johnzo

watching the Ottawa / Elks game tonight and Ottawa sure knows their script: last three minutes of the half, they're down by three, they get a good return, Maier makes some throws, Eberhardt converts a fantastic second-and-long ... they're marching ... and then Maier throws up a duck when he gets blitzed, it's picked, and suddenly they're down by six. They're lucky bolo was slow-lo or it would've been worse. Then Maier misses Eberhardt on a post that would have been 6 for sure .. and their punt is blocked ... and suddenly they're down by nine at the half. Fear is the mind killer, they say in Dune, but I think that the Redblacks are the heart killer.

Right now our D is #2 in the league, allowing 25.25 points a game, very slightly behind Hamilton, who have allowed 24.5 per game.

Vernon Adams is the ultimate summer quarterback. He always comes out flying early in the season.

I think JC Watts was closer to Nealon Greene than he is to Rourke. Guy could run a little bit but he was not a great passer, nope. Ham, maybe, that guy was a true dual threat.

oh yeah, Allen was lethal in the open field, although I remember him being snaky and elusive more than blazing fast. But I think Rourke is a better passer than Allen ever was. I remember Condredge for his toughness -- he played through a lot of gnarly injuries. He didn't have Allen's gift for avoiding contact...but at his best he was fantastic.

great answer, Booch, thanks man.

the thing that always surprises me about Rourke is his breakaway speed. Seems like once a game he'll catch the D selling out for the pass and go for a big gallop. Where Fajardo or Collaros or Brown would get seven yards, he'll get twenty or thirty. Trying to remember a CFL guy who could pass as well as Rourke who also had the zooms. Rourke is way faster than Moon ever was. Ricky Ray was not a fast man. Calvillo ran like a barge. Flutie had all the moves but I think Rourke is faster. Alexander's an explosive and nimble runner when his hammies aren't tweaked ... but I was shocked at how good Rourke's top gear is.

one thing I've always wondered about... You look at guys like Alexander and they are just ridiculously cut with lots of super defined muscle mass. We can make super powerful humans nowadays with training and diet and ... supplements ... but do the joints and soft tissues scale alongside that muscle power? It seems like zero-contact injuries, esp. the dreaded achilles tear, are on the rise ... I'm wondering how the non-muscle bits of human body copes with having all that power that it totally didn't evolve for. (I am not a bodybuilder or trainer and know nothing about physiology, so this may be a dumb question) (edit: and google sez the hamstring itself is actually a muscle and not a tendon so I dunno if this thought even applies to Alexander's hams or not)

damn, Davis Alexander is playing some fine football right now. That red zone throw he made back into the middle while sprinting right was ludicrous. Hit his guy right in the hands with a soft pass. Made Lapo woop. I hope he's not hurt again. CFL needs guys like that to stay on the field.

this is your courtesy reminder that last year our D finished first in the league in points allowed. It was quite good by the only metric that matters. How else do you think we won eleven games with Hogan as OC? saw the same pattern in this game as in Calgary: our D was pantsed by Rankin in the first half and then solved him in the second half and gave us a chance to win. The goat horns for this game belong on the offence, for repeatedly giving away the ball and for trying to roll with just two import receivers. We had zero vertical passing attack after Pokey got hurt. When the chips were down and we had to hold the ball to protect a one point lead, we went two-and-out with Zach throwing a low percentage deep shot to Demski on a 2nd-and-7, right around the time of the three minute warning. O grinds out a few first downs, at least flips the field, we can win this game.

well there's something I haven't seen ... ever? A 100+ yard drive that doesn't result in any points. I bet the league is taking a look at that, tho.

Pokey deserves props for cleaning up after all the fumbles. Just saved us four points. love the heart.

The thing I liked best about Kindly Cal was that his teams would often be up so far in the third quarter that he'd pull Clements and let Hufnagel close out the game. Either way the game went, TC was getting pulled. 😃

I had a memory like this too but when I looked back at the 2023 season I saw that the only time that Dru replaced Zach was when Zach was banged up against Edmonton on 8/10. That was the big game against Edmonton where he brought us back from being down 22-0. Dru started the next week against Calgary when Zach was unavailable. First win as a starter for him.

I don't think you can ever judge a football player by their time in Ottawa. Every year the Ottawa CFL team signs a bunch of promising free agents and every year, they never get any better. There's been a weird vortex over that town since the early eighties that prevents the assembly of talent into football teams. Greg Bell this year, for example -- last year he was lethal in the open field and could deke any player in the CFL one-on-one ... and this year he looks like like he's old and tired and didn't even start the first game. (plus, I think they're running him between the tackles too much) You get guys like Stephane Jones or Josh Ranek or Josh Hardy who can prosper in Ottawa year after year, but they are weird outliers. Brown makes our team better and his ceiling is miles high. That's the only thing one can say, I think.

Even if Maier turns the corner and starts winning games for them, you still need depth at QB to prosper in the CFL. Maybe there's pressure to cut salary in Ottawa? Maybe Brown was making too much to be QB2?

yeah based on the first couple games, I am not optimistic that our D has an answer for Rankin .... but I would much rather have a seat at the crow buffet than be right about that.

yeah, happy to have Dru back, but really what the hell is Ottawa thinking here?

It will be interesting to see what happens with attendance in Edmonton now that they have a legit team, they pulled off a cardiac kids win against the best team in the East, and they have the most exciting player in the CFL as of Week 2. jeez, I am not looking forward to seeing Rankin in space against our linebackers. Hopefully the Elks get some nice weather for their next few home games. Elks - Als sure looked like a nice game to watch from home.

Give it a few games! Maybe our D is a grower, not a shower.

Just took a look at the numbers. CFL teams are putting up 59 points a game so far this season, compared to 51.75 after week 2 last year. +1 TD average is an enormous change. It's very early, though, with 6 teams having played only one game due to the wacky early season schedule. I wonder what coaches and teams think of having so many teams on bye weeks early in the season? Seems like that extra week could function as just an extra few days of camp. yeah, I'm all about letting the players have personalities on the field ... but celebrating a first down on the first drive in the first quarter is a bit much man.

hate to see that. Begelton is a massive receiver, one of my favorite non-bombers. Love those guys who can solo a passing attack no matter who's playing QB. I hope he gets better, but he's been banged up for almost a year now..

yeah, I liked his breakdown of Kiondre Smith's big catch where Lawler ran a clearout route that drew the entire Als secondary, and I like how he diagnosed the pick six as BLM taking too long to throw to the curl route. People who know about football -- if you're a receiver and you run a curl route and the ball doesn't hit you immediately, shouldn't you go find a soft spot in the D rather than standing flat-footed staring at the QB? I was taught that flat-footed receivers cause interceptions...

yeah, that's not fair of me to judge a guy by that one whiff .. but that play was the hope crusher that ended our season, so I remember it really really well and I was surprised we invited him back.

nothing except for that time that he got totally deked by gimpy Davis Alexander on a critical play in the final two minutes of the ESF. He makes that tackle, we're getting the ball back with a minute left in a one-score game. Totally not clutch.