The Gauntlet Has Been Dropped
It appears that some things, in fact, do not change. Gary has quite rightly pointed out that I haven't been prognosticating football results this year. I can explain that with the fact that at the time the season started, I was somewhat preoccupied with another local sports team.
That being said, while I can't promise that I'll have time to stick it out through the season, I do feel a bit like pontificating on the state of various teams this year. For that reason, and because for the most part the games this week pick themselves, I present my thoughts for the week ahead in the CFL:
Toronto and Montreal
With all the talk about how dissapointing Hamilton has been there year, I think Toronto is really the most dissapointing team this year. Two years removed from a Grey Cup, and coming off a year when up until the second half of the Eastern Final they were a solid bet to represent the East in the Grey Cup, they've looked very bad this year. Part of it has been injuries, but Damon has been injured in the past and they've been able to make due. While they don't have Michael Bishop anymore, I would think that Spergon Wynn wouldn't be that much of a step down given how he looked in B.C. (though, his time in Winnipeg was admittedly less inspiring). I'm not as surprised that Ricky Williams hasn't done much, given that Toronto hasn't exactly been committed to the run, and Ricky isn't exactly known as being great catching the ball out of the backfield (I seem to recall reading an article the year he came out where the coach of the Colts said one of the reasons they took Edgerrin James ahead of him was that they weren't confident in his ability to catch balls out of the backfield). I have been a little surprised at the lack of hype in other cities when Toronto comes to town. When they had the Rocket, it was a huge event. Even for non-football fans (though, part of that may have been that John Candy was travelling with the team, and in the case of Edmonton, riding the firetruck around and chucking footballs into the stands). There hasn't been that same hype with Ricky. At any rate, the Argos problems go deeper than that, as apparently this week not only is Damon hurt, but so is John Avery. On Damon Allen, I'd venture that his last birthday was one of his worst. Not only did he lose the game, but it was to the most recent team to have cast him aside. The Argo defence has also not looked as tight as it has in past years.
On the other side of things, Montreal is doing their typical early-season dominance act. However, watching them last week, they didn't look as overpowering as they normally do this time of the season. Part of that may be that the last couple of games I've seen have been generally poorly played. As well, they weren't blitzing Edmonton as much as they usually do. Their offence in the fourth quarter still looked solid though. At any rate, Montreal is going to lose some week but it won't be this week. Toronto is just too beat up and Montreal is just too good right now.
Hamilton and Winnipeg
While I think that Hamilton will at least score a point this week, I don't think that th result will be any different.
I must admit, both of these teams had me fooled going into this season. While I've never been a particularly big Jason Maas fan, and I thought that the Journal's prediction that Hamilton would be representing the East in the Grey Cup was laughable, I thought that they would be doing better at this stage this year. With Terry Vaughn, Corey Holmes and Josh Ranek, they added some key pieces on offence. However, their offence has been largely unimpressive this year (apart from the last Montreal game). I don't recall their defence being this bad last year either. While they have been unlucky in a few games (the first one against Calgary could have gone either way, as really could have the most recent Montreal one), they haven't looked like the team that a lot of people were expecting them to be during the pre-season.
Winnipeg has been the surprise of the season. I had them picked to miss the playoffs this year, but right now they're on pace for a home playoff game. Milt Stegall is playing as good as I've seen him play, while the addition of Barrin Simpson seems to have solidified what was a pretty pathetic defence last year. I anticipate this game being closer than the last one, but with the same result. Winnipeg should win.
Saskatchewan and Calgary
I'm aware that this is the Saturday game and that there is a game before it, but I'm leaving that one for last.
This one is a bit tougher to pick. I'd also like to take this opportunity to shake my fist at the CFL schedule-makers. I'm aware that Ottawa folding made things a bit more difficult, but having the same match-ups every week gets rather annoying after a while (much like the NHL's newly contrived rivalry creation scheduling system). Anyways, Saskatchewan seems to have finally gotten the monkey off of their collective backs and beaten their former quarterback. Calgary also looks to be in a bit of a freefall. Playing at home should help, and this is a team that demolished Saskatchewan earlier in the season. That being said, while I recognise that it's quite hard to beat a team twice in a row, I'm still going with Saskatchewan.
Edmonton and B.C.
I have my own thoughts on what's wrong with the Eskimos, that would probably take up an entire post (this one is probably long enough as is). Suffice to say, there are a lot of problems. All of that being said, they usually seem to come up big against B.C. when the vultures are circling (those with good memories will recall it was on the road against B.C. that they snapped their 3 game losing streak to start the 2004 season. Those with less good memories will recall that they beat B.C. at home the week after getting tuned by Winnipeg on Canada Day of this year).
B.C. has been improving the last couple of weeks, after looking a bit unsettled against Saskatchewan. Joe Smith seems to have provided the needed spark, and Simon is still one of the most dangerous receivers in the league. The smart money on this one says to go with B.C., but I think that the Eskimos can turn it around this week (if not, there will really be hell to pay in Edmonton).
That being said, while I can't promise that I'll have time to stick it out through the season, I do feel a bit like pontificating on the state of various teams this year. For that reason, and because for the most part the games this week pick themselves, I present my thoughts for the week ahead in the CFL:
Toronto and Montreal
With all the talk about how dissapointing Hamilton has been there year, I think Toronto is really the most dissapointing team this year. Two years removed from a Grey Cup, and coming off a year when up until the second half of the Eastern Final they were a solid bet to represent the East in the Grey Cup, they've looked very bad this year. Part of it has been injuries, but Damon has been injured in the past and they've been able to make due. While they don't have Michael Bishop anymore, I would think that Spergon Wynn wouldn't be that much of a step down given how he looked in B.C. (though, his time in Winnipeg was admittedly less inspiring). I'm not as surprised that Ricky Williams hasn't done much, given that Toronto hasn't exactly been committed to the run, and Ricky isn't exactly known as being great catching the ball out of the backfield (I seem to recall reading an article the year he came out where the coach of the Colts said one of the reasons they took Edgerrin James ahead of him was that they weren't confident in his ability to catch balls out of the backfield). I have been a little surprised at the lack of hype in other cities when Toronto comes to town. When they had the Rocket, it was a huge event. Even for non-football fans (though, part of that may have been that John Candy was travelling with the team, and in the case of Edmonton, riding the firetruck around and chucking footballs into the stands). There hasn't been that same hype with Ricky. At any rate, the Argos problems go deeper than that, as apparently this week not only is Damon hurt, but so is John Avery. On Damon Allen, I'd venture that his last birthday was one of his worst. Not only did he lose the game, but it was to the most recent team to have cast him aside. The Argo defence has also not looked as tight as it has in past years.
On the other side of things, Montreal is doing their typical early-season dominance act. However, watching them last week, they didn't look as overpowering as they normally do this time of the season. Part of that may be that the last couple of games I've seen have been generally poorly played. As well, they weren't blitzing Edmonton as much as they usually do. Their offence in the fourth quarter still looked solid though. At any rate, Montreal is going to lose some week but it won't be this week. Toronto is just too beat up and Montreal is just too good right now.
Hamilton and Winnipeg
While I think that Hamilton will at least score a point this week, I don't think that th result will be any different.
I must admit, both of these teams had me fooled going into this season. While I've never been a particularly big Jason Maas fan, and I thought that the Journal's prediction that Hamilton would be representing the East in the Grey Cup was laughable, I thought that they would be doing better at this stage this year. With Terry Vaughn, Corey Holmes and Josh Ranek, they added some key pieces on offence. However, their offence has been largely unimpressive this year (apart from the last Montreal game). I don't recall their defence being this bad last year either. While they have been unlucky in a few games (the first one against Calgary could have gone either way, as really could have the most recent Montreal one), they haven't looked like the team that a lot of people were expecting them to be during the pre-season.
Winnipeg has been the surprise of the season. I had them picked to miss the playoffs this year, but right now they're on pace for a home playoff game. Milt Stegall is playing as good as I've seen him play, while the addition of Barrin Simpson seems to have solidified what was a pretty pathetic defence last year. I anticipate this game being closer than the last one, but with the same result. Winnipeg should win.
Saskatchewan and Calgary
I'm aware that this is the Saturday game and that there is a game before it, but I'm leaving that one for last.
This one is a bit tougher to pick. I'd also like to take this opportunity to shake my fist at the CFL schedule-makers. I'm aware that Ottawa folding made things a bit more difficult, but having the same match-ups every week gets rather annoying after a while (much like the NHL's newly contrived rivalry creation scheduling system). Anyways, Saskatchewan seems to have finally gotten the monkey off of their collective backs and beaten their former quarterback. Calgary also looks to be in a bit of a freefall. Playing at home should help, and this is a team that demolished Saskatchewan earlier in the season. That being said, while I recognise that it's quite hard to beat a team twice in a row, I'm still going with Saskatchewan.
Edmonton and B.C.
I have my own thoughts on what's wrong with the Eskimos, that would probably take up an entire post (this one is probably long enough as is). Suffice to say, there are a lot of problems. All of that being said, they usually seem to come up big against B.C. when the vultures are circling (those with good memories will recall it was on the road against B.C. that they snapped their 3 game losing streak to start the 2004 season. Those with less good memories will recall that they beat B.C. at home the week after getting tuned by Winnipeg on Canada Day of this year).
B.C. has been improving the last couple of weeks, after looking a bit unsettled against Saskatchewan. Joe Smith seems to have provided the needed spark, and Simon is still one of the most dangerous receivers in the league. The smart money on this one says to go with B.C., but I think that the Eskimos can turn it around this week (if not, there will really be hell to pay in Edmonton).
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