I've watched every game this season and I've noticed something. Rookie QB's that had no business being this successful so early in other years absolutely kill it. Teams that had tough defence in previous years, are giving up huge chunks of real estate through the air with virtually the same personnel. Penalties against the defence are way up. Is this progress? I like offence as much as the other guy but how many more games like yesterday for example (teams not being able to be stopped offensively) do we need to see until we realize defence will never be played the way it once was in the CFL again? Not excusing our d but if coordinators don't change their tactics, its going to get even more ridiculous I would think.

In a way, this helps our league. It's kind of keeping the CFL still exciting considering the slaughter of starting qbs going down in the first 2 weeks. The Argos fan base is very little and if Harris were to go down now, I'm sure you'd be able to count on your fingers and toes th amount of fans that would show up to Rogers Centre.

That's exactly what the new rules were put in for... more offence (And more penalties, but that's a side effect).  The CFL would love it if all games were decided by a missed 2 point conversion in OT after 500 yards of offense from both teams.  More like Arena Football or basketball than hard nosed defensive football, but that's what they want.

Why even worry about defence then? Just load up on O and hope we have a healthy enough QB to outscore our opponents? Dave Ritchie must be heartbroken .

Yeah it is disappointing; the solid fans are into the hard nosed defensive side of the CFL but the target market that the CFL is going for is into high scoring games.  The higher the scoring the better the game is to a lot of those casual fans whom only go to be able to cheer every time a touch down is scored.  For some of us like myself I feel it has ruined the game because that wasn't what the CFL was about

I'm definitely starting to lose interest in the CFL.  I just haven't figured out if it's because of gimmicky new rules, the frustration of PI challenges on any given big play, or the nagging feeling of hoplessness around the Bombers I just can't shake.

Must be the Bomber thing, because If you watched the Tor. at Sask. game, you should have been excited to see a very good game fought by two decent teams, and the absolute right result, as determined by the football gods, who now appear to have determined green should not be so prominant in public places.

Love the result yesterday and the game was exciting, I'll give you that. It was pathetic if you were a defensive fan however, and I'm not putting all that on a lack of talent on the field.

Last night's game was one of the most exciting games I've ever seen. And after having to endure last year's snoozefests, this year's games have come as a bit of a relief in my opinion. 

 

Regarding your point about rookie QB's, I think the only surprise is Trevor Harris considering he's been overlooked these last couple years and came from a Division II school. Rakeem Cato was outstanding in college. Really, the only reason he never got more attention is because of his size. Neither Crompton nor Bridge fared well in his place.

It's better this way.

I think it's early and i think the D will eventually adjust to the new rules and you will see things calm down once again... I like it, i don't like that the refs are on the tv screen more than the players are (I think the refs need to let them play a bit at times) but... eventually D's will adjust. After all, it's still just football. 

IMO the new illegal contact rule has had minimal impact in the actual game.  They aren't all that strict with it, and pass interference is still wildly inconsistent in how it is being applied.  Biggest impact has been the shift to zone defense in preparation for the perceived change.

Even under video review pass interference is still highly subjective and inconsistent. I just wish that they would clarify exactly what PI is and call it the same within each game. Nothing worse than a cheap PI call going one way and the same thing being let go later in the game. 

I like a good defence.  Its sort of the argument about scoring in the NHL.  I get that too, but not every 2-1 game is boring.  Sometimes a defensive battle is awesome!  I want to see skill make the difference in every facet of the game not just pitch & catch.

Just a question to the OP, which rookie qb's you talking about?

 

Cuz Harris isn't a rookie, he's been around a while and has started games in the past..

 

Do you mean the montreal qb cato? Cuz that's the only rookie qb who has started really... and even then, he wasn't asked to do a whole lot, he basically just managed the game, had some ridiculous help from his receivers an his oc called very much a 50/50 pass run type of O. 

 

I think Cato has potential, for sure but.. whenever i see a new qb come in to the league like that, i always think of Ryan Dinwiddie and the i'm gonna say hundreds but it's more like tens upon tens of other rookie qb's who came in and lit it up there first game only to fade off. 

I like a good defence. Its sort of the argument about scoring in the NHL. I get that too, but not every 2-1 game is boring. Sometimes a defensive battle is awesome! I want to see skill make the difference in every facet of the game not just pitch & catch.

The problem is that it wasn't good defence. It was defensive backs mugging the receivers in man coverage. That's not skill and its certainly not entertaining. Skill is being able to stay in coverage without doing that.

Just a question to the OP, which rookie qb's you talking about?

 

Cuz Harris isn't a rookie, he's been around a while and has started games in the past..

 

Do you mean the montreal qb cato? Cuz that's the only rookie qb who has started really... and even then, he wasn't asked to do a whole lot, he basically just managed the game, had some ridiculous help from his receivers an his oc called very much a 50/50 pass run type of O. 

 

I think Cato has potential, for sure but.. whenever i see a new qb come in to the league like that, i always think of Ryan Dinwiddie and the i'm gonna say hundreds but it's more like tens upon tens of other rookie qb's who came in and lit it up there first game only to fade off. 

Ya to be accurate, I should say QB's with limited experience but then what does that say about Broom? I won't go there  the thread I started at the game (cause I was bored) is already too long ...

I think DCs will eventually figure out the new rules and adjust. Find a way to shut down the OCs, differently, and within the rules. It's still really early, and I think we all expected (...or should have...) that it would take awhile for the defenses to catch on...

 

I like a good defence. Its sort of the argument about scoring in the NHL. I get that too, but not every 2-1 game is boring. Sometimes a defensive battle is awesome! I want to see skill make the difference in every facet of the game not just pitch & catch.

The problem is that it wasn't good defence. It was defensive backs mugging the receivers in man coverage. That's not skill and its certainly not entertaining. Skill is being able to stay in coverage without doing that.

 

 

I like that the CFL did something to address DB's mugging receivers in man coverage.  That being said, I do think they've way overreached the past 2 seasons; and have addressed symptoms instead of the real problem: wildly inconsistent officiating and enforcement of rules.  Sure, there's the people who say that CFL is doing it to make the game higher-scoring and marketable, but there's the argument that the CFL did just fine for 100 years without making the game into basketball. As players have gotten bigger, stronger, and faster, officiating hasn't progressed; and as a result, the game has suffered.  Defence is lousy now because in order to combat inconsistent officiating, they've simplified the game by watering down what you can do on defence, and making it less of a guessing game for comparatively poor officials. 

 

Officials are too inconsistent on pass interference calls?  New Rule: PI can be challenged! 

 

Officials are too inconsistent with what constitutes illegal contact?  New Rule: Any kind of contact after 5 yards is illegal contact!

 

I think that I can sum my position up by saying that I don't think CFL fans have ever expected perfect officiating, but do expect it to be reasonably consistent.  Score your officials and enforce performance standards; rather than watering down the game into more easily enforced rule applications.

It's better this way.

 

Couldn't you have cut that back a little? Without losing the meaning of course.

Its easy to blame the officials for whats ailing us but thats the last place I would put our problems

 

Putting better safeguards to protect our qb's is the first place I would go and hand out multi-game suspensions until there is compliance; body slams, accidentally "rolling" into the qb; unnecessary force to tackle: all get 3 game suspensions on first offence ... it will stop .... we just have to decide to do it .... teach the refs their highest priority is protecting the players; 25 yard unnecessary roughness along with getting tossed out of the game will start waking up both coaches and players .... we are still too in love with the violence of this game ... going "overboard" at first is ok: there will be no harm in it and it will extend the careers of so many players ... this is not being a wuss, its responsible behavior .... the players association should love it

What I noticed watching a few games now is if the safety drops down and they leave no help over the top that seam pass should be able to be  completed easily.

I don't the quarterback thing is really a problem that ails us it seems to be more of a fluke thing this year; and many of the injuries are just bodies that were injured coming back into the game.  The issue is really the game play itself; the way Illegal Contact is called, how many times did anyone see a receiver get called for "pushing" off of the defender?  I didn't see it called once yet I seen it happen many times, but at the same time how many times were defenders called for Illegal Contact? 

 

I think the new rules gimps the defense so much; people called it mugging the receivers.  I actually thought our receivers already had it easy because they had so much more field to run in.  The defenses are being forced to turn into a BLITZ type defense where they purely go after the quarterback.  It worked against us and I'm sure as teams pick up we will see more and more blitzing packages created as I'm sure that's just going to be the way for it to go.  The little hand fighting that receivers and defenders already did was why we needed different types of receivers and gave a little bit more interesting aspect to the game. 

The scoring isn't worth the increase I penalties. It's embarrassing

The scoring isn't worth the increase I penalties. It's embarrassing

 

Completely agree.  Doesn't do anything to sell the league or the game.  I think Armchair GM summed it up best in that instead of addressing the problem (the inconsistent application and enforcement of the rules) .. they've tackled the symptoms .. which leads to more inconsistent application and enforcement of rules.

Comparing pass defence in CFL to the NFL is apples to oranges because the receivers are already up to full speed when they cross the line of scrimmage.

 

Anyone know In the evolution of the CFL game when did the shot-gun snap became the norm?  If the CFL needs to compensate the advantage the O has been given they could eliminate the use of the shot-gun snap.