THE CANADIAN PRESS
Five points. That’s the combined margin of victory for two of our week three games over the weekend. In fact, of the 11 games that have been played during the 2015 CFL season, six of them have been decided by five points or less. I think we can all be on board in saying this is a pretty good thing that we hope remains a trend all the way until late November.
Statement made
There was one game this weekend that wasn’t close. The Edmonton Eskimos were out to prove something on Thursday night, and prove something they did. Edmonton’s 46-17 thumping of the Ottawa REDBLACKS to open Week 3 was decisive, emphatic and impressive. Sure, they proved something to me and probably to a lot of other football watchers. Most importantly, though, they proved something to themselves.
Chris Jones doesn’t like to lose, and his record as a Head Coach after a defeat is pretty impressive. The Eskimos only lost consecutive games once last season and compiled a record of 4-1 following setbacks. This response to a loss, however, might have been the most resounding yet.
Edmonton fell 26-11 to the Toronto Argonauts back in Week 1 and they had a bye week to stew on that lackluster performance. One of the league’s best defensive groups got torched for almost 350 yards through the air and allowed 137 more on the ground. Suffice to say there was no way that was sitting well.
From the defence to Matt Nichols and Adarius Bowman, the Eskimos’ Thursday night win over Ottawa delivered plenty of promise.
With perhaps a chip on their shoulder, the Esks got to work defensively very early. With all kinds of pressure on Ottawa quarterback Henry Burris, Edmonton forced a pick six in a scoreless first quarter and never really looked back. It was textbook in a lot of ways for this Eskimos group. They got great penetration up front and used their superior speed to jump on a poorly thrown ball. The end result? Six points courtesy of John Ojo.
For Matt Nichols, Thursday was a really important evening. We know Mike Reilly is out long term, and we also know Nichols is going to have to carry the mail. What I saw against Ottawa was very encouraging, despite rather pedestrian passing totals.
All three of Nichols’s touchdown passes came in the red zone. Why is that important? Well, for me, that’s always been somewhat of a question mark. I’ve never had any doubts about Nichols and his ability to move the chains between the 20’s. But when things shorten up, I’ve always felt he’s had his struggles converting field position into maximum points. He did that on Thursday, and I really think that’ll be huge for his confidence.
Of the two, Reilly is the more dynamic playmaker. Reilly has the ability to truly make something out of nothing, a trait we’ve seen many times before. But that doesn’t mean Nichols can’t continue to be successful. He’s just going to have to keep on using the dynamic targets around him.
And that leads me to my final point on the Eskimos. Adarius Bowman, in my eyes, is the most important offensive player in Edmonton right now. With Reilly and running back John White on the sidelines, the Esks are going to need Bowman to be their most explosive and consistent game breaker. Nichols targeted him early and often on Thursday, because that’s just the smart thing to do.
Receivers like Weston Dressler, Chad Owens, Jeff Fuller, and Chris Williams have stolen headlines for their work in recent weeks and years. All of those guys deserve all the due they’ve been given, but it has perhaps made us forget about just how good Bowman is. It’s my belief he’s one of the two or three best receivers in Canadian football, and what better time to prove that notion right than now.
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I’m not going to lie…I was ecstatic watching Travis Lulay go about his business on Friday night. I will readily admit I’m very biased in this matter, because I want the guy to succeed. The CFL needs a player as exciting as Lulay was prior to his injury, especially with the quarterback injuries we’ve seen early on in 2015. Against the Riders on Friday, I firmly believe he’s on the road back to being the Lulay we remember.
I know he didn’t throw his first touchdown pass until the fourth quarter, and I know the Lions left a lot of points on the field. But watching Lulay in BC’s 35-32 overtime victory over the Riders showed me he’s still got it.
It wasn’t just the 404 yards through the air and it wasn’t just the 77 per cent accuracy that I liked. It was the confidence Lulay was showing while throwing the ball, even when things weren’t exactly clicking. On a few occasions, especially in the first half, Lulay missed on what looked like easy receptions. Some of those misses forced the Lions to settle for three points instead of six. But he was still making the plays.
A quarterback who has ‘lost it’ or ‘will never be the same’ doesn’t make the right reads and make the right decisions. That quarterback is tentative and gun shy. Lulay, on the other hand, is still finding his timing and still getting familiar with his receivers. But he’s certainly not timid or gun shy, as his 44 pass attempts will tell you.
Personally, I really liked the way Lulay threw the ball on the run. On numerous occasions, Lulay was able to get good zip on passes delivered while on the move. Whether he was bolting right up the gut in the face of pressure or eluding the rush to the outside, Lulay still has the strength to feed a good ball while in motion. That was very encouraging.
I’m pretty confident in saying Lulay’s timing is only going to get better over the next few weeks. Heck, even with some miscues on Friday, he still only threw ten incomplete passes on 44 attempts. Most importantly, though, Lulay is still thinking and reading the game like a high-end quarterback. Can you tell I’m pretty fired up about it?
The razor’s edge
Earlier we mentioned how just five points combined for the margin of defeat in two games this weekend. If you’re the Saskatchewan Roughriders, that is rather hollow consolation right now. Now 0-3 to start 2015, the Riders have lost their three games by a combined nine points and have lost two straight games in overtime. It doesn’t get much more difficult to swallow than that.
On our 3-Minute Warning this week we talked about how it wasn’t time to panic in Regina, at least not yet. Now winless in three games to start the season, I still think there’s a lot to like about Saskatchewan’s game. All the stuff mentioned on the Warning still holds true. But there is one main area that needs to be fixed.
Right now, the Riders need to tighten things up on the defensive side of the ball. Through three games, Saskatchewan is allowing 35 points per game, which is just too much. Granted, that total is inflated by some overtime, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Riders are far too easy to score on right now.
They’re also far too easy to pass on. Right now, opposing quarterbacks are averaging 332 yards per game against Saskatchewan and throwing for at least three touchdowns each outing. That’s almost 90 yards more than their average from last year. They’ve been slightly better against the run so far, but it hasn’t been anywhere near good enough to offset how they’ve been torched through the air.
I’m the first one to admit that making sweeping judgments early in a season is not the way to go. I’m also fully aware that there has been a lot of changeover defensively for the Riders this year. Much like the discussion we had about Calgary’s offensive line last week, I think this will get dramatically better in the weeks to come. For the Riders, it has to get better, because they just haven’t been good enough defensively so far this season.
Quick hits
Yes, I know the REDBLACKS got slammed on Thursday, and yes I know it came after everyone (including us at the MMQB) starting singing their praises for being 2-0 to start the season. But just because they got their lunch handed to them by Edmonton doesn’t mean Ottawa isn’t legitimately better than it was in 2014.
Any talk of the REDBLACKS being East Division winners was wholly premature, of course. But saying they’re a vastly improved squad isn’t. The REDBLACKS have more weapons on offence and an improved group defensively. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to lose games, though. The important thing is they lose fewer than they did last year.
Did anyone get nostalgic watching Austin Collie lead the Lions in receiving on Friday night? The former Indianapolis Colts receiver ended up being my waiver wire MVP in helping me win some money in a fantasy pool half a decade ago. Now in the CFL, Collie showed he’s still got some game left in him. His tiptoe act on BC’s final regulation touchdown was very impressive to watch.
Don’t forget Week 3 ends tonight with the Calgary Stampeders hosting the Toronto Argonauts at McMahon Stadium.
