CFL Division Previews

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This article was published 30/06/2009 (5940 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Calgary Stampeders

LAST SEASON: 13-5, first in West; Grey Cup champs.

COACH: John Hufnagel (13-5); second season with Stamps.

THE BIG QUESTIONS: Can Hufnagel keep this outfit hungry or do they get fat and lazy? Since the Edmonton Eskimos dynasty of 1978-82 there has been only one repeat champ (’96-97 Toronto Argonauts)… Is untested Barrick Nealy the answer if star QB Henry Burris is injured?… Can a revamped defensive front give the Stamps some upfield push?

POWER GAME: The Stamps finished second in scoring and first in defence — a credit to Hufnagel and Chris Jones, the D co-ordinator who came over from the Als. They can light up the scoreboard with a vast array of offensive weapons, are superb on special teams and have some ballers in the secondary.

FATAL FLAW: There are at least four changes to the D-line and linebacking corps, including the departure of middle linebacker JoJuan Armour. And in a division that features power backs Jesse Lumsden and Wes Cates, stopping the run will be key post-Halloween.

ON THE HOT SEAT: New middle linebacker Tray Blackmon. Armour was dumped and his replacement was initially to be Lemarcus Rowell, but now he’s pulled up lame. That means Blackmon gets the job by default and that’s a big-time responsibility for a newcomer.

BOTTOM LINE: Clearly the best team in the land. There are some early-season personnel question marks, but there is enough talent here to see another 13-5 season and run to November glory.

OUR CALL: 1st.

Edmonton Eskimos

LAST SEASON: 10-8, fourth in West; lost to Montreal in East Final as crossover team.

COACH: Richie Hall; first season with Eskimos as head coach.

THE BIG QUESTIONS: How will the receiving corps be affected by the losses of Jason Tucker (retirement) and Kelly Campbell (Tampa Bay)?… Can Jesse Lumsden stay healthy to give the offence an added dimension along the ground?… Can the O-line keep Ricky Ray upright?

POWER GAME: They can air it out with anybody in the league and the addition of Lumsden means they may now be able to pound the ball consistently. New boss Hall is a defensive guru and he’ll help shore up a unit that was sixth, sixth and seventh in points allowed over the last three seasons.

FATAL FLAW: We’re not sure about an 0-line that lost Dan Comiskey to retirement this spring, will be without John Comiskey to open the season and placed Garrick Jones on the nine-game injured list. The secondary is green and down a couple of bodies (Lenny Williams and Bradley Robinson) for Week 1.

ON THE HOT SEAT: Lumsden. He’s sick of the ‘injury-prone’ tag and, frankly, we’re sick of writing about it. But there are a lot of Canadians quietly pulling for the homegrown guy to throw up huge numbers.

BOTTOM LINE: Adding LB Maurice Lloyd, DE Kitwana Jones and DB/LB Kelly Malveaux means the Esks will get after people defensively. And in a division where the Roughriders and Lions were hit hard in the off-season, this bunch could actually move up a couple of spots.

OUR CALL: 2nd.

B.C. Lions

LAST SEASON: 11-7, third in West; lost to Calgary in West Final.

COACH: Wally Buono (227-112-3); seventh season with Lions.

THE BIG QUESTIONS: Can QB Buck Pierce establish himself as a bona fide star?… Are the off-season losses of Jason Clermont, Cam Wake, Rob Murphy, Charles Roberts, Tyrone Williams and Stefan Logan, among others, too much to overcome?… Why does a team that has been so dominant in the last five years — five straight West Final appearances — have only one ring to show for it?

POWER GAME: No defence over the last four years has forced offensive mistakes like the Lions, who have finished first or tied for first in the takeaway-giveaway ratio from 2005-08. Included in that total is a whopping 111 interceptions. By comparison, Winnipeg had half that many over the same span (56).

FATAL FLAW: The Lions got decent QB play from the Pierce-Jarious Jackson combo, but B.C.’s QB-efficiency rating was 92.2 — fourth overall. That screams out as not quite good enough in a league dominated by pivots.

ON THE HOT SEAT: Whoever ends up filling in for Logan at running back. Right now its either Ian Smart or newcomer Martell Mallet, but the Leos are watching the Carolina Panthers camp to see what unfolds with Canadian Jamall Lee, plucked in the Canadian Draft. Regardless, this is the fourth straight season the Lions will start with a new tailback.

BOTTOM LINE: We like much of what Buono did this winter, although a lot of it was treading water in the face of change. No one should underestimate the CFL’s second all-time winningest coach (he trails Don Matthews by just five wins) to put together a winner.

OUR CALL: 3rd.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

LAST SEASON: 12-6; second in West; lost to B.C. in West Semifinal.

COACH: Ken Miller (12-6); second season with Riders.

THE BIG QUESTIONS: Is new starting QB Darian Durant ready for prime time?… Will the Riders be able to offset the defensive losses of Hall, Jones and Lloyd (Edmonton) along with LB Anton McKenzie (B.C.)?… Is there a home-run receiving threat to compliment Weston Dressler, Jason Clermont and Andy Fantuz?

POWER GAME: Wes Cates is injured to open the season, but when he’s healthy he is one of the true offensive forces in the league and capable of beating defences all by his lonesome.

FATAL FLAW: As fine a talent sleuth as GM Eric Tillman is, these guys were hammered by defections this winter and while bodies are easily replaced, continuity and chemistry are not. Their depth will be tested early, too, with injuries on the O-line leaving Gene Makowsky and Wayne Smith out for at least the first half of the year.

ON THE HOT SEAT: Durant. His numbers are thinner than Stefan LeFors in Winnipeg and Quinton Porter in Hamilton so, like those two QB rivals, all eyes will be on the 26-year-old.

BOTTOM LINE: This has been an exceptionally well-coached squad in the last couple of years but — and Tillman and the diehards in Rider Nation will scream out in anger at us again — our annual tradition of underrating this crew will continue. Just too many changes, it says here, to compete for top spot in the West but enough of a talent base to make noise in the East if Durant is for real.

OUR CALL: 4th, but playoff-bound.

Montreal Alouettes

LAST SEASON: 11-7, first in East; lost to Calgary in Grey Cup.

COACH: Marc Trestman (11-7); second season as Als’ head coach.

THE BIG QUESTIONS: We keep writing it and one year it may actually ring true: What happens if Anthony Calvillo, who turns 37 in August, is injured?… There is talent at RB in Avon Cobourne and Mike Imoh, but can both stay healthy?… Is Canadian Shea Emry ready to lead a linebacking corps that cut T.J. Hill and Reggie Hunt?

POWER GAME: Trestman and offensive co-ordinator Scott Milanovich have built an attack that is perfect for Calvillo, led the CFL in scoring (32.4 points) and featured three 1,000-yard receivers in Jamel Richardson, Ben Cahoon and Kerry Watkins.

FATAL FLAW: Some significant changes on defence with the exits of Hill and Hunt and the shift of Chip Cox from the secondary to linebacker. It’s a decent crew on this side of the ball, but hasn’t had a player named to the defensive all-star team since Richard Karikari at safety (huh?) in 2005.

ON THE HOT SEAT: Calvillo. He’ll finish his career atop most of the CFL passing charts. And yet he has only one Grey Cup ring in six trips to the big game. Ugh. Als’ fans adore him from July to October but are weary of cringing about his play in late November.

BOTTOM LINE: Trestman did a masterful job in Year 1, but the Als were relatively quiet in the winter. Still the class of the East, but we don’t see a marked improvement on the 11-7 posted a year ago.

OUR CALL: 1st.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

LAST SEASON: 8-10; second in East; lost to Edmonton in East Semifinal.

COACH: Mike Kelly; first season with Winnipeg as head coach.

The big questions: Where to begin… Kelly: genius or raving lunatic?… Is Stefan LeFors a legit No. 1 QB?… How much change is too much after the off-season purge?… Can a new secondary gel together quickly?

POWER GAME: Superb arsenal of offensive weapons with three 1,000-yard receivers in Derick Armstrong, Terrence Edwards and Romby Bryant, running backs Fred Reid and Lavarus Giles. Defensive front seven should be dominant AND vicious.

FATAL FLAW: It’s not just that LeFors is still unproven, but that Bryan Randall and Richie Williams have five combined starts behind him on the depth chart. This trio feels the heat early with a road game in Edmonton, a home opener against the champion Stampeders and six of their first nine on the road. Are they resilient enough to still be standing by Labour Day?

ON THE HOT SEAT: Kelly. It’s not just that he’s made a pile of changes — he’s made so many you need an abacus to keep up — it’s that he’s been the architect of change and been quite vocal about it over the off-season. And so there is no middle ground in the court of public opinion: he’ll either be hailed or be taking a shoe out of his mouth — and a few thousand out of is backside — at season’s end.

BOTTOM LINE: We keep saying it and keep getting odd looks in return: we like a lot of what Kelly & Co. have done here because this team needed a makeover. This is a last-place team in the West, but a contender in the East.

OUR CALL: 2nd.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

LAST SEASON: 3-15; last in East; missed playoffs.

COACH: Marcel Bellefeuille (1-6); begins first full season with Hamilton after being named interim boss last year.

THE BIG QUESTIONS: Why has this organization just flat-out sucked for so long, going 15-57 over the last four years?… Where in the name of Grover Covington and Joe Montford is the Ticats’ next great pass rusher?… Is Quinton Porter the next star CFL QB?

POWER GAME: Love the Porter/Kevin Glenn QB duo, the additions of ex-Bomber tackles Alex Gauthier and Dan Goodspeed and what it can do to a dormant offence while kicker Nick Setta is arguably the league-best dual-role kicker. There is also some intriguing if still unproven Canadian talent here.

FATAL FLAW: Why do all their big-ticket additions flame out horribly — hello Jason Maas, Casey Printers and now Kenton Keith (placed on the nine-game injured list)? Outside of Perchae Rodriguez the receiving corps is pretty thin and the defensive front seven is a huge question mark.

ON THE HOT SEAT: No one single person, but the entire organization. As much as the Bombers’ Grey Cup drought is cause for consternation in these parts, it’s inexcusable to stink this bad in an eight-team league. The Ticats have just one winning season since 2002 and have missed the playoffs for four straight years. Yuck.

BOTTOM LINE: Some questions about the talent at the offensive skill positions, but this team looks much better on paper. Sounds like a broken record, but Ticat fans will once again be asked for patience. In our books, that qualifies the lot of them for sainthood.

OUR CALL: 3rd.

Toronto Argonauts

LAST SEASON: 4-14; third in East; missed playoffs.

COACH: Bart Andrus; first season in CFL as head coach.

THE BIG QUESTIONS: Is Andrus, who coached in NFL Europa and was an assistant in the NFL, the next Trestman?… Which Kerry Joseph shows up: the stud at the end of the season or the dud at the start?… Who replaces offensive/special teams catalyst Dominique Dorsey, now with the Washington Redskins?

POWER GAME: Andrus was very successful with the Amsterdam Admirals but, unlike last year’s first-year successes in John Hufnagel and Marc Trestman, his offence doesn’t come surrounded with offensive talent or a future hall of famer at QB. There are still some dandy athletes here including receivers Arland Bruce III and Andre Talbot.

FATAL FLAW: This is a squad that ended ’08 on a nine-game losing streak and seemed so dysfunctional there is a lot for Andrus to rebuild. Special teams took a hit with the exit of Dorsey and the retirement of kicker Mike Vanderjagt.

ON THE HOT SEAT: Joseph. He was heralded as a superstar when they traded for him, but really struggled for most of last season. But in the final four games — all of them losses, granted — he threw for an average of 325 yards with 11 TDs against just one interception. Those are the kind of numbers they need more consistently from the 35-year-old.

BOTTOM LINE: Let’s face it, a .500 season in the Big Smoke would represent a dramatic turnaround and, honestly, that looks like a stretch right now. Best-case scenario is a run for second or third and holding off a West crossover.

OUR CALL: 4th.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca