CFL: The CFL Thread: Part VI

[Lady Stanley]

All the signs for the CFL are pointing up right now. Edmonton is reportedly looking at over 30K for their season opener, some are saying they may get to 35K in attendance. The CFL pre-season TV numbers eclipsed some regular season games from last year, even as more and more people cut the cord. Early signs are encouraging for the year.

I'm here so that says something.

Me and my husband tried to watch abit of CFL during covid when there was absolutely nothing else to do. We're very atypical CFL fans.

We tried the NFL this winter.

The CFL is way more entertaining for us.

I honestly think the XFL, and the possible merger, gave a lot of exposure to the league.

I suspect we're finally over the hump of the post covid introversion that killed a lot of entertainment businesses last year.

 

[Get North]

Teams in the CFL usually only go as far as their coaching and quarterback. That's why I see Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton having poor years and finishing low in the standings.

On the other hand, Winnipeg, BC, Hamilton, Montreal will have positive years. Saskatchewan sort of in that middle range, don't really trust their coach Dickenson.

 

[Scouter]

Teams in the CFL usually only go as far as their coaching and quarterback. That's why I see Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton having poor years and finishing low in the standings.

On the other hand, Winnipeg, BC, Hamilton, Montreal will have positive years. Saskatchewan sort of in that middle range, don't really trust their coach Dickenson.

Ottawa have a good QB when healthy in Masoli, Toronto have a new QB so we don't know how well they'll do, being the champs they might be fine and Edmonton have upgraded at QB so they should be better.

BC might not have a good QB in Adams, he did not work out in Montreal, same thing with Levi Mitchell in Hamilton, it looks like his arm is worn out at this point, didn't work out for him in Calgary last season, same thing with Fajardo last season in Sask. who's now in Montreal, Montreal and Ottawa have new coaches, I might give you Dickenson.

 

[Get North]

Trevor Harris was attempting to give the game away with an interception in his own end. But, the Roughriders defence prevents Edmonton from scoring a touchdown in the 2nd half.

Impressive D on display from Saskatchewan. Edmonton doesn't look like a good team at all especially without a stud at QB.

 

[Get North]

Ottawa have a good QB when healthy in Masoli, Toronto have a new QB so we don't know how well they'll do, being the champs they might be fine and Edmonton have upgraded at QB so they should be better.

BC might not have a good QB in Adams, he did not work out in Montreal, same thing with Levi Mitchell in Hamilton, it looks like his arm is worn out at this point, didn't work out for him in Calgary last season, same thing with Fajardo last season in Sask. who's now in Montreal, Montreal and Ottawa have new coaches, I might give you Dickenson.

Taylor Cornelius was the QB for Edmonton last season, so it's the same guy as last year.

Toronto lost McLeod Bethel-Thompso, now last season's back-up is their starter (Chad Kelly). He played well in his brief time, but I don't trust Chad Kelly for a full season. He doesn't have much CFL experience.

The jury is still out on Mitchell and Adams, I agree with you on that. There is definitely more to football than the coach and QB, but I'll be ready to adjust my opinion as the season plays out.

 

[Scouter]

Taylor Cornelius was the QB for Edmonton last season, so it's the same guy as last year.

Toronto lost McLeod Bethel-Thompso, now last season's back-up is their starter (Chad Kelly). He played well in his brief time, but I don't trust Chad Kelly for a full season. He doesn't have much CFL experience.

The jury is still out on Mitchell and Adams, I agree with you on that. There is definitely more to football than the coach and QB, but I'll be ready to adjust my opinion as the season plays out.

It will be hard for the Argos to repeat as champs, still don't know how they won it last time either, what a crazy comeback they had.

Right about Edm, but I'm not sure he'll be the guy over the whole season, the backups could take his job.

Harris at QB for Sask is taking a risk too, these teams should make sure they have good backups in case the starters falter or get hurt.

 

[EpochLink]

How did Edmonton f*** that up!?

 

[sonic92]

Roses are red, violets are blue. Time to get ahead, with CFL Week 2.

Calgary (0-1) at Ottawa (0-1) Thu. 7:30 PM ET

• The Stampeders defence was not very good in their loss to BC last week. A trip to Ottawa might get them back on track since the RedBlacks are offensively challenged and they're also a woeful 1-15 at home over the past two seasons.

Winnipeg (1-0) at Saskatchewan (1-0) Fri. 9PM ET

• Rider fans are feeling awfully high and mighty after they barely got past Edmonton last week, while the Bombers showed how explosive they can be last week when Zach Collaros threw for 354 yards and three touchdowns against the TiCats.

Edmonton (0-1) at BC (1-0) Sat. 7PM ET

• The Lions are hoping to get a decent crowd at BC Place for their home opener. They throttled the Elks the two times Edmonton traveled to Vancouver last season. (59-15 in Week 1 and 46-14 in Week 9).

Hamilton (0-1) at Toronto (0-0) Sun. 7PM ET

• After coming off the bench to lead them to a Grey Cup win last season, the Argos are hoping that Chad Kelly can carry the load for them for a full season. Bo Levi Mitchell looked a little iffy in his Tiger-Cat debut last week but you know a lot of Hamilton fans will make the trip up the road to Toronto.

Bye Week - Montreal (1-0). The Alouettes got the job done last week, but they might want to do a better job at protecting their QB. Cody Fajardo got sacked six times in Montreal's 19-12 win over Ottawa.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Roses are red, violets are blue. Time to get ahead, with CFL Week 2.

Calgary (0-1) at Ottawa (0-1) Thu. 7:30 PM ET

• The Stampeders defence was not very good in their loss to BC last week. A trip to Ottawa might get them back on track since the RedBlacks are offensively challenged and they're also a woeful 1-15 at home over the past two seasons.

Winnipeg (1-0) at Saskatchewan (1-0) Fri. 9PM ET

• Rider fans are feeling awfully high and mighty after they barely got past Edmonton last week, while the Bombers showed how explosive they can be last week when Zach Collaros threw for 354 yards and three touchdowns against the TiCats.

Edmonton (0-1) at BC (1-0) Sat. 7PM ET

• The Lions are hoping to get a decent crowd at BC Place for their home opener. They throttled the Elks the two times Edmonton traveled to Vancouver last season. (59-15 in Week 1 and 46-14 in Week 9).

Hamilton (0-1) at Toronto (0-0) Sun. 7PM ET

• After coming off the bench to lead them to a Grey Cup win last season, the Argos are hoping that Chad Kelly can carry the load for them for a full season. Bo Levi Mitchell looked a little iffy in his Tiger-Cat debut last week but you know a lot of Hamilton fans will make the trip up the road to Toronto.

Bye Week - Montreal (1-0). The Alouettes got the job done last week, but they might want to do a better job at protecting their QB. Cody Fajardo got sacked six times in Montreal's 19-12 win over Ottawa.

I'll be interested to see how Hamilton rebounds. For whatever reason, the Ti-Cats just never get off on the right foot to start a football season. I saw a stat on the broadcast last week that they were on a 2-15 run in season openers, and it didn't surprise me.

Big week for Ottawa and Edmonton too. Two franchises that have severely tested the resolve of their fans in recent years. I guess with Ottawa they get a bit of a pass with Masoli being hurt. Cornelius and the Elks were expected to improve this year, but are already at risk of blowing any off-season momentum they managed to generate with the offensive upgrades.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

I'll be interested to see how Hamilton rebounds. For whatever reason, the Ti-Cats just never get off on the right foot to start a football season. I saw a stat on the broadcast last week that they were on a 2-15 run in season openers, and it didn't surprise me.

Big week for Ottawa and Edmonton too. Two franchises that have severely tested the resolve of their fans in recent years. I guess with Ottawa they get a bit of a pass with Masoli being hurt. Cornelius and the Elks were expected to improve this year, but are already at risk of blowing any off-season momentum they managed to generate with the offensive upgrades.

Gotta wonder how long the leash is on Cornelius. With the weapons he has available it's really up to him now to really show he belongs. And Chris Jones and the Elks desperately need some results. It could go squirrely fast there and they are looking at starting Tre Ford again, or even looking at a trade for Dane Evans if VA continues to be solid.

 

[JimmyApples]

Ottawa is getting absolutely f***ed by the refs, specifically on challenges. I forgot how bad the leagues reffing is

There’s also, like, 2-3 good QBs in the league at this point. No wonder the league is dying

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Gotta wonder how long the leash is on Cornelius. With the weapons he has available it's really up to him now to really show he belongs. And Chris Jones and the Elks desperately need some results. It could go squirrely fast there and they are looking at starting Tre Ford again, or even looking at a trade for Dane Evans if VA continues to be solid.

Hard to say with Cornelius. It's tough to justify a benching two games in after giving him a fairly generous contract that signaled he was the guy. But the franchise is under huge pressure to be competitive this year. If Cornelius lays another egg on Saturday, Chris Jones is going to have a difficult decision to make for Week 3. Jarret Doege looked good in pre-season but got hurt for a little bit late in camp. He's healthy now, and it wouldn't surprise me if he was the next man up if Cornelius falters.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Ottawa is getting absolutely f***ed by the refs, specifically on challenges. I forgot how bad the leagues reffing is

There’s also, like, 2-3 good QBs in the league at this point. No wonder the league is dying

Yeah that was pretty low rent on the part of the command centre. I was ok with them not applying PI on Dyce's challenge, but overturning in Dickenson's favour a little later was a mistake. The flag was a soft call, but there was indisputably contact on the receiver and it's at the referee's descretion whether or not it impeded his ability to make the catch. Command centre had no basis to overturn that.

Ottawa's offense looks the same under Dyce as Lapo. Really dumb red zone play calling took so many points off the board. How can you justify passing three times from the 4 with Arbuckle as your QB? Three sneaks would have probably got in, and it would have been a totally different game. Redblacks and Elks seem to be mirror images of each other. It's just so bad for the league to have two of nine teams basically winless at home in the current decade. How is that even possible?

 

[Get North]

The rankings of coaches go as follows:
1. Rick Campbell - BC Lions
2. Mike O'Shea - Winnipeg
3. Dave Dickenson - Calgary
4. Jason Maas - Montreal
5. Orlando Steinhauer - Hamilton

The rest of the guys are out of their league as head coaches. That's how I see it. Players come and go, if they play too well the NFL comes calling. But, you need to retain your elite coach in the CFL for as long as possible. Montreal and BC have good owners which is why they have deep coaching staffs, who have selected talented players across all positions. The quality of a coaching staff is critical to getting the most out of the talent / players.

Edmonton Head Coach, Chris Jones has 3 positions (GM, HC and DC). That sounds like too much responsbility at any job, nevermind a professional football team. That's too much responsibility at any place of employment. If ownership can't afford to sign coaches, the team will be screwed.

Ottawa is getting absolutely f***ed by the refs, specifically on challenges. I forgot how bad the leagues reffing is

There’s also, like, 2-3 good QBs in the league at this point. No wonder the league is dying

Ottawa's starter (Jerimiah Masoli) is injured for the first 2 games. The backup, Nick Arbuckle is awful though. The lack of talent can make it easier to keep up with the game.

My rankings of the QB staffs are as follows:

1. WInnipeg / Zach Colloros
2. Montreal / Cody Fajarado
3. Saskatchewan / Trevor Harris
4. BC Lions / Vernon Adams
5. Hamilton / Bo Levi Mitchell
6. Ottawa / Jerimaiah Masoli
7. Calgary / Jake Maier
8. Toronto / Chad Kelly
9. Edmonton / Taylor Corneilus

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Hard to say with Cornelius. It's tough to justify a benching two games in after giving him a fairly generous contract that signaled he was the guy. But the franchise is under huge pressure to be competitive this year. If Cornelius lays another egg on Saturday, Chris Jones is going to have a difficult decision to make for Week 3. Jarret Doege looked good in pre-season but got hurt for a little bit late in camp. He's healthy now, and it wouldn't surprise me if he was the next man up if Cornelius falters.

That's interesting, and jumping straight to Doege would be a total Chris Jones move haha. Kai Locksley actually looked real solid in pre-season as well, IMO.

Yeah that was pretty low rent on the part of the command centre. I was ok with them not applying PI on Dyce's challenge, but overturning in Dickenson's favour a little later was a mistake. The flag was a soft call, but there was indisputably contact on the receiver and it's at the referee's descretion whether or not it impeded his ability to make the catch. Command centre had no basis to overturn that.

Ottawa's offense looks the same under Dyce as Lapo. Really dumb red zone play calling took so many points off the board. How can you justify passing three times from the 4 with Arbuckle as your QB? Three sneaks would have probably got in, and it would have been a totally different game. Redblacks and Elks seem to be mirror images of each other. It's just so bad for the league to have two of nine teams basically winless at home in the current decade. How is that even possible?

It's tough. Going to games back when IG field opened in 2012-2013-2014 it was the same way with the Bombers. Could not win to save their lives at home. Loss after loss. Despite recent home records of 8-1 (2022), 7-0 (2021), 8-1/7-2 (2019), like 6-3/7-2 (2018) it wasn't until last year that Bombers climbed above .500 at home since IG field opened. Home games are just so important for building and maintaining a fanbase. Your in a much better situation if you go 7-2 at home with a 7-11 record than 4-5 at home with a 9-9 record, imo. Winning at home is so important for fans to have fun, to have happy memories and want to come back.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

That's interesting, and jumping straight to Doege would be a total Chris Jones move haha. Kai Locksley actually looked real solid in pre-season as well, IMO.


It's tough. Going to games back when IG field opened in 2012-2013-2014 it was the same way with the Bombers. Could not win to save their lives at home. Loss after loss. Despite recent home records of 8-1 (2022), 7-0 (2021), 8-1/7-2 (2019), like 6-3/7-2 (2018) it wasn't until last year that Bombers climbed above .500 at home since IG field opened. Home games are just so important for building and maintaining a fanbase. Your in a much better situation if you go 7-2 at home with a 7-11 record than 4-5 at home with a 9-9 record, imo. Winning at home is so important for fans to have fun, to have happy memories and want to come back.

That's just the thing, you need people walking out of stadiums with a smile on their face. It seemed like the league was at least vaguely aware of this in the past with close calls by officials usually slanting in the home team's favour. The last two years though, I can't believe the number of weird/bad calls against home teams. The league needs to cut that out, and the command centre better be pretty damn sure they're making the right call if they're going to instantly piss off 20,000+ people and their wallets.

That reviewed return from Riders-Bombers last night was more strangeness. Challenging to rescind a called illegal block on a kick isn't even something I thought could be reviewed...but I guess when the refs announce the number of a guy who wasn't on the field you've got a case. And then the ruling of "command centre reviewed every block, they were all good". Lmao, really? Tells me there's no official procedure in place to actually review calls like this. And with the CFL, that really doesn't surprise me.

Fantastic return by Grant. I'm glad a highlight reel play wasn't washed by a weak penalty. But again, a home team gets the short end of the stick on a bizzaro review sequence. Potentially unpopular opinion, but I let the penalty stand in Regina. I rescind it in Winnipeg and let the TD happen. Home field advantage should be slight, but a real thing IMO.

 

[Get North]

Bo Levi Mitchell looks like a finished pro football player. His CFL career was pretty good and started over 10 years ago in 2012...

I think there is more athletic, younger QBs who can do a better job and more motivated at this time. Chad Kelly being a good example of such a player.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Bo Levi Mitchell looks like a finished pro football player. His CFL career was pretty good and started over 10 years ago in 2012...

I think there is more athletic, younger QBs who can do a better job and more motivated at this time. Chad Kelly being a good example of such a player.

Haven't people been shitting on/doubting Toronto going into this season with Kelly as the starter like the entire off season?

 

[Sensrule]

Bo Levi Mitchell looks like a finished pro football player. His CFL career was pretty good and started over 10 years ago in 2012...

I think there is more athletic, younger QBs who can do a better job and more motivated at this time. Chad Kelly being a good example of such a player.

Yeah Bo's first two games this season have been tough. He got injured late in the game today so he might miss some time.

 

[Get North]

Haven't people been shitting on/doubting Toronto going into this season with Kelly as the starter like the entire off season?

In his first start in the CFL, he looks confident and in sync with the coaching staff / scheme. The coach, Dinwiddie appears to be a good one. 2 solid RB in the backfield to take the pressure off...

They made Hamilton look like a bottom of the barrel team. Next week it is in Edmonton, they should dominate that game also.

Kelly looks good so far.

 

[snowkiddin]

That's just the thing, you need people walking out of stadiums with a smile on their face. It seemed like the league was at least vaguely aware of this in the past with close calls by officials usually slanting in the home team's favour. The last two years though, I can't believe the number of weird/bad calls against home teams. The league needs to cut that out, and the command centre better be pretty damn sure they're making the right call if they're going to instantly piss off 20,000+ people and their wallets.

That reviewed return from Riders-Bombers last night was more strangeness. Challenging to rescind a called illegal block on a kick isn't even something I thought could be reviewed...but I guess when the refs announce the number of a guy who wasn't on the field you've got a case. And then the ruling of "command centre reviewed every block, they were all good". Lmao, really? Tells me there's no official procedure in place to actually review calls like this. And with the CFL, that really doesn't surprise me.

Fantastic return by Grant. I'm glad a highlight reel play wasn't washed by a weak penalty. But again, a home team gets the short end of the stick on a bizzaro review sequence. Potentially unpopular opinion, but I let the penalty stand in Regina. I rescind it in Winnipeg and let the TD happen. Home field advantage should be slight, but a real thing IMO.

Not sure if I would characterize taking a touchdown off the board on a completely phantom call solely because of where the game is being played as a “slight” advantage.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Not sure if I would characterize taking a touchdown off the board on a completely phantom call solely because of where the game is being played as a “slight” advantage.

I somewhat disagree that it was a phantom call. It was a weak and unnecessary call, but the argument (at least from the broadcast booth) was that it was too far behind the play to affect it. I'd rather let the ref on the field make that determination than the command centre, given the strangeness/lack of procedure associated with an illegal block challenge on a kick.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Go Bombers.

Admittedly, I probably won’t catch a CFL game until the Grey Cup.

 

[sonic92]

More CFL for you and me as now we've arrived in Week 3

BC (2-0) at Winnipeg (2-0) Thu. 8:30 PM ET

• An early battle for first in the West and also a rematch of last year's West Final. The Lions are coming off a shutout of Edmonton, but the high scoring Blue Bombers will be a much higher degree of difficulty.

Montreal (1-0) at Hamilton (0-2) Fri. 7:30 PM ET

• The Tiger-Cats finally get their home opener, but Bo Levi Mitchell is a question mark after getting injured in their loss in Toronto. Matthew Shiltz is their backup who may see some action against a Montreal team coming off a bye.

Saskatchewan (1-1) at Calgary (1-1) Sat. 7PM ET

• I hate these games. The Stampeders have lost so many dumb games to the Riders over the years and I have a bad feeling about this one. Calgary's defence has been pretty shaky so far, while the Riders offence played fairly well last week despite their loss to Winnipeg.

Toronto (1-0) at Edmonton (0-2) Sun. 7PM ET

• You really have to suck to get shutout in a CFL game and the Elks managed to pull that off last week. Now Edmonton is back in their own house of horrors with the Argos coming out West and feeling confident after a big game from their QB Chad Kelly.

Bye Week - Ottawa (0-2). Between the Rough Riders, Renegades and RedBlacks, the CFL teams from Ottawa have had just two seasons with records above .500 since 1980. They're really hoping that Jeremiah Masoli can come back and stay healthy at QB or it could be another bad year in the nations capital.

 

[snowkiddin]

I somewhat disagree that it was a phantom call. It was a weak and unnecessary call, but the argument (at least from the broadcast booth) was that it was too far behind the play to affect it. I'd rather let the ref on the field make that determination than the command centre, given the strangeness/lack of procedure associated with an illegal block challenge on a kick.

I’ll just have to disagree here. TSN couldn’t find a replay, the command centre reviewed all possible blocks, and the original flag was on a player (Demski) who wasn’t even on the field. Taking that TD off the board to keep Saskatchewan in the game because they were the home team would’ve been a farce.