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Snapshot mid-season review of all CFL teams

TrueBlue4ever

By TrueBlue4ever
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TrueBlue4ever Grand Master

TrueBlue4ever

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My half season synopsis for each team after the Labour Day games. Would love input from others on this, especially the other "team reps" on the site, a.k.a lyin' guy, Ripper, kpt_krunch, Bluto, etc.:

 

WEST

 

Calgary (8-1-1) – Class of the league, and not yet looking like they want to mail it in.

REASON TO SMILE: Best QB, best defence, best depth, maybe best running back and kicker, and motivated to win right now

FATAL FLAW: None right now, unless they wrap up the division by October 1, get bored, and get caught napping in the West Final (which happens a surprisingly decent amount of the time with the Stampeders in the last 2 decades)

 

BC (7-3) – No one thought they’d be this good, will teams stop taking them for granted and recognize how strong a squad they really are?

REASON TO SMILE: The best young QB in the league and maybe the best 2 individual defenders in the CFL, and a hall-of-famer at head coach who knows how to win

FATAL FLAW: Their performance in each game seems less impressive than their overall record, especially of late. Take away the Calgary games and they are 6-1, but they won those against Sask., Mtl., Ham. twice, but without their starting QB, and an Ottawa team in turmoil. And they were clearly outclassed the last time they played the Stamps.

 

Winnipeg (6-4) – Have things finally turned around in River City? Nothing certain yet, but boy it sure feels like a giant cloud over this franchise has dissipated.

REASON TO SMILE: Free agency pick-ups have re-vitalized this team at running back, kicker, and in the offensive playbook. A QB who can make plays, strong line play on both sides, and a turnover machine of a defence. Lots of good pieces in play.

FATAL FLAW: Still not converting enough of those turnovers into 7 points, can’t continue to rely on 6 field goals and 6 turnovers every game as the season progresses, and since the road to glory will ultimately go through Calgary, that doesn’t bode well given how those match-ups went this year.

 

Edmonton (5-5) – Maybe the most under-achieving team this year. An all-star season at QB, the top 2 receivers in the game, and many of the pieces from last year’s championship defence are still present, so what gives? This can’t just be Grey Cup hangover.

REASON TO SMILE: All those pieces I just mentioned and a championship pedigree suggest that if they get it turned around, they can still be a force. And if a .500 record is a sub-par performance from them, it speaks to how good they can be when firing on all cylinders.

FATAL FLAW: Just the vibe that something is missing, especially defensively. Blown out in Calgary, gave away a 4 touchdown lead at home to Hamilton and followed it up with a dismal home loss to Winnipeg. These losses speak to a squad with some unresolved problems rather than a “these things happen” one-off loss in each case.

 

Saskatchewan (1-9) – 12 car pile-up, train wreck, nuclear disaster, pick your analogy. After stealing Chris Jones and his staff away from the Grey Cup champs, no one thought it would go this badly, even if he did vow to blow it all up.

REASON TO SMILE: Nothing, unless you are from Manitoba or Alberta. Then it is ear-to-ear grins watching your rival crash and burn so completely. Seriously, I guess there is hope that rather than trying to drag out a few more wins from an over-the-hill bunch, the approach is to have a brutal season now and re-build faster. At least what the guy selling me the Kool Aid said.

FATAL FLAW: It’s one thing to be lousy, it’s another to be a laughing stock, and this team has had some embarrassing defeats. What’s even worse than all that? To be so bad on the field when you’ve tried to cheat your way to victory, and been caught so flagrantly at it. The ultimate embarrassment, however,  is to be even more inept off the field than on it, and the shenanigans of ‘Rider management (hiding players illegally, complaining publicly about a league-driven “conspiracy” against you when you get busted for it, and signing an unrepentant anti-Semite to your roster being just a few of their transgressions) have made many ‘Priders blush this year.

 

EAST

 

Ottawa (5-4-1) – A hot start with their back-up QB has largely disappeared, and there are now questions as to what is wrong with the Grey Cup finalists from last year. But in the East, their mediocrity is still good enough for top spot…..for now.

REASON TO SMILE: Still the best 1-2 punch at QB and tons of weapons on offence. If they can figure out their o-line issues they could still take off.

FATAL FLAW: Injuries have exposed a lack of depth, but moreso teams are starting to figure out the RedBlack game plan and exploit it. Both QBs are finally healthy and no bounce-back, so something deeper is amiss with this team.

 

Hamilton (5-5) – Survived the early part of the season without their MVP quarterback, and have exploded offensively in recent games. Likely the most feared team (behind Calgary) as we hit the second half of the year.

REASON TO SMILE: That powerful offence means they are never out of a game, as has been witnessed multiple times already this year.

FATAL FLAW: If defence wins championships, then this squad needs some work before it can claim glory. All those great comebacks are set up by a sometimes porous pass defence giving up a big lead in the first place, and it will bite them at some point, won't it?

 

Toronto (4-6) – Have somehow scratched out 4 wins, while not looking particularly flashy about it. But may start to lose ground (and relevance) if they can’t beat the top dogs in the division. Crossover position in jeopardy too.

REASON TO SMILE: In the East, never really out of it as all teams seem to tread water around the .500 mark, and Ricky Ray can still pull a crazy good performance out of his hat on any given day.

FATAL FLAW: That “any given day” is becoming fewer and farther between for this aging, and now somewhat injury-prone, dink and dunk QB, and there is no back-up plan in place. A few players here and there, but no real “team” feel here. And if BMO Field was the last great hope for this franchise in terms of Toronto sustainability and survivability, then we may need to start preparing the obituary. *SHUDDER*

 

Montreal (3-7) – Think Saskatchewan without the admission of defeat. This is how you drag out the death of a team rather than blowing it up and starting fresh.

REASON TO SMILE: Jim Popp is still the GM and he has always proven to be a good one for finding strong players and building Canadian depth (if his record of success in the past is any indication). And NFL castoff Duron Carter is arguably the single most dangerous weapon in the CFL at wide receiver.

FATAL FLAW: Jim Popp is too busy trying to prove he is a head coach too. He isn’t. And maybe having Anthony Calvillo as your QB for all those years made you look smarter  as a GM than you really were. Because Anthony Calvillo as your offensive co-ordinator is not making you look like MENSA material right now. And the sideshow that is Duron Carter may be even more dangerous for your own team to deal with than the athlete is for opponents to handle.

Edited by TrueBlue4ever
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Arnold_Palmer Veteran

Arnold_Palmer

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Quote

 

Winnipeg (6-4) – Have things finally turned around in River City? Nothing certain yet, but boy it sure feels like a giant cloud over this franchise has dissipated.

REASON TO SMILE: Free agency pick-ups have re-vitalized this team at running back, kicker, and in the offensive playbook. A QB who can make plays, strong line play on both sides, and a turnover machine of a defence. Lots of good pieces in play.

FATAL FLAW: Still not converting enough of those turnovers into 7 points, can’t continue to rely on 6 field goals and 6 turnovers every game as the season progresses, and since the road to glory will ultimately go through Calgary, that doesn’t bode well given how those match-ups went this year.

 

I HATE comments like this because in the progression of a season teams change, teams bond, we had a different starting QB, we've had guys step up in our line up that didn't even play last time we faced Calgary. In fact we haven't lost a single game since we played Calgary last.

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Atomic Collaborator

Atomic

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11 hours ago, ddanger said:

The road to the Grey Cup goes through Calgary ( at least right now ) and I don't think it's debatable. But there's lots of games to be played, and you never know. Currently, we can't beat Calgary and that's just the reality.

How is that reality?  We *can't* beat Calgary?  I don't believe that at all.

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Noeller Grand Master

Noeller

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1 hour ago, Atomic said:

How is that reality?  We *can't* beat Calgary?  I don't believe that at all.

No, I think I actually agree with the post.....this team, as it currently sits vs Calgary's current team.........I don't think we beat them. Now, injuries and things can happen to even it out, but to me, Calgary's offense is just so much better than ours....light years......that we don't compete with them.

 

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Atomic Collaborator

Atomic

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Just now, Noeller said:

No, I think I actually agree with the post.....this team, as it currently sits vs Calgary's current team.........I don't think we beat them. Now, injuries and things can happen to even it out, but to me, Calgary's offense is just so much better than ours....light years......that we don't compete with them.

 

Calgary would be favoured heavily but to say we can't beat them is just silly.

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Noeller Grand Master

Noeller

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Field goals from red zone stalls aren't going to get it done against that team. Don't get me wrong, Calgary's not unbeatable. They didn't look like hot hell in that game against Sask after BLM started the fire. But......they're still a way, WAY better team than we are right now.

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17to85 Grand Master

17to85

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2 hours ago, Noeller said:

Field goals from red zone stalls aren't going to get it done against that team. Don't get me wrong, Calgary's not unbeatable. They didn't look like hot hell in that game against Sask after BLM started the fire. But......they're still a way, WAY better team than we are right now.

That's just it, the Bombers are winning by forcing the other team into mistakes, Calgary just doesn't make that many mistakes. 

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ddanger Proficient

ddanger

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On ‎2016‎-‎09‎-‎09 at 8:46 AM, Atomic said:

How is that reality?  We *can't* beat Calgary?  I don't believe that at all.

Don't get me wrong...I want to believe but I just don't think that we can beat them. Maybe here, but not in Calgary. Their qb is better than ours, and like 17to85 said they finish drives and we don't.

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WBBFanWest Rising Star

WBBFanWest

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1 minute ago, ddanger said:

Don't get me wrong...I want to believe but I just don't think that we can beat them. Maybe here, but not in Calgary. Their qb is better than ours, and like 17to85 said they finish drives and we don't.

Guess we should just advise the league that we forfeit the game then...

Seriously, gotta love the can't do attitude of some people.

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ddanger Proficient

ddanger

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Just now, WBBFanWest said:

Guess we should just advise the league that we forfeit the game then...

Seriously, gotta love the can't do attitude of some people.

Oh man whatever you have no idea......I'll tell you what, if the Bombers win a game in Calgary feel free to beat me up with your keyboard.

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WBBFanWest Rising Star

WBBFanWest

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4 minutes ago, ddanger said:

Oh man whatever you have no idea......I'll tell you what, if the Bombers win a game in Calgary feel free to beat me up with your keyboard.

It's not often that someone helps me prove a point so quickly and completely,  Thanks for that.

Edited by WBBFanWest
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