CFL 2010

Because his receivers are that good. But he can also throw the short passes and the dump offs to his backs. And in the CFL, with that open space, a dump off pass to the tailback can be a 20-yard play easily.

If Durant were just a guy who throws deep and prays, he'd have a lot more INTs and he'd get sacked more since he has to wait for those plays to develop (and if he's not getting sacked, he'll end up being the team's leading rusher since he's going to have to get away from the defense). The best example that comes to my mind is Michael Bishop. I doubt he threw many passes under 25 yards last season and I can't remember that he ever threw less than 2 picks a game.

 

But he could throw the ball 80 yards . . . Isn't that all you need to be able to do to be a great quarterback? How long before the Argos announce the signing of JaMarcus Russell?

 

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Jesus, don't give up yet. It's one game.

I knew the Esks were in trouble when BC got called for pass interference, Edmonton had the ball on the one yard line and couldn't score. Not only couldn't they score, they took a couple of dumb penalties that took them back 15 yards. And then Ray got blindsided and lost the ball. Downhill from there.

 

What? They haven't signed him yet? Are they waiting to see if Tony Pike makes the cut with Bengals?

 

This thread is in danger of developing rust and I know there are some CFL fans out there so I'll get this thing back on Page 1.

Reasonable game last night at Empire Field, which I hear is a terrific place to watch a game, but the Lions are going to have to wait for a year or two for a competitive team. Printers isn't the answer despite the size of his paycheque. He makes too many mistakes at the wrong time.

More importantly, the 'Riders are starting to look like a team of destiny (I hate that term) kind of like the Steelers (I hate that comparison)....a team that plays tough, conservative football that forces turnovers at the right time and have some effective weapons, but aren't loaded at any one position.

I've been a Saskatchewan fan since meeting the late, great Ed Buchanan, George Reed's running mate, back in '64. He was a hell of a nice man and I remember watching the 1st Ali-Chuvalo fight with him in our living room. He told me he would dedicate his first touchdown of the 1966 season to me. I remember seeing it on TV and jumping around the living room in Red Deer, Alberta. If I remember correctly he had a lousy year due to injury. He was a rep for Cloverdale Paint in the offseason.

My Dad was transferred to Regina and because he was in the beer business with Carling, we had seasons tickets and I met lots of players from the great Saskatchewan teams of that era including George Reed (Molsons...all the beer guys knew each other) Ed McQuarters, Ronny, Ted Dushinski etc. They were all such decent guys and knowing them and being able to talk football with them is a highlight of my life.

I say all this because it's about time Saskatchewan has it's day in the sun and we long time fans know and love the culture of the team. For sure I hope the huge numbers of younger fans they have don't devolve into Oakland Raider clones, or just as bad Steeler fans, but there's a lot to be proud of now that it looks like we may have a perennial contender again.

The CFL is looking very, very good these days.

 

Speaking of the Riders, they came from behind to beat the Eskimos today 24-20, scoring 11 unanswered points in the fourth. That's two games in a row that the Esks have blown, two games they should have won except for dropped balls, fumbles at the worst possible time and dumb penalties. In three games they've been outscored 29-0 in the 4th quarter.

Dave Naylor has a good piece in the Globe & Mail today about the Riders' amazing success.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/riding-to-the-top/article1643305/

And what a market it is. Last season, Roughriders’ merchandise generated $7.1-million in revenue at three stores alone – two in Regina, one in Saskatoon. That total includes brisk Internet sales but excludes sales from retail stores across the province and around Canada.

Riders sell more merchandise than all the other seven teams combined.

 

Mrs. Stain was wearing her Rider shirt and earrings today, and she'll be glad to know that stat.

Riders didn't look good at all. They just had a couple of big plays and a couple of big takeaways.

 

I hear you, JR. ... they will come around. Realistically they could have won today but like you say, stupid penalties. Really surprised they didn't go for it on third down with the clock counting down....but they were put in a hole by the dumb roughing penalty.

I loved Richie Hall as a player and his defensive coaching chops are impressive. Maybe a stupid question, but do you know if he has made over the defence in E-town or is it in his assistants' hands?

 

Hall took over as defensive co-ordinator this year in addition to his head coaching duties

 

The defence actually hasn't been half bad this year. They realistically should be 2-1 this season. They dominated Montreal, they just couldn't put the ball in the end zone and had to settle for filed goals. Same thing again today, they out play Saskatchewan in an ugly game through most of three quarters, they just couldn't punch the ball in. And the fumbles and dropped passes. OMG. Absolutely horrendous. I think it was Dunnigan who mentioned their tunrover ratio out there in the post game -- a league worst -10 through three games. They're going to lose a lot of games playing that way.

 

I did not see any of the games but did I read right that BC was playing at Empire Stadium and not BC Place? If so, why the switch?

 

BC Place is getting a new $500 million (!) retractable roof. Empire Field is a temp stadium constructed on, or very close to, the former site of Empire Stadium which was torn down a few years ago. The seating configuration of EF allows for a much more intimate experience than BC Place, for sure. Capacity is around 29,000 or so and reviews have been very poisitive. It will be dismantled but the field portion will stay and become an athletic park.