So far it looks like everyone is still in pre-season mode, everyone that is except the Ottawa RedBlacks. It shouldn’t surprise, final cuts were only a week ago so players and coaches are still working on their plays.
My predictions are way off so far. Saskatchewan is better than I thought, Calgary weaker, Montreal certainly aren’t week one contenders and Ottawa doesn’t look like they took a break between the Grey Cup and last night.
An unusually positive article on the CFL from Sportsnet. I’m sure Donnovan Bennett will be punished because the phrase “Canadian Football” isn’t allowed in properties owned by Rogers.
The so-called Command Centre needs some work. I appreciate the video reviews when they make corrections to a problem on the field. The called-back fumble last night that allowed Calgary to retain possession and score was definitely a fumble. I think the Rider touchdown the night before should also have been a fumble. Other than those two reviews nothing else stands out as a ‘bad call’.
We’ll see tonight if it gets better when (IMO) the two best teams in the West go head to head.
Well Lance … I hope you didn’t LOSE too many Canadian dollars in the First People’s Sports Book …
Great video!
Best football in the world.
Bar none.
No worries Kenjii, I don’t seriously bet first week of anything.
I go to opening day of the track in Saskatoon to gauge the trainers and jockeys, if I bet it’s the minimum $2 and never any of the pick fours.
It would be foolish to expect to win when there is no history for the year.
Agree on the fumble. Also, I thought the Ottawa back pulled the receiver around on the interference challenge.
It’s the last thing I retain from growing up in that hellhole of a town, I am still a Rough Riders fan, I mean Red Blacks fan 🙂
The riders aren’t better than you thought, they had a decent game against a weak team this week.
Six wins, max though half that isn’t out of the question.
A wise policy ! It takes me a couple weeks of NCAA Football (my favorite) before I get a decent read on the talent. But then … the college game can be rather RANDOM despite my best handicapping. I appreciate your educational posts about the CFL … which I somewhat followed a million years ago when Warren Moon was lighting it up. It’s nice to see American football thriving up North.
My (occasional) sports betting habits are ALL ABOUT the parlay ! The wilder, the better ! But you could probably already guessed that … someday … I might actually WIN one …
Garry Bettman must be getting ready to leave the NHL. He’s made everyone there a ton of money.
Maybe he’d consider doing the same for the publicly owned cfl teams. Turn ’em into something that makes some real money which would help attract some talent.
I don’t disagree. I sent a text to CKOM calling 6-12 after the last pre-season game. I didn’t see anything Friday that would alter that prediction.
The team was better than I expected. The coaching wasn’t and that (IMO) is at least as important. Friday night Montreal did the whole go-ahead scoring series from deep in their zone and we rushed three the whole time. Sickened me. That’s on the coaches. You can sometimes get away with that if you’ve a really strong secondary…we don’t.
Pulling a marching Kevin Glenn deep in Mtl territory for gimmick plays by the back up. On the coaches.
Like the last pre-season, the players didn’t seem as fired up as they should have been. Again, on the coaches.
In that text I also said that this season would be Coach Jones’ last year with the Riders.
Bettman – His salary is equal to 2 CFL teams’ payroll at somewhere around $10 million. He has a contract through 2022.
I liked the days when Edmonton had attendance from 40,000 to 57,901 and with no salary cap were able to buy and pay for 5 consecutive Grey Cups. Today they are 2nd at 30,998 – 329 less than Saskatchewan.
I can’t wait for my TIDE, they better upgrade the offensive strategy
The 3 Down Canadian game does not bode well for American Coaches that try to run the Clock in the Fourth Quarter (common in the USA)…2 half heart’d downs & then Kick gives the other team MULTIPLE repeated chances to beat the defense and win the game….Count the number of possessions in 4th quarter.. The Canadian comeback in the 4th quarter is a Coaching failure.
It was the defensive genius of Buddy Ryan (Chicago, Phili, AZ) that explains why he punched out the offensive coach for failing to play aggressively, resulting in the defensive team having to play more than necessary…Gutless football is Gutless football….
The team that plays for 4 quarters wins
The Edmonton Eskimos “One Empire” commercial kicks ass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0CS_eWKGuQ
There’s more to it than that, Phillip.
Inside 3 minutes left in a half (end of the 2nd, end of the 4th) in the CFL the clock stops.
It starts again on the whistle for a run or a completion that ends on the field, it starts at the snap on an incompletion, penalty, time-out, or a play ending out of bounds.
Add to that the play-clock for the CFL is 20 seconds, not 40.
Absent a long, clock-draining, sustained drive where every play is a completion or a 5 yard or greater run, it is very common to have at least five possessions in those 3 minutes.
Think about it, how long does a play actually take?
This major, game changing, difference is where the vast majority of American coaches and players completely blow the game. They go soft on D, they defend deep, they don’t get the strategy necessary to hold a lead.
Thousands of potential team nicknames available and the best the Ottawas could come up with was “RedBlacks”?
Sorry Lance it was a Calgary TD. The ball was secure when it breached the goal line. That is all that has to happen. Also, the video couldn’t overturn the possibility that it was loose as it was blocked by another player.
@nv53….Redblacks is a fine name. No better or worse than the grammatically incorrect Maple Leafs.
No worse or better than Packers (what does that have to do with sports or emoting the forcefulness of football. Yes, I do know the origin of the name.)
No better or worse than Golden Knights as none ever appeared in Las Vegas (other than in a play).
No better or worse than White Sox or Red Sox (what’s a sox?)
No better or worse than Raptors which was derived from the popularity of a movie.
Whining about the Redblacks nickname is childish and far worse than the name.
C’mon sporty,
The Packers were originally sponsored by a meat packing company. Hence the name.
Maple Leafs is grammatically correct. It is the correct pluralization of a proper name.
Sox was a once common way of shortening socks that came out of that American movement to “simplify” British spelling.
Agree on Golden Knights being stupid and also they have the stupidest logo since the Trojan condom guy on the front of the Senator’s sweater. I still have a T-shirt with the original parliament buildings logo that Bettman didn’t understand.
Sporty said, “Sorry Lance it was a Calgary TD. The ball was secure when it breached the goal line. That is all that has to happen. Also, the video couldn’t overturn the possibility that it was loose as it was blocked by another player.”
Wrong replay that I was referencing. I agree w/ you about the fumble into the endzone. I was talking about the RB fumble on the twenty or abouts.
So far,I’ve been correct on 2 out of three,even going so far as to predict Edmonchuck over the Lions by a field goal.
Sylvia Brown was never this accurate and she made millions!
Gotta go study up on psychic bafflegab.
Today: Toronto over Hamilton.
“They don’t get the strategy necessary to hold the lead”?
Huh? You mean the cfl has been hiring US coaches for decades who don’t understand the game? What kind of management strategy is that? Why are Americans coaching in Canada if they don’t/can’t understand the nuance of 3 down football?
Hope this secret doesn’t hit the street – next thing you know some Canadian jr. high school football coach will be in the cfl.
2017
Underdogs 3-0 ATS
2-1 SU (thanks SK)
2 unders 1 over
Going back to last season (first 2 weeks only) underdogs are now 10-1 ATS
8-3 SU
8-3 under posted total
Favourite didn’t win or cover until 8 th game last year.
My proline bit the dust see ya Robert Borden
Now that was a fumble and a botched review.
You’re reading comprehension is as poor as your grammar comprehension.
I said I knew where the Packers nickname came from.
In no sentence in any document is there a reference to the Maple Leafs (other than a story about the NHL team). As an example, I saw a pile of maple leaves in my neighbour’s yard. No one anywhere, ever, would say, I saw a pile of maple leafs in my neighbour’s yard.
When I go to a clothing store in the US it never says sox….it says socks.