First & Goal

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/10/2009 (5837 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Five storylines that jumped out while observing the past week of Canadian Football League action:

1 It was a question that continually rolled around inside my melon while watching the Montreal Alouettes manhandle the Calgary Stampeders on Thanksgiving Monday:

What the (expletive deleted) has happened to the Grey Cup champs?

Most were in agreement when the lid lifted on the 2009 CFL campaign that the Stamps were about even money to become the first back-to-back champs since the 1996-97 Toronto Argonauts. They entered the year well coached, exceptionally talented on both sides of the ball and motivated to repeat.

And though they remain tied for first in the West at 8-6, this looks like a squad about to come apart at the seams — evidence of which was seen after the loss in Montreal when reporters heard tight end Teyo Johnson and cornerback Brandon Browner in a heated exchange.

The Stamps haven’s scored a TD in 21/2 games and QB Henry Burris has been picked off four times in the last two contests.

"You know what? I’m frustrated," slotback Nik Lewis told the Calgary Herald. "Everybody should be frustrated. We’ve been struggling offensively. We’ve won some games that kind of covered up how bad we’ve actually been playing. And when you play a good team, that’s what happens. You can’t cover up your mistakes."

2 Just FYI, the CFL trade deadline is Wednesday at 2:59 p.m. Director of player personnel John Murphy said all was quiet on the Bombers front — their big deal was shipping Romby Bryant and Arjei Franklin to Calgary for Odell Willis, Jabari Arthur and Titus Ryan last month. Murphy did say there are a couple more neg-list guys they may bring in to take a peek at over the next few weeks, but the Bombers will take their run to the playoffs with the men currently on board.

3 Credit the Roughriders for their resiliency over the last few years in dealing with injuries, but the latest — receiver Weston Dressler will be out for five to six weeks with a broken fibula — could be absolutely crippling. He is a dynamic, game-changing receiver whose absence is going to sting down the stretch. Saskatchewan head coach Ken Miller perfectly summed up Dressler’s injury in the wake of last weekend’s win over Toronto: "Great win. Huge loss."

4 It’s not like we all haven’t seen this coming for weeks, but players, fans and media alike are now howling for the Ticats to make a change at QB and bench Quinton Porter in favour of former Bomber Kevin Glenn.

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"Let’s call a spade a spade: Glenn is better than Porter. No disrespect to Porter — he’s a great guy — but Glenn is the better quarterback," Arland Bruce III told the Hamilton Spectator. "You need the better quarterback in there if you want to get some type of opportunity in the playoffs. Period."

Just for the record, Glenn has thrown 12 TDs against five interceptions this year and his 90.1 QB-efficiency rating is third-best in the league, but he did throw a critical pick that was stolen by Keyuo Craver as the Ticats tried to rally against the Bombers on Monday. It could be said that his work in the second half represented his 41/2 years in Bomber colours — good, but not quite good enough.

5 And, finally, out of pure curiosity we found ourselves watching a UFL game between the Florida Tuskers and New York Sentinels on the weekend. And our interest was held — it turns out just momentarily — when QB Quinn Gray, who had been in conversation with the Bombers this spring, hit Craphonso Thorpe, who played a couple of games for the Blue and Gold, for a TD on the first series.

But though the announced crowd at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando was 11,000, it was more like 1,100 and it was astonishing to hear the announcers in the pre-game show constantly talk about how all the players wanted to get back to the NFL. Our take after bailing following the first quarter: Without any sense of who the players are, no rivalries and the asinine decision to go head-to-head with the NFL, NCAA and CFL — not to mention the fact that viewers in the U.S. are calling it the Unseen or Unknown Football League because the games are on Versus and HD.net — this loop has absolutely no chance for survival.