THE CANADIAN PRESS
I bet you’re thinking this column will be a glorious preview of the upcoming Hamilton/Toronto Labour Day Classic. As a conflicted Argonauts fan who covers the Tiger-Cats this would be as predictable as the final scene in 99 per cent of all romantic comedies. Basically me breaking down Collaros vs. Harris is the equivalent of Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson realizing that they were in fact meant to be with one another.
Well you could not be more wrong. How dare you think I’m that obvious! How could I not write about James Franklin to Derel Walker? Not only was Franklin making his first career start, but over the past three weeks has there been anyone hotter in the league than Walker? Raise your hand if you saw Walker putting up 31 receptions for 472 yards and one touchdown in three games? Yup, neither did I.
The remarkable thing about what we’re seeing in Edmonton is that it shouldn’t be happening. James Franklin never threw a pass in the CFL before the start of the season. The guy was on the practice squad to start the year. Just like Rakeem Cato he was the third stringer just looking to hang onto a job without much hope of making a significant impact in 2015. Derel Walker’s path is even more unlikely as he spent the first two months of the season on the practice squad. I’ll be honest, I viewed his numbers in his first game against Montreal (10-125) as a curious anomaly and his crazy statistics against Hamilton (14-183) as more of a by product of a blowout. Hell, I even went as far in my Week 10 fantasy video to say that there was no way for Walker to continue this pace and that you should play Kenny Stafford against the Argonauts.
So yeah, I may have been just a wee bit wrong about that one. But again, what is starting to develop in Edmonton is just such an outlier. When you start the season on the practice squad you’re viewed as a project, as a player who needs time to develop — you represent the future not the present. You’re the “In case of emergency, break glass” sort of player. That is certainly the case for Franklin as Edmonton lost Mike Reilly in Week 1 and Matt Nichols has been ineffective in his starts.
So with all this craziness as the backdrop I went back to watch several of the big plays in Edmonton’s 38-15 victory over Toronto:
First Quarter: James Franklin pass to Derel Walker for 16 yards.
This was a simple out pattern on Edmonton’s first drive of the game but yet this play told so much. For a guy making his first ever start in the CFL, wow does Franklin look calm, especially in the face of an Argonauts pass rush that had men right in his face. Yet Franklin managed to deliver a perfect strike to Walker. Early on you can tell these two players are on the same page. It’s almost as if they spent a great deal of time together in training camp with the rest of the backups.
First Quarter: James Franklin rush for 18 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Now that is how you make a debut in this league! You lead your team on a 12-play, 92-yard touchdown drive and finish it off with a brilliant touchdown run. What a smart scamper by Franklin who took what the Argonauts defence gave him. Toronto only rushed three with one of its linebackers on a delayed blitz and dropped the other eight defenders into coverage. Franklin realized no one was open, calmly worked the edges of the pocket until a lane opened up and he took it. On his way to the end zone he made several nice cuts and shrugged off a direct hit by Vincent Agnew that will probably lead to much shame during Toronto’s video sessions this week. Also have to give a quick shout out to the downfield blocking by Shakir Bell and the rest of Edmonton’s wideouts who made this touchdown run possible.
WATCH: Franklin burns the Argo defence for an opening-drive touchdown
