Sunday, July 01, 2012

Twelve men Review-- Week One (ending July 1, 2012)

The kick off to the 100th season of the CFL provided a few surprises, with the key one being the dominance of the West over the East, a trait that was supposed to have been changed with all the off season movement, yet after one week, once again the best of the CFL would seem to reside west of the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border.

Toronto 15 at Edmonton 19

The return of Ricky Ray to Edmonton provided a nice little storyline for the season debut, another case of an Alberta resource heading East, though in this case it could be considered a transfer payment to a struggling province at least in the world of football.

The Eskimo fans at the prompt of the big screen at Commonwealth saluted Ricky Ray for his years of service to the Green and Gold, Grey Cup rings and banners from his stewardship the short film review was received with warm applause.

And then, with the realization that Ray now plays for everyone's favourite villain the Toronto Argonauts the starting quarterback for the Double Blue started to hear the boos, perhaps not directed to him personally, but clearly designed to reflect the change that came last December.

Statistically by games end, Ray had the better of Steven Jyles in yards passing, completions and all of that, but where it counts on the scoreboard well on opening day the Eskimos had Ray's number.

The game itself was not a masterpiece of Canadian football, frequent offsides, confusion in the backfield, curious play execution and far too many turnovers suggested that this was more like pre season game number three as opposed to the opening day of the regular season for the two teams.

Shaking off the rust and getting everyone in sync is clearly still going to be on the agenda in both camps during this week of practice.

The Eskimos new starter Jyles, who will either finally achieve that success that many suggest he is destined for or fade from CFL view had a fairly productive day for the Esks. While not bringing back the days of Moon, Wilkinson or even Ray for that matter, the Esks clearly a work in progress did find scoring plays when they needed them.

Kavis Reed's blue print perhaps is still in development to best suit Jyles skill set and the sputtering at times offence offers up the thought that a bit of tweaking is still required, but for an opening effort the Esks did rather well.

Though the ability to put away an opponent that is struggling isn't there yet, something that the fabled Eskimo teams of the past never had any problem summoning up when the time arrived.

For the most part the Argonauts fumbled and dropped this game away, untimely penalties suggest that its more the mental game than the physical play that Scott Milanovich will have to address with his squad.

The Argos hung around through the day, Ricky Ray finally hitting a comfort zone in the second half, if not for the sloppy play and miscues the Argos would most likely be celebrating their star quarterbacks first win in Double Blue.

However, when the season ends and the timeline is reviewed, week one belonged to the Eskimos, it wasn't pretty but the win is the win.

A look back at the Eskimos and Argos game can be found here.





Winnipeg 16 at British Columbia 33

Game number two on the weekend was the Geroy Simon show and while it took about a quarter or so to get everyone on the same page, but once they did, Geroy became the showcase and didn't disappoint.

The countdown to a new CFL record began slowly and worked its way through the first two quarters, short little out patterns or crosses picked up small gains towards 15,192 (and counting) with the occasional long toss that taunted us with the potential of a showcase record making grab.

The third quarter saw Simon shut out, leaving the drama for the final frame, with ten minutes left in the game the new mark of excellence was reached, the CFL interrupting play to celebrate, included in the on field recognition was Mitt Steagall, the previous record holder.

One of the class acts of the CFL handing over a torch of sorts to another, with a new standard of excellence yet to be finalized, though when it is Geroy Simon's stamp will be on the CFL record books.

As for the remainder of the game's talking points, the Lions looked very much ready to pick up where they left off on that last Sunday of November of 2011, Travis Lulay looked quite in control of his game, still confident and no doubt thankful at the assets at his disposal on the offence.

Defensively the Lions would seem to be solid as well, frequently in the face of Buck Pierce until his departure after injury, they then made life quite uncomfortable for Alex Brink, though he did have his successful moments and that's a good thing, considering the obvious fragility of Pierce once again.

The question in Winnipeg every year seems to be how long their starter can last this year and while the Bombers are hopeful that Pierce will be back for week two's match up with Montreal, the fact that their quarterback was knocked out of action less than half a game into the season probably isn't the best of omens.

You can check out the background on the Bombers/Lions game here.



Saskatchewan 43 at Hamilton 16

The season got underway in Hamilton where with much anticipation CFL fans settled in to see if Henry Burris and his arsenal of receivers would lay waste to the Roughriders, dressed in bright white, in honour of the surrender we imagine most suspected was destined on opening day.

However, a funny thing seemed to happen on the way to Ivor Wynne, nobody told the Riders they were to be doormats this season.

What we seem to have learned after the season opener is that when Cory Chamlis left his defensive responsibilities in Hamilton to take on the top job in Saskatchewan he took the Defensive playbook with him and the Ticats didn't bother to change anything.

The Riders defensive squad laid waste to the Ticats ambitions, frequently harrassing Burris and making Ticat receivers and running backs pay the price of crossing the scrimmage line.

All in all it was a performance from Hamilton that leaves one to wonder aloud that if the Cats are going to make good use of their beefed up offense, it might be an idea for the defensive squad to give them something to work with.

For Saskatchewan, while just one game, Chambliss already has provided for some tangible success that will warm the hearts of the always faithful Rider fanbase, if one game is any indication, whatever change in dynamic he brought with him from Hamilton is being taken as gospel by those in Green and White.

You can review the results from the Riders/Ticats game here.


Montreal 10 at Calgary 39

Alouettes fans won't be liking the omens that they saw in the season opener, while Anthony Calvillo may still have a rocket for an arm, the offensive group couldn't get off of the launching bad on Canada Day, a week one ending matchup with the Stamps that provided for most of the fireworks with the home side.

When they break down their game film from Sunday's game, defensive flaws and miscues will make for a rather worrisome bit of viewing, the Als defensive side were clearly outplayed and overwhelmed by the Stampeders offensive team, with Jon Cornish running through and over Alouette defenders seemingly at will.

Concerns for Calvillo must be creeping in the back of head coach Marc Trestman's mind, not that he isn't up to the job but rather that perhaps some of those protecting him and or running the pass routes may not be up to their jobs.

Dropped passes and what can only be described as a lethargic effort on the offence provided for most of the Alouettes troubles, combined with woeful special teams and a defensive side that took far too many bad penalties and game one clearly wasn't going to be the Als best effort, well at least Als fans best hope that wasn't the best that they have to look forward to.

On the other side of the field, the Stampeders new parts from an off season of change managed to fit nicely together, with Drew Tate settling into the undisputed number one position at QB quite well directing some impressive drives in the Stamps season opener.

Defensively the Stamps totally dominated the Als and the day was such that everything seemed to work out as John Hufnagel would wish.

So much had the stars aligned  that even with as raw a rookie as you could find in the defensive backfield success was impressive, as Keenan MacDougall, who was making his CFL debut and made the best of it with some big time plays including a 63 yard fumble return for a TD, later on in the game MacDougall on a blitz rushed Anthony Calvillo into tossing an interception, which snuffed out pretty well any hope the Als had of putting any tangible points on the board.

The Stampeder win completed a western sweep for week one, with three out of the four western based squads winning quite convincingly, it may be a new season, but after week one it would seem to be a rather familiar pattern is once again starting to form.

The reviews and background to the Alouettes/Stampeders game can be found here.




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