CFL Games of Week 2 -- July 2 - July 5

[BC 1988]

Interesting article--Mitchell wears a knee brace all the time to help prevent injuries like Reilly sustained.
http://m.ottawasun.com/2015/06/29/cfls- ... ies-to-qbs
[One snap of an Achilles tendon and one caved-in knee, and the complexion of the CFL’s West Division changed in the blink of an eye.

First, it was Toronto Argonauts defensive lineman Cleyon Laing barrelling into the left knee of Edmonton Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly on Saturday afternoon, followed closely by Saskatchewan Roughriders Darian Durant rupturing his Achilles tendon in the evening.

Two franchise quarterbacks, two season-ending injuries — Reilly hasn’t officially had his 2015 campaign scrapped, but many are expecting the worst — and two teams thought to be firmly in the West Division mix now wondering what to make of their seasons just one game in.

The Calgary Stampeders were always seen as the favourites heading into their defence of last year’s Grey Cup championship, but the weekend injuries seem to put them even further ahead of the pack.

“The easy answer is yes,” Stamps quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell said when asked if those injuries significantly changed the West Division landscape. “That’s two great quarterbacks.”

But Mitchell knows the stand-ins well, following the Esks’ Matt Nichols as the starter with the NCAA’s Eastern Washington University Eagles, before spending two seasons behind the Riders’ Kevin Glenn with the Stampeders.

The importance of good quarterback play was emphasized last season when Durant went down with a season-ending elbow injury and the Riders fell of the face of the map after an 8-2 start to finish 10-8.

With Reilly sidelined for the Labour Day series against the Stampeders last year, Nichols struggled to move the Esks offence, save for a 24-point fourth-quarter outburst in the rematch.

Mitchell believes it’s different this time around.

“You saw what happened to Sask last year when they didn’t have Durant,” Mitchell said. “I think they have some good guys backing him up now, though. Obviously, with KG over there, I don’t think they’re going to dip like they did last year. The (Eskimos) situation is tough, but Nichols is good, and (James) Franklin looked good to me in the pre-season. I know Nichols is a great quarterback, and he’ll make sure he gets that team in the right position.”

With an endless list of quarterback injuries over the past couple of seasons affecting just about every CFL team, having a capable backup is absolutely essential.

It’s the reason the Riders went out and signed Glenn.

It’s the reason the Esks didn’t trade Nichols last season when some thought they would.

It’s also the reason Stampeders backup Drew Tate isn’t about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

He might be the most important insurance policy in the league, and the Stamps feel they can win a Grey Cup with him if something were to happen to Mitchell.

Stamps GM/head coach John Hufnagel doesn’t take chances with the game’s most vital position.

“I don’t have to see (those injuries) to feel good about having Drew Tate on this football team,” Hufnagel said.

Saturday was a bad day for the Riders, the Esks and the league as a whole. Throw in a season-ending shoulder injury to Montreal Alouettes’ Dan LeFevour, and three of the 27 quarterbacks in the league on active rosters are no more.

“It’s awful,” Hamilton Tiger-Cats GM/head coach Kent Austin said.

“Those guys are really good football players for a reason. They’re talented, but they also work hard and they prepare hard. You just hate to see that for them, individually, for their teams and overall for the league. It’s not good.”

No one in Stampederland was cheering, either, even if it conceivably makes the path back to the Grey Cup a little easier to navigate.

“I feel bad for them — no doubt,” Stamps offensive co-ordinator Dave Dickenson said. “I’m thankful ours didn’t (get hurt), but I feel bad for those guys, especially because you work so hard.

“I’m not rooting for anyone to get hurt or anything like that. I would rather the best guys play and the best team wins.”

While Durant’s Achilles failing him is a freak injury, Reilly’s is a little different.

There’s a reason Mitchell wears a brace on his left knee, and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has even asked his prized QB, Tom Brady, to wear a brace, especially after watching his franchise QB lose a full season to a torn ACL on a play that looked very similar to the one that took out Reilly.

It was hard for Mitchell to watch Saturday.

“Man, honestly … I can’t even put it into words,” said Mitchell, who had a close call last year but escaped without any major damage when his knee bent awkwardly underneath him in a mid-September game against the Argonauts. “It was rough to watch — just knowing everything they’ve tried to do to say they’re going to protect the quarterback and things happen like that, especially for Durant, not even a contact play, and the Mike Reilly one was tough. It’s something that happened to Brady, obviously, and that’s why guys like myself, I’m wearing the knee brace because of it. Guys in this league are going hard, and they’re going to fall at your feet sometimes.”

Now, everyone will be watching to see how far the Eskimos and the Riders fall without their stars.]

[WestCoastJoe]

CFL Week 2: Picks and power rankings

BY MIKE BEAMISH, VANCOUVER SUN JUNE 30, 2015

CFL Week 2: Picks and power rankings

Ottawa Redblacks’ Zack Evans (left) tries to grab B.C. Lions quarterback Travis Lulay during their CFL game last September in Ottawa, where Lulay reinjured his shoulder and was lost for the season. Lulay returns to action in Ottawa on Saturday.
Photograph by: Fred Chartrand , THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER — Setting up who’s playing who, and where the teams rank, on the second weekend of the Canadian Football League season:

THURSDAY

Hamilton at Winnipeg

5:30 p.m. Pacific time, TSN

Some coaches feel that no other barometer in football serves as a measure of success or failure than quarterback sacks. One doesn’t have to look further than the 66 takedowns registered against Drew Willy last season to understand why he was a harried young quarterback. Given time and space, however, Willy completed 88 per cent of his passes as the Blue Bombers upset the Roughriders 30-26 in Regina. Additions of free agent O-linemen Stanley Bryant and Dominic Picard appear huge. Let’s see if they can do it again, against a Ticat D-line coming off a four-sack performance against the Stamps.

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Pick: Tiger-Cats.

FRIDAY

Calgary at Montreal

4:30 p.m. Pacific, TSN

With Jonathan Crompton and Dan LeFevour both lost to shoulder injuries, the Alouettes are turning to Plan B (Brandon Bridge) or Plan C (Rakeem Cato), two rookies, for their relief quarterbacking. Air Canada, as Bridge is known, is that rara avis in professional football — a Canadian who lines up behind centre. The Mississauga, Ont., native attended the NFL combine in February and could become the first Canadian QB to start a CFL game since Guilio Caravatta of the B.C. Lions in 1996. Matched against the marauding Stampeder defence, whichever rookie draws the assignment will be saddled with a full spectrum of quarterback responsibilities.

Pick: Stampeders.

SATURDAY

B.C. at Ottawa

3 p.m. Pacific, TSN

Travis Lulay has been taking the lyrics of Rhymin’ Paul Simon to heart. “You got to learn how to fall before you learn to fly.” Aided by mats and air bags to break his fall, the Lions’ quarterback has been tutored by head coach Jeff Tedford to absorb a hit without breaking a body part on the way down. “It’s all part of the recovery process,” says Lulay, who injured his surgically repaired right shoulder Sept. 5 against the RedBlacks. Whether he can get through all 18 games remains to be seen. For now, Lulay just hopes to last through the first one.

Pick: Lions.

SUNDAY

Toronto at Saskatchewan

12:30 p.m. Pacific, TSN

With Darian Durant’s projected return scheduled for 2016, Kevin Glenn, the man from Motor City, assumes the driver’s seat for the Roughriders. “I’ve never been given anything in this league,” acknowledges the Detroit-born, Illinois State product. “Nobody has said, ‘Here are the keys to the car, go drive it.’ ” Typically, Glenn gets to start because of another man’s misfortune. Last year, he was the stand-in for Travis Lulay in B.C. Now, Glenn replaces Durant, gone for the year with an Achilles injury. “I’m an insurance policy,” Glenn says. While not the Roughriders’ first choice, he does present a viable second option.

Pick: Roughriders.

2nd WEEK BYE: Edmonton.

TiCats

Stampeders

Lions

Argonauts

Who can say for sure? It seems to me that all these games can go either way.

[BC 1988]

Swayze Waters out 4-6 weeks with hip flexor tear. No word yet on his replacement. TOR sure can't expect Stala to fill in, and Prefontaine won't be coming back again.
http://www.cfl.ca/article/argos-kicker- ... -4-6-weeks
Tino Sunseri back with SSK. As expected, not much joy over on RiderFan (a few weeks ago, they were celebrating his departure.)
http://cfl.ca/article/riders-bring-back ... no-sunseri
Mike Reilly out estimated "10-12 weeks" with "a torn posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), a partially torn medial collateral ligament (MCL) and a medial meniscal tear in his left knee," (Pretty unlikely he will be back that soon, unless he's rushed back too early).
http://cfl.ca/article/eskimos-confirm-r ... 0-12-weeks

[TheLionKing]

Wonder if the Argos might give Anthony Fera a call.

[Hambone]

Wonder if the Argos might give Anthony Fera a call.

They've already signed a NAT kicker who was in Ottawa's camp.

[Qman]

Wonder if the Argos might give Anthony Fera a call.

they signed some guy two days ago.

[BC 1988]

Wonder if the Argos might give Anthony Fera a call.

they signed some guy two days ago.

http://www.therecord.com/sports-story/5 ... l-s-argos/
22 year old Ronnie Pfeffer. Interesting story. Had been a high school soccer midfielder, had a terrible start to his football college career at Wilfred Laurier, but had the best numbers in Canada in his senior year. He tried out for the Argos yesterday and signed the same day.

[Toppy Vann]

I can understand someone with history getting knocked but are the ESKS and Chris Jones trapped in a remote location without replay? WTF are they on about. The video shows no intent and no chance for the player to shift his body. There are hits where the player is showed and could miss but don't but in the angle the TV shows over and over - this was an accident.

Isn't this a bit rich for renowned head hunter Chris Jones who was blitzing Buck Pierce of the Bombers in the first pre-season game as DC with the Argos with his players openly suggesting they knew Buck had a 'soft melon.' This is rich for someone who seems to want his team injuring opponents but screams like a little pig when someone injures his QB by visible accident.

I feel bad for Reilly as I do for all the injured QBs as they are what makes the CFL exciting (or not) especially as the teams have stacked their Defenses with top talent in the past few years.

[DanoT]

I can understand someone with history getting knocked but are the ESKS and Chris Jones trapped in a remote location without replay? WTF are they on about. The video shows no intent and no chance for the player to shift his body. There are hits where the player is showed and could miss but don't but in the angle the TV shows over and over - this was an accident.

Isn't this a bit rich for renowned head hunter Chris Jones who was blitzing Buck Pierce of the Bombers in the first pre-season game as DC with the Argos with his players openly suggesting they knew Buck had a 'soft melon.' This is rich for someone who seems to want his team injuring opponents but screams like a little pig when someone injures his QB by visible accident.

I feel bad for Reilly as I do for all the injured QBs as they are what makes the CFL exciting (or not) especially as the teams have stacked their Defenses with top talent in the past few years.

Since Jones' teams have been QB headhunters, he naturally expects other teams to do it as well and the Argos' Laing does have a bit of a reputation. But you are correct, Jones should look at the tape and be honest with himself. Of course he may indeed be honest with himself, but not so much with the media...playing a propaganda game with them perhaps.

[TheLionKing]

Drew Willy out of the game with a suspected concussion.

[Toppy Vann]

Drew Willy out of the game with a suspected concussion.

This one sounds real bad. I forgot the game was on and missed that part of it but heard the panel when the feed was lost (likely on purpose...lol) say he was knocked right out badly. How was the hit?

[pennw]

Another starting QB knocked out , our chances with Travis don't sound so bad any more with half the starters gone before we've even had a game .

[Rammer]

Drew Willy out of the game with a suspected concussion.

This one sounds real bad. I forgot the game was on and missed that part of it but heard the panel when the feed was lost (likely on purpose...lol) say he was knocked right out badly. How was the hit?

Willy was in the grasp being spun to the ground when he was hit from the side just under his helmet and it jarred his head sideways. He was down for awhile, but when he did come off, he wasn't as bad as some, moving his head and he even looked up into the crowd, a move not many with a severe head concussion do. I suspect he will be back pretty quick.

[Toppy Vann]

Montreal ... wow.... Rakeem Cato shooting the lights out so far. Nothing too long.

Nik Lewis scores on a great TD and gives the new fans some of his luv. That celebration was great.

7:57 min eat of the clock in the 3rd by Cato and the Als for a TD.

[TheLionKing]

Impressive pro debut by Cato, throwing 3 touchdowns leading the Als to a 29-11 victory over the Stampeders.