First and goal
Buono, Printers, B.C. Lions have lost control of their Empire
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/08/2010 (5546 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 A compelling statistic that speaks loud and clear of the de-clawed beasts that are the B.C. Lions — the Calgary Stampeders have now won more games at Empire Field in Vancouver — two — than the Leos. So, for that matter, have the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes who are both 1-0 at the Lions temporary home-away-from-home.
The Lions are 0-4 at their new digs and 1-7 on the season and even the return of QB Casey Printers from injury couldn’t offset their many problems in last weekend’s loss to the Stamps. B.C.’s O-line is horrid, its defence was lit up and there were enough mistakes to make you wonder if boss man Wally Buono has lost his mojo.
"I’m thankful the last 20 years has not been like this," said Buono. "Am I disillusioned? If we’re honest we’d say at this point they’re demoralized."
Meanwhile, this Printers-as-the-saviour idea — one that was pitched in Vancouver all winter after he returned late last season and led B.C. to a playoff win before being spanked by Montreal in the East Final — is becoming a harder concept to sell right now than a Kabul vacation package.
Printers’ QB-efficiency rating of 76.0 is lowest among CFL starters and even more telling is the team’s won-lost record since his return (3-10, although he has not started or been injured for a good chunk of those games).
2 Weird couple of weeks in Edmonton and the soap opera the Eskimos have become. First, Edmonton Sun columnist Terry Jones labels linebacker Maurice Lloyd a "cancer" and, interestingly, the loudest voices refuting that characterization come from his old Saskatchewan teammates who spent last week rallying to his defence. And then the Eskimos, while full credit for their win over the Riders, celebrated just their second win in eight games as if they’ve just punched their ticket to the Grey Cup.
"The president (Rick LeLacheur) told me, the coaches, my players came to me and told me that they didn’t believe I was a cancer," said Lloyd. "They just told me to keep my mouth closed and go play. The only way I could respond was show them what the facts are really about."
A struggling team… an embattled head coach… a middle linebacker under fire… why does this script look so familiar again?
3 Ummm… upon further review, yours truly had better start jotting down names in pencil on my Most Outstanding Player awards ballot. Last week, The Huddle gave a huge thumbs up for Saskatchewan Roughriders QB Darian Durant and suggested that he’d be atop our list for the league’s most prestigious individual honour. And then Durant goes out and throws three picks in a loss to the Eskimos. Consider this as well: Durant now has one more pick than TD passes and since throwing for five scores in the season-opening win over Montreal, has a 6:12 TD-to-interception ratio.
4 Speaking of which… what was with all the awful QB play in the two CFL games this weekend? Didn’t somebody suggest the new radio transmitters in helmets would give offences an advantage? Henry Burris and Durant both threw three interceptions in their games, Ricky Ray had his one pick returned for a TD while teammate Jared Zabransky — the Esks kept referring to him as a "spark" — was intercepted twice. Combining the numbers of every QB who threw a pass on the weekend, including Travis Lulay and Drew Tate, CFL pivots finished with a 59.9 rating. That’s putrid with a capital ‘P-U.’
5 And, finally, shouldn’t somebody get all the parties in Hamilton together and hammer out this stadium deal to keep the Ticats in Steeltown? Last week rumours had the city of Oshawa interested in the Tabbies, but as the mayor there said — they are nearing a civic election — that story was simply the byproduct of "silly season."
Ticat fans deserve better. Ticat owner Bob Young deserves better. So does the city of Hamilton.
ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca
