CFL: The CFL Thread: Part V

[Holden Caulfield]

Big story tonight though is raw canadian rookie Nathan Rourke starting for BC. Im hoping the success for him for sure.

BC struggling to start tonight though.

 

[wings5]

Big story tonight though is raw canadian rookie Nathan Rourke starting for BC. Im hoping the success for him for sure.

BC struggling to start tonight though.

Is there a stream for the game somewhere?

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Is there a stream for the game somewhere?

Its on TSN in Canada. If your in the US idk sorry.

If your wanting to watch for Rourke, well its not going well for him. 1 for 5 with a pick 6. No first downs. Down 28-0. Halfway through 2nd quarter. If you want to watch for Riders, well sorry haha.

 

[wings5]

Its on TSN in Canada. If your in the US idk sorry.

If your wanting to watch for Rourke, well its not going well for him. 1 for 5 with a pick 6. No first downs. Down 28-0. Halfway through 2nd quarter. If you want to watch for Riders, well sorry haha.

I am in Canada but no cable. Sounds like a blowout though

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Unbelievably in a game about crazy qb shenannigans comes down to BCs bizarre decision to use a 2nd global (only required to use 1) as their kicker.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Incredible that you an dig yourself into a 31-0 hole and end up losing because your kicker blew it. Perhaps more incredible that a head coach can elect not to start his QB at 0-0, only to throw him in there at 31-9. And almost have it work out. That's why we love this league.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

I think the Stamps moreso gave that game away than Toronto winning it. Stamps did not look very cohesive. Toronto did just enough to win, but they see more polished but less talented. Considering the massive turnover on the Toronto roster that's a bit shocking to say. However Calgary offense did have quite a bit of turnover as well. I really think Stamps need to establish a better run game though.

I don't think this result means much going forward I guess is my point, I still expect Stamps to challenge for the West division title and I can't see TOR hanging with HAM and maybe MTL in the East.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Keep in mind Toronto didn't have Cordaro Law and Drake Nevis, both of whom were 6-gamed. Bear Woods and Arjen Colquhoun also out. That's two stud linemen and a couple other solid starters missing on defense before they even got off the bus. I think they got damn lucky on that command centre review that took away a Calgary TD (wrongly IMO) which kept them in the game, but losing all those guys in camp tempered my expectations a bit. I think 7-7 is a reasonable target for the Argos this year and they pretty much looked the part tonight to my eye.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Keep in mind Toronto didn't have Cordaro Law and Drake Nevis, both of whom were 6-gamed. Bear Woods and Arjen Colquhoun also out. That's two stud linemen and a couple other solid starters missing on defense before they even got off the bus. I think they got damn lucky on that command centre review that took away a Calgary TD (wrongly IMO) which kept them in the game, but losing all those guys in camp tempered my expectations a bit. I think 7-7 is a reasonable target for the Argos this year and they pretty much looked the part tonight to my eye.

6 games means they are not immediate factors. I agree on the review and the expectations. 7-7 is certainly their target, which should sneak them into playoffs. Shane Ray, considering Argos coaches said he was "unblockable" was a complete non-factor. TOR D has more potential but the offense is where I question if they have the horses. Arbuckle if he can get healthy might change that factor.

On the last game of the night, I see this a lucky win for Ottawa. I mean Nichols had 71 yards passing. That was a pathetic offense. It was the Bombers offense without the OL and RB. Which as we see is complete garbage. Harris gave the game away, albeit he had little help from his young WR corps. Doesn't move the needle for me. Ottawa is still gonna struggle to hit 4 wins, IMO, and Edmonton is a mid/lower range team that will compete for a playoff spot but will struggle a bit in the tough west.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

I waited on making predictions due to the uncertainty of the year off. We saw everyone except Montreal this weekend. I'm not going to make 100% sure my games make sense but this is what I think we'll look at at the end of the season based on what we've seen.

WPG 10-4
CGY 9-5
SSK 7-7
EDM 6-8
BC 5-9

HAM 10-4
MTL 7-7
TOR 6-8
OTT 3-11

I'm likely way off but that's what I've seen thus far. I think we may see a rematch in the Grey Cup with WPG and HAM going at it. Injuries and regressions can easily affect this though.

We have no idea how most teams would handle a QB injury. Like this is the list of backup QB's. Sean McGuire, Michael O'Connor, Isaac Harker, Dakota Prukop, Nathan Rourke, Dane Evans, Matthew Schiltz, Nick Arbuckle/McLeod Bethel-Thompson, Dominique Davis. Outside of Evans in Hamilton, can any of those names be trusted to get any wins? Maybe Toronto depending on Arbuckle/MBT. Schiltz, Davis are proven losing QB's, the rest (McGuire, O'Connor, Harker, Prukop, Rourke) are basically complete unknowns.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

That's pretty much how I think it shakes down too, Holden. I figured BC could be a dark horse this season and maybe go 8-6 or so, but Reilly's arm is probably not going to be at 100% any time soon based on what we saw on Friday.

In spite of the win yesterday, Ottawa looks absolutely awful on offense. Like I would take the expansion Ottawa Renegades under Dan Crowley offense over this one. How does a GM have two off-seasons to find a running back and come up with freaking Tim Flanders as the primary back? That defense looks like they might be passable if everyone stays healthy, but they're gonna be on the field 36 minutes a night. Trevor Harris managing to lose that game tells me the Elks' ceiling is the 7-7 I suspected it was.

Mcleod Bethel-Thompson is a decent QB that was in a bad organization IMO. Mistake-prone at times, but previous Toronto regimes expected him to throw 45 times a game behind a bad O-line. I think they might be turning the corner on that side of the ball, this will be an entertaining team to watch on a weekly basis.

 

[cutchemist42]

Loved the first week back. Was much better than I was expecting.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

I'm a BIG fan of thd global movement. It might be the fact the Bombers had the best one in 2019 with Thiadric Hansen, but i love seeing all the internationals play.

However this BC kicker is NOT ready for this level.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Fully expected Calgary to challenge and maybe even win the division title in the West. What is wrong with Bo Levi? Is his supporting cast just that bad? To me that didn't really look like a supporting cast issue. His OL wasn't great, but not horrendous. WR seemed to do ok. He was just making mind bogglingly bad decisions. Having no run game outside of the Canadian fullback does hurt, I don't Ka'Deem Carey is going last much longer in CGY.

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

Another low scoring game tonight, defences are definitely well ahead of the offences right now.

Eager to see how the Alouettes look when they finally take the field tomorrow.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

A bit of a slog tonight. The amount of penalties Toronto took was absolutely absurd, that might stand as the season high this year. And in spite of it all, they were right in it until that John White fumble. What a critical mistake.

If Edmonton were to win tomorrow, Ottawa would lead the East heading into week 3. Lol.

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

I don't want to read too much into it considering the uniqueness of playing your first game while the team you are facing is playing its 2nd, but that was a mighty impressive Alouettes win.

Sure is a great feeling to have a good QB.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Montreal has a pretty solid roster top to bottom, and a strong coach in Khari Jones. They might challenge Hamilton for top spot in the East this year. The Ti-Cats have been hit hard with injuries already.

 

[Cloned]

I don't want to read too much into it considering the uniqueness of playing your first game while the team you are facing is playing its 2nd, but that was a mighty impressive Alouettes win.

Sure is a great feeling to have a good QB.

Don’t jump the gun. The Elks are terrible this year. Sunderland, Elizondo and Harris is the worst GM-HC-QB combo in the league.

 

[snowkiddin]

Hamilton is terrible and all but holy smokes how many offsides can Sask get away with?

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Hamilton and Calgary are not the two teams I had to struggle to come out of the year off. I know Hamilton has had a tough schedule (WPG and SASK look like 1-2 in the league right now) but they haven't looked competitive at all. If anything I was worried about Wpg considering the age of their roster.

I still think Hamilton comes back to be respectable. But it's probably a free for all between Hamilton, Montreal, and Toronto in the East. West is looking like Wpg v Sask Labour Day/Banjo Bowl will decide the division winner if one team sweeps. BC as the darkhorse, CGY will look to squeeze in their somewhere if they can figure out what's going on with Bo. I'm almost ready to write off EDM, I know it's early but Harris has spent his career as garbage in the red zone and I just don't see a comeback there.

 

[hoglund]

I know that it's early to judge, but it looks like Montreal will win the east and Saskatchewan the west. I was hoping that Hamilton would be in the Grey cup while hosting it. It could be because Hamilton is already having alot of key players injured like Posey, Wynne etc. They also lost alot through retirement, but I guess most teams have had that problem.

 

[robertmac43]

Not loving the start of the season for Hamilton, the offense looks lost at the best of times. Hopefully, they can get things going soon as I would love to see us in the GC in our host year.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Hamilton has gone from "solid Grey Cup favourite" to "I'm not sure this is a playoff team" in two weeks. It all starts with the offensive line, and they are getting rag-dolled out there. Filer retiring right as camp was starting was a setback that they evidently could not afford, and with Addison injured, opposing defenses can focus on Banks and they have shut him right down. Hamilton's offense through two games has performed at 2019 Redblacks level, something unimaginable 10 days ago, and I'm not sure there's an easy fix. When your o-line is bad, everything else suffers, just look at BC in 2019.

 

[Mightygoose]

BC Lions to announce new ownership today



Press conference at 11:15 am PST/2:15 EST

Queue the Rock rumours! Will wait and see