A LOT Going on This Week

This argument ignored the fact Montreal Coach Jason Maas is a competitive person and he knew his team could not afford to sleepwalk into the playoffs, sort of like the Ottawa Redblacks. Montreal played Winnipeg close in the first half and were leading until Montreal started freely substituting in the second half.

Montreal had forced Winnipeg to punt with less than a minute in the fourth quarter but Montreal could not crank out a first down which would have preserved their lead and the win and given the Riders a shot of gratuitous hope.

When Montreal came to punt, a sudden wind sprang up and made the Montreal punt extremely short and put Stony Mountain into field goal territory. While Bomber fans were crowing about divine intervention, I wondered if Winnipeg had contracted with Wiccans to cast a spell to bend nature to their will and give the Bombers a shot. The Bombers cashed in 28-27 and clinched first.

Considering how when Andrew Harris was with the Bombers he availed himself of the best chemists on Portage and Main for performance enhancing drugs and how the Bombers have cried like Bambi every time Zach Collaros gets hit, as if there is a Papal Bull stating he must not be hit, you wonder if there is no end to which Stony Mountain will go to ensure their streak of two Grey Cup losses in a row can continue to three.

The Riders were caught with two different approaches to the game against Calgary. If Winnipeg lost the Riders would have gone with their starters, but since the game now meant nothing, they pulled major starters like Trevor Harris and went with their backups and lost 27-12, once again starting a bunch of Rider fans moaning about the end being near.

It is the playoffs and the end is here for teams pretty well every week. The Riders in playing their backups remembered what happened in 2013 when the Stamps lost Micah Johnson and another defensive tackle to injury in the last game. The Stamps didn’t think much about it, but when the western final came around, the Riders went to Calgary and ran through the gaps in the Calgary defense to make it to the Grey Cup.

The BC Lions are coming to town with Vernon Adams Jr. leading them instead of Nathan Rourke and the last time Adams played the Riders, he shredded their defensive secondary. The Riders kind of kept it close, but Harris was injured before that game, leaving Shea Patterson under center and while his spirit was willing, his passing was weak.

Which kind of makes the western semi final very interesting. The Riders put out their lineup Friday with AJ Ouellette and Raquell Armstead both listed in the backfield. This was a combination I thought was coming and it makes sense it comes in time for the playoffs.

The Riders will be trying to counter the quick strike capability of the Lions by running the ball down their throat. Or something like that.

Doing this will keep the Lions offense off the field and cool them off as the temperature falls to roughly plus four towards the end of the game and at this point there will not be much wind. The Riders are making the Lions think about how to handle the two runners, especially if they are both in the backfield because it makes even more people to key in on for the Lions defense.

The Riders are not putting Anthony Lanier back on the defensive line for this game, which I assume is because having the extra American in the backfield means an American must come off some other place. I am not sure if Lanier’s absence will be notable because the Rider defensive line has been pretty good against the run and if the Riders win, Lanier will be needed more against Winnipeg, depending on how the BC game turns out and if the Riders suffer any injuries.

I don’t think BC will mount more than a token running game, relying on Adams to stretch the pocket and the field and force the Riders D line to scramble to contain him. I think the Riders will likely use a rotation of defensive linemen to keep them fresh and keep the contain on Adams.

The weak point in all of this is the Rider secondary, which Adams torched in his lone game against the Riders, but three weeks ago the secondary feasted on Rourke with several interceptions and deflections. The Lions will likely not go to Rolan Milligan’s side of the field in passing plays, especially after Milligan was named the western nominee for defensive player of the year.

For the Riders secondary to pull this off again, they will have to communicate and watch their pursuit angles. The Lions offense looked crisper under Adams than it did under Rourke, and they will be looking to get the big play early and shut the fans up.

While the Riders lineup seems to indicate a heavy emphasis on the running game, it should be noted Harris did not play against Adams in the first BC game. Harris has used the running game to hold the opposing defenses for a split second while he gets the ball away quickly and trust the receivers to do their best to pick up yardage after the catch.

Depending on what formations the Riders unveil, the Lions will have to adjust, and their run defense is better than their pass defense. If the Riders win, it will come down to things like turnovers, and while Armstead did run for 200 yards against Calgary, I would think something like 50 to 80 yards from each back will be good.

I am not sure how much a factor the crowd will be Saturday. Ever since the Riders moved from Taylor Field to their new facility, the team has seemingly borrowed from the Saskatchewan Rush fan entertainment playbook by playing a lot of music and bombarding fans with games and special features, some of which still play as the game action continues.

This game can easily go either way, and a lot depends on the intangible of momentum. BC is feeling good about itself offensively, but its secondary is not what it expected to be when they cut Marcus Sayles in preseason. The Riders have to convince their fans they are not like past teams which looked good at times but did not finish the deal.

Turnovers may be the difference, but in a game this balanced, I will go with the Riders to win 25-24 in a defensive struggle.

Ottawa goes to Toronto and while Ottawa beat Hamilton 37-31 to give themselves something to feel good heading into the playoffs, the Argos fell to the Elk 31-30 on a rouge single.

This will be a big game for Chad Kelly who is trying to rebound from his disaster in the eastern final which has given Ottawa a blueprint on how to thwart him. The question is without Adarious Pickett in the Ottawa defense whether they have the weapons to pull off such a feat.

Consider the last time Ottawa which resulted in a Toronto 38-31 win but was marked by Toronto dominating for three quarters and then Ottawa going gangbusters in the fourth and almost pulling off the game. The question many were asking is if the fourth quarter was some sort of signal for Ottawa or Toronto.

If I was Toronto, it would be a clear sign to not take any team for granted. Dru Brown has done well for Ottawa and while Ottawa’s running game is probably on some milk carton, their passing game is pretty good.

Defensively Ottawa will have to mix up their coverages and their pass rush to give Kelly a new look and something to think about. Kelly against Montreal last year threw passes he shouldn’t of, either because he did not recognize the defense, or he just thought that game would be like the previous 16 wins.

I don’t think they will make the same mistake again, but you can never tell when Rogers owns your football club. Toronto has the talent to make it easy for themselves, but I suspect Ottawa will throw everything including the kitchen sink and make this close, 28-26.

Meanwhile, CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie did not have his contract renewed by the CFL board of governors and this will be his last Grey Cup. Ambrosie leaves a mixed record, including finally finding stable ownership for Montreal, BC and Edmonton, but has marks against him like the global player efforts, the failed expansion to the Maritimes and his embarrassing performance in the House of Commons trying to get federal funding to salvage the CFL 2020 season which was cancelled.

Ambrosie also has the debacle of the Command Centre who seemed to be like some computer virus, injecting itself into games and driving teams crazy with the lack of consistency. Toronto apparently led the move against renewing Ambrosie’s contract since Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, who own the Argos, have not seen their franchise values go up since they took over the team.

I suspect Larry Tannenbaum, the figurehead on top of MLSE, was ticked the rest of the league did buy into a merger with the XFL which considering that league, which merged with the USFL, appears to be dead and probably saved the CFL a lot of credibility.

Expansion will be a big priority of the next commissioner and if the Maritimes are not in, then the CFL will probably look at Quebec City or even London. Dave Naylor of TSN had an interesting piece about expanding to St. Louis, who lose their Rams back to LA and were the highest attendance in the UFL.

When the CFL went south of the border, Baltimore was the most successful franchise because the fans were ticked at the NFL for allowing their Colts to move to Indianapolis. St. Louis also won a lawsuit against the NFL so I don’t think the NFL will go back there anytime soon. The CFL could look at perhaps San Diego or some other place the NFL doesn’t think is a big enough money maker for them, but could make the CFL a viable choice.

There is a question about the Canadian ratio on teams and where American teams would have to adhere to it, but there is a big difference between now and 30 years ago when the CFL first went south.

There are more Canadians coming into the NFL and out of the NCAA so I don’t think that matters as much as it did back in 1995. Bringing in more teams will help the gambling aspect of more teams to bet on and CBS is televising the Grey Cup this year so there will be interest south of the border.

The Calgary Stampeders made a move with their coaching staff getting rid of Mark Killiam, Brent Monson and Juwan Simpson. I would have thought Calgary would have booted Dave Dickenson upstairs, but this move opens the door to hiring Craig Dickenson as a special teams coach and I would imagine Killiam will be a candidate for the Edmonton Elks head coaching position.

I think the football administration cap probably handcuffed the Stampeders, but if they don’t get things turned around, they will like into a pool of irrelevance in Calgary. Maybe the new Commissioner can revisit this football operations cap and how it handcuffs teams in the future.

by Greg Urbanoski

A LOT Going on This Week

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