Old Guns and new ones too, week one gives us lots to chew

Week One of the CFL season is safely in the books and there are a few things that seem pretty apparent right from the get go.


LIONS 45, SASKATCHEWAN 25

The BC Lions look to revisit last years climb to the far reaches of the CFL West riding the arm of Dave Dickenson who had an amazing regular season debut for the Leos at BC Place. The Lions totally destroyed the Saskatchewan Roughriders under the dome. Dickenson put together some impressive drives on the way to their 45-28 victory, the Riders picking up some points more by happenstance than by design. The much vaunted Rider defence was completely overwhelmed by the Lions, while Kerry Joseph suffered some growing pains with his new offence, which perhaps could have used Ti-Cat Corey Holmes in their backfield.

The quirky CFL schedule has the Riders and Leos meeting up three times in the first four weeks, which judging by Friday night’s performance doesn’t bode well for the Riders chances for a first place finish, and this after only a month of football!

MONTREAL 27, WINNIPEG 17

Montreal took a half off in their match up with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, giving Bomber fans at least thirty minutes of hope to start the season off. From the opening kick off the Bombers looked like they had a Grey Cup in their sights as they marched the length of the field to pick up their first seven points of the new season. With a new head coach, a new defensive coordinator and a raft of refugees from the defunct Ottawa Renegades, the new look Bombers looked pretty good for the most part, but by the time the first half had come to an end some cracks had begun to show however, and in the second half the entire bottom dropped out for the Big Blue.

Montreal totally took over the game from the second half on, the Bombers incapable of putting yards let alone touchdowns on the stats sheets. There were far too many breakdowns on the Bomber side of the ball to keep a lead and the experience of Anthony Calvillo and his Montreal team mates showed through, once again providing an perfect example of why the Als have been the cream of the CFL east for so many years. There were many good signs for the Bombers, things to work on and no doubt they’ll get better. If coach Berry wants to stress one thing it should be that football is sixty minutes, half a game doesn’t count for much in the standings.

TORONTO 27, HAMILTON 17

The Ricky Williams era in Toronto got off to a slow start as the Argos newest running back found the first half a gentle easing in period to life on the CFL battlefield. In fact it was Damon Allen who dominated the news in the first half and not in a way that he would have hoped. The veteran Argo QB was injured in his first set of downs for the double blue in 2006, a broken finger sending him to the sidelines and now out of the line up for the foreseeable future.

Spergon Wynn was thrown into the fray early on, the former BC Lion and Winnipeg Blue Bomber finally receiving the opportunity he’s been waiting for in the CFL for some five years, a chance to lead his team on to victory. It proved to be a chance he grabbed onto with both hands and took charge of. He made some sharp passes in the first half, helping to move the Argo offence into the Ti Cat side of the field. Ricky Williams would only get sporadic touches in the first half, but once the second half started Williams hit his stride.

As the second half moved along, the Argos gave the ball more and more to their new back, he powered his way through the Ti Cat line, by games end he was yards shy of the 100 yard mark and only two yards away from his first CFL touchdown. His play a preview of what CFL teams can get ready for once he’s in peak shape for the year.

The Cats had a few good signs in this game; their running game seems in fine shape with Corey Holmes and Josh Ranek, though Ranek was limited to a spectator’s status early on with an injury to his leg. Jason Maas seems to be relishing his role as starter for the Black and Yellow finding his receivers are going to come along just fine when he gets the ball to them. The only problem it seems is an age old one for Hamilton teams, too many penalties. Far too often in the game the Tabbies would find a drive snuffed out by a pointless penalty or one more chance given to the Argos when a Ti Cat defender lost his composure and took a dumb penalty. Once they get those kinks worked out the Cats should be in good shape for the rest of the year.

CALGARY 24, EDMONTON 14

It wasn’t much to watch for Calgary fans in the first 45 minutes, as the Stamps and Eskies appeared to want to be watching the Oilers game with the rest of the country. The Eskimos a tad more inclined to put some points on the board, but still not put on too much of a dominating display. Ricky Ray had a decent day of it in the first half and into the third quarter, but his defensive mates left an opening for the Stamps in the fourth and they took full advantage of Edmonton’s gifts.

Things kicked in for Calgary in the fourth as they began to find their form and take the play to the Eskies Henry Burris turned it on late in the game as he took the Stamps down field in the dying moments of the game to steal away a victory from Rick Ray’s Edmonton Eskimos.

Interestingly enough it was after the Oilers telecast would have come to an end that the Stamps made their push to victory, so maybe they just wanted to wait til everyone migrated over from the CBC to TSN before they entertained the fans.

Of course if you had been sitting through the downpours and lightning shows at McMahon Stadium you might be wishing that Hank and the boys had turned it on a little earlier. It’s always a roller coaster of a ride when the two Alberta rivals match up, but this one didn’t have many sharp turns, nor deep drops until the very end.

All in all an ok debut week for the CFL, the Ricky Williams story will carry on fueled on by the endless rivalry of the Argos and Ticats. The Lions look ready to finish off what they had hoped to start last year, Calgary looks good in fifteen minutes bursts and the Bombers provided a bit of hope only to crash to earth once again.

Pretty well just another week in the life of the CFL…