Adam Gagnon
Hey there, Ottawa. You’ve won the East. Prime Minister Trudeau is in office. It’s 1978 all over again so let’s hit up all the thrift shops and spend the next two weeks in bell-bottom corduroy pants and velour, zip-up tops. Ties should have lapels as wide as the Rideau. Find some soap-on-a-rope, slap on some English Leather and go cruise The Market in an AMC Pacer. Crank out some Pablo Cruise on the eight-track. Make sure you leave some time to work on special teams.
Here are this week’s takeaways.
1) Your quarterbacking situation for the Western Semi-Final looks pretty good (Part I)
We all know that Bo Levi Mitchell has mad skills at quarterback (and head coach mimicry as well) and he will take the Calgary Stampeders as far as they will go this post-season. What we weren’t sure of was just where back-up quarterback Drew Tate stood in all of this should he be pressed into action. Tate has been known to be more than a decent quarterback but he’d been sparely used this season. Against the Lions on Saturday, he looked sharp and elusive, going 18-for-22 in the passing game for 231 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Stamps might barely miss a beat if, say, Mitchell becomes unavailable because he accidentally swallowed the cap of a Sharpie when goofing on another Hufnagel impression.
2) Your quarterbacking situation for the Western Semi-Final looks pretty good (Part II)
Imagine that. Rookie pivot Jonathon Jennings has been so good in his first six career CFL starts, the B.C. Lions’ BACK-UP quarterback is a two-time West All-Star and one-time CFL Most Outstanding Player. Travis Lulay, dogged the past two years by a couple of shoulder injuries and one to a knee this season, looked just fine against the Stampeders on Saturday. He darted, he broke containment and, most importantly, he fired missiles while rolling out. Knee is fine. Shoulder’s fine, too. Jennings has given no indication he’s about to spit the bit, but if he does, Lions’ Head Coach Jeff Tedford won’t need to hesitate.
3) Gotta get the ball to Diontae Spencer more often.
Conversations about the Toronto Argonauts’ receiving corps have been dominated, this season, by the names Tori Gurley, Kevin Elliott and Vidal Hazelton and for pretty good reason. However, another first-year receiver, Spencer, has shown great flashes of playmaking ability whenever the Argos have managed to get him in the line-up. Friday night against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Spencer stood out, hauling in eight passes for 123 yards. At just 5’8’’, Spencer is not nearly as big as those other first-year Argos receivers, but he has great speed, shifty moves and serious hands. Small but fierce, he’s got some toughness packed into that small frame and a motor that knows no quit. The Argos might want to make sure Spencer becomes more than an afterthought when building their game day rosters moving ahead. Say it with me: Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy….
4) That’s a long way to go for a mere two points.
Saturday’s epic back-and-forther between Ottawa and Hamilton featured a number of eye-popping plays but none more than Brandon Banks’ 127-yard missed convert return. Hauling in the wide point-after attempt three yards from the dead ball line, Banks set off on a harrowing excursion through enemy lines, with few provisions and no map.
That was such a long trip, I understand Banks set up camp at midfield in order to rest, where he penned this letter:
“Dear Penelope: It has been so long since I’ve seen you. Seen any of my loved ones, really. My journey has been fraught with danger and I have very nearly been captured by the enemy on numerous occasions. Through the good graces of a higher power – and my own cunning – I have avoided that dismal fate a hundred times, it seems. I do not know what lies ahead, but I have heard rumours that the end zone is due East and I will make my way in that direction before the wax that seals this letter’s envelope has cooled. Upon arriving, I am told I will be fed meager rations amounting to just two lowly points. I pray you stay well and that I may one day see your smiling face again. Yours, Brandon. P.S. Oskee Wee Wee.”
My point is this: The rules committee did a wonderful job in making converts more meaningful – and much less certain – this season by making them much longer. Want them to be even more intriguing? I suggest making a missed convert return worth a touchdown.
5) A “meaningless” game sure doesn’t have to be meaningless.
The Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders capped the 2015 regular season with a fabulously entertaining game even though it meant nothing in the standings. And it wasn’t just first-timers and benchwarmers who played with urgency and flair. Veterans like Ryan Smith, John Chick, John Bowman and Tyrell Sutton all played with purpose and you can’t tell me that the overtime win was meaningless to the Roughriders, who celebrated with a goodly amount of giddy when the Alouettes ran out of downs.
The big takeaway from this game, most will say, is that Montreal quarterback Brandon Bridge lived up to some of the potential we’ve been told he has. He did that, for certain, but save some platitudes for Alouettes’ rookie linebacker Chris Ackie who was sensational, racking up 7 tackles, a forced fumble, a sack and at least two hellacious hits in his coming out party. Keep it up, kid, and you’ll be known as Chris Sackie. Or Chris Smackie.
AND FINALLY: Does Saskatchewan’s Jermarcus Hardrick lead all offensive linemen in YAC? I watched that catch of his again. It’s a two-yarder, with the big man (6’7’’, 320 lbs) chugging eight more for a first down. Bravest man on that play? Montreal defensive back Anthony Coady (5’10”, 190 lbs) who made the tackle. He was also the luckiest man on that play as he did not end up trapped under Hardrick for any amount of time.
