THE CANADIAN PRESS
Karma is a you-know-what. Actually, it can now be said that Karma is a Hail Mary touchdown pass to end the first half.
This week’s takeaways:
1) Quite obviously, the Hamilton Ticats have set the level needed to win it all, provided their current run isn’t a super red-hot streak that gives way to them looking just really, really good instead of invincible as the season wears on. You’ve got a half a season to catch up, rest of the CFL. Right now, you’re all “True Detective,” Season Two to Hamilton’s “True Detective,” Season One. Which means, like season two of “True Detective,” you’re really not that bad and you have a chance to round into form and produce, really, a pretty decent finale when all is said and done.
2) Eric Norwood gets his name added to the “Rise of the Big Men Honour Roll.” A fumble recovery touchdown against the Eskimos that saw him go 106 yards gets his name up there with the likes of Ryan Bomben, Wayne Smith and Zack Evans, who’ve made their presence felt in this column previously. Not only did Norwood make the odyssey for the major score untouched, he looked to be separating from the pack as he got closer to the end zone. AND, he walked to the bench under his own steam. I expected that, as he did this, some of his teammates would have attempted to drape him in a cloak and physically urge him to the bench, only to have him burst loose and head back to the field to perform the kick-off.
3) Matt Walter’s impersonation of Jon Cornish is really coming along. Walter has been asked on a number of occasions, over the last few seasons, to just kind of keep the ground game in decent shape when big number nine was out of the line up. Just barge through a hole here and there to keep the other guys honest. Did a pretty good job, too. Saturday night, in Regina, Walter got to a whole ‘nother level in his Cornish mimicry. Like, Frank Caliendo good. 19 rushes for 107 yards (view game stats) and so many of those yards late in the game, on the drive that saw the Stamps drain the clock on the way to a 34-31 victory. 35 of those yards came on six carries in that drive. That’s when Walter’s impression veered dangerously close to felony identity theft. “Is that Jon Cornish in there?” you might well have asked. No, it’s not. Just a reasonable – actually, much, much more than reasonable – facsimile.
4) Sometimes you do something good and something bad happens, part 1: If Tom Higgins had gotten a text from Jim Popp that read: “Thanks for ending the drought. You’re fired,” he’d have figured auto-correct changed the word “fine.” The Montreal Alouettes finally won at BC Place for the first time since the year 2000. With the team pulling its record to three wins and five losses with that rare, west coast victory, you wouldn’t expect that to be the time to make a coaching change. Well, I didn’t, at least. Higgins is being replaced by General Manager Popp and that seems a bit of a gamble to me. Popp’s record over the previous three times he’s replaced his head coach amounts to 8-10 (albeit with a Grey Cup appearance in there). The Als didn’t seem a real disaster, to me, being in most games they’ve played. If they were looking for a coach who could patiently get things completely turned around, I know a guy whose team started last season with a 1-7 record before winning eight of its last 10. And, he’s suddenly available. (Pat Steinberg also offers his take in this week’s Monday Morning Quarterback).
5) Sometimes you do something good and something bad happens, part 2: Pity Ottawa quarterback Henry Burris, who sure had the number of the Argos’ defence in rolling up 426 yards passing and completing 32 of 36 passes. Yet he lost the game, 30-24. He and Kevin Glenn can get club jackets. Glenn, you might recall, threw for 477 yards against Toronto in a 42-40 loss in Week 2. How can quarterbacks be that lethal and lose? In Glenn’s case, throwing a 100 yard pick-six return at a terrible time went a long way to powering the Argos’ comeback, in Regina. Burris had no such trespass. Instead, he was done in by the REDBLACKS’ staggering domination on the penalty sheets – and I do mean SHEETS, plural – by a count of 20 infractions for 228 yards. Bonus takeaway: The Argos’ secondary still has some ironing out to do.
QUICK SLANTS
“I feel like they’re a baby version of us,” Odell Willis said of the Hamilton defence prior to Friday’s game. Wouldn’t be at all surprised if, afterward, he said: “My, they grow up so quickly, don’t they?”
Hey, Mike Daly: Nice understudying, sir. Seven tackles, a sack, two interceptions and a forced fumble as he subbed in for injured Hamilton safety Craig Butler.
I would bet heavily on Swayze Waters should he ever want to head over to England and give one of those shin-kicking contests a go. Also, I’d have thought at least one of his punts against Ottawa would have burned up on re-entry.
Finally: Give me a team of Tyron Brackenridges and I will rule the world.
