This is always a big occasion in the CFL. Half the season's
gone and things will only get more serious from now on. By tradition, the three
big rivalry games are played this weekend and they're followed by reverse fixtures
next week. BT Sport are showing all four games live, split between three
channels, We're really looking forward to the Monday night treat as the two
games featuring the Division leaders are on back to back starting at 6pm.
This week's TV Schedule
BC Lions at Montreal
Alouettes - LIVE
Friday morning September 4, 00:30 hrs – BT Sport 1 repeat: Monday morning 06:00 hrs – BT Sport ESPN
Winnipeg Blue Bombers at
Saskatchewan Roughriders - LIVE
Sunday evening, September 6, 21:00 hrs – BT Sport ESPN repeat: Wednesday morning 06:00 hrs – BT Sport ESPN
Toronto Argonauts at
Hamilton Tiger-Cats – LIVE
Monday evening September 7, 18:00 hrs – BT Sport 2 repeat: Thursday morning 06:00 hrs – BT Sport ESPN
Edmonton Eskimos at Calgary
Stampeders – LIVE
Monday evening September 7, 21:30 hrs – BT Sport 2 repeat: Friday morning 06:00 hrs – BT Sport ESPN  |
In the news this week:
What's the favourite joke in Winnipeg currently?
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Who's there?
Owen.
Owen who?
The 0 & 9 start to the season for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the highest profile team in the CFL, has finally led to the second head coach sacking in two weeks. This time it wasn't a surprise, fans have been calling for Corey Chamblin's sacking for weeks now. The threat to Chamblin actually seemed to have blown over, as if everyone was past caring, but the abject performance of the team on Sunday, and particularly the inexplicable decision to bench QB Brett Smith in favour of Tino Sunseri, brought things to a head.
Owen who?
The 0 & 9 start to the season for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the highest profile team in the CFL, has finally led to the second head coach sacking in two weeks. This time it wasn't a surprise, fans have been calling for Corey Chamblin's sacking for weeks now. The threat to Chamblin actually seemed to have blown over, as if everyone was past caring, but the abject performance of the team on Sunday, and particularly the inexplicable decision to bench QB Brett Smith in favour of Tino Sunseri, brought things to a head.
So what went wrong in Regina? After all, in 2013 when
Chablin was in his second year with the 'Riders he led them to the Grey Cup and
won the Coach of the Year Award. Since then he's moved to take more control of
the team for himself, for this season he forced wholesale coaching changes and
took on the defensive co-ordinator role himself. Obviously it hasn't gone well.
Chamblin's attitude has tended to arrogance rather than humility, he's been
criticising players rather than shouldering some blame himself, so there isn't
a great deal of sympathy out there for him losing his job.
Meantime the lack of depth in the squad has been exposed by
the events of the season and to complete the clear out General Manager and Vice
President of Football Operations Brendan Taman has been relieved of his duties
too.
Interim appointments until the end of the season have been made, long time 'Riders player and fan favourite Jeremy O’Day has been promoted from Assistant GM and the man given the job of producing wins is Bob Dyce who Chamblin had demoted from Offence to Special Teams Co-ordinator.
Interim appointments until the end of the season have been made, long time 'Riders player and fan favourite Jeremy O’Day has been promoted from Assistant GM and the man given the job of producing wins is Bob Dyce who Chamblin had demoted from Offence to Special Teams Co-ordinator.
It's an ill wind that blows no one any good. In one of the
charity schemes associated with the CFL, Purolator
makes a donation to the foodbanks of each team's home city every time their
defence records a quarterback sack. The
disadvantaged of Ottawa did well out of the hapless Roughriders on Sunday as
the Redblacks got to the QB no less that ten times. Edmonton Eskimos lead the
table, they have 29 sacks already this year.
There have been a few more games of late with big winning
margins, there were three wins by over 20 points last week, but the CFL have produced
a statistic that says the proportion of games decided in the last three minutes
is still 63%.
Game Previews
It's the weekend of the Labour Day Classics, we won't
nominate a single game of the week this time.
The week starts on Thursday with one game that isn't a
local rivalry. BC Lions, after a bye week, make the long trip east to
face Montreal Alouettes.
Montreal are on a roll. Through the strength of their defence they've won their last two games on the road, firstly at BC and then at Hamilton. QB Rakeem Cato came off during the last game with a hip injury and it's not clear if he'll be fit enough to play. At least they have an able replacement in Tanner Marsh. The Lions were held to only 32 yards rushing the last time the teams met. They'll be hoping to have come up with a game plan that'll make a difference during their extra week off.
This might not have the spice of the other three local rivalry games but BC wide receiver Emmanuel Arceneaux has certainly stoked it up with his comments: “Montreal isn’t good. They’re not talented whatsoever. I don’t respect nobody on their side of the ball.” Good luck Manny, you might just need it.
Montreal are on a roll. Through the strength of their defence they've won their last two games on the road, firstly at BC and then at Hamilton. QB Rakeem Cato came off during the last game with a hip injury and it's not clear if he'll be fit enough to play. At least they have an able replacement in Tanner Marsh. The Lions were held to only 32 yards rushing the last time the teams met. They'll be hoping to have come up with a game plan that'll make a difference during their extra week off.
This might not have the spice of the other three local rivalry games but BC wide receiver Emmanuel Arceneaux has certainly stoked it up with his comments: “Montreal isn’t good. They’re not talented whatsoever. I don’t respect nobody on their side of the ball.” Good luck Manny, you might just need it.
Saskatchewan Roughriders
season got off to a bad start as they lost their home game to Winnipeg Blue
Bombers and it hasn't improved since. So will the coaching change spur them
to their first win of the season? Coach Dyce immediately made it clear that, no
messing about, they'll be going with Brett Smith at quarterback and emphasised
the point by cutting Tino Sunseri from the squad. Perhaps running back Jerome
Messam, who's been underused, will get more of the ball now.
Winnipeg are a struggling team too. They've lost their last three games, last week against Calgary they made only 175 yards total offence. Moves this week to strengthen the offence included signing quarterback Matt Nichols in a trade from Edmonton and running back Chevon Walker from Ottawa. Nichols probably won't be prepared for this game so Robert Marve will start at QB again. Look for potential rookie of the year, linebacker Khalil Bass starring for the Bombers.
Winnipeg are a struggling team too. They've lost their last three games, last week against Calgary they made only 175 yards total offence. Moves this week to strengthen the offence included signing quarterback Matt Nichols in a trade from Edmonton and running back Chevon Walker from Ottawa. Nichols probably won't be prepared for this game so Robert Marve will start at QB again. Look for potential rookie of the year, linebacker Khalil Bass starring for the Bombers.
The joint leaders of the East Division were both beaten
last week so the stakes are high for the first of the Monday games. Toronto
Argonauts must have been encouraged
to see that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were finally beaten in their home
stadium but last week they struggled against the Eskimos defence that the
TiCats had ripped apart. Meantime after their shock loss Hamilton have yet more
injury worries. Four defensive players, three of them starters, were added to
the six week injured reserve list. The biggest loss will be defensive end Eric
Norwood who's just been named as one of the league's Performers of the Month
for August. Hamilton are still favourites on home turf but they're much less of
a sure thing now.
The final Labour Day Classic of the weekend could be the
most interesting. Calgary Stampeders have a one game lead over Edmonton
Eskimos as the two sides dominate the West Division. Calgary have scored no
less than 118 points in their last three games but those were against weaker
defences than the Eskimos will bring. With their patched up offensive line and
Jon Cornish still not available, the Stampeders running game didn't contribute
much last week. This game will be a challenge for them.
For Edmonton, rookie quarterback James Franklin's first start last week was a triumph. In fact Franklin, Kendial Lawrence and Derel Walker made it a clean sweep of Esks players in the Shaw Top Performers of the Week awards. However, Calgary Head Coach John Hufnagel has a reputation for making life really hard for opposing rookie quarterbacks, so watch out.
For Edmonton, rookie quarterback James Franklin's first start last week was a triumph. In fact Franklin, Kendial Lawrence and Derel Walker made it a clean sweep of Esks players in the Shaw Top Performers of the Week awards. However, Calgary Head Coach John Hufnagel has a reputation for making life really hard for opposing rookie quarterbacks, so watch out.
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