.ca
Football is said to be the ultimate team game, and of all that I’ve played I’d have to agree. That being said, the only true measure of success in this sport is in playoff victories and championships themselves.
The four teams in the CFL who enjoyed the most success in the 2008 season were Calgary and Montreal who reached the game’s final stage, and to a lesser extent Edmonton and B.C. who were defeated in the semi-finals.
Of the four very different teams who took very different paths to reach the success that they had in 2008, interestingly enough two teams would elect to subscribe to one recipe for a successful 2009 while the other two would follow a different model in hopes that it will lead them to the promised land this season. The question is which is the right way to build on a team that has had measurable success?
In the category of close but no cigar, the Eskimos and Lions ran a dead heat at the finish of 2008. With B.C. going into Calgary for the West Final and coming up short and Edmonton taking the road less travelled through the East and losing to Montreal in the Big O. If asked, no doubt both teams would tell you that they were a play or two away from being at the big game and we all know that once at Grey Cup its anyone’s game.
However, what they won’t tell you is that most times a team is in fact a PLAYER or two, (or sometimes 10) away from being a true title contender. It’s a difficult thing to admit as a player in the heat of a season that your team is deficient in any area. Your support must be unwavering for your teammates regardless of any perceived weaknesses in them if you are to have any chance at victory collectively.
Lucky for us as players, that’s not part of our job description and is well outside of our pay grade. General Managers, coaches, scouts, player personnel directors etc. take the onus of evaluating the teams throughout the season, and then take the steps to better them at each position of concern in the offseason, and good teams are no exception.
For both Edmonton and B.C. this offseason involved key positional changes. In spite of any perceived success, these two teams proved that unless you’re playing in the final game, you’ve got work to do.
B.C. saw it fit to shed all-stars and long time leaders like Otis Floyd, Tyrone Williams, Jason Clermont, Kelly Bates, Jason Pottinger and Rob Murphy in addition to losing studs like Cameron Wake, Stefan Logan and Jamall Johnson to the NFL. Filling the gaps for Buono’s boys are Nautyn McKay-Loescher, Calvin Bannister and Anton Mackenzie. Other Lion positional voids will be filled by B.C.’s in house grooming system. B.C. has done an excellent job over the years of developing players through the draft as well as bringing them up through special teams play, before making them full time starters. Players like Ian Smart, Ricky Foley and Paris Jackson will look to have their roles increased as the Lions aim to get back to the league’s top spot.
Edmonton parted ways with 11 starters and several veterans including Damien Anderson, Tim Bakker, Dan Comiskey, Stefan LeFors, Brock Ralph, Fred Perry, Siddeeq Shabazz, Agustin Barrenechea, Shannon Garrett, Jason Tucker Brandon Guillory, J.R. LaRose and Jordan Younger in addition to losing Kelly Campbell and Kenny Onatolu to the NFL and their long time defensive coordinator Rick Campbell and receivers coach Mike Kelly.
Replacements come in the form of Graeme Bell, defensive coordinator Jim Daley, receivers coach Jason Tucker and players Kai Ellis, Scott Gordon, Kitwana Jones, Kyle Koch, Maurice Lloyd, Kelly Malveaux, Jason Nugent, and Jesse Lumsden.
Fans can argue until the cows come home as to whether or not the players that B.C. and Edmonton have shipped in will be upgrades for the ones that they have parted ways with, but it really matters not. Wally Buono and Richie Hall feel as if these are the key ingredients to help their teams attain the status that they lacked last year, and so time will be the only judge.
While both of the league’s bridesmaids in 2008 elected to shake up their line-ups this offseason on the quest for the CFLs top prize, the league’s finalists took a different approach. With Montreal losing only three starters this offseason in Dave Mudge, Devone Claybrooks and Khalil Carter the Als seem to be looking at larger roles for players like Shea Emery and Chip Cox. The addition of Stanford Samuels will only add to an already strong unit of ball-hawks in the back end. They certainly didn’t seem to think it necessary to jump into the free agent frenzy as others did. Simply ensuring the futures of team leaders like Calvillo, Cahoon and Chiu this offseason seemed to be enough for the Als to secure and build on their success in 2008 and make their final push for the cup in 2009.
Finally, the 2008 Grey Cup Champion Calgary Stampeders epitomize the ideology, don’t mess with a good thing. Very few additions were made to this team during the offseason, however the recent release of JoJuan Armour may provide a hole in the middle, as well as some losses on the defensive line with Hodges, George and Freeman all moving on may show some new names on Calgary’s stat sheet.
For the most part, much like Montreal, they’ve stood pat acknowledging that what they have is solid. They’ll only be more dangerous with a year of the same schemes and the continuity of playing with each other under their belt. Coach Hufnagel and Jim Barker obviously believe in the value of player familiarity, a trait which tends to get lost in this business it seems.
Obviously Montreal and Calgary were good teams at the end of 2008 and will be good to begin 2009. The balance for any team, be it division finalist or league cellar dwellers is to find the balance between upgrading and blowing a team up.
Conversely, those teams that can say that they were a cut above and danced the last dance in November, must worry about complacency setting in during the process of standing pat vs. trying to fix a team that is not in any way broken.
I know, I know and we haven’t even kicked off yet! All things revealed in time they say.
Kp8
