2016 CFL Thread

[footballtom]

Eskimos give up the ball on downs. Ottawa Redblacks win 45-37 in OT - small revenge from the Grey Cup last year.

And for the first time in nearly 36 years, an Ottawa-based football team won a game in Edmonton.

August 26, 1983: Ottawa Rough Riders 17 at Edmonton Eskimos 14
https://stats.cfldb.ca/league/cfl/sched ... tt-at-edm/

When Edmonton BC And Toronto were all getting over 40,000 a game

[B.C.FAN]

The Lions are alone in first place after Week 1. Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg are 0-1 and Saskatchewan had the bye, so technically they're in second place.

[CardiacKid]

The Lions are alone in first place after Week 1. Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg are 0-1 and Saskatchewan had the bye, so technically they're in second place.

I think Rider fans would prefer we referred to it as "they are undefeated".

[maxlion]

http://www.tsn.ca/moves-in-the-middle-o ... s-1.516997

Lions remain in last place in TSN's Power Rankings.

[B.C.FAN]

http://www.tsn.ca/moves-in-the-middle-o ... s-1.516997

Lions remain in last place in TSN's Power Rankings.

The Lions are fourth of fifth in other power rankings I've seen this week, including those of Kirk Penton, who went 0-4 in predicting last week's games. It will take a few weeks for things to settle down.

The Lions and Stamps also drew the biggest CFL TV audience of the weekend with an average of 614,000 viewers, even though they were at the back end of a Saturday night doubleheader. (The season kickoff on Thursday between Hamilton and Toronto drew a bigger audience, an average of 692,000 viewers, but that is not considered a weekend event.)

[DanoT]

So when TSN 's last ranked team, the Lions, beats their first ranked team, the Stamps, the Toronto Sports Network can't even rank the Lions ahead of a team that has yet to play a game? The article states that the Power Ranking are not necessarily based on games won, so no one at the Toronto Sports Network need stay up late and watch the game. They might as well post next weeks rankings before they even play next weeks games.

[squishy35]

So when TSN 's last ranked team, the Lions, beats their first ranked team, the Stamps, the Toronto Sports Network can't even rank the Lions ahead of a team that has yet to play a game? The article states that the Power Ranking are not necessarily based on games won, so no one at the Toronto Sports Network need stay up late and watch the game. They might as well post next weeks rankings before they even play next weeks games.

CBC Sports actually has some good explanations about their rankings....:


1. Ottawa Redblacks
Record: 1-0
Next: at Montreal
GM Marcel Desjardins, already looking like a genius for the way he built this club into a Grey Cup finalist in two seasons, knew he needed a capable backup for QB Henry Burris going into 2016. In came free agent Trevor Harris from Toronto. Super Genius. In a wide-open game that featured two excellent offences and two confused defences, the RBs came out on top because of that signing. Burris looked great (23-31, 251 yards) until he injured the pinky on his throwing hand (not funny), and the backup appeared. Harris (17-19, 292) hit Chris Williams for a 53-yard TD on his first toss, did it again on his second possession. Between the pivots, they ran up 543 yards passing. Harris found Greg Ellingson for the overtime winner. Kudos to kicker Chris Milo, whose career long 55 yarder tied the game at 0:00.

2. Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Record: 1-0
Next: at B.C.
So many eyes were on LB Simoni Lawrence's excellent night (seven tackles, two sacks and a pick-six), they tended to overlook the maturing of Jeremiah Masoli into a credible starting QB. Masoli came into 2016 as the true question mark — can he keep the Kitties competitive while Zach Collaros continues to heal? Leading by only 12 in the fourth, after giving up two touchdowns in 48 seconds, Cats needed something, and Masoli provided it with a classic "death by a thousand paper cuts" drive of 106 yards, 10 plays and five minutes off the clock. Coach Kent Austin pointed afterwards to that drive as evidence of his team "maturing." Especially his QB (27 of 37, 318 yards, 3 TDs). Defensive boss Orlondo Steinhauer had the Argo blockers completely confused and continues his march to an eventual head-coaching job.

3. Edmonton Eskimos
Record: 0-1
Next: Bye
Rookie coach Jason Maas has some explaining to do about his defence's first outing in defence of the Grey Cup. While QB Mike Reilly and the attack were zipping along during the Saturday opener (433 net yards, 99 of them from a healthy RB John White), the defenders were dazed and confused. Losing safety Otha Foster (to Saskatchewan) and corner John Ojo (injury) was a big hit, but they can't go long allowing 543 passing yards a game. It's a rebuilt unit with new coaches and perhaps the old-fashioned prairie-shootout nature of the game, where neither squad could cover or tackle, acted like a virus that can be chased. Eskimos took too many penalties (12) including five 15-yarders. Still, that wasn't Winnipeg they lost to. Early bye week to watch film.

4. B.C. Lions
Record: 1-0
Next: at Hamilton
Wally Buono-coached teams never quit, a fact the favoured Stamps were reminded of this week when the Leos came back to win. Just seeing ol' Brillo there brought a smile to an aging follower and the still-GM seemed himself despite four years away. For the first half, the defence must have been having flashbacks to last year when they played well and the offence did nothing. Leos' first nine possessions ended with five punts, a fumble, a missed field goal and two threes. Young QB Jon Jennings had it going in the second half, putting together a long drive for a touchdown and then watching a beauty of a punt return score by Chris Rainey to put B.C. in front. Adam Bighill (nine tackles and a sack) and the big fellas took it from there. This is a huge boost for a club needing to get its mojo back.

5. Saskatchewan Roughriders
Record: 0-0
Next: vs. Toronto
New HC Chris Jones (and his four Grey Cup rings) will lead his Riders out for the first match of old Mosaic Stadium's last year carrying a pocket full of expectations and no idea how things will turn out. Saskatchewan won three games (still can't believe it) in 2015, so we know they'll be better. But how much? Some local chatter says even a couple-three victories more would be acceptable improvement. That's Prairie Pucks. Jones, who simply wins, should get much more than that out of this group as long as the QB position holds up. And there's the key. With one healthy backup behind Durant (B.J. Coleman), Jones brought in two with experience last week in G.J. Kinne and Bryant Moniz. Kinne has literally played everywhere, man (three seasons NFL, plus CFL, United Football League and Indoor Football League), while Moniz spent two quiet years in Calgary.

6. Montreal Alouettes
Record: 1-0
Next: vs. Ottawa
When you have new toys for the offensive coordinator to play with, it's nice to show them off. You could see right away the difference Anthony Calvillo has wrought now that he's using his own playbook and has QB Kevin Glenn and the return (after a year) of star receiver Duron Carter as weapons. KG (30-42, 332 yards, TD and pick), wasn't purrfect, but showed what an experienced pivot can do. Carter, who carried on an enthusiastic yap with the Bomber defenders all night, caught eight balls for 96 yards, and ran three times for 47. Add the 66 yards from RB Tyrell Sutton and it's a win. Defence was strong for three quarters before softening up too much in the fourth. But for self-inflicted errors by the Als, an eight-point victory should have been three touchdowns. A Week 2 match with Ottawa will be a great night in the stands.

7. Calgary Stampeders
Record: 0-1
Next: vs. Winnipeg
Dave Dickenson's debut as a head coach after all those faithful years assisting John Hufnagel turned out to be a complete dud. They'll be just fine, it says here (better be, after your correspondent picked them to finish first), but for one night all the warts were on display. A strong first half should have produced more than a 10-3 lead over B.C., but the Stamps couldn't shoot straight. QB Bo Mitchell (16-27, 233 yards) was OK, but he couldn't finish drives and it didn't help when the coaches pulled out an unneeded fake field goal on the one that backup Drew Tate couldn't sweep in. Still, thanks to stout defending, they were still up 18-6 late in the third. A long TD drive allowed, then special teams gave up a score, then Rene Paredes missed what could have been a winning FG from 31 yards out. Play the long game, work it out, 17 to go.

8. Toronto Argonauts
Record: 0-1
Next: at Saskatchewan
Off the field: Oooh. On the field: Ewww. New owners Bell Media and Larry Tanenbaum (two-thirds of the folks who bring you the Leafs and Raptors), moved the club from the Rogers Centre dome to the smaller BMO Field, hard by your Lake Shore on the CNE grounds. There, the ghosts of the 1970s Argos, who apparently never left the old Exhibition Stadium site, haunted the Boatmen all night. The club was awful, despite all the new free agents, the return of QB Ricky Ray to healthy (five times sacked), and a nice crowd to watch them. Ownership has brought professionalism, marketing knowledge and, above all, actual cash money, to the problem of rebuilding the reputation and popularity of the franchise. Game one did not sell out, but 24,812 is certainly a big jump. Everybody had a good time, but the team has to be competitive enough to see regular visits.

9. Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Record: 0-1
Next: at Calgary
Now the gods themselves are angry. Out of the room came a fired-up group of Bombers on Friday night, ready to compete with the Alouettes, and in the opening period the hosts were OK. Then … lightning … dark clouds … heavy rain … locusts (we made that part up) … created a 65-minute delay. A different team came out. QB Drew Willy couldn't finish drives, especially early. His first half went: punt, punt, safety, punt, punt, pick, punt, field goal. A TD toss to Darvin Adams with 2:38 to go in the fourth brought the game to within eight, but Montreal then killed most of the clock. The defence gave up 25 first downs, 431 net yards. They also stopped two Montreal drives inside the five — one on a pick, the other a forced fumble. Note to Weston Dressler: You are not a 230-pound running back. Get out of bounds.

[TheLionKing]

The fact that a team which hasn't played is ranked higher than teams that have is a joke.

[DanoT]

The fact that a team which hasn't played is ranked higher than teams that have is a joke.

Since the Riders were 3-15 and last in the CFL last season and have been able to move up the rankings by not playing, maybe they could continue to move up the rankings by not showing up and just forfeit the next game.

[pennw]

This is why power rankings are a joke . Not only do teams that have not played go ahead of others , but teams that lose go ahead of teams that win . The noses posted on CFL.ca are a joke too . They base it on a starting point from last year , which is stupid because the teams have changed . They aren't the same teams as last year . Last year is completely irrelevant . Why even bother putting out a power ranking after only one week ?

[CardiacKid]

Since the Riders were 3-15 and last in the CFL last season and have been able to move up the rankings by not playing, maybe they could continue to move up the rankings by not showing up and just forfeit the next game.

And the Regina Leader Post's sport section has the matching banner headline "After Two Weeks, Riders Remain Undefeated"! Chris Jones says "I love the intensity with which the guys are not playing. The way they are coming together avoiding playing football is just super. Give us a couple more weeks of not playing games and I expect we will rocket up the power rankings to #1"

[TheLionKing]

Trevor Harris filling in for the injured Henry Burris has the RedBlacks up 27-14 over Montreal with 3 minutes remaining in the game.

[CardiacKid]

Where the hell can someone find the Riders' depth chart? I have looked all over their website and couldn't find it. I think every other team in the league posts their game depth chart and roster online.

Is the Official Secrets Act that Chris Jones instituted this week extended to their website? I know they think they are all that and a bag of chips but that sucks if they don't make it accessible to fans.

[CardiacKid]

Where the hell can someone find the Riders' depth chart? I have looked all over their website and couldn't find it. I think every other team in the league posts their game depth chart and roster online.

Is the Official Secrets Act that Chris Jones instituted this week extended to their website? I know they think they are all that and a bag of chips but that sucks if they don't make it accessible to fans.

Found it on their Facebook page.

Weirdos.....

[CardiacKid]

Keep hearing in the Rider-Argos game how Chris Jones is taking guys who are physical specimens and converting them to new positions. AC Leonard, former Lions tight-end is now a defensive end (he has a sack), a young guy by the name of Francis is a true rookie at Safety (he has never played in the secondary before) but is 6'5" and Jordan Reaves, a basketball player and son of Willard Reaves is at defensive end.

At what point does the rawness of these guys at their new positions become a liability? This Riders roster is truly a crazy patchwork at the moment.

Durant looks good but someone tell Chris Jones to undo the top button on his golf shirt. It looks stupid....

Durant is limping off the field to the locker room with bit of a hitch in his step. Nicked up?