Matt Cauz
CFL.ca
After last week’s marathon column (over 2400 words) on just one game I promise a more scaled down version this week. Of course there were only two games in Week #8 so this may be the only week I keep this column relatively short.
Saskatchewan @ Montreal:
(1) I know he gave up a sack against Anwar Stewart but Gene Makowsky, the jack of all trades o-lineman from Saskatchewan had a great game. Gene was forced to switch from guard to tackle after an injury to starting left tackle Robert Harris. The injury may have been the best thing he did all night as Stewart treated Harris as his personal whipping boy all game.
Even when he didn’t get a sack, Stewart was in Darian Durant‘s face on almost every passing play. Once Makowsky came in, Anwar was, for the most part, neutralized. No better compliment you can pay to a left tackle than to say you didn’t notice what the opposing defensive end was doing. Go back and watch Durant’s 43-yard touchdown pass to Gerran Walker, you’ll see Makowsky take Stewart right out of the play.
(2) Two of the craziest stats going into this weekend:
(a) Montreal had allowed only 12 points in the first quarter.
(b) Saskatchewan had only scored seven points in the 3rd quarter.
This stat was certainly evident during the game as Montreal dominated the 1st and 3rd quarters. In fact, if you take away those two quarters Saskatchewan outscored Montreal 23-19.
How can it be late August and your team has only scored seven third quarter points? What kind of halftime speech or adjustments is Ken Miller doing? I’m guessing it is somewhere between a nap and playing John Madden 2010 on his X-Box.
(3) Easily the best player on the field was Weston Dressler. He runs every route and unlike many WR’s he can make the tough catch in traffic and go deep. Two plays stuck out for me. Early in the first quarter Dressler was leveled by Diamond Ferri but still held on; then early in the second quarter he beat Montreal’s Mark Estelle on a 38 yarder. This reception was impressive considering Estelle was grabbing him during his route and he still made the catch.
(4) Kerry Watkins needs a nickname that everyone in Canada can get behind. He is the team’s barber, charging 10 bucks for a cut. How does he not have a nickname yet? We haven’t had a prominent barber in the sports world since Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake was cutting and strutting his way in the WWE.
(5) Am I the only one that was shocked that it took Ben Cahoon till 0:37 of the 2nd quarter to finally score his first touchdown of the season?
(6) Best play of the game went only for two yards but it was an impressive two yards. Chris Leak’s two yard touchdown pass to Kerry “The Alouette Clipper” Watkins (Hey it’s a work in progress) was a testament to Marc Trestman’s faith in his team. The easy call would have been a QB sneak. Instead Trestman trusted his young quarterback to make the right throw late in the third quarter with Montreal only up by two. To anyone who doesn’t know; Leak competed at a high level in the toughest division in college football, the SEC, and was the triggerman for Florida’s National Championship beat down of Ohio State. The guy has skills to be a great quarterback in this league. Not great news for the rest of the East.
Winnipeg @ B.C.:
(7) Here is a sentence I rarely throw out, but Michael Bishop showed excellent patience on his 23-yard touchdown pass to Terrence Edwards. I’ve been hard on him so I will give his due when he deserves it. Now if he can display that kind of judgment on a consistent basis then Winnipeg has a chance to win some games.
(8) Speaking of consistent, Jarious Jackson was anything but against the Blue Bombers defence. It looks like he, from time to time falls in love with his arm and forgets that other teams actually study film. Here are three signs that you may have had a bad game as the Lions starting quarterback:
(a) Geroy Simon doesn’t make his first catch until 6:12 of the third quarter. Simon is arguably your best playmaker; the QB has to find a way to get him the ball.
(b) After the Lions impressive opening drive the team could only generate three points for the rest of the game.
(c) When your wide-outs are wide open and you are still badly overthrowing them. Twice in the second half Jackson badly missed Simon on what should have been big plays for the Lions passing attack. We get it Jackson, you have a strong arm, you want to show Bishop yours is bigger, but how about some touch?
(9) The funniest moment of this game had to be when the announcers were trying their best to defend Jackson’s performance and on the very next play he throws a backbreaking interception to Jovon Johnson who easily runs it back for a score. You have to do a better job looking off defenders, Jovon wasn’t fooled. I’ve seen better acting from outtakes of ‘Face-Off’ than what Jackson tried to pull out there.
(10) I want to finish on a positive note … I’m starting to really enjoy Winnipeg’s running back duo of Fred Reid and Yvenson Bernard. Reid was a stud out there running for a ridiculous 260 yards and Bernard was a force not only as a runner (112 yards) but he also contributed on special teams and was the lead blocker for many of Reid’s best runs. Bernard was picking off B.C. linebackers all night long. I loved watching Winnipeg’s offense with two backs and the tailback lining up 10 yards behind the line. Any real football fan will admit that watching a well executed running attack is at least as entertaining as watching two teams air it out.
