Canadian Chat → Official 2013 CFL Thread

As a Calgary fan I have to tip the 'water melon' to those stubble jumper fans as they are as hard core as fans get in any sport anywhere.

The east coast needs to get a team as I'm betting they would be hard core fans as well.

Blake

So much for Justin Goltz being the starter for the rest of the year. It is not as though nobody expected a change sometime this year. Everybody just thought the Goltz reign would last longer than 2 games. This week, Max Hall starts even though he has zero regular season reps as a CFL quarterback. If that experiment does not produce a perfect offense, then I am expecting Buck Pierce to be reinstated at #1. And after Pierce gets hurt, Goltz and Hall will be shuffled around some more. In other words, chances are it will be like it has always been in Winnipeg: uncertainty at quarterback.

In addition former Ti-Cat head coach Marcel Bellefeuille was hired today as a consultant on offense, although Gary Crowton is still the coordinator. It is probably safe to say that if the offense does not get better soon, Crowton could be the next one to get the axe.

They shouold fire the coac... ooops, already done. Appears the coach wasn't the problem, how about that! Wettenhall and Popp will have to stop protecting their darling golden age QB and let the coach decide what the play book should be. Calvillo should have been grooming a young QB (and receivers) over the last three years instead of chasing meaningless records.

The Als are in a no win situation with regards to Calvillo. "Persuade him" to start grooming a replacement for himself, then you're "shoving him out the door"

Let this continue and "you're letting the team fall apart around him" while he is (falling apart that is) Father Time is one opponent that he can't win against.

Honestly the best thing that could happen in MTL is if Calvillo gets hurt and can't play for a while, this would force the team to actually evolve without him.

NefCanuck

Grooming a young quarterback and letting him get some reps and play time when appropriate is how Calvillo's career was salvaged under Tracy Ham, who was twice the QB Calvillo is despite what the record books will say.

Tracy Ham played for the Team, not just for himself. The transition form Ham to Calvillo when Ham retired was seamless. It'll take years for the Als to recover from Calvillo's reign.

I was expecting a much better game tonight. Two 2nd division teams playing each other, so they are relatively equally matched. Ti-Cats had not been scoring that well and have been giving up lots of points. Plus with them starting a new quarterback and being winless at home, I thought the Bombers would come out strong. Instead the Ti-Cats won easily. If the Ti-Cat receivers could have pulled in the slightly tough-than-average passes from Burris, the game would have been a landslide.

Finally an entertaining game between a 2nd Division & a 1st Division team. Best way I could describe today is it was like playing on a lazy summer's day. You feel more like relaxing rather than working up a sweat. Maybe that is part of the reasons why so many players went down such as Cavillo, Bagg, London, and Bourke.

Anyway, the Als could have actually won game thanks to a few gifts like Durant's fumble recovery on a sack that went for a touchdown that put the Als up late in the game. Riders then rally back with a bomb to Taj Smith to tie the game. Then Dressler returns a punt into range for a game winning field goal.

»www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=429961

another classic game between the Als and Riders.........here you take ,no you take it.

Yup, watched that game and what a thriller. It's do or die time tomorrow for my Eskies, gah we suck hard

Just like the Als, the Stamps could not take advantage of the gifts they got. Lots of penalties seemed to go against the Lions. When the only fake punt of the year thusfar worked, I thought that momentum would lead the Stamps to a winning touchdown drive, but it did not. Although the Stamps did not have a number of injuries like the Als, Nik Lewis looks like he broke his ankle.

Oh yeah, count me as someone who hates the Lion's 60th Anniversary uniform. Regardless of what I think of the colors, design, or whatever, I just hate it because it is impossible to see the numbers on the jerseys. I suppose the players on the field can see the numbers. However, I would not be surprised if most of the people in the stands, media booth, or even at home are also having trouble seeing the numbers. I know I cannot tell from looking at a monitor inches away from my eyes. If it were my league, I would ban these new uniforms until they made the numbers stand out more.

Not seeing the numbers is the ONLY thing I dislike about the anniversary uniforms.
I like the look of them a lot....very sinister.

FaxCap

I love them.........although they could make the numbers a little visual.

Great games yesterday.

Bombers are not messing around as they fired Gary Crowton from his position of Offensive Coordinator. Marcel Bellefeuille who was hired less than a week ago takes over. It seems like what happened was that Crowton thought the Max Hall would solve all the Bomber offensive woes. When that did not take place overnight, Burke or whoever is in charge over there finally said enough with Crowton.

Since Hall was Crowton's choice, that means the quarterback depth chart will once again change. Who will it be next week? Since the Bombers need a win badly, my guess is they will go with the one who has the more experience. So, I am suspecting it will be Buck Pierce.

Some white trim would be even sharper.

From Gord Miller (who did the play-by-play for the Lions-Stamps game on TSN):

Gord Miller @GMillerTSN
A day later, I'm still trying to think of a worse uniform idea than the BC Lions putting black numbers on black jerseys. White Sox shorts?

»twitter.com/GMillerTSN/s ··· 08146944

Or just use the bright orange for numbers??

FaxCap

eskies lost. disgusting.

I thought the Eskimos performed above expectations as they were on the road against a 1st Division Team. True Ricky Ray completed a high percentage of his passes, but that has been true of all his games recently. Reilly actually passed for more yards than Ray (over 500 to over 400), though Reilly got about 150 when they were in desperation mode.

Unfortunately for the Eskimos, only 3 of their last 11 games are against the 2nd Division teams. On the other hand with the Bombers and Als having their own troubles, you never know if the Eskimos might just crossover.

Suitor and Cuthbert talking about the Lion's new uniforms:
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Suitor - And new jerseys.
Cuthbert - Yeah... Do we get those next week?
Suitor - Ha Ha Ha
Cuthbert - And could we make them orange numbers if we do? But they look good.
Suitor - They look good. That was cool; black helmet.

The score was much closer than the game. Saskatchewan commited too many mistakes (probably took the game easy knowing the Als can't do shit offensiveley) but thankfully Neiswander finally got some reps. Hopefully he gets to practice with the A-team this week to work out synchronisation but overall I think he did ok, considering he wasn't getting great protection (down to only 5 linemen, no spares).

Guys really need to go back to basics and re-learn how to hold on to the ball. The Saskatchewan fumble where the guy hit the ball out of his hands with his own knee was particularly spectacular

I was expecting a stinker before the game started, watched the 1st quarter and still thought it was going to be a stinker. Boy, was I wrong. Turned out to be a wild one and probably end up as one of the best games of the year.

Josh Neiswander gets pulled after attempting only 3 passes. Tanner Marsh comes in. While he made enough mistakes to make one wonder if he is even good enough for the league, Marsh got lots of help from Arland Bruce, Jerome Messam, and at the end Eric Deslauriers.

Honestly, I thought the game was decided in the Lions favor multiple times: after the 1st quarter, after Tim Brown's return TD of a miss field goal attempt, after the Lions retain possession deep in their own territory after a roughing-the-passer penalty, after Paul McCallum prevents what looks to be a punt return for a touchdown by Tyrone Carrier, after a Marsh interception, after another Marsh interception, and when the Als started their final drive deep in their own territory with not much time left.

Lions looked shocked at the outcome of the game. Frankly, so was I. Pretty sure this is the first time this season that a 2nd Divison team has beaten a 1st Division team.

BRUTAL is the only way to describe the Lion's game plan last night!!!!

Lets try a running play on 1st down 25 times ,especially after it doesn't work 24 times.

And then with 9 seconds left and you have 2 of the 3 man coverage on 1 player just standing around watching the play............unbelievable.

The best defensive secondary team in the league looked like the worst...........BRUTAL

How things can change at the drop of a hat. Argos score a quick touchdown in the 1st quarter after a fumble recovery. Then just when it looked like it was going to happen again, Stamps challenge the call and keep the ball. Not long afterwards, Ricky Ray gets knocked out the game. For the Argos, it went from Ray-still-being-hot to how-are-we-going-to-do-anything-on-offense.

Not that the Stamps were injury-free as Cornish did not play, and Glenn was later knocked out as well. So today, the Stamps had replaceable parts. The Argos did not.

Not only Cornish, but Nik Lewis is out for the year with a broken leg. I think the difference was the Stamps were mentally prepared to play without their best players, and when Ray went down, that threw the Argos into a panic.

Great great game between my Eskies and the Roughriders, Sask pulled it off in the last few minutes due to a couple of mistakes. Reilly has thrown for 1000+ yards in the last 3 games, makes me wonder how we haven't won at least one of them games... even though we're 1 - 7 the Eskies are playing quite good, just not able to seal the deal. The good news is it's looking like we might actually have a QB now as we're getting some consistency.

That was a good game,what I saw of it.

But the weaker teams just don't seem to have that finish that the better teams do in the CFL.

Finally got to watch both games from yesterday.

Another lackluster game for the Bombers in game #1 as I keep hoping for some excitement from them after all the changes there. Game was basically over after the Ti-Cats took a 17-0 lead after one quarter. Max Hall only lasts 2 plays before hurting his hand. Buck Pierce plays until the 4th quarter, but does nothing special. Neither does Justin Goltz who finishes the game. What this means is another week of who will play QB next week. Situation with the Bombers is getting to the point where you wonder if even more heads are going to roll anytime soon.

Game #2 was an outstanding as the lead kept changes hand. Eskimos are 1-7 but played their hearts out, especially Mike Reilly. No shame in their effort at all (unlike the other 1-7 team). Even with a couple of injuries to their OL, Sheets was still able to get to the secondary too often before being touched. Plus, Durant is still a great escape artist even with his foot not being 100%.

Scoreboard says it was a close game. Stats say it was a close game. I just never at any point the Ti-Cats had a chance to win tonight. Maybe the reason was the Ti-Cat's zero first downs in the 1st quarter. Too bad. If the Ti-Cats would have won, I might have bumped them up to the 1st Division.

Lion's secondary sure likes to make things close.........they're brutal on their coverage in 2nd and 3rd down plays.

Lulay was pumped and the only reason they won..........these guys better get it together if they plan on doing anything in the playoffs.

Yup......the BC Lions don't look good. Offence is very tentative....Defence shows signs
of being scared at times.

FaxCap