Matt Cauz
CFL.ca
So who is the best team in the CFL right now? I mean today, I mean as you are reading this column? Will your opinion change an hour after you’re done? Will you be swayed by something you read or hear? Just how many semi-redundant questions can I come up with in this opening paragraph?
When the season started I believed Montreal was the best team in the league. Then Saskatchewan beat them in Week 1 so naturally I had to rank the Roughriders as the CFL’s best. They bounced around from the best to the second best team for the first half of the season, peaking with their Week 12 43-37 win over Calgary. Speaking of the Stampeders they certainly have had their time wearing the regular season championship belt, most notably after their Week 13 46-21 beat down of Montreal. Of course the Stamps only got to hold the belt for a week before the Alouettes returned the favour with a 46-19 masterpiece over those same Stampeders. A whole lotta back and forth in 2009, wouldn’t you say?
I’m tempted to say that Montreal is still the best team even after their 37 point loss to Hamilton. The Tiger-Cats were playing for a home playoff game while Montreal is just trying to stay healthy. You know what, after watching the Stampeders lose at home again to the Lions and the Roughriders season just spinning out of control I think it’s safe to say that Montreal is still the reigning champion.
Now with that all said Calgary fans certainly can make the case that they’re just one Arjei Franklin dropped touchdown pass away from having the best record in the league. I loved Chris Cuthbert saying that Franklin “was too wide open.” I didn’t know that was a problem for wide recievers. More on that game in a moment.
My only concern for Montreal is that loss may come back to haunt them in the playoffs. Hamilton is just brimming with confidence and, more importantly, as Matt Dunigan brought up on Friday night, the victory surely has given Kevin Glenn the belief that he can beat up on the Alouettes. In his previous two games against Montreal, Glenn’s completion percent was below 50%, he didn’t throw a touchdown and managed just 360 total passing yards combined in the two losses by Hamilton. On Friday, Glenn was masterful, throwing for 371 yards and two touchdowns. If they meet in the playoffs he has that game to draw strength from.
A quick congratulations to the Toronto Argonauts for making it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2007. By the way to any Toronto sports fan who snickers about Toronto making the playoffs in an eight team league let me again remind you that your local hockey team has done nothing since the NHL expanded beyond SIX teams. Congrats on winning Stanley Cups when you entered the season with a greater than 16.5% chance of winning it all.
Back to football, sorry about that.
The two biggest reasons for Toronto’s resurgence is the discipline set by Coach Jim Barker and the explosiveness of Chad Owens. Last year Toronto averaged over 100 yards in penalties, worst in the league. This season they’re averaging 60 yards a game, best in the league.
Chad Owens is the CFL leader in punt return, kickoff return and missed field goal return yards. He also has scored more special teams touchdowns (4) than any other player. It has to be noted that Owens’ yards are not just about him getting more opportunities than other return men. His averages in all three stated categories are either at the top or in the top-3. The guy has been getting it done all season.
In 2009 Toronto had the 12th best punt return man and the 7th best kickoff rerun man in terms of yardage and as a unit ranked last in punt return yards and did not record one special teams touchdown.
We all know that Toronto has had a difficult time moving the ball on a consistent basis, and let’s be honest that’s putting it nicely. The way you overcome this is by controlling field position, which Owens has done and by not killing yourselves with stupid mistakes, which Coach Barker has managed to do.
Now on to the Lions / Stampeders game for a moment. One of Calgary’s greatest strengths, their blitz attack, is also the one thing that could cost them in the playoffs to a lesser opponent. There are big play opportunities all over the field when Calgary sends their crazy blitzes. Of course the key is you need an offensive line that can protect for just a second longer plus you need a quarterback who can not only read the blitz but also possesses the courage to stand in the pocket, deliver the pass and take what will be an unblocked shot.
Two plays come to mind.
The first play from scrimmage, the 65 yarder from Travis Lulay to Steven Black illustrates the negative side to aggressive blitzing. Lulay saw it coming, knew he was going to get smacked (and he did) yet still got the ball out accurately to Black. Of course this never should have gone for 65 yards, shame on you Brandon Smith and Keon Raymond for your poor tackling.
The other play was the 74-yard touchdown catch by Emmanuel Arceneaux. Again we saw multiple defenders sent to sick Lulay only to have Arceneaux wide open on a text book stop and go, severely burning Dwight Anderson.
This is not to take anything away from Calgary; they possess the best defence in the CFL. Their style of play has made great offences and by extension great quarterbacks look bad. But it is a high risk approach that can be exposed for big plays.
My final point… I feel bad for Adam Leonard. And no I don’t think the hit he took from Nik Lewis was dirty. In fact I think it looked completely legal, the perfect marriage of opportunity and angle. Hits like that are why we love watching football, nothing dirty about it.
No, I feel bad for Leonard because the shot he took overshadowed the fact that prior to the Lewis block Leonard had the best hit of the game. His collision with Jon Cornish which jarred the ball free, leading to Richard Jones’ 50 yard fumble return touchdown, was a textbook linebacker play. Leonard read the run, took the right angle to Cornish, avoided the Stampeder lineman and got his helmet on the ball. That was my favourite play of the game … until Nik Lewis stepped in and kicked some sense into me.
