Three fairly entertaining games and one that had a resounding thud, that was the week that was in the CFL.
The Als and Bombers kicked the weekend off with a reminder that there may yet be a few miles in the Anthony Calvillo odometer, as the Als QB returned to the kind of form we have grown accustomed to. The nightcap of the Friday Night Football doubleheader should give the fans of the Ti Cats some hope for the season as Hamilton battled back to fall just short of the BC Lions.
Saturday provided for one of the most enjoyable of Toronto Argonaut games in recent times as the Double Blue grabbed a victory in their home opener with Ricky Ray once again showing how valuable an asset he could be to a team. Have any doubts about that theory, then just ask the folks in Edmonton, who no doubt sat in front of their TV sets in shock as the results of the trouncing of the Eskimos by the Riders came through in full view. We examine all of the above further below.
Winnipeg 30 at Montreal 41
It was the Alex Whitaker show in Montreal to open up week number two, as the Alouettes tailback accounted for three of the Alouettes touchdowns on the day, running and catching his way into the imagination of the Alouettes faithful. Whitaker's success as a highlight reel subject meshed nicely with the return of form of Anthony Calvillo, who after a less than Calvillo like day in Calgary last week took out his frustrations on the Bomber defence, completing 31 of 39 passes for a total of 443 yards.
AC tossed three TD passes on the way to the Als victory and most importantly after last week, did not have an interception during the course of Friday's game and while the Bombers in the end made a game of it closing towards the Alouettes, they never seemed to be able the leap into dominating the Als in week two.
Winnipeg's defensive play couldn't answer the Calvillo challenge, as he managed to find holes and exploit coverages seemingly whenever he wished.
Offensively, the Bombers cobbled together a fairly consistent effort, Buck Pierce who was forced out of game one, held his ground in week two, but untimely interceptions and stalled drives would prove to slow down any progress the Bombers might have been able to put together.
The final score, more or less flattering the Bombers a bit, seven of the points were surrendered by the Als in the final minute of play, by that point the game was more or less in the books as an Als win.
Winnipeg continues the long march on the road in week three, no doubt when the schedule was drawn up, the dream of stepping into the new stadium in the fall was in the minds of all, now with the Bombers residency deferred until 2013, the schedule may prove to be another challenge that the Bombers need to overcome.
Week three finds them travelling once again, this time to Edmonton, which is probably nice for their air miles accounts, but with stops in Vancouver, Montreal and now Edmonton and then back to Toronto in Week four, the road is going to be a very weary place before the Blue play their first game at home on July 26th.
For week three, the one ace they may hold is that the Eskimos clearly are struggling as well and with the noise building in Edmonton about their offensive woes, the Bombers may find that Commonwealth may be a neutral site game.
The Als host the Calgary Stampeders on Thursday for week three, offering up another chance for Calvillo and company to put some points on the board and climb the standings in the east.
The reviews and background of the Bombers/Als game can be found here.
Hamilton 36 at British Columbia 39
Perhaps the most exciting game of the weekend didn't seem to be heading in that direction in the first half. The BC Lions who squeaked out a victory at BC Place, appeared to be cruising to a victory in the first 30 minutes of play overcoming an early Hamilton lead to take advantage of turnovers to move into the lead by half time.
On the Hamilton side of the field a struggling Henry Burris was replaced in the second quarter, head coach George Cortez making that move after the Hamilton QB threw an interception that propelled the Lions to their lead.
Burris didn't seem particularly thrilled at having to give way to back up Quinton Porter, perhaps with visions of last year in Calgary replaying through his mind, though Cortez, knocked down any thoughts of a QB controversy, inserting Burris back into the game in the third.
From there, it was a back and forth kind of affair, the Lions holding the lead and controlling the clock quite effectively, yet the Cats didn't go away, Burris taking them down field in less than three minutes to pull within three points of the Leos with time winding down.
For the most part however, the second half was a special teams showcase, with kick returners shining and providing for the bulk of the offensive display at BC Place.
Hamilton's defence couldn't slow down the Lions to force one more set of downs for Burris, the Leos ran out the remaining time and put the two points for the win in the bank.
The second half outlined a few things for the Lions to consider however, having rattled the Cats in the latter stages of the first half, they couldn't put them away, allowing Burris and his team to regroup and mount the charge, something that may prove troublesome later on towards playoff time.
The Lions have become known for the efforts of Travis Lulay et al on the offensive side of the ball, Friday however served up a reminder that they're solid on defense as well, it was the defensive squad that provided much of the effort to secure the win.
BC heads off to Saskatchewan to take on the Riders in week three, the Cats return home to renew acquaintances with the Argos at Ivor Wynne.
The reviews and background of the Tiger Cats/Lions game can be found here.
Calgary 36 at Toronto 39
It proved to be a costly afternoon for the Stampeders, who in addition to coming up just short on the scoreboard finished the game without the services of starter Drew Tate. The Calgary QB was injured in the first half, leaving the field in visible pain and returning to the sidelines with his arm in a sling, leaving the game in the hands of back up Kevin Glenn.
The former Ti Cat and key component in the Henry Burris deal, proved to be a handy thing to have around as he helped the Stamps stay close and almost snatch victory from the Argos in their home debut.
Larry Taylor's efforts proved to be key to the Stamps attack as he returned a missed Noel Prefontaine field goal attempt for 125 yards and a Stampeder touchdown, that monster of a return just part of the big picture for Taylor who had an awesome day in the losing cause.
The Argos held the bulk of the play for the first half, but the third quarter signalled that the Stamps were going to make a game of it, assisted by timely interceptions and sloppy ball play by the Argos.
Kevin Glenn who took over the reins from Tate, began to shake off some of the rust and pushed the Stampeders down the field, accounting for two touchdown passes to go along with Taylor's offensive output.
Ricky Ray continues to fit into the Argonaut offensive plans nicely, providing for a first half of success to push the Argos on, over 400 yards in passing and two touchdowns on the ledger for Ray, as he offers up the calm and confident presence that the Argos have been looking for.
The dynamic in Toronto is such, that even as things tended to go off the rails for a bit, the team collectively managed to shake those incidents off, refocus and persevere, attributes that their coach Scott Milanovich seems to have brought to the team and a culture that could prove quite useful heading into the meat of the 2012 season.
The Stamps head on down the 401 to Montreal for week three, spending the days leading up to the contest to refocus the offence around Kevin Glenn for the short term, the Argos meet up with their old friends the Ti Cats, heading off to Ivory Wynne for a Saturday night showdown.
The reviews and background to the Argos/Stampeders game can be found here.
Edmonton 1 at Saskatchewan 17
If the first three games if week three were explosive affairs (a combined total of 221 points over three games) the wrap to the weekend was the polar opposite.
For anyone holding an over under ticket at ten points, the future probably looked pretty good heading into the latter stages of the fourth quarter.
Neither Saskatchewan, nor Edmonton could provide for a touchdown until Saskatchewan finally broke the logjam for a TD late into the fourth.
It was not the kind of game that one would use to highlight the offensive displays that the CFL is known for, instead, a dull plodding affair played out for the TSN audience, the Eskimos woeful with neither Steven Jyles or Kerry Joseph able to put together anything resembling a drive.
Likewise, until the late game surge (such as it was) Darian Durant was hard pressed to recapture some of that offensive largess that was showcased last week in Hamilton.
With over 31,000 fans crammed into Mosaic Field, eager to celebrate the return of Rider football, the anticipation of a Rider charge never quite played out, instead, it was kick, kick, kick that played out for the bulk of the game.
With the victory, we imagine the shortcomings of the home opener will soon be forgotten, the Riders now off to a 2 and 0 start can just count the points in the standing, the fans can proudly boast of an undefeated season thus far.
In Edmonton, however, the reaction is going to be a little bit different. GM Eric Tillman was already getting ready to absorb most of the anger from the home side, quite aware that his off season trade of Ricky Ray to Toronto was going to be the focus of much of the Eskimo fans anger this week.
The lack of success of Jyles and Joseph only served to highlight the nature of that off season move and Tillman surely must know that it's going to be a sore point until the Esks find someone to take charge of that position and start to put some points on the board.
It has been the main theme of the off season and two games into the regular campaign, it no doubt will remain the top talking point for the Eskimos in the weeks to come.
Judging by the morning reviews in the Edmonton media, it's going to be a rather long week for Eric Tillman, the Esks face the Bombers on Friday while the Riders are home to BC Saturday night.
The reviews and background to the Eskimos/Riders game can be found here.
Errors and Corrections: As pointed out by a helpful reader, we seem to have been living in the past keeping Henry Burris in Stampeder colours as opposed to his new fashion in Hamilton, we have corrected those errors in the first two paragraphs and thank our reader for the proof reading faux pas...
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