The Canadian Press
It’s finally here. The playoffs are upon us. As three teams head home for the season, six move on to do-or-die matchups. But before we get the playoffs underway, let’s take a look back at a couple defining moments from each CFL team’s 2018 regular season in a ‘Tale Of The Tape’ rewind.
BC Lions
The BC Lions were supposed to be just another team left on the outside looking in when the season began, but the Lions refused to let Wally Buono ride into the sunset on a losing season and now find themselves preparing for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a crossover East division matchup.
That Hamilton-BC game from week 15 can be seen as the defining moment of the Lions jump from West division cast off to potential playoff threat and it all began with a miraculous throw from Jonathan Jennings.
Followed up by a perfect toe tap to send the game into overtime with regulation time expired. I was there. It was CRAZY at BC place that Saturday night.
Edmonton Eskimos
The disappointment in Edmonton right now is obvious as the Eskimos didn’t even give themselves a chance to make a home Grey Cup after starting the year 6-3 but for all their issues the Eskimos were a fun watch in 2018 with creative play designs such as this run-heavy look to the left with a backside screen.
Jason Maas isn’t afraid to try new things and regardless of what happens next in Edmonton, I’ll always respect that. Unfortunately, fun play designs don’t always win games and the Eskimos often couldn’t get out of their own way in the second half of the season as illustrated by this Nate Behar fumble.
Calgary Stampeders
All the way back in Week 1, when Hamilton visited, it was easy to see that the Stampeders pass rush was going to cause issues for teams as seen on this late game Jeremiah Masoli interception.
Even with a great quarterback and pass rush, it took Calgary until the final week of the regular season to clinch the West Division regular season. Hard to imagine when you have a quarterback like Bo Levi Mitchell who can avoid the rush and drop dimes like this consistently.
Saskatchewan Roughriders
The Riders formula for winning in 2018 is simple. They want to bludgeon you to death with their defence, get the odd big special teams play, and own the time of possession battle on offence.
This team might be more likely to score on defence than offence in the playoffs but as long as they win nobody in green will care. The defining ‘Tale Of The Tape’ moments for Saskatchewan?
A double dip of pick sixes.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
For the Bombers to beat the Riders in Regina Mat Nichols will have to make big plays with his arm and limit turnovers. Something he did with ease not long ago in a 31-0 thumping of the Riders in Winnipeg with throws like this to Darvin Adams.
Chris Streveler was one of the truly enjoyable parts of the CFL in 2018 for me. His energy and creative playmaking seem to make him a legitimate threat to make an impact in the playoffs.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
For the Ticats, the next three weeks are all about whether or not they can overcome injuries to star receivers Brandon Banks and Jalen Saunders. It won’t be easy due to the chemistry between Jeremiah Masoli and Banks seen on trust-throws like this touchdown in Toronto.
If the Ticats offence can’t produce the way it has all year, the defence will have to pick up the slack. Larry Dean had a monster season at middle linebacker for Hamilton and will have to be huge against BC’s Tyrell Sutton and Ottawa’s William Powell if the Ticats want to make the Grey Cup.
Toronto Argonauts
The Argos drop off after winning the Grey Cup was historic, but don’t tell that to veteran receiver S.J. Green who came to work every day, said the right things and made spectacular catches just like he always has regardless of his surroundings.
Newcomer Duron Carter was listed as a piece of the twisted puzzle that led to Head Coach Marc Trestman’s firing this past weekend. I wonder if the next Head Coach will embrace Duron for what he is or try to mould him into something new. Regardless you can see the frustration from Duron on his season in this rare touchdown spike.
Ottawa REDBLACKS
The story in Ottawa this year was Lewis Ward. Incredible. Enough said.
While the Redblacks surely would have preferred to finish with six more than having Ward hitting endless field goals, the reality is the team struggled in the red zone despite having offensive skill position players set records of a personal, team and league nature continuously. Chief among them, running back William Powell.
Montreal Alouettes
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny!
That sums up the 2018 Alouettes season but don’t tell that to Antonio Pipkin who before hitting a rough patch was dropping aggressive downfield dimes like this.
When Manziel was in, there were flashes of fun, but that’s really all they were. A bunch of smoke and mirrors plays such as reverse passes and throwbacks will define the chaos that was Manziel’s first year in the CFL for me.
That’s it for now. I’ll be here on Monday morning following each of the next three Playoff Sunday’s with a full breakdown of the X’s and O’s, along with stories to be told from the Grey Cup playoffs. Enjoy the games!
