Coaches rate players every day, and assess their team strengths and weaknesses each and every day. Oddsmakers rate the teams. The media rates the teams.
And one could wait until the playoffs to rate the teams, if one was ultra conservative. Or one could wait for a couple of regular season games. Or four games. Or six games. Or nine games. Or whatever ...
So this is just getting the feet a bit wet.
In the West, I am surprised that Calgary just does not look all that dominant. Can they miss Kevin Glenn that much? The answer would seem to be: Yes. Without Papa Bear Kevin, Bo and Drew looked just a little bit shaky, it seems to me. But the team should be pretty good. Good running game. Good defence. Good coaching.
And now that Kevin Glenn is ours, we can see "up close and personal" what he brings to a team. Calmness, confidence, focus, quick reads, quick release, less pressure on the O Line. It is all good for us. I like what we see from our new OC and DC. Their squads look focused. Intense and athletic. I expect their game plans will be state of the art. I expect they will adjust, adjust, adjust, as is needed these days. For how quiet Wally was in FA, I am surprised how deep the team looks. Credit to Neil McAvoy and Kelly Bates for all the evaluations, recommendations and decisions they made. We have hit some very nice home runs lately in the draft. Norman. Fabien. Probably Steward. Player. Westerman. Menard. Chin. McGarva. Thorn. Haidara. Build to a championship through the draft.
I expect the Riders to be pretty good. Excellent O Line. Solid drafts most years. They spend the money. The rabid fans are coming to demand high standards. And those rabid fans deserve just that. Taman seems like a no nonsense kind of guy, taking care of business. Chamblin seems like a no nonsense coach. Durant has his Grey Cup ring.
I expect Chris Jones will have the Eskimos playing competitive football. Mike Reilly certainly helps that goal.
For the Bombers, the only way is up. They should be better than they have been lately. IMO they have a ways to go to replace Kevin Glenn and Buck Pierce.
In the East, I expect the Argos to be pretty good as long as Milanovich is there. Oh yeah, and Ricky Ray.
I expect the TiCats to be very competitive with Kent Austin setting the standard. He is so new to the CFL Head Coaching gig, in just his third season, however, this CFL fan wonders if he has a burnout quotient for his team. He certainly seems intense. In his two seasons as HC, he has one Grey Cup ring and another Grey Cup appearance. Not too bad.
Are the Alouettes on the way down? Well, Calvillo is retired. Hawkins has been fired, after causing chaos. Higgins is the HC, but was hired without input from the GM, Jim Popp. The OC, Rick Worman, was fired in TC.
And the RedBlacks look pretty competitive for a new franchise. The league did expansion the right way this time, allowing them to field a pretty good team.
...........
We seem stronger than last year. The Stampeders look a bit weaker with the loss of Kevin Glenn. The Riders might be a bit weaker, having kind of snuck into the Grey Cup last year, and having lost two stars from their offence, and some good ones from their defence. I would expect the Eskimos and Bombers to be looking up, but anything can happen in the CFL.
In the East, I expect the Argos and TiCats to be at the top, with the Alouettes and RedBlacks looking up.
Things will probably change fast in the first few weeks, and then settle down with some clear pace setters and also rans.
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