CFL.ca
Pat Steinberg
This week’s Monday Morning Quarterback looks at some of the action over the weekend, and sets you up for some amazing season ending scenarios.
What seemed like a long shot two weeks ago in the West Division is fully realized after Week 18 of the CFL season, as Edmonton, BC and Calgary all have real shots at the division crown and a home date for the Western Final.
Out East, the permutations are a little less multiple, but Montreal still has a shot for another division crown, but they need the Bombers to help them along the way.
Two for the money
With Winnipeg owning the East Division tiebreak over Montreal, all the Bombers need to do is win their final game against Calgary to seal their fate. That’ll be easier said than done, however, with the Stampeders seemingly finding their groove these past two weeks, specifically in their nail-biter of a win over the Alouettes on Sunday afternoon.
Having both teams lose this weekend sets up the potential for two fired up season finales, especially knowing they both play on the same day.
I’m sure CFL frontrunners are glad they won’t have the Toronto Argonauts showing up on their dance cards for the remainder of the season, as Jim Barker’s crew sure have made it their mission to mess with the ambitions of those fighting for division crowns.
First the Stamps, then the Eskimos (almost), and finally the Bombers on Friday night; Toronto sure is making life difficult. For Winnipeg, it had to be looked at as a missed opportunity, and I’m still a little baffled as to what happened in the first half.
The second quarter specifically was curious to watch, and maybe other words for the faithful at Canad Inns Stadium. Not only did they lose Buck Pierce for the remainder of the game, they were also outscored 24-3 to put themselves in too large a hole to climb back from. So what exactly happened?
It’s tough to put your finger on one thing that went wrong for Winnipeg in that second quarter, as a number of factors conspired together to put them in an 18 point deficit heading into the half.
First, the Bombers made a slow adjustment to Toronto quarterback Steven Jyles and his frequent work outside the pocket. Even though Jyles didn’t put up a ton of yards, he seemed to catch the Swaggerville D, specifically the front, off guard a couple times in the first half, one leading to a touchdown.
Add in a pick-six, an electric Chad Owens runback and you had the perfect storm for a huge Argos quarter.
Alex Brink was decent in his relief work, and has been in all of his spell-off work to this point in the season. But he knows it was a disappointing result, especially after the Bombers had positioned themselves so well the week prior.
“It’s definitely a step backwards,” said Brink. “We put ourselves in a great position last week in getting the win over Montreal and we had a chance to control our own destiny. Now we’ve got to regroup and go out and put together a win next week.”
Anthony Calvillo was frustrated in a way we’re not used to one week ago against the aforementioned Bombers, and that frustration level can’t have gotten any better after Montreal’s 32-27 loss to Calgary on Sunday.
While he didn’t throw any interceptions and racked up 380 yards, Calvillo still ran into a game Calgary defensive unit that saw the Montreal quarterback sail a lot of passes with no receivers open.
I thought maybe the team might go a little more conservative on their final offensive play of the game, needing just three yards for a first down and three more shots at the major. Instead, Calvillo went to the corner of the endzone and wasn’t able to connect.
One play before, Jamel Richardson (after putting them in a great spot to begin with) was unable to haul in a sure touchdown pass that Calvillo zinged in there. Having lost their last two games, certainly there is some frustration among the Als.
“Unfortunately, it came down to me catching that ball,” Richardson said after a record setting game, where he became the first CFL receiver to have 12 straight 100 yard games. “I’ve got to catch that with 13 seconds left. I catch bullets.”
When comparing Montreal’s loss to Winnipeg’s, I’m a little more worried about the former than the latter. While the Bombers weren’t happy with their first half and wanted to close out the division on home soil, it seemed like a minor blip on the radar.
However, with the Als, I think you really started to see the effect injuries have taken on their defensive backfield. With names like Anderson, Boulay, and Estelle on the nine game, we saw Montreal get tagged with three pass interference calls and, even with a decent pass rush, Stamps quarterback Drew Tate was able to take advantage of the middle of the field numerous times.
Injuries are part of this game, but adding those three into a mix that also includes linebacker Shea Emry, and there’s no question the Alouettes have been hit pretty hard.
Three’s company
We knew one team was going to suffer a loss on Saturday when the Lions and Eskimos hooked up at BC Place. It was Edmonton this time around in a game that saw us all come away extremely impressed with BC yet again.
When talking about radar blips, the Lions made it pretty clear that last week’s loss to Hamilton was indeed a hiccup and nothing more, coming to play in the biggest game of the year. Now, they’ve got the hammer in this three way battle for the West Division title, having won the season series against both Calgary and Edmonton.
Everyone came to play, whether it be the established playmakers or veterans like Jamal Robertson returning to prominent roles. BC’s offensive line gave Travis Lulay plenty of time, while the Lions quarterback gave his receivers plenty to work with, completing 21 passes en route to 322 yards and three touchdowns.
But once again, it was defensively where I was most impressed when watching these guys play.
When the Lions are on, like they have been for the majority of play lately, they just don’t allow you to get any further past first contact. Ricky Ray completed a lot of passes and Jerome Messam got a good number of touches, but it was the aggressive nature of BC’s tackling that struck me, lead by Solomon Elimimian’s nine takedowns.
With the secondary stepping up to stop passing gains at first touch and Messam swarmed on almost every running play, Edmonton just wasn’t going to rack up very many big gains.
It’s because of this aggressive defensive group that the Lions are my unquestioned favourite to be hosting the West Division Final.
They host the final game of the regular season this Saturday night at home against Montreal while Edmonton hosts Saskatchewan and Calgary welcomes Winnipeg.
It’s very simple: for BC to win the division, all they have to do is win, while losses by either of the other two teams will also do the trick.
Edmonton needs a win over the Riders and a Lions loss, while Calgary needs both the teams in front of them to lose coupled with a home win over the Bombers. I like BC’s odds, especially playing another game in their brand new home.
Pretty cool not knowing who’s playing who or where this late in the season, and I doubt very many would have it any other way.
Parting shots
It hasn’t been the most positive of seasons for Toronto, but seeing Byron Parker put himself in a class of his own Friday night was pretty cool. <
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His second quarter touchdown off a Buck Pierce interception put him in a class of his own, with his 12th career pick-six. The Tulane product is in his third stint with the Argos, so it was fitting he set the record representing the double blue.
Drew Tate is shutting down a whole lot of us talking heads who questioned the decision to go to him at quarterback in a very emphatic nature. Waiting to see how he handled the Montreal front was fair after picking apart a mediocre Riders defence the week prior.
However, watching him do the job against the Als was pretty darn impressive. The Bombers will be a different challenge, but if he sticks to his most impressive trait thus far, he’ll be just fine. That trait being his ability to get the ball out in a very quick manor.
It seems as if Tate is ready to launch as soon as he finishes his drop, and against Willis, Brown and Mainor this weekend, that’ll be an asset.
Don’t count the Riders out this Friday in Edmonton. They’ve been ready to play the last few weeks, even if they haven’t come away with the desired result very many times. While the things that have plagued them have been on display (mainly a lacking pass rush), this team won’t be rolling over for the Eskimos in a game Edmonton needs.
That said, the Esks have likely learned their lesson about taking teams lightly after their scare against Toronto. At least you’d hope.
