Rod Pedersen
CFL.ca
CFL Director of Officiating Tom Higgins is making a cross-Canada tour updating CFL coaches on the rule changes which will be implemented in time for the start of the 2010 season. Although we won’t see them in effect until Week 1 kicks off on Canada Day, coaches will be busy instructing their players on the new guidelines in their playbooks and in two-a-day training camp sessions come June 6.
“There’s a PowerPoint presentation plus video clips that we go over,” Higgins told CKRM Radio’s The Sports Cage this week. “During the PowerPoint, it’s about how we communicate with one another and how we can help. It’s something that’s new and the NFL and NCAA are doing this too; it’s to have the officials officiate to the same degree where the coaches are coaching. If we don’t, there’s a disconnect. That’s where the clips come in.”
“We talk about the seven officials that are on the field, their responsibilities and where there are some dead spots. We’re educating the coaches but my main job is educating the officials too. We just talk about officials’ responsibilities, what occurred last season and how the Command Centre at the CFL office operated.”
This year’s rule changes include:
– Teams that score a touchdown in overtime are required to go for a two-point convert by running or passing the ball into the end zone instead of kicking for a single point.
– A team that gives up a field goal (during regulation time) will have the option of scrimmaging from its 35-yard line instead of receiving a kick-off.
– There will be no penalty for pass interference applied if a forward pass is deemed uncatchable.
– When a ball is punted, hits the ground and hits a player from the covering team, it will result in a penalty of five instead of fifteen yards.
RIDERS VS. ALS PART II
The Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders were the last two teams standing at the conclusion of the 2009 CFL season with the Alouettes pulling out a 28-27 victory in the Grey Cup in Calgary in a classic CFL ending. Veteran football man and Canadian Football Hall of Famer Cal Murphy expects to see those two teams battle for the title of CFL supremacy again in 2010.
“I would think that they would have to be rated up there,” the Indianapolis Colts Canadian scout said this week from Regina. “Let’s face it, B.C. is building. Calgary will be pretty good again and Edmonton will be better. But if I had to predict, I’d say the two teams that finished on top last year will be the same guys this year.”
MURPHY EYES LOCAL TALENT
Murphy has continued to look in his backyard for talent for the Colts. 2009 CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player John Chick of the Roughriders was signed to a rich contract by Indianapolis this winter while University of Regina Rams leading receiver Jordan Sisco also penned a deal with the reigning AFC champions. Murphy, who is based in Regina, attends just about every Roughrider practice he can. Star Rider slotback Andy Fantuz has expressed interest in exploring NFL opportunities after the 2010 season but Murphy feels that could be a long shot.
“I heard Andy described as a ‘tweener-type guy’ and I would agree,” Murphy said. “I like him very much and I scouted him when he was at Western Ontario. The thing he doesn’t have is wideout speed. I don’t know how you get it, but you don’t manufacture it. I hate to say that about a player, but that’s the situation. He has all the other tools. He would have to be an inside guy but I think with the motion in the Canadian Football League, that’s what really helps him.”
COMISKEY RETURNS TO FIELD
Two-time Grey Cup champion and 12-year CFL veteran Dan Comiskey ended his retirement after one season to sign a deal with the Calgary Stampeders last week. Both of Comiskey’s Grey Cups came as a member of the rival Edmonton Eskimos. The Windsor product relocated to Nova Scotia for career purposes last year, but is coming back for one more kick at the can.
“I never really left football,” Comiskey admitted on CKRM last week. “I guess I never really left the game on my terms. That’s something I want to do, and win a Grey Cup for the Red & White.”
Comiskey started his career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and weighed in on the province’s current stadium debate. Currently provincial and civic government officials are raising money for the project after a stadium feasibility study was unveiled in early March.
“I’m all for a new stadium in Regina,” Comiskey chuckled. “And if I could recommend one thing, it’s to have the stands located as far away from the visitor’s sidelines as possible. It’s nasty over there.”
HARRELL A PACKER
Texas Tech Red Raider star quarterback Graham Harrell spent the 2009 CFL season on the practice roster of the Saskatchewan Roughriders but asked for his release in May, and it was promptly granted by Rider GM Brendan Taman.
Harrell wasn’t out of work long. After an unsuccessful tryout with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns three weeks ago, Harrell found himself in a mini-camp in Green Bay a week later. He was quickly signed by the Packers and will be vying for a spot on the depth chart behind starter Aaron Rodgers.
CHICK HAS EARLY SUCCESS
Earlier I mentioned John Chick. His agent Gil Scott said Chick was signed to the second highest-paying NFL contract ever for one of his clients this off-season. The Gillette, Wyoming product has already participated in one Colts’ minicamp and is preparing for another.
“Things have been great so far,” Chick reported. “It’s just a great organization to be involved with. Good guys. I’m getting better. There’s a long ways to go until the season and I don’t know how it’ll play out come September but it’s been good so far. I’m a 27-year-old rookie and the first camp was a rookie camp so you saw a lot of guys fresh out of college. I just got in my stance, got off the ball and I felt pretty comfortable.”
The Riders are still scrambling to find someone to replace Chick at his defensive end spot and he will definitely be missed in 2010.
“I’ll miss it too,” Chick revealed. “I’m getting the itch right now. We’re supposed to be starting football in two weeks, if I was in the CFL. It’s a very different feeling and I’m definitely going to be missing that July 1st game (Riders vs. Montreal). I’d like to be out there and hit (Montreal QB) Anthony Calvillo a couple of times but I’ll definitely be watching and cheering the Riders.”
