Steinberg’s MMQB: The real season begins!

20 weeks of the 2014 Canadian Football League season are now in the books. It really was an amazing year, because had you told me in July or August that so much was going to come down to the final week of the season, I would have laughed in your face. Yet, here we are, looking back at how week 20 shaped the complexion of the 2014 postseason. And now the best part: we get to start looking ahead.

Rematch time

Whether the game meant anything to the Eskimos or not, Edmonton’s 24-17 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday had to smart. The Riders’ win, coupled with BC’s loss to Calgary, propelled Saskatchewan to the West Division Semifinal against, who else, the Edmonton Eskimos.

But the real question is: how much of what we saw on Saturday can really be applied to what we’ll see this coming Sunday at Commonwealth Stadium? And, at this point, it really is tough to tell.

First off, we don’t know who’s starting at quarterback . . . for either team! If the desired guys do end up being healthy enough to play, the entire dynamic of the game is altered drastically.

For the Riders, we’ve seen how rough things can be without Darian Durant. Kerry Joseph looked okay in the first two or three quarters he played in week 19 against Calgary, but only completed five passes against Edmonton this weekend. Tino Sunseri isn’t the answer, either, as that’s been proven in his time since Durant’s injury. Even if Durant isn’t at 100%, if he’s able to play, he’s probably the desirable option.

Mike Reilly’s status for the Eskimos is just as up in the air. He got injured in Edmonton’s penultimate game against the Lions and sat out against the Riders on Saturday. While no one is saying for sure, things don’t sound necessarily promising that he’ll be good to go this weekend. I like Matt Nichols and I think he moves the ball very nicely between the 20’s. However, Nichols lacks the dynamic and explosive ability Reilly has, and Edmonton is a much less dangerous team without the latter.

While it was good to see the Riders play with the desperation they needed in their final game, you also have to remember who else Edmonton was without. The Eskimos decided to sit starting running back John White and the CFL’s leading receiver in Adarius Bowman. Taking those two options away makes life that much more difficult on Nichols. We know both Bowman and White will be in the lineup on Sunday, which changes things fairly dramatically.

Choosing a winner in this one is tough, because there is still so much up in the air six days before kickoff. If everything stays status quo, I lean towards the Eskimos. With White and Bowman back, they’re a better team, regardless of Reilly’s status. Plus, three Riders quarterbacks completed a total of eight passes this past weekend, which doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence either. Now, if Durant is good to go and Reilly remains on the shelf, I’m going to have to back to the drawing board when it comes to picking a winner.

A long trip

Instead of traveling just one time zone and once province for their playoff matchup, the BC Lions now have a whole lot longer to go. Thanks to their 33-16 setback to the Calgary Stampeders on Friday, and coupled with the aforementioned Riders win, BC is off to Montreal for the East Division Semifinal.

Once again, we have no idea what’s happening at quarterback for the Lions, as Travis Lulay could very well be in the lineup on Sunday afternoon. Kevin Glenn showed some promise against a very good Stampeders defence on Friday, but a couple costly interceptions stalled some nice progress. Yet, knowing what we’ve seen from Glenn in big playoff games the last two years, having Lulay in the fold isn’t such a bad idea.

There are two very interesting things I’ll be watching when the Lions and Alouettes hook up on Sunday afternoon. First, from a BC standpoint, will their vaunted defence return to prominence? Prior to their week 19 loss to Edmonton, everyone was talking about just how good this Lions defensive group was, and for good reason.

However, they it more than 400 yards through the air to two different Calgary quarterbacks on Friday, and it’s not like it looked overly ferocious against the Eskimos last week either. Granted, BC didn’t have linebacker Adam Bighill against the Stampeders, which is a big subtraction from the group. That being said, Solomon Elimimian and company are going to have to be a whole lot better against Montreal.

As for the Alouettes, I’m not sure how confident you’re feeling from the outside heading into this weekend. Montreal had an opportunity to lock up first place overall in the East with a win, but looked out of sorts all game in a 29-15 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. It was a pretty disappointing effort when the Als still had so much to play for.

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It was especially disappointing from an offensive standpoint. First off, they had absolutely nothing when it came to a running game. Their runningback, Tyrell Sutton, only touched the ball five times. This was a one possession game until the fourth quarter, so you’d think they could have tried running the ball a little more than they did, even if it wasn’t working to begin with.

But the other concerning thing came at quarterback. For the second time in as many contests, Jonathan Crompton found fewer than five receivers over the duration of entire game. In their week 19 win over Toronto, Crompton hit only three players while it was upped to just four against Hamilton this week. Granted, when Duron Carter and SJ Green are the talents they are, you’re going to want to use them. I do believe, however, Crompton is going to have to be more diverse against the Lions on Sunday.

When it’s all said and done, I have to say what I saw from Montreal troubled me to finish the season. Yet, the Als have been so good in the second half of the season, I think there’s a chance they’ll be much more prepared in their second straight high stakes contest. Montreal will be at home, it’ll have a quarterback with dynamic ability, and they have a very strong defence. I’m going to choose the Als in a very, very close East Division Semifinal.

The post mortem

It is quite surprising that the Toronto Argonauts are going home after playing just 18 games this season. Many, myself included, thought their veteran core would be enough of a driving force to push the 2012 Grey Cup champs back to the playoffs again. That was not the case, and now there are some tough questions to ask in Toronto.

The question that we’ll tackle, however, is the most pertinent one if you ask me: is their window starting to close? The Argonauts won a title two years ago and put together an 11-7 campaign in 2013. 2014’s regular season record was partly because of injury, there’s no doubt. But it’s not a guarantee that a healthy team in 2015 is going to be set to do a ton of damage.

I say that because we’re talking about a core group of players, especially offensively, that is now on the other side of 30. By no stretch are these players old, but in terms of football, we know how quickly things can fall away. Ricky Ray just turned 35 while Chad Owens will be 33 next season. When you look at the ages of other key offensive pieces for next season like Jason Barnes (31), Andre Durie (34), and even Steve Slaton (29), you start to get the picture.

Now I’m not saying all of these guys are going to fall completely off the map by any means. The way Ray plays, his age is a secondary number, because he gets the ball away so quickly and accurately, he looks like he’s got another five years left in him. Owens missed time this year and still finished third in CFL receiving with 989 yards while his seven receiving touchdowns put him second only to Emmanuel Arceneaux.

But, you can’t just guarantee that this core group is going to be able to clip along a high level next season. We are talking about older players in comparison to others in this league, and with age also can come injury. All I’m saying is, whether this core group can be highly productive next season or not, it’s time to start building for down the road as well. The quicker you can start doing that, the better.