CFL News re: TC's 2024- Not BC Lions

[squishy35]

Meanwhile in Edmonton, the Elks TC has been experiencing discipline issues.

https://3downnation.com/2024/05/23/that ... tercation/

It seems like a perennial happening in the Chris Jones' era.

[Toppy Vann]

Meanwhile in Edmonton, the Elks TC has been experiencing discipline issues.

https://3downnation.com/2024/05/23/that ... tercation/

It seems like a perennial happening in the Chris Jones' era.

That sounds a bit like a Chris Jones team where there seem to be lots of early season drama.
He doesn't sound upset and while I have no idea there are some coaches who don't care as much if that happens are different from those who demand disicipline in practices believing as I do that how a team is in practice is what will turn up in a game at a crucial moment. The latter is my coaching philosophy so if someone is grabbing a jersey in fun I'd jump all over them.

What I don't believe in is what these dinosaur coaches do when they waste every team member's time running doggies. Just set the guidelines and stop practice and restart what they were doing but punishment by runniing isn't going the playbooks and DEF play down pat.

[Toppy Vann]

While I've mostly considered Weston Dressler as a Rider, he's mulling if he goes into the HOF as a Bomber given that he really felt he grew as a person with the latter.

My view is that these guys should go in in the last uniform they played in and not these fake 1 day contracts.

Rider fans will be annoyed with this story.

https://3downnation.com/2024/05/23/ride ... l-of-fame/

https://www.statscrew.com/football/stat ... e_vignette

[Toppy Vann]

A real indepth BC Fan type report from the Argos TC. It's not just about QBs either.




Quarterback

Good report on Arbuckle but for me it's his lack of consistency - not dissimilar to Dane Evans - at least that is how I see these two in the CFL. Hot or cold. No middle ground.

Arbuckle finished the game 12-of-13 for 140 yards with a touchdown pass to Changa Hodge and a two-point conversion to Tommy Nield. He also had one carry for eight yards.

Cameron Dukes, last year’s backup and the team’s current probable starter, saw by far the most action, going 12-of-18 for 115 yards and a touchdown, plus an additional 17 yards on the ground. Bryan Scott, who was the third-stringer last year, went four-of-eight for 89 yards and scored a rushing touchdown from 10 yards out.

Dukes got seven drives, Scott was given five, and Arubuckle led three, which is probably telling in terms of how the depth chart looks for now.

Dukes looked composed, used his legs well to escape relentless pressure, and found DaVaris Daniels on a gorgeous corner route in behind Tunde Adeleke for a 30-yard touchdown. This is almost certainly Dukes’ job to lose, but he’s being pushed by two competitors and that’s probably a good thing for the Argonauts. All three quarterbacks looked like viable options.

https://3downnation.com/2024/05/22/nick ... ers-at-qb/

[don corleone]

Impressive National depth theoretically at RT for the Elks as Hunter Stewart starts ahead of Shane Richards tomorrow with Brett Boyko not dressing. All high picks in their draft years. Odds are good one works out. Credit to Geroy for his work.

[Coast Mountain Lion]

While I've mostly considered Weston Dressler as a Rider, he's mulling if he goes into the HOF as a Bomber given that he really felt he grew as a person with the latter.

My view is that these guys should go in in the last uniform they played in and not these fake 1 day contracts.

Rider fans will be annoyed with this story.

https://3downnation.com/2024/05/23/ride ... l-of-fame/

https://www.statscrew.com/football/stat ... e_vignette

Even more annoying is the idea of Geroy and Clermont going into the hall as Riders.

Do they enter with a specific team like they do with MLB? Where would, say, Damon Allen be, who played for several teams and won Grey Cups with three?

[Hambone]

While I've mostly considered Weston Dressler as a Rider, he's mulling if he goes into the HOF as a Bomber given that he really felt he grew as a person with the latter.

My view is that these guys should go in in the last uniform they played in and not these fake 1 day contracts.

Rider fans will be annoyed with this story.

https://3downnation.com/2024/05/23/ride ... l-of-fame/

https://www.statscrew.com/football/stat ... e_vignette

Even more annoying is the idea of Geroy and Clermont going into the hall as Riders.

Do they enter with a specific team like they do with MLB? Where would, say, Damon Allen be, who played for several teams and won Grey Cups with three?

I think the only HOF where players enter as a <insert team here> is the Baseball Hall of Fame. That's mainly because Inductees are honoured with a plaque depicting them wearing the ball cap of the team they represent. There's been a bit of controversy under that system thinking of Gary Carter (Expos vs Mets). I believe Andre Dawson also went in as an Expo but in recent years has complained that he'd rather have gone in as a Cub. I think it's actually the Baseball Hall of Fame that makes the final call on what cap the player is displayed with on their plaque.

In the CFHOF players DO NOT enter as a Rider or Bomber or Lion or whatever team. All are honoured with a bronze bust with an accompanying small plaque that simply states their name and Class of whatever year they were enshrined. For example Merv's bust that is on display in Hamilton is accompanied with a small plaque that says Mervyn Ferndandez and below that the words Class of 2019. There is no mention of BC Lions. For Inductees any reference to a team or teams is contained in their Inductee bios in the CFHOF website. There is sometimes an action picture in the website with the player in the uniform of one of the teams they played for but not always. In Merv's class the only player shown wearing a uniform is the late Ernie Pitts who tragically was shot and killed by his estranged wife when he made a quick trip mid-season trip home in his one season in BC in 1970. The rest including Merv, Cornish, David Williams and Terry Greer show them in suits holding onto the football that has the CFHOF logo, their name and Class of 2019.

I don't think Dressler pondered the question until Henoc and Donnovan put him on the spot during their interview on The Waggle. From there he did his best to sit on the fence and not alienate either the Riders or Bombers. He will have a bust created with a plaque saying Weston Dressler Class of 2024.

https://cfhof.ca/members/mervyn-fernandez/
https://cfhof.ca/members/david-williams/
https://cfhof.ca/members/barron-miles/

[don corleone]

Bo Levi looking good as is Tim White. Could be a 100 reception year.

Lots to like about Hamilton.

[Toppy Vann]

Bo Levi looking good as is Tim White. Could be a 100 reception year.

Lots to like about Hamilton.

I caught the Jim Barker segment on Rod Pedersen show on Friday as I was looking at the channels past Sportnet and it was on Game.

Barker was at the end of a couple a days at each camp landing in MTL where he was on this segment.
Barker says again it was folly to have BLM in a boot cast on the field as it hardly instils confidence in your team mates.
As I recall after Barker's visit to the east camps, he felt BLM looked good in practice.

Barker questions Cameron Dukes' readiness to be a starter and that given Arbuckle played under Dinwiddie in Calgary, we might see him as he knows this offense. He too looked good in TC scrimmage as did Dukes. Barker thinks Dukes might be too quick to look for the run but teams will defend that and force him to stay in the pocket and that will determine his readiness.


HOF comments

After I posted my comments on Weston Dressler without actually looking up what happens in the HOF I checked to see how the they do it and realized they don't go in as a specific team. I do like that. It was the Dressler query that led me to rush to judgment on this. The interview context suggests he was put on the spot and did some hedging

[don corleone]

Hope they don't try all 4 games on the same day again. One a day is far more preferable imo. Looked like a decent turnout in Montreal. Small gatherings were closer to reality for Edmonton and Calgary. It's almost if they are saying lets get it over fast.

Used to be games were scheduled for Tuesday / Wednesday which still seems like a good idea given the success of Thursday night football. Even as far as viewership by attending one game you miss the one or two other games they play on the same day. Goes against all conventional forms of marketing but this is the CFL and we are lucky to have them.

[Hambone]

Hope they don't try all 4 games on the same day again. One a day is far more preferable imo. Looked like a decent turnout in Montreal. Small gatherings were closer to reality for Edmonton and Calgary. It's almost if they are saying lets get it over fast.

Used to be games were scheduled for Tuesday / Wednesday which still seems like a good idea given the success of Thursday night football. Even as far as viewership by attending one game you miss the one or two other games they play on the same day. Goes against all conventional forms of marketing but this is the CFL and we are lucky to have them.

I think this year's preseason schedule is by far the most sensible they've had purely from a football sense. Other than the two teams who must start early to balance the 9 team, 9 game schedule it leaves everybody else running their camp on the same schedule; open camp May 12, play first preseason game 13 days later on May 25, play 2nd preseason game 6 days later on May 31 and make final cuts 1 day later on June 1 before going into normal regular season prep for the season starting June 6th. As for the 2 who played the early game on May 20, only 1 week after camp opened, there are some offsetting benefits. Winnipeg gets an extra 5 days to prep for their 2nd preseason game while the Riders can effectively start prepping for the season right now.

When it comes to putting together a fully televiseable preseason schedule then you have to move it all over the calendar while putting it up against arguably far more popular events at this time of year than CFL preseason games. There's an NHL Conference Final game every night. Every night other than on a travel day there's a Jays game. That's just on the other network. TSN has their own staple events for which they pay significant money to have the rights. They're covering NBA playoffs just about every night. The Memorial Cup is one of their flagship events. That started on Friday and runs through until next Sunday. The IIHF World Championships are an annual event on their calendar. Yesterday they carried the semi-finals and today the medal games. The Gold Medal game is on right now. They cover the tennis majors including the French Open which started today. Also today is the Indy 500 which they are covering.

While Thursday Night Football has proven successful it can take a few weeks into the regular season for them to gain viewership traction. Part of that is because those who claim to only follow the CFL and no other sports are by far in the minority. The majority of CFL fans also follow multiple other sports. With all the other stuff that goes on in late May early June for many their attention is still on those other things. Once events like Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Finals and Memorial Cup are out of the way they can put some focus on the CFL.

The 4 worst rated games of the 2023 CFL season included the first 2 TNF games of the season.

1) TNF in Week 1 - BCL @ CGY (226900) - quite ironic given it was the CFL season opener. It went head-to-head against SC Finals
2) SNF in Week 2 - HAM @ TOR (264000) - it went head-to-head against the RBC Canadian Open with Canadian Nick Taylor winning.
3) 2nd game Saturday of Week 21 - TOR @ OTT (268200) - this was the final regular season game of the season on a 3 game week where none of the games had any impact on standings or playoff positioning. It was a defacto exhibition game. It also went head-to-head with HNIC and Game 2 of the World Series.
4) TNF in Week 2 - CGY @ OTT (273000) - I'm not sure why it was so low other than Ottawa had the lowest viewership in the CFL in 2023. SC Finals ended the week before and NBA Finals 3 days earlier. With Nick Taylor winning the RBC Canadian Open 4 days earlier and round 1 of the US Open starting this day out in California there may have been a lingering golf effect with Canadians looking to see if Taylor could follow up on his previous week's success.

It is what it is. If TSN could count on ratings close to what they get for their early regular season games maybe they could convince themselves preseason games are worth doing..........just as long as their advertisers and sponsors are willing to ante up regular season fees. Maybe if they can get them for 50 cents on the dollar?

[Hambone]

Hamilton has signed David Menard along with WR Dezmon Patmon who BC let go in the first round of cuts getting the roster down from 85 to 75.

https://3downnation.com/2024/05/26/hami ... d-sources/

[Toppy Vann]

Hamilton has signed David Menard along with WR Dezmon Patmon who BC let go in the first round of cuts getting the roster down from 85 to 75.

https://3downnation.com/2024/05/26/hami ... d-sources/

Hard to figure out after their first game and reported comments from their new HC why if they want Menard they waited until TC is nearly over to sign the guy.

He's a known producer who your scouts and GM can look at endless tape on so this is a head scratcher (the delayed signing, not the player being picked up).

They signed some new DL so maybe in TC they're feeling they need to strengthen. Last year they had issues with pressure on opposing QBs.

[David]

Danny Austin reporting that the Stamps' Malik Henry went down with a potentially serious injury today, attempting a catch and going down hard. Said it doesn't look good.

Hope he's okay. Receivers like him are good for the league.



DH

[SammyGreene]

Danny Austin reporting that the Stamps' Malik Henry went down with a potentially serious injury today, attempting a catch and going down hard. Said it doesn't look good.

Hope he's okay. Receivers like him are good for the league.



DH

Damn. And they held Henry and Jalen Philpot out from Saturday's game for pre-cautionary reasons after the storm. Henry ruptured his Achilles last June and we have seen what has happened with Stove Richardson's comeback attempts from the same injury. This is why seeing Hatcher and Lee this season just can't be counted on with both just 7 months out since their injuries in the Western Final.