CFL: Rating the teams

[notahomer]

THink your team power rankings at bang on, WCJ. We'll see what the TSN algorithm spits out. Calgary is clear #1, IMO. How can you keep switching QB's so seamlessly? And they don't seem complacent either.

The Riderfans will now have to go through what I went through. Feeling your team was more than good enough to play in a Grey Cup game being played in your home stadium but now not knowing if they'll be hosting a playoff game before then. I know one win does not mean anything for the Lions. We have 4 more against this 'terrible two'. It just seems like we've hit them at a good time, for us, in their schedule. Its happened lots this year but this is the first time it hasn't come back to bite us. RIcky Ray out? Lions should win but they didn't. Calvillo out? Lions should win but gagged up a loss late.

Now the #1 question in Regina must be 'when is Sheets back?'.

[WestCoastJoe]

http://www.cfl.ca/article/cflca-power-r ... ne-in-town

Toronto Argonauts (8-4-0)
Change: +1
They say you have to beat the best to be the best. So that's exactly what the Toronto Argonauts did in Week 13 against the Calgary Stampeders - Week 12's number one team. Thanks to yet another late-game comeback, Zach Collaros and the Argos created some much needed distance between themselves and the rest of the pack in the East Division.

Calgary Stampeders (9-3-0)
Change: -1
Unable to hold onto the top spot in this week's rankings after staking claim to the coveted position for the last two weeks, the Stamps dip down to number two after failing to match Toronto's fourth-quarter output, en-route to their first loss in over a month. Next week they hit the road to Guelph, where a hungry Tiger-Cats squad awaits.

BC Lions (8-4-0)
Change: +1
Down Travis Lulay and big-play receiver Emmanuel Arceneaux, the Lions waltzed into Mosaic Stadium and escaped with a narrow - yet thrilling - victory over the Roughriders. Thomas DeMarco had his moments under centre, but came up in the clutch when it mattered most. He'll look to duplicate his performance next week in another hostile environment - Winnipeg's Investors Group Field.

Saskatchewan Roughriders (8-4-0)
Change: -1
What's going on in Riderville? In their last three games, the Riders have come up short against the likes of Thomas DeMarco's Lions, Zach Collaros' Argos and Justin Goltz's Bombers - an alarming trend to say the least. In Week 14, they'll escape Saskatchewan for a bit in favour of Quebec, where they'll face off against the Als on Sunday.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats (6-6-0)
Change: Even
The Ticats were impressive once again in their East Coast home, downing the Alouettes 28-26 in Touchdown Atlantic. A massive test awaits them this week, as the angry Stampeders come to town. Will the Ticats finally be able to get over the .500 hump?

Edmonton Eskimos (3-9-0)
Change: +1
They needed a little bit of extra time, but Mike Reilly and the Eskimos registered their first two-game win streak of the season last week, coming out on top of a 35-27 overtime decision over the Bombers. With the win, the Esks got themselves right back into the post-season picture. While they'll be in tough against the Argos this week, you can be sure they have their Week 15 contest with the Als circled on their calendars.

Montreal Alouettes (4-8-0)
Change: -1
With their third-straight loss, the Als' playoff hopes continue to hang in the balance. While their defence has done a good job of maintaining their level of personel success, the same can't be said for their offence, as the group has often appeared flat and out of synch.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2-10-0)
Change: Even
The Bombers let one slip away on Friday Night Football in dramatic fashion. It will be interesting to see how they rebound this week against the Lions, where a familiar face in Buck Pierce might see some action in his former town.

[notahomer]

Well as always, its not going to matter but IMO, Calgary should still be #1 but okay Toronto did enough that their rankings make sense. Certainly the Riders are slipping quickly and okay, the LIons won a big one. Lets see how they play against the team thats ranked last?

[Rammer]

Great job Joe...the biggest thing I see after 3 games??? Is what you said after week one...PARITY.

The league is a close as it has ever been in terms of the talent differences between teams...even looking at EDM on Saturday, their not lacking for talent, especially when you bring back their injured players. I thought our LB corp (Banks, Sol, Biggie, and McKenzie) when Biggie is back has a chance to be one of the best in a long time, but EDM has a pretty freaking good group themselves.

This is going to be a very "tight" interesting season.

I don't think it's as tight as you think it is. I can already see the developing tiers of talent/performance in the league.

Tier 1: BC, Sas, Calgyra
Tier 2: Toronto, Montreal
Tier 3: Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton

Some things in particular that stand out early.

When American coaches come up to the Canadian game, they look at the field and think to themselves "My goodness, we can go vertical all game long, look at how wide and long that field is." And then they design this game plan that they think is brilliant, and they take it out on the field and their quarterback gets killed because he has to hold on to the ball so long in order to make it happen. Congratulations, Anthony Calvillo, this is your life.

Hamilton. It isn't really about getting the most out of Hank the Chucker. You're always going to get the most out of Hank the Chucker. It's more about the fact that they've gone through six different D Line starters (with more coming off the bus as we speak), trying to find a defensive front that works. They didn't know who they were defensively coming out of training camp, and they still don't. Before you tell me I'm wrong on this, let me ask you: when is the last time a team pulled in guys off the bus in early/midseason around NFL cut time and had those guys become solid to superior contributors to a Grey Cup championship team? Carl Kidd?

Winnipeg has had the good fortune of playing Montreal twice. They aren't without talent, but they aren't as good as advertised.

Edmonton has a very good defensive front seven. But the secondary is lacking, the offensive line is a work in progress, the Lions secondary shut down that receiving corps, and the head coach's mentality and methodology has a short shelf life. I like Mike Reilly but even I acknowledge he has a learning curve to get past as a full time starter, and that screams crossover to me.

I see the tiering differently.

1. TO, Calgary
2. BC, Saskatchewan, Hamilton
3. Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg

TO has just won three on the road, incluiding Calgary with their backup QB. I just see a team without any holes. Wait until Ray aned Owens are back in that fold. It will give them another gear for the playoff run.

Calgary has a great running game and has been able to stay on top of the West without their goto receiver and all three QB's running the O.

BC shows flashes of being in that top tier, only to be stung by their difficulties in the red zone and way too many mistakes for a top tier team. Until the O becomes more concistent, they will be looking up at the leaders.

Saskatchewan, who would have thought that losing their TB would be larger than the Lions losing Lulay, but that is what amounteed to the Lions taking the first match between the two clubs. They need a more balanced attack on O along with sime help at the LB position to move up in the pecking order.

Hamilton lost early in the season to Edmonton, but is getting better as the season unfolds. A team that won't be catching anyone by surprise at this juncture, so we will find where they will get placed. I see the addition of Gable giving them perhaps the best all around TB in the league, a great weapon against any D.

Montreal, Edmonton, and Winnipeg all need to get better significantly in certain positions. The Als and the Bombers at the QB, surprisinly Edmonton needs a D overhaul, something that was expected to be a strength. Reilly is the real deal, but in order to keep his health the Esks had better find some OL and perhaps a front office change or several.

[WestCoastJoe]

After 13 games ...

1 Calgary. Most points for. Good defence. 3 QBs. #1.

2 Toronto. Virtual tie with the Lions. 4 wins on the road in a row. Good O. Good D.

3 B.C. Virtual tie with the Argos. Improved run game. Stout defence. Good game management by TDM.

4 Regina. Slip sliding down the slope. No Sheets. 4 losses in a row.

5 Hamilton. Some struggles. Some success. Might challenge Toronto in the playoffs.

6 Montreal. Nice win over Regina. Much appreciated. Getting over the Hawkins debacle.

7 Edmonton. Nasty head shot on Reilly. Without him? Ouch.

8 Winnipeg. Time to look towards next year. The fans deserve better.

[notahomer]

After 13 games ...

1 Calgary. Most points for. Good defence. 3 QBs. #1.

2 Toronto. Virtual tie with the Lions. 4 wins on the road in a row. Good O. Good D.

3 B.C. Virtual tie with the Argos. Improved run game. Stout defence. Good game management by TDM.

4 Regina. Slip sliding down the slope. No Sheets. 4 losses in a row.

5 Hamilton. Some struggles. Some success. Might challenge Toronto in the playoffs.

6 Montreal. Nice win over Regina. Much appreciated. Getting over the Hawkins debacle.

7 Edmonton. Nasty head shot on Reilly. Without him? Ouch.

8 Winnipeg. Time to look towards next year. The fans deserve better.

WCJ's rankings were not too far off from the TSN.ca formula this week. They have Toronto #1, Calgary #2 etc... just like WCJ from there. As TSN notes, its weird to slip from #1 (Calgary) to #2 considering the game they had (a win) but Toronto has shown a lot on this extended road trip.

[B.C.FAN]

The cfl.ca mathematical power rankings have big changes this week, with Calgary moving up to top spot for the first time, B.C. jumping two spots to second and Saskatchewan falling all the way from first to fourth.

Mathematical power rankings

[notahomer]

The cfl.ca mathematical power rankings have big changes this week, with Calgary moving up to top spot for the first time, B.C. jumping two spots to second and Saskatchewan falling all the way from first to fourth.

Mathematical power rankings

WOW! Thanks for posting. Seeing the differences between the TSN and CFL rankings is interesting. Its been awhile since I thought the Lions deserved such a high ranking.

[DanoT]

I always thought that power rankings were mostly about how a team is doing right now as apposed to the official standings which reflect the entire season. So how can the riders maintain first spot in the power rankings while going through a 3 game loosing streak (including a loss to last place Bombers) and then drop to 4th in the standings after loosing the 4th game in a row?

[notahomer]

Here is my stab at the latest, CFL rankings....(I'll look at the CFL/TSN ones later in the week, they are usually different from each other and most certainly not like mine....)

Calgary Tier one

Argos/Ticats- one gets to go to Regina the other gets to say oh well

Riders
Lions

Als, Bombers, Esks

We'll see what the people who actually know what they are talking about (TSN/CFL) think....

[notahomer]

TSN's ratings....

http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/feature/?id=97698
Calgary, Hamilton, Sask, Tor, BC, Montreal, Edm and Bombers. Okay, makes sense, I guess.

CFL rankings probably come out tomorrow....

I was a little surprised the Riders stayed so strong in the TSN rankings. Do they deserve to be better than the Lions? Yup, IMO. But I rate the Ticats and Argos both above them.

[JohnHenry]

The Lions are #1! (on defence)

Here is a ranking of the gross yardage gained and allowed by each team (after 15 games):

Offensive Yards gained:

Hamilton 6,253
Calgary 6,164
Saskatchewan 5,959
Toronto 5,745
Edmonton 5,623
B.C. 5,310
Montreal 5,099
Winnipeg 4,459

Defensive Yards allowed:

B.C. 5,070
Montreal 5,191
Saskatchewan 5,340
Calgary 5,419
Hamilton 5,609
Edmonton 5,777
Winnipeg 5,972
Toronto 6,234

I should note I copied these stats from another website, but from a source I deem reliable and which does not include penalty yardage.

[sj-roc]

The Lions are #1! (on defence)

Here is a ranking of the gross yardage gained and allowed by each team (after 15 games):

Offensive Yards gained:

Hamilton 6,253
Calgary 6,164
Saskatchewan 5,959
Toronto 5,745
Edmonton 5,623
B.C. 5,310
Montreal 5,099
Winnipeg 4,459

Defensive Yards allowed:

B.C. 5,070
Montreal 5,191
Saskatchewan 5,340
Calgary 5,419
Hamilton 5,609
Edmonton 5,777
Winnipeg 5,972
Toronto 6,234

I should note I copied these stats from another website, but from a source I deem reliable and which does not include penalty yardage.

Not sure how much can be read into these defensive stats given that Mtl ranks 2nd despite being 6-9. If e.g., you're constantly giving the other team good field position (big returns on fumbles, INTs, punts, KOs, MFGs) then this leaves opposing offences with only so many offensive yards to gain before scoring. Interesting to note that despite their favourable yardage stat they rank 6th in points against (i.e., 3rd-worst). So I'd like to see a ranking by all-purpose yards against with a category breakdown.

It might also be interesting to see a stat where the defensive yards against is normalised against field position. For example, the other team could gain 45yds whether they start on their own 20yd line (90yds from a TD and stalling on your 45) or they could gain the same amount from starting on your 45 (and scoring a TD). Both of these would be 45yds against on the defense, but obviously different results that would better be captured with a normalised stat (45/90 = 0.5 in the former case and 45/45 = 1.0 in the latter), and you could extend this over a full game or season by normalising the aggregate DYA to the aggregate field position. I suspect Mtl would NOT rank as good as 2nd on such a stat, nor would we be 1st.

Also interesting that despite most OYG, Ham ranks only 5th in points scored. Turnovers and/or poor field position must be contributing to this (also not getting defensive scoring contributions like we did in Wpg!). They're averaging about 6 yards per game more than Cgy, but scoring about 7 points per game less.

[notahomer]

http://cfl.ca/power-rankings

This weeks CFL power rankings.....
Cal, Sask, Argos, Ticats, Lions, ALs, Esks, Bombers....

Hmmm..... The TSN rankings make more sense, IMO. Calgary is clearly just in another league AT THIS MOMENT. None of that matters come November except the West Final will probably be played in Calgary.

Sask #2? Don't get it. They've struggled a lot recently and VERY EASILY could have lost to the Eskimos. They had a solid win with the return of Sheets but beyond that I do not see them being much in the playoffs without some better on field play.... Guess we'll see how they do in a home game versus a fellow contending West team.

Argos over Ticats? Yes, the Argos did the amazing and won FOUR games on the road (certainly worth rating them higher than the Riders, IMO) BUT, they just finished losing a home&home to the TIcats

[JohnHenry]

Power Ranking should be:

1. Calgary
2. Hamilton
3. Sask.
4. B.C.
5. Toronto
6. Montreal
7. Edmonton
9. Winnipeg