When the weekend's action came to an end on Sunday, there were but six weeks left in the regular season, two thirds of the 2011 season's returns are now in and it's safe to say that there have been a few surprises along the way.
Week thirteen continued to provide it's moments, including one of the rare occasions of the CFL this year a Toronto Argonaut win. Reviews of the weekend can be found below.
Montreal at Edmonton
While the Alouettes probably would rather not discover Adrian MacPherson's talents in the way they were forced to on Friday night, the Montreal backup rose tot he occasion when forced into action on Friday night.
When Anthony Calvillo left the game late in the third quarter after another ferocious Eskimo hit, MacPherson stepped into the huddle and took charge of the Alouette attack for one of the most extended periods of time in recent Als history.
Picking up where Calvillo left off, MacPherson skillfully led the Als down the field and added to the points total as Montreal rolled on to a 34 to 21 victory over the Eskimos, the third straight home loss for the Green and Gold and another egg provided to a large Commonwealth crowd.
Brandon Whitaker accounted for eighteen of the Als 34 points, scoring all three of the Als touchdowns on the night, the remainder of the Alouettes scoring came from the foot of Sean Whyte with a safety adding to the final totals.
The Als defensive squad once again rose to the occasion, shutting down Ricky Ray's offensive attack for the majority of the game, the punctuation mark being their ability to get into the Eskimo backfield to hurry Ray's offensive plans, limiting the Eskimos ability to execute many of their offensive plays, instead leaving Ray to scramble for safety and or dump off the ball with limited gains.
The Als victory moved them back to within striking distance of the CFL East leading Blue Bombers, by the end of the weekend Montreal would be two points away from catching Winnipeg for the top spot in the east.
The only cloud on the day for Montreal, the status of Anthony Calvillo who appeared to be knocked out cold from the hit by the Eskimos' Marcus Howard, Calvillo was expressing cautious optimism that he will be ready for Friday nights match up with the B. C. Lions.
The Esks continuing troubles at home only serve to muddy up the CFL West, both Edmonton and Calgary continue to struggle to put together wins on a consistent basis, while coming up fast from the far west are the B. C. Lions, the CFL's hottest team over the last month and one which suddenly finds itself right in the mix for first in the West with their Alberta relations.
Canada.com-- Eskimos still fuming over loss to Als
Globe and Mail-- Alouettes close the gap on Bombers
National Post-- Alouettes lose Calvillo, defeat Eskimos
Edmonton Journal-- Eskimos Howard sends message to other QBs through Calvillo hit
Edmonton Sun-- Als complete sweep over Eskimos
British Columbia at Saskatchewan
The power shift in the CFL West is coming from across the Rockies, as the B. C. Lions continued on with their dominating ways on Saturday, totally crushing the Saskatchewan Roughriders by a score of 42 to 5, a game which no doubt brought back bad memories for the 30,000 plus faithful at Mosaic Stadium.
The Lions who have been the hottest team in the CFL for over a month now, continued their climb back into the CFL West upper reaches based on another strong game from starting quarterback Travis Lulay and the smothering efforts of the Lions defensive squad.
Saskatchewan which has had some impressive success since Ken Miller returned to the sidelines, took a large step backward on Saturday, seemingly not ready to play, making a number of mental errors that led to Lion opportunities, scoring chances that the Lions gladly accepted and took advantage of.
On both offence and defence the Lions were the vastly superior squad on Saturday afternoon, dismissing the Riders from school early, sending them back to study film and try to make sense of how they returned to their stumbling ways of earlier this year.
In the meantime, with little noise but a lot of commitment, the Lions have suddenly reached the 500 mark, reversing a horrible start to the season with five consecutive victories and a whole lot of momentum, ready to catch up to and pass both the Stamps and Eskimos in the West, two teams where consistent victories seem to be a problem area all of a sudden.
The timing of the Lions surge is a wonderful thing for Lion management, they move into their renovated digs at BC Place this Friday night with the Alouetttes coming to town, with their 5 win streak and top calibre competitor coming to town, the Lions could very well set the bar for high attendance in the CFL so far this year when the take to the field Friday.
For Saskatchewan, all that promise of the Labour Day and Banjo Bowl victories had best be put in the scrapbook, from their efforts (or lack of) on Saturday, it would seem that Ken Miller suddenly has a first hand look at what Greg Marshall had to deal with over the first third of the CFL season, a string of bad habits and a lack of finish and accomplishment marking the main talking points for the Riders practice sessions in the week ahead.
Vancouver Sun-- B. C. Lions impress Edmonton Eskimos coach Kavis Reed
Vancouver Province-- B. C. Lions' romp over Riders shows promising signs for home stretch
Regina Leader Post-- Riders surrender too many big plays in loss to B. C. Lions
Globe and Mail-- B. C. Lions catching fire at right time of season
National Post-- B. C. Lions take a bite out of Roughriders
Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Toronto Argonauts
By the time the final whistle went (the real one held by CFL officials) the field at Rogers Stadium resembled the set for the old television show M*A*S*H, you half expected Hawkeye , BJ and Hot Lips to stagger to the centre of the field and bemoan the fate of meatball surgery.
Five quarterbacks found some playing time during the course of the carnage of Saturday's Argos Bombers game, Winnipeg's Buck Pierce knocked from the game as was his replacement Alex Brink, leaving Bomber fans to rush to the Internet to learn more about Justin Goltz, not a household name around River city we're pretty sure.
All told there were seven Blue Bombers knocked out of action during the course of the game, the most head coach Paul LaPolice had seen in his eleven years of coaching.
The Argos too gave a workout to the training and medical staff, though nowhere near to the levels of service of their Winnipeg counterparts. Though anxious moments no doubt were felt by coach Jim Barker as Stephen Jyles suffered a stinger to his shoulder, limiting his offensive output towards the end of the game.
Beyond the medical report, the autopsy of the Argos 25 to 24 victory over the Bombers provided for a review of one of the ugliest games in recent CFL history, one filled with strange happenings, a host of turnovers, and any number of errors from both teams as well as the officiating staff.
A phantom whistle from the crowd allowed a redo for Noel Prefontaine field goal attempt, his first one bounced off the goal post, which would have resulted in a dead ball, but with the whistle from the crowd (if the reported 19,000 strong can be called a crowd) causing confusion, the officials allowed Prefontaine a second chance. another miss but one that resulted in a single point, enough for a victory on a night of comical performance.
The Argo victory while hailed as "one for the good guys" by Barker, had a different interpretation by the Bombers coach LaPolice, who while careful to keep his hand on his wallet over commentary, left no doubt that he wasn't overly impressed by the standard of officiating on the day.
Of more immediate concern now however is probably the state of his battered line up, heading into the final six weeks of the season, the Bombers injury woes are piling up at a most inconvenient time, their loss in Toronto combined with the victory of the Alouettes on the weekend, sets the scene for a CFL East showdown down the stretch, with not only the Als and Bombers in the mix, but perhaps featuring the Tigercats who looked as though they were back in a groove on the weekend.
If it comes down to filling in the holes in the line up, the job for Winnipeg is going to be a little bit harder than for their Eastern rivals, much as he relished the opportunity, we're thinking that fans of the Blue aren't quite ready to rush out and buy their Justin Goltz replica sweaters just yet.
Toronto Star-- Argos win ugly - but at least they win
Toronto Sun-- Twilight zone win for Argos
Winnipeg Free Press- Blue Bombers a banged-up bunch after loss to Argos
Winnipeg Sun-- Whistle-blowing alarms LaPo
Globe and Mail-- Bombers suffer huge offensive loss
National Post-- Argos beat Bombers with last minute single
Canada.com-- Toronto wins an ugly one
Calgary at Hamilton (at Moncton)
The famous food of the Maritimes was bountiful through the week, a banquet for the visiting gladiators that once again served to highlight the attachment of the Canadian game in the Atlantic Provinces.
It was a week that featured workshops for amateur football, photo ops for the faithful and a less than full practice schedule for the two squads involved in this years Touchdown Atlantic and by the end of the day on Sunday, the fans of Atlantic Canada who were excited for the return of the CFL to their region were no doubt singing the praises of the Hamilton Tiger Cats, who put on a clinic of sorts for the Stamps on the way to their convincing 55 to 36 victory.
Hamilton which had suffered some rather strong lessons of their own over the last two weeks, clearly had this game in focus as a turnaround one, reversing their mistakes of the last few weeks they executed their offensive plays with precision, defensively the mean, snarly Cats were back, making life as difficult as possible for the Henry Burris offence, shutting down the Stamps through most of the game.
Mistakes once again a costly thing for Calgary, whether missed assignments, fumbles or untimely penalties providing the Cats with opportunity after opportunity, something that they took advantage of with frequency.
So frustrating was the day for Burris that he found himself watching the carnage from the sidelines in the fourth quarter, removed from the game after a third quarter interception, though truth be told, if John Hufnagel could have probably had his way, Burris would have had plenty of company on the sidelines watching how bad his team was playing.
The lack of performance from the Stamps has their head coach seeking answers at the wrong time of the year, by the final six games of the year you really shouldn't have to be retraining your squad, it should be more of a case of refining the work in progress.
But with so many inconsistencies in the Stamps this season, it's almost as though the Stamps need a training camp to get back on focus for the rest of the CFL season.
It's a spot not unknown to the Tiger Cats who have struggled over the last few weeks themselves, though you wouldn't have known it from their performance on Sunday, the quickly won over the Moncton crowd with their play.
Tiger Cat football as ferocious as that which the faithful see at Ivor Wynne, Kevin Glenn found his offensive groove early and combined with Marcus Thigpen to put on an offensive display that should provide a fair amount of motivation for the amateur ball players in attendance at Moncton Stadium.
The key for Hamilton now will be to build on their success of Touchdown Atlantic and carry it forward through the remaining six weeks of the season, if they can keep the level of play in mind through October, the race for first in the East is going to be an exciting one, with the Cats in the thick of it through to the end of the season.
Hamilton Spectator-- Speed kills... at least it did in Moncton
Calgary Sun-- Stamps must refocus
Calgary Herald-- Same old mistakes as Ticats score at will against Stamps
Globe and Mail-- Red Alert in Calgary
National Post-- Ticats pummel Stampeders in Moncton
Canada.com-- Huff questions the mental toughness of his Stamps
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