Mark Masters
CFL.ca
There is one month to go in the Canadian Football League season and each team has at least one major question that needs to be resolved before the playoffs open. Here, in no particular order, are the eight key questions to be answered in the season’s final four weeks:
(1) Who is the starter in Hamilton? It took fewer than 12 minutes on Monday afternoon for Tiger-Cats coach Marcel Bellefeuille to yank rookie quarterback Quinton Porter. It’s hard to quibble with the decision. The game was slipping away after two Porter fumbles allowed the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to jump out to an early lead. Kevin Glenn entered the game and eventually rallied the troops. Down the stretch the Ticats need someone to step up behind centre and it may finally be time for Bellefeuille to pick a horse and ride him to the finish.
(2) Can Michael Bishop keep it together? Whatever you want to say about the pivot he seems to find a way to win. The Bombers are now 5-5 since Bishop joined the club. His arm strength is unquestioned, but his judgment can be off. By throwing two interceptions in the end zone during the first half at Hamilton he allowed the Ticats to stay in the game. If Bishop can manage the game well, limit turnovers and make a big play every so often then the Bombers 2009 turnaround will be complete.
(3) When will the next shoe drop in Toronto? The Kerry Joseph injury on Saturday night was just the latest troubling situation in a season full of them for the Argonauts. So far, Adriano Belli, Arland Bruce, Byron Parker and Joseph have all run afoul of head coach Bart Andrus. Can the rookie CFL head man survive a brutal rookie campaign or will the axe fall in Toronto yet again?
(4) Can the Eskimos recover? The Edmonton secondary looked like the three stooges on Friday night when in the dying moments the BC Lions grabbed victory from near-certain defeat. The loss has to be hard to swallow for the Eskimos who now find themselves alone in the basement in the CFL West. The division is tightly bunched so the Eskimos could still finish first but the team seems to be in a state of flux. The firing of offensive coordinator Rick Worman and the recent slide have contributed to a sense of panic in the City of Champions.
(5) Will Darian Durant emerge? He has the fourth-best quarterback rating in the league this season and some are suggesting he may have played himself into the Most Outstanding Player discussion. But the Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback leads the league in interceptions thrown and you still get the sense he has yet to reach the level of the three quarterbacks ahead of him in the rating system: Anthony Calvillo, Henry Burris and Ricky Ray. Whether Durant takes his career to the next level will likely determine whether the Roughriders win the West.
(6) How will Marc Trestman handle the final month? The Montreal Alouettes head coach continues to do a masterful job and his charges have wrapped up the East Division with loads of time to spare. The team rested banged up tailback Avon Cobourne on Monday during their win vs. Calgary. Trestman needs to keep his team fresh and rust-free while at the same time avoiding injuries down the stretch. Trestman has pushed all the right buttons so far this season, but managing the final month may prove just as difficult as dominating the first three-quarters of the season.
(7) Will Wally’s magic continue? There was the disputed call against Montreal, the Buck Pierce warrior game against Saskatchewan and now the great escape in Edmonton. Wally Buono will always remember the 2009 season as the year when he became the CFL’s coaching wins king. But it looks like there may be more reasons to remember a season, which started so poorly. The Lions entered the season with a lot of new personnel and now, finally, the club seems to be finding its groove.
(8) Can Calgary keep it together? It is ridiculously hard to repeat as Grey Cup champions … it hasn’t happened since Doug Flutie led Toronto to back-to-back titles in 1996-97. After getting blown out by the Alouettes on Monday emotions boiled to the surface in the Stampeders locker-room. The Montreal Gazette reported that Teyo Johnson and Brandon Browner engaged in a heated discussion after the team’s most recent setback. Calgary seems to have the pieces in place to make another run to the Grey Cup, but whether Henry Burris and co. can keep everything together through the final month of the regular season and beyond remains to be seen.
So those are the questions … now some answers as we embark on the weekly playoff projections.
PLAYOFF PROJECTIONS
EAST
1. Montreal (12-2)
Projection: First in the East
Games remaining: vs. Hamilton, @ Winnipeg, vs. Winnipeg, @ Toronto
Quick hit: Monday’s clash at Molson Stadium appeared, on paper at least, to be Montreal’s last real test before the playoffs … and it probably was. Facing a Stampeders team looking to stay on top of the West Division the Alouettes once again put on a clinic. If the CFL was run by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee the Alouettes would be awarded the Grey Cup right now.
2. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-8)
Projection: Second in the East
Games remaining: vs. BC, vs. Montreal, @ Montreal, vs. Hamilton
Quick hit: Three straight wins have not only saved Mike Kelly‘s job, but thrust Winnipeg into a playoff position. The last game of the season at home vs. Hamilton may determine whether the Bombers get a home playoff date.
3. Hamilton (6-8)
Projection: Third in the East, miss the playoffs
Games remaining: @ Montreal, @ Toronto, vs. Saskatchewan, @ Winnipeg
Quick hit: For the first time Hamilton is projected to miss the playoffs, which based on their start to the season is devastating. The Ticats have a tough schedule remaining with only the game at Toronto looking like an easy contest, and as you may recall Hamilton lost the last time they played in the Rogers Centre.
4. Toronto Argonauts (3-11)
Projection: Fourth in the East, miss the playoffs
Games remaining: vs. Edmonton, vs. Hamilton, @ Edmonton, vs. Montreal
Quick hit: The use of an injured Joseph late in the game at Saskatchewan marks another disappointing chapter in a 2009 season that is darker than the plot of TV’s Dexter.
WEST
1. Calgary Stampeders (8-6)
Projection: First in West
Games remaining: vs. Saskatchewan, vs. Edmonton, @ BC, @ Saskatchewan
Quick hit: They didn’t come close to knocking off Montreal at Molson Stadium, but then again, who has? They play only divisional opponents the rest of the way.
2. Saskatchewan Roughriders (8-6)
Projection: Second in the West
Games remaining: @ Calgary, vs. BC, @ Hamilton, vs. Calgary
Quick hit: They struggled to put away Toronto at home on Saturday night and that is not exactly a confidence-boosting result. Losing Weston Dressler to a broken fibula will test a team known for its resilient play.
3. Edmonton Eskimos (6-8)
Projection: Third in the West&nb
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Games remaining: @ Toronto, @ Calgary, vs. Toronto, @ BC
Quick hit: Good news for Edmonton fans: two of your last four games are against the woeful Toronto Argonauts. The bad news is that three of their four remaining games are on the road where the Eskimos are a division-worst 2-4. Despite the devastating loss on Friday they’ll maintain their third-place projection, because, as noted, half of their remaining games are against the Argonauts.
4. BC Lions (7-7)
Projection: Fourth in the West, crossover to East as third seed
Games remaining: @ Winnipeg, @ Saskatchewan, vs. Calgary, vs. Edmonton
Quick hit: Winning the first game of a three-game road trip was crucial. Still two more road games to go in 2009 and they can all but clinch a post-season berth by winning at Winnipeg on Sunday. After what transpired on Friday night you get a sense Buono has got his mojo back and may yet turn this record-setting season into a magical one for the Lions.
TWEETS OF THE WEEK
You ever get the feeling that the CFL West Division is like a high-stakes poker game?
@JasonClermont “So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow, then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light” … poker tonight (Oct. 7)
It’s about time one of the team’s in the Wild West went all in, don’t you think?
It’s no surprise that a player on the Alouettes, a team known for being so precise on the field, enjoys the Crime Scene Investigation series.
@brianbratton I am a CSI junkie, found one on here in Montreal, so bedtime will have to wait. (Oct. 7)
You don’t need to be Gil Grissom to know the Alouettes are the best in the CFL right now.
Newly signed Lions quarterback Casey Printers has a rebuttal for anyone who thinks BC’s win on Friday night was a tad fortuitous.
@CaseyPrinters There is no such thing as luck. That word stands for Laboring. Under. Correct. Knowledge. Which means working hard w/ the right information. (Oct. 12)
As per usual Argos super fan Lori Bursey captures the mood of the weekend perfectly:
@ArgoDiva Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’m so grateful for my family, friends, health, and the CFL! (Oct. 12)
We can all be thankful for a great CFL playoff race, which will entertain us during the next month.
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