Melonheads dig Durant

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/08/2009 (5915 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 can be tough playing quarterback in any CFL city, but especially so here in Winnipeg and in Regina, where the local 12 rule the scene and dominate the sports pages, call-in shows and nightly sportscasts. And so Roughrider fans — who are just as critical, if not more so, of their QB play as are fans in this burg — must have been ecstatic with Darian Durant in the critical moments of last week’s 24-23 win in Calgary when he hit Chris Chris Getzlaf for a 65-yard TD with just over one minute remaining.

The young South Carolina product has taken some heat from Rider Nation but, most importantly, is now 7-2 as a starter. And that toss to Getzlaf is exactly the kind of play that separates the QBs who play for a while from those that flame out quickly.

“The main thing is to show my teammates and this organization that I can play,” Durant told The Calgary Herald last week. “I’m trying to take the leadership role, trying to be more vocal. I would say I’m a playmaker. I’m not your prototypical passer or scrambler, but I think I can do both.”

2 Watching the B.C. Lions implode over the last couple weeks has not only made for riveting drama, it can reveal who steps up to help right the ship and who just points the finger of blame.

And while it might not solve any of their problems, some of the stuff coming out of the Lions camp has been juicy reading. Here’s head coach Wally Buono prior to last Friday’s loss to Hamilton, when revealing his favourite movie is the Second World War epic Saving Private Ryan, not some cheeseball football flick: “… football is about life and death. When you storm the beaches, there’s people there trying to hurt you. All the pre-game speeches you see in Hollywood movies are all B.S., prefabricated garbage. Leadership is about relationships, loving and encouraging the guy next to you. That’s what leadership is, none of that rah-rah B.S. When players get up and talk before a game, the others guys just say, ‘Shut up. Let’s go out and play.'”

One the Lions key leaders — and arguably their most vocal — is defensive back Korey Banks. And he offered up this gem on his squad last week: “I’m still trying to figure out some guys,” Banks said. “Some don’t know how to take criticism yet. Some people are too sensitive. But you can’t tuck your head through your legs. It’s crazy. There’s a lot of ego-tripping right now. But that’s not needed in football. If you want to be sensitive in football, pick up another sport. Do you think Michael Jordan wasn’t an a–hole? Exactly. You have to say something sometimes for people to raise their level.”

3 Just for kicks and giggles, a little experiment: grab a piece of paper and rank CFL quarterbacks from 1 to 10 based on skill, age, leadership — whatever category you choose. And then we suggest a key question might just be, that in an eight-team league would any of the Bombers three QBs make your top 10?

For what it’s worth, my list would look like this: 1. Ricky Ray, Edm.; 2. Henry Burris, Cal.; 3. Anthony Calvillo, Mtl.; 4. Quinton Porter, Ham.; 5. Darian Durant, Sask.; 6. Buck Pierce, B.C.; 7. Jarious Jackson, B.C.; 8. Kerry Joseph, Tor.; 9. Kevin Glenn, Ham.; and 10. Michael Bishop, Wpg.

4Two thumbs up to Alouette QB Anthony Calvillo, who last week eclipsed the 60,000 mark in career passing yards. It’s a long way from his rookie season back in 1993 practising in the parking lot of the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas with the now-defunct Posse. Damon Allen is the CFL’s all-time leader at 72,381 yards but he played until he was 44.

Calvillo, who turns 37 this month, would likely need to play for a couple or three years to eclipse that mark.

“It’s special. It truly is,” Calvillo The Montreal Gazette. “During the off-season, I was thinking about where I could be (in 2009). The TD passes (he moved past Ron Lancaster into second place on the career list behind Allen) crossed my mind, but I thought more about 60,000, especially considering where I grew up and came from.”

5And, finally, a pet peeve we seem to bring up every season that is related to the Calvillo accomplishment but emerged again on a recent TSN telecast.

Yes, Calvillo is the fifth quarterback in professional football history to hit the 60K mark along with Allen, Warren Moon, Brett Favre and Dan Marino. But to rank them from one to five by yardage — as our friends at the network did last week — just makes me cringe. Celebrate the accomplishment, yes, but can we please refrain from making the NFL-to-CFL comparisons? Different league, different games, different rules.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca