Latest / The CFL Outsiders / The CFL Outsiders S02 E11 (The Red Blacks defenders don't seem to have any trouble catching PJ Walker's passes.)
Transcript
- 0:36Hey kids!
- 0:37Welcome back to another episode of the CFL Outsiders.
- 0:42I remain as always, your 100 % impartial, thoroughly unbiased and completely curve-fuzzled co-host, Oldman Shoutingatclouds With me, as usual, is MJ.
- 0:56Hey, how's it going?
- 0:58I just slid in by the skin of our teeth to win against the Elks.
- 1:03oh
- 1:05And GT!
- 1:06Hey, how is everybody?
- 1:07I have absolutely no notes, so we're completely winging it this week.
- 1:13Yes, that's why I am your thoroughly confused and confuddled co-host is I was just telling the folks here on the show until 10 minutes ago I thought it was Monday.
- 1:23So we're fairly unprepared but we're going to get through it as best we can and hopefully still provide you some entertainment for your non-dollar.
- 1:32So we're going to start off GT you said you might have a mea culpa this week.
- 1:41I do.
- 1:41I did and you actually corrected me last week, Oldman while we were talking and I ran right over top of you.
- 1:48So that's my first mea culpa.
- 1:50Apologies for that.
- 1:51And secondly, yes, I know that when you're on the six game injury list, the team still has to pay you.
- 1:59But in my overzealous, feelings about Rogers, I let that go and ran right to it.
- 2:05So, so yeah.
- 2:06I will try to remain where I don't let my personal resentment against that corporation cloud my factual judgment going forward.
- 2:17Okay.
- 2:18So, so the bull horns are off tonight then.
- 2:20Okay.
- 2:21Thank you very much.
- 2:22And as for running over me, don't worry about it.
- 2:24That's what we do.
- 2:25This is just talking football and sometimes it gets a little bit rambunctious, but just, don't have a lot of news to talk about tonight, but a couple of things that we figured we
- 2:35maybe discuss a bit before we got into the actual game recaps or analysis, whatever the heck it is we do.
- 2:42And the first thing is MJ apparently has been dusting off the history books and has something she wants to tell us about.
- 2:49just want to talk about Craig Baird has an account and a podcast called Canadian History X.
- 2:57If you don't know about it, it's on all the major platforms.
- 3:00It's a podcast and he does Canadian history every day.
- 3:04He, I'm sure does at least 10 different pieces of history of Canada and people and events and different things.
- 3:11today or was it yesterday?
- 3:13Today?
- 3:15He was writing about the Grey Cup and
- 3:18some interesting teams that have won the Grey Cup over the years.
- 3:22Craig every once in a while will throw a little tidbit, like he's done, I wrote some down.
- 3:26He did a whole series on the US expansion.
- 3:31He did one about the history of the Grey Cup itself.
- 3:34He did one on Warren Moon, he's done one on Herb Trawick the first black player in 1946.
- 3:40So he just does these things every once in while, he'll just drop them in.
- 3:43So this week was,
- 3:44Teams that have won the Grey Cup that you may not have known about.
- 3:48there are different ones like from Sarnia and different little teams from the rugby union.
- 3:54And my favourite one that he was talking about was get ready for it.
- 3:59The Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers who have been to the Grey Cup four times and have won it twice.
- 4:05Once in 1927 against the Hamilton Tigers and won in 1930 against the Saskatchewan Rough Riders.
- 4:12I was going to say that sounds like another team that wears green.
- 4:15uh
- 4:22had been to the Grey Cup before...
- 4:24what was it?
- 4:25In the 60s anyway.
- 4:27Yeah.
- 4:27Beachers were in existence under the, what is it called?
- 4:30The Canadian Rugby Union from 1924 to 1957.
- 4:36And so the CFL was formed in 1958 properly when they got away.
- 4:40So from 1958 on only professional teams could compete in the Grey Cup.
- 4:45But it did start in 1909 with the Canadian Rugby Union when amateur teams could compete.
- 4:51If you want to get into how the West teams used to have to travel to the East because they did not play for the Grey Cup out on the West.
- 4:57And there was like drama about teams coming out.
- 5:01And I guess the first time Calgary played in the Grey Cup, that's when they brought all their gear, all their rodeo gear and they caused the drama.
- 5:09And that's kind of how the Grey Cup celebration started.
- 5:12But yes, the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers.
- 5:15I am going to write the Argos and ask, somebody posted this on BlueSky I thought it was a great idea, if the Argos could do a Balmy Beach Beachers theme, just for one game in 2027
- 5:26to celebrate their 100th anniversary of winning the Grey Cup.
- 5:29Mm-hmm, but I imagine they must have been competing against the Argos because the Argos say they've been around for 150 years or something.
- 5:38correct.
- 5:39was actually three teams from Toronto in those early days playing for the Grey Cup.
- 5:43There were the Argonauts, there were the Beechers, and of course it was University of Toronto because most of the university teams also played for the Grey Cup.
- 5:50And University of Toronto, in fact, won the very first Grey Cup.
- 5:54During the 100th anniversary, the 100th year, or the 100th Grey Cup, not the 100th anniversary, but the 100th Grey Cup year.
- 6:01in 2012, did a terrific job.
- 6:05The league actually did a really terrific job of bringing out lot of that history and the original field where the 1912 Grey Cups was played, the first Grey Cup was played is
- 6:18called Rosedale Field and they staged an event with a game at Rosedale Field during the week of Grey Cup and unveiled a new plaque commemorating it and so on.
- 6:28So there's actually a lot of really cool history there as well.
- 6:31I'm gonna have to look into that.
- 6:32This is all new to me.
- 6:33Sorry, MG, what did you say the podcast was called that you got this from?
- 6:37It's called Canadian History X, like E-H-X, like eh-x
- 6:41I make sure I've got it right and I'll put it in the show notes too.
- 6:43Yeah,
- 6:44wants to go out and check it
- 6:45I just want to do as an aside.
- 6:47wanted to carry on with the 100th anniversary.
- 6:49either of you go on the Grey Cup train?
- 6:51Did it come to your city?
- 6:54It did the, let me think, where was I?
- 6:57No, I was here in Toronto.
- 6:59So it was definitely here, but I did not have the opportunity to get down to the train itself.
- 7:04I did almost everything else that week, but I didn't get to the train proper, no.
- 7:09Yeah, I was living in Vancouver at the time and they had it downtown and it was great.
- 7:14So every car had like they had one car was set up as like a locker room and then they had different cars had different history things Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
- 7:24They did such a great job with that gray cup train.
- 7:27Yeah.
- 7:27Good to hear the CFL doing something good.
- 7:31We're always on them about their marketing.
- 7:32That sounds great.
- 7:33I'm sorry.
- 7:34I missed it.
- 7:36Yeah, uh I've been a long time subscriber to Canadian History X Craig is really, really good.
- 7:42It's a lot of fun and he does a really great job.
- 7:45I highly recommend it if you're at all into any kind of Canadian history.
- 7:49It's light, but it's so informative and they're half an hour to 40 minutes max and then he does the little sub notes on Blue Sky where you can just read them in five to 10 minutes
- 7:59and it's really terrific.
- 8:00But yeah, I'm definitely going to have to check that out because at this point I know a little bit about back then, but very little actually.
- 8:09And the only thing I can probably contribute to the conversation here is that I suspect if the riders were playing, I think you said in 1928 that they weren't wearing green.
- 8:19Have I ever shared with you the story of why the riders wear green?
- 8:23The iconic green that is associated with the whole province and everything?
- 8:27Mm-hmm.
- 8:28I know the story.
- 8:29I'm not sure whether you said it I do.
- 8:31Okay.
- 8:32Yeah.
- 8:33The owner that they got them, I believe it was 1949.
- 8:36The owner was going through Chicago.
- 8:38They needed a set of uniforms and he found some green ones on sale.
- 8:42So they bought them and that has, that has grown into the legacy of green that's there these days.
- 8:48I just love that.
- 8:49I wish they had some of these jerseys available.
- 8:52Like the I wanna balmy beach beacher's jersey.
- 8:55Yeah.
- 8:56There is a, um, a company down in the States that does retro jerseys, but they don't do any of the old CFL ones that I know of.
- 9:04think they might do some from the U S expansion.
- 9:07I'm trying to remember.
- 9:09Yeah.
- 9:11Yeah.
- 9:11Yeah.
- 9:12It'd still be interesting though.
- 9:13Yeah.
- 9:14I'll try.
- 9:14I can't remember the name.
- 9:15I'll see if I can get it up and put that in the show notes too.
- 9:18I know that Joe and Oz on the, uh, Rouge white and blue are sponsored by these guys and, uh,
- 9:24Retro's.
- 9:26Royal Retro's.
- 9:28Royal Retros, that's it.
- 9:29Thank you for once again saving my failing memory.
- 9:33GT, is that where you got your Sacramento hat from?
- 9:36Or is that an OG?
- 9:37that's an OG.
- 9:40As is this Memphis Mad Dog t-shirt.
- 9:43ho!
- 9:45Yeah.
- 9:47Yes.
- 9:48Yeah, they were-
- 9:49that's another one of my things where I just what there was a year where I went out and got as much us or us stuff as I could and then every game I wore to a different and I
- 9:59still do that okay just wear different stuff so it's conversation piece
- 10:04For sure.
- 10:06on TSN this weekend, they were talking about the fact that there's only been, think they said four quarterbacks that have thrown for over 6,000 yards in a season.
- 10:13And one of them was Jeffrey Archer from the, uh, the U S expansion.
- 10:18Can't remember who was with Sacramento at the time or one of the other teams,
- 10:22he was a gold miner and just as a quick aside, he started as a gold miner, ended up as an Escobo and I believe finished in Edmonton, but he might have gone to Toronto or Hamilton
- 10:32after that.
- 10:33I'm not 100 % sure.
- 10:34For some reason, I think he ended up as an Edmonton ended his career with Edmonton and then did colour broadcasting as well.
- 10:40And at one of the Grey Cops, I ended up sitting like this first year at Sacramento, 95th.
- 10:46In the Grey Cup was in Calgary, if I remember correctly, and he was there after they got eliminated, and I ended up sitting behind him, and he was just a great guy.
- 10:55just like, yeah, he talked to all the fans.
- 10:56He was really podra, and he was a really good quarterback, David Archer.
- 11:00Really good quarterback.
- 11:01I do remember that.
- 11:02He also got in trouble one time for calling Canadians Americans and then doubled down on it and saying, well, it's North America.
- 11:09So we're really all Americans, which didn't gain him a lot of extra points.
- 11:13Anyway, that's our, our trip down history lane for now.
- 11:17The only other thing we were going to talk just a little bit about was the, uh, the running game right now in the league this season.
- 11:24And I was going to have a bunch of,
- 11:25Statistics all is ready to queue up after MJ suggested we talk about this and everything.
- 11:30And like I said, I'm completely unprepared, but still I think it's worth talking about.
- 11:34There's in my mind, there's really only been maybe two or three teams that have committed strongly to the running game this year.
- 11:42Calgary definitely has until last week and the riders did except for one game and Winnipeg still does to a degree, although.
- 11:50I don't see as much in the other seem to be in and out of it.
- 11:53Butler has a great game in BC and then gets nothing the next week.
- 11:57Same thing with Rankin up in Edmonton that so just thought I'd ask you guys opinion about how do you feel about how they're, how the OCs are using the running game this year?
- 12:07Is there anybody that's really good at it or do we need to see more?
- 12:10they doing it right?
- 12:11Well, I kind of think it's a combination of two things, young OCs and young running backs.
- 12:18Where you've got the guys that are new, it's not consistent.
- 12:23Where you've got the more established coaching staffs as well as the more established running backs, that's the people that seem to be relying on them more.
- 12:33So I think that's just how I see it.
- 12:36Whereas the other teams just like,
- 12:38In Edmonton, you're right, they just seem to come and go this week, next week, and even in Montreal and in Toronto for that matter as well.
- 12:46They just seem to come and go with whether they decide to run them or not.
- 12:50So I think it's as much as anything a combination of coaching and the confidence in the young backs that they have, where the veteran coaches that have veteran backs are more
- 13:02than willing to use them.
- 13:03What was it last week or the week before where there was one team, can't remember now.
- 13:07I threw away my notes, but there was one team where the quarterback had the most rushing yards.
- 13:13Was that Cody?
- 13:16Yeah, like he was there.
- 13:18rushing yards than either of the backs.
- 13:20And I think he had more rushes, not just more yards, but more actual more rushes.
- 13:26think between the two backs that week, they only ran like five times.
- 13:31It wasn't like they were like this week in Ottawa, Calgary had a terrible running game.
- 13:38I think they only had like 11 yards or something.
- 13:40Mills didn't have a game at all.
- 13:42But it wasn't like they didn't try.
- 13:45They at least tried to run the ball.
- 13:47versus other games, it's like they just throw away that whole set of plays and don't even bother.
- 13:52And so yes, it's definitely kind of odd.
- 13:56I was just asking my husband about this, were talking about this because it was like oh, he thinks that the defenses are just scheming against it well this year.
- 14:05Like there's times that, so.
- 14:08yeah.
- 14:08well, they def Ottawa definitely steamed against it last Thursday.
- 14:12There was, that was a huge, you know, part of the game plan was make, Walker throw the ball.
- 14:17So I think there is some of that in certain circumstances where you can do it.
- 14:21But like Toronto they cut Carrie and then they cut Brown and then they ended up with
- 14:26two guys you've never heard of before.
- 14:27Montreal cut Fletcher, again, all-star guys, and they just cut them out to go with two guys you've never heard of before, and then they hardly give them the ball on top of that.
- 14:38And I don't know what the heck's going on in Edmonton, because you had two guys that you were proving, and they just decided against it.
- 14:46And in Hamilton, even with Greg Bell, as much as they love him and they
- 14:51they got rid of Butler because of him, they haven't used him on a regular basis.
- 14:56It's kind of sporadic.
- 14:58think that's Milanovic's style is that he doesn't, he's more of a passing coach than a running coach.
- 15:03and you get the same thing with Condale in Ottawa.
- 15:06even back with Hamilton.
- 15:07He didn't run a whole lot, but yeah, I tend to agree with what you're saying there that they, defenses can do that.
- 15:13But if you watch again, the teams that really are dedicated to running the ball, if a defense does sell out, loads the box up like that and determines they're going to stop the
- 15:24run, those are the teams that they just start going intermediate 10.
- 15:2812 yards over top, 15 yards over top of the linebackers to back them up and do it.
- 15:32So it's not like the defense dictates everything, but it does seem like there are some games and even teams dedicated to it.
- 15:39Like I said, the, the Calgary game last week and then the Calgary game against Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan and Calgary in both those games, they got like less than 10
- 15:48yards running.
- 15:48They ran five or six times and then just bailed on it.
- 15:52And that really surprised me in this last Calgary.
- 15:55I got to say, I lost everything this week.
- 15:57We all went two and two in the pick them and I went two and two on my personal one too, with it, even though I'd gone with Ottawa there, I saw that game playing out completely
- 16:05different.
- 16:06I've seen Dickinson do this in the past and I think I'm still buying him on reputation.
- 16:10Cause I was sure they were going to come in, that defense was playing really well.
- 16:15They'd hold them in the game and they'd give them a steady hard dose of running and they'd win it like 16, 12 or something.
- 16:21And instead they, they didn't have a run game.
- 16:25game plan that was working at all, and even when they had chances to adjust, they didn't seem to come back to it.
- 16:30They just left it all on Walker, and that surprised the hell out of me.
- 16:34We're kind of getting into the first game here, but let's finish this anyway.
- 16:37yeah, it's just interesting because for a lot of years, the running back was like the star of the team.
- 16:43You think about like guys like Andrew Harris or John Cornish.
- 16:47Like those kind of guys were the person on the team and that does this.
- 16:52mean, there's Brady, but even like his year is quite quiet and even maybe last year, but.
- 16:58So it's just interesting that it just seems to tend away and we're talking a lot more about receivers this year than we're not talking about anybody being a running back star.
- 17:06Yeah, no, I agree with you there 100%.
- 17:09It's gone away from being that kind of player that dominates, that position that dominates.
- 17:16And I think that's coaching and scheming again.
- 17:19As they keep saying, telling us on television, defenses are just so much more complicated than they used to be.
- 17:25it's really difficult to count on more than a five yard run at best.
- 17:29mean, you'll break some, but to, to try and have a running game that you can consistently pick up first down running is, definitely not a, not an easy thing in the league these
- 17:39days.
- 17:39I don't know.
- 17:40I, still am a firm believer in it.
- 17:42I still think that you have to, use it.
- 17:44And as all the color commentators on the broadcast talk about
- 17:47If you can do it, it pays off late in the game because it does wear down D lineman So I think it's important, but I also think that too many coordinators when they, when they
- 17:59think, well, we're going to commit to the run.
- 18:01means we're going to run on the first down, the first four or five times we're out there.
- 18:05And if it doesn't work, then we'll go to passing.
- 18:07Whereas I think you, you run one or two, even if you go on first down and if it's stuffed, then you start looking at.
- 18:13what else you've got to back them up a bit.
- 18:15But there was like the alouettes who didn't run the ball almost an entire half of a game.
- 18:21So it's just, yeah.
- 18:22been known for that though.
- 18:23That's the Moss offense.
- 18:24And they talk about the fact that, you know, it's, an extended running game because they do the screen passes and whatnot.
- 18:30And that there's truth to that.
- 18:32But on the other hand, was it this weekend or last weekend that somebody jumped one of those screens and almost took it back to the house, just barely bobbled it.
- 18:40So there's also a risk to trying to do those.
- 18:42They're not quite as safe as actually handing the ball off.
- 18:45I don't know that we've reached any conclusions, but I feel like I've vented.
- 18:48Anything else to say about it?
- 18:50Okay, so let's go on to the games then and we'll start with the first one there that was, here we go.
- 18:58Let me make sure I get this right.
- 18:59Yeah, so that was Calgary went into Ottawa and unfortunately did not do well.
- 19:04Ottawa 31, Calgary 11.
- 19:06Do you want to take the lead on this GT with it being the Stamps?
- 19:11Sure, yeah, first of all, will say that, yeah, Ottawa's game plan defensively was to take away the run.
- 19:17They had a quarterback who was playing his first game and wasn't used to the field and wasn't used to being able to, so his limitations on throws were evident over the course of
- 19:28the game.
- 19:28He made some good ones, but he made more bad ones than good ones.
- 19:32But the biggest thing that disappointed me about the game, because I thought the game was entertaining,
- 19:38again, the score is in was lopsided, but it didn't look that way.
- 19:43And when you watched it, but what was the most disappointing was the penalties.
- 19:47That's two weeks in a row that Calgary took over 130 yards in penalties.
- 19:51And that's really got to stop unless this team is falling to the, you know, falling to the wayside and is becoming who everybody thought they were going to be.
- 20:00And maybe they are.
- 20:01Maybe the first five weeks was a mirage.
- 20:03We'll have to wait and see over the next few but yeah, they've the last two weeks They've not played well generally with with the penalties hurting them at inopportune times And
- 20:14like I said last week bad teams take bad penalties at bad times I was specific on and in Edmonton when I was saying that but Calgary certainly has taken a lot of bad penalties
- 20:24over the last two weeks
- 20:25for whatever it's worth, like I said, I expected a completely different game plan from Calgary.
- 20:29I was really surprised at the fact that they were putting so much on Walker with it.
- 20:35But as well, it just, it felt to me like this was the Calgary team I expected to see this year.
- 20:41to me, it says just how much VA brings to that team, not just in his physical play, but in the hope that he gives them.
- 20:48It just, it looked like with the whole team has, was less confident, including defense without VA in there.
- 20:56And sometimes you catch that, you know, sometimes you, you catch that magic in a bottle with uh a new quarterback or a new star player in some high profile position and the team
- 21:06rallies behind him if that is the case, I hope they can keep it going because the other thing with that is it's a fragile kind of thing.
- 21:12the last, last time I really remember something sort of like this in the
- 21:16in the CFL would have been when Fajardo came out of nowhere with the riders in 2019.
- 21:22And they had not the greatest season, but they way performed above what they were supposed to do.
- 21:27When they ended up losing in the Western final on that, it seemed to break the magic and they could never get it back.
- 21:32So I'm hoping just because of what we've seen out of VA and the Samps this year that they don't lose it early.
- 21:39That he gets back in there and they start playing well.
- 21:42And along that, there were a couple of things that really bothered me, including the fact that Dickinson went for it on third and whatever, third and 10, deep in his own end zone
- 21:54with a couple of minutes left.
- 21:55But the chances of winning that were, were very low.
- 21:58As a result, they ended up getting the ball on the one yard line and walked in for another touchdown easy.
- 22:03seems like not that much, but that's the kind of thing that as a player, it can really get in your psyche when you're, you're out there fighting hard.
- 22:11And the defense, you think about it, the defense was really only gave up 17 points they were responsible for.
- 22:16They could have, could have won that game like that, but it just, feels to me like sometimes Dickinson is doing really silly things I've never seen him do before.
- 22:25Yeah, that was also, they needed to get back in the game.
- 22:30I wasn't adverse to that call.
- 22:33you were either gonna get back in the game or not at that stage.
- 22:36But that was situational football that the Stampeders weren't aware of.
- 22:40When you're down there, just go into the end zone and take a safety.
- 22:46Why get tackled on the one?
- 22:48Get your own offensive lineman should be pushing the quarterback into the end zone so that, you know, not holding him up.
- 22:55Like that's just, everybody just made a mistake there in my opinion.
- 22:59It's another, like not a penalty, but another situational thing where they should have had more and they would have given up two points and taken over the ball at the 30 yard line
- 23:08or whatever the case, instead of giving the ball on the one and giving up seven points on the next play.
- 23:13It was just not smart football at that stage.
- 23:16Not the call itself.
- 23:17but the result of the call.
- 23:19Well, I will disagree there because I, I do think the call itself was, was bad football too.
- 23:25The chances were so very slim of it happening.
- 23:29You might as well have punted and hope you got it back one more time.
- 23:32But like I said, I just, I worry I've been around football enough to know that big parts of it are emotion and you.
- 23:41when you've got a team that's on a roll and running well and they start to suddenly hit some adversity you don't want to add to that.
- 23:47But that just might be me.
- 23:50You've been very quiet, MJ.
- 23:51I pretty much agree.
- 23:52I just want to talk about a tale of two defenses.
- 23:54That Hardy touchdown, there were like wheat fields around him.
- 24:00He was so open, like acres of land around him.
- 24:03And I was very surprised that the Calgary would have a complete breakdown in coverage like that, given how well their defense is playing.
- 24:13Somebody was
- 24:15Talking about how PJ Walker was throwing the ball too hard and that's why the receivers couldn't catch it.
- 24:22Then I said.
- 24:24The Red Blacks defenders don't seem to have any trouble catching PJ Walker's passes.
- 24:30They they are catching them just fine.
- 24:31You guys practice with him for entire week.
- 24:34You should be able to catch that.
- 24:35But yeah, this is a game.
- 24:37Like there was three interceptions.
- 24:39There was no rushing.
- 24:41PAREDES was one for three on his field goals and they were blaming the wind and maybe it's true because Lewis Ward did miss one so maybe there but we like Rene Pérez has played in
- 24:52Ottawa a lot like that should not be happening and he's a been a bit shaky and this is why I'm wondering why sometimes they are gambling a little late sometimes because they they're
- 25:04they just don't trust their kickers.
- 25:06ah So, PAREDES is when they trotted him out the first one, I immediately looked at my brother who I was attending the game with and said, he can't make this kick.
- 25:15It's 53 yards.
- 25:16He doesn't have the leg anymore and he doesn't.
- 25:18The second one that he missed, ah I don't know how much they showed it on TV, but live at the game, we could almost hear him 30 rows up yelling at somebody else that did something
- 25:30that either the snap was wrong or was a hold was wrong or something, but he was not happy.
- 25:35with the rest of the snapping team.
- 25:37The interceptions, one of them he overthrew and it was, you he just overthrew it.
- 25:43And the second one, it was a typical American rookie kind of quarterback that just did not see the 12th player on defense.
- 25:50It was like, he just didn't see him.
- 25:52It was there wide open, but he just didn't see him.
- 25:54So yeah, you know.
- 25:57a lot on the broadcast that he just was not accounting for the extra player.
- 26:01Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- 26:03So, and on, and on the defense, on the defense, they, you're right, there was a lot of miscommunication on both of the touchdowns.
- 26:12and they had again made a game time decision on Adrian green and not put him back in.
- 26:17And instead they started someone out, which means they juggled the whole defensive backfield around.
- 26:22the communication was way off.
- 26:25there was a lot of combination of stuff.
- 26:27The thing is, is that.
- 26:28I agree with you, old man, is like, we'll see this week.
- 26:32They're getting VA back.
- 26:34They're getting a lot of players back, at least two or three other players back as well.
- 26:39And we'll see if they bounce back.
- 26:41If they don't bounce back, is this, yeah, the beginning of this or the continuation of the spiral or not?
- 26:47I said going into that game, the next five, they kind of had to win, I hope, three of the five.
- 26:53I don't think they necessarily they'll be able to do that at this stage.
- 26:57We'll see where they end up.
- 26:58We'll see where they end up.
- 26:59They've got Winnipeg, then a bye then Saskatchewan, then back-to-back Edmonton.
- 27:03that.
- 27:05was on GTU at the game.
- 27:06How were the vibes for the red-black fans?
- 27:08I'm sure they were thrilled.
- 27:10They were terrible.
- 27:13wasn't, yeah, no, seriously, I wasn't gonna talk about it.
- 27:16was like the, no, no, that's only because I didn't want to come on and on a national, what is a national uh broadcast and say bad things about a fan base, but it was bad.
- 27:31The whole experience was one of the worst in-game football experiences I've had in a long, long time.
- 27:38It was.
- 27:39They were, it was just like, and that's one of the key things.
- 27:43was their first home win of the season.
- 27:45It was only their second win of the season.
- 27:48You think they would have been ecstatic They were sitting on their hands.
- 27:51They were sitting on their hands.
- 27:54It wasn't, yeah.
- 27:55I can see that a bit because last year was encouraging, but they're kind of like Edmonton.
- 27:59They've been going through this for four or five years now.
- 28:01So I'm sure it feels like just uh back to that.
- 28:05And I do want to say to, to give Calgary sort of not give them excuses, but to put things in context, we have to remember, like you said, GT, Adrian Green was out of there and as
- 28:16well, his backup, LeBros, I think it is from last, pronounced.
- 28:21He was out as well.
- 28:22So they were going with Onyeka, which was basically a third stringer at that position.
- 28:27And in a defensive backfield, we all know how critical communication is.
- 28:32So I can see some of what happened there.
- 28:34And, and again, they didn't give up all the points in that game.
- 28:39And on the offensive side, they had two first time receivers in who, one of them at least did not seem to know how to catch a football.
- 28:47I think I saw them targeted four or five times and
- 28:50and drop easy catches.
- 28:52uh
- 28:53yeah, Baldwin, 86.
- 28:54Yeah, no, was not impressed.
- 28:57But that's okay.
- 28:58It's a game.
- 28:59It's only one game.
- 29:01yeah, so maybe for all the stamps except Walker, it's a burn the tape game and just move on.
- 29:06And maybe we should do that.
- 29:07Oh, sure.
- 29:10gripe about TSN.
- 29:12Dear TSN, please show us the penalty replays.
- 29:17There was like they talked over top of like the referee.
- 29:21They weren't showing the replays.
- 29:23They're like, oh, we're back to the game.
- 29:24Oh, like, oh, there was a misconduct penalty.
- 29:26I'm like, was what are you going to say who it was for or where it would want?
- 29:30No, just carrying on.
- 29:32Please.
- 29:32If I
- 29:34If I was going to that, I might as be singing at the game, trying to talk to my kid about his popcorn and miss it.
- 29:40I don't expect that to happen to me at home when I'm watching with replay available.
- 29:44wouldn't have missed it at the game because they didn't do it there either.
- 29:48Another one of mine.
- 29:50No.
- 29:51you have a better chance of see, if the camera isn't pointed at it, you can still see it.
- 29:55They didn't do replays at the game field.
- 29:59Pardon me.
- 30:00yeah, there was all, there was hardly any announcements of penalties from the ref, know, miked into the stands.
- 30:06There was, they didn't show, like there was a challenge.
- 30:10There was no on the screen reviews of the challenge where you could see the different angles or anything like that while it was going on and make your own decision and boo
- 30:18loudly if you were so decided.
- 30:22They had some kind of, you know,
- 30:24contest going on in the end zone that was over that drowned out two or three calls by the referee.
- 30:30It was a schmazzle in my opinion.
- 30:33Yeah.
- 30:34doesn't help fan engagement.
- 30:36So anyways, I don't want to, but I didn't want to talk about it.
- 30:40uh
- 30:44to the next night, to the Friday night when Toronto went into Winnipeg.
- 30:48And to me, this, this game showed just how much emotion matters in a football game because it started out, it looked like it was going to be a repeat of the Toronto game all over
- 31:00again.
- 31:01Winnipeg to me looked like they.
- 31:03weren't terribly focused.
- 31:05I thought they were going to get beat on and then they got the kick return touchdown and that just turned the game completely.
- 31:12The old TSN turning point was definitely that.
- 31:15They, I didn't think it was in doubt much from there on.
- 31:18Yeah, I thought we had two pretty entertaining games and two not so entertaining games this weekend.
- 31:24And I think this was one of the entertaining games that even though the score again was lopsided, I thought it was closer than the score indicates.
- 31:32If you think about it at Winnipeg scored, you know, it was what?
- 31:36No, this is the wrong score here you've got, right?
- 31:39Cause wasn't it 40 to 31 or 40 to 34 or something?
- 31:4340.
- 31:44It says 40 to 31.
- 31:47Yeah.
- 31:48Yeah, yeah, sorry.
- 31:50Yeah, so yeah, so it was very close.
- 31:56And until Winnipeg scored late and knocked that ball down, Toronto was driving to kind of get back in the game.
- 32:08Because it was 37 to 31 with Toronto only down six and had a shot there going in except those long arms of Willie got in the way of everything in the fourth quarter.
- 32:18But yeah, I thought this was a pretty entertaining game and you're right that that that kickoff Return right after Toronto had an interception return for a return for a
- 32:29touchdown.
- 32:30I just swung everything back in Winnipeg's favor and just they went from there.
- 32:35you know, and then a punt return later on.
- 32:37like the Ottawa game, Toronto's, you know, Toronto kind of scored as much offensive points as Winnipeg did, or maybe even more, but it was about two special teams that made the
- 32:48special teams uh touchdowns that made the difference in the game.
- 32:53Yeah, have like based on stats, the Argos should have won.
- 32:58They had like double the passing yards.
- 33:00Yeah, it was weird.
- 33:01But yeah, special teams.
- 33:05Well, they keep talking about it's an equal phase of the game up here and games like this definitely show that it is.
- 33:13like I said, it's one of the things where CFL just, you never know exactly how a game is going to go.
- 33:17And I agree with, with UGT, it wasn't necessarily the, best played game, but there was entertainment in the returns and that.
- 33:24in some ways it kind of felt a little bit, like I said, never felt in doubt, but it felt a little bit to me like the
- 33:30the Hamilton game in Toronto, where Toronto was scoring points, but they'd fallen behind and it just, they couldn't seem to gain ground at all.
- 33:39There was always something the bombers were doing that kept them ahead.
- 33:43Yeah, yeah.
- 33:46Every time Toronto got closed, Bombers responded with something, whether it be a feel, even a little as much as a field goal, whether it was a knockdown and, you know, there was
- 33:55what?
- 33:56Eight knockdowns in that game.
- 33:57That was the craziest thing.
- 33:59I think there was eight knockdowns at the line and Jefferson alone had five of them.
- 34:04It was, it was, that was bizarre.
- 34:06But, so yeah, even those things were,
- 34:09You're right, we're just stalling out Toronto, but in the meantime, they were moving the ball around.
- 34:14yeah, but I thought it was, close enough to be entertaining.
- 34:17Yes.
- 34:18have a note that it's different when the bombers are different when they plan for Strevler to play than when Strevler just has to get put into a game.
- 34:25And so he's 2-0 when he starts.
- 34:30Right.
- 34:31But I don't think you can give him that win.
- 34:33I mean, he'll get it in the records, but he, thought I gave him full credit for the week two win there, first win of the season.
- 34:41He looked very good in that.
- 34:42I didn't think he looked good this time.
- 34:44He just, his accuracy was off.
- 34:46I, it's hard to tell sometimes what's happening downfield.
- 34:49So I don't know if he was missing people open or not, but it just, he didn't look impressive.
- 34:54Well, it's not good when your OC basically says, yeah, he threw the ball to the wrong spot, otherwise we would have had another touchdown.
- 35:01And that know, that statement came out this week, you know, on that one that they missed it.
- 35:07Yeah, they came out.
- 35:08Basically, well, we made the right call because there was some controversy about why did you make that call?
- 35:14It looked like it was not the right call to make for a pass into the end zone.
- 35:18And the OC said, well, I made the right call.
- 35:21He just threw it to the wrong spot.
- 35:22It's not my fault, it's quarterback's fault.
- 35:25So.
- 35:25I imagine Coach O'Shea will be having a long talk with his new OC.
- 35:31Man, that's...
- 35:32I mean, it...
- 35:35I don't even recall what he was talking about.
- 35:37It may or may not have been true, but you do not say that as a coach.
- 35:41my god.
- 35:43Yeah, that's gonna get the team fired up.
- 35:45I don't know that there's a lot more to say than this, other about this, other than what we have.
- 35:49The Toronto outplayed them largely, but the special teams and the momentum and well, frankly, the defense played pretty good, but one player on defense had a career game even
- 36:01for him.
- 36:01And it happened.
- 36:02Yeah, okay then.
- 36:03So I guess we move on then.
- 36:04I pull up the other one here as I continue to juggle this.
- 36:08Maybe I've got these scores close.
- 36:10Hamilton went into Edmonton and eked out a 28-24 victory.
- 36:15Does that sound right?
- 36:18I believe I've got it right.
- 36:20Whoa, guys, this was so stressful.
- 36:22At one point I was saying, who is at the top of the power rankings and who is at the bottom?
- 36:29Because this game was tight.
- 36:32It was tight.
- 36:34It back and forth.
- 36:35There were, were there any field goals?
- 36:38I don't think there were any field goals.
- 36:39think this was just, flat out
- 36:42Shoot him out football.
- 36:44Bo passed Doug Flutie and Doug Flutie had a really nice message for him that was really great to see.
- 36:51And Bo.
- 36:53punted Or 28 yards.
- 36:59With.
- 37:01But that's because their long snapper was injured and.
- 37:05Teams you need to have a long snapper backup.
- 37:09Oh.
- 37:09And they kept talking about that on television as well, and that they were very surprised that they didn't have someone that could have gone in in that situation.
- 37:19But he pulled it off, and it didn't look like a complete cluster.
- 37:24It was not badly executed, actually.
- 37:27Yeah.
- 37:28Yeah.
- 37:28Especially for something I don't think they would practice much.
- 37:31Right.
- 37:33Yeah, the Elks should have won this game.
- 37:37Think they could have easily won this game.
- 37:39Jullian Grant, that pass in the end zone.
- 37:42What a heartbreak.
- 37:44just, I just want to sink into the floor.
- 37:47The Elks player that I will shout out that did well, their punter messed up that punt badly and went down and recovered it.
- 37:55So good job him, heads up play.
- 37:59One doesn't cancel the other out though and tough, tough, tough to be an elk
- 38:03He reminded me of Jamie Borum out there getting that punt.
- 38:07Like a good physical punter Yeah.
- 38:10And just in case anybody didn't catch the end of the game, what MJ's talking about with, that drop was, yeah, Ken, Julian, Grant was open in the end zone with under, I think a
- 38:20minute left or just over a minute to go ahead.
- 38:23And there was just, it was basketball, not football.
- 38:25There was no bottom in the basket.
- 38:27went right through his arms and dropped out.
- 38:29Car Cody.
- 38:29They, um yeah, that was the most entertaining game of the week.
- 38:35And yeah, it was a good game.
- 38:37I actually thoroughly enjoyed that one.
- 38:40And I was surprised that I did, but I did.
- 38:43Yes, say what you want about the tiger cats.
- 38:46They are playing entertaining football.
- 38:49They are fun to watch and some of it is the plays they're running and some of it is just their, their attitude on the field.
- 38:56It seems like they're having fun out there too.
- 38:59Yeah, and now you keep looking at their schedule and going, okay, so who do they play next and how does that team stop them?
- 39:08Because that's just now it's become how do you stop these guys?
- 39:13Because every time you turn around, they're using another weapon and going in a different direction with the receivers and Bo was just so hot right now.
- 39:25It's incredible.
- 39:26Like again, did you have any doubt that at some point he wasn't going to win that game?
- 39:30You know, as much as, well as Edmonton was playing, it was like, yeah, but Bo's going to pull this out somehow.
- 39:36And he did.
- 39:36He just, know, so, and I just don't know which defense is going to be able to stop that at this stage.
- 39:43I don't know how you, like, what does BC do this week coming up?
- 39:46They tried something last week.
- 39:48It didn't work at all.
- 39:49So it's going to be interesting to see what they do this week.
- 39:54just got my one elk, my other one elk fun, that did well.
- 39:57Tyrell Ford, you see him lifting bridges out of bounds.
- 40:01Just like lifted and pushed him out.
- 40:04And they're like, no catch.
- 40:05Yeah.
- 40:06no interference on that.
- 40:07Just run them out of bounds.
- 40:09Yes.
- 40:10And to what you were saying, GT, I think personally, I think the only way that somebody stops Hamilton and you don't stop them, but the way somebody stops them enough to beat
- 40:18them is you have to have a good solid defense that goes out and ignores the fact that Kenny Lawler's on that team.
- 40:24Yeah, I do.
- 40:25regular defense, you don't do anything special.
- 40:28You accept the fact we may end up giving up a touchdown to him.
- 40:31We might even give up two, but we're going to, we're not going to let everything else beat us.
- 40:35And we're going to get them off the field two series out of three
- 40:38Yep.
- 40:39You just man up boys, man up and go get your guy and just run man coverage because zones are not working.
- 40:47You can't leave Smith open.
- 40:49I think that much has been established.
- 40:50You can cover Kenny all you want, but you need to equally cover Smith.
- 40:56Well, that's the thing is I've got Smith and on the short stuff, White has been doing okay.
- 41:00So you've you know, you've got him out there with the stuff and that they've got a lot of receivers that can do it.
- 41:06And, and yeah, you can't, you cannot dedicate.
- 41:09Well, you can get away with dedicating putting, if you're going to run his own and double up Kenny, you can get away with that to a degree BC did for a lot of the games.
- 41:17You can't do what they did at the end of the drive in the BC game, which is basically have everybody covering Kenny.
- 41:22Yeah.
- 41:22Yeah.
- 41:23m
- 41:24I say you got to play your regular defense.
- 41:26You got to guard all five receivers out there and the running back and the quarterback and everything.
- 41:31You can't focus too much on one.
- 41:33So what, how do you figure the feeling is in Edmonton right now after coming that close, but now another loss.
- 41:40Well, Bo in his interview after said that Cody, like he gave Cody his flowers, he said Cody's the most disrespected quarterback in the league.
- 41:48And the panel was talking about how like this should be like Edmonton had to play the top one of the top teams in the league.
- 41:55They should feel good about that.
- 41:57And then Milt was like, there's no moral victories.
- 42:00Like that's not two points in your wing column.
- 42:03And that's not two points in your wing column.
- 42:05And people in Edmonton are done.
- 42:09They've, Trey was the savior last year and they want to run them out of town this year.
- 42:14I feel bad for Cody.
- 42:15He's a good quarterback.
- 42:20watching them and watching them, Edmonton's a really, I don't know how to say this.
- 42:26It just seems very fickle here.
- 42:28But the players seem to want, like the players that were ride or die with Trey last year and were wanting to run McLeod Bethel out of town and no one wanted McLeod Bethel and
- 42:35everyone was like behind Trey.
- 42:37have completely 180'd and we're like, forget Trey, we all wanna play for Cody now.
- 42:43And I feel like maybe this is just a desperation, we're grasping at rods.
- 42:46Whoever is playing well is who we're all circling the wagons around.
- 42:50Like I don't think in Calgary if PJ Walker had played well, they'd be like, well, maybe VA isn't the guy for us.
- 42:58we move, no.
- 43:00So Emonton's always balancing.
- 43:04and they haven't quite figured it out.
- 43:06And I don't know if that's just players or if that's coaching or management or ownership that are causing some issues and drama.
- 43:16I think it's just everybody's desperate for a win and they just want to win.
- 43:20And if they feel like that's the guy that's going to give them a win last year, they felt like it was Trey.
- 43:25This year they feel like it's Cody.
- 43:27So I don't care.
- 43:28as I'm just speaking as a player and probably as a fans as everybody, it's just like, I don't care how they do just win.
- 43:35And if this is the guy that's going to let us win, then that's the guy I'm going with right now.
- 43:40And that's the guy I want to be behind.
- 43:43they just need to win.
- 43:44I don't know if they're going to.
- 43:47They've been so they've been close.
- 43:49They've been close and they continue to be close.
- 43:51So at some point in time, I can see it.
- 43:53I still see that turning around.
- 43:55It's just.
- 43:56Yeah.
- 43:58So in Hamilton a lot of years, would have been flipped and Hamilton would be the team that wouldn't be able to finish that drive and they would have dropped that pass in zone.
- 44:09Goodness, they did it in the grey cup.
- 44:12just couldn't seal the deal and they finally now, Bo, they are finishing their games and Edmonton's now on the outside of that looking in and they're the ones that can't finish
- 44:24these games off.
- 44:25and you're right, they're close.
- 44:26don't think they are as bad as people make them out to be.
- 44:29Even last year, the last back half of the season, they were winning games.
- 44:32In some games, they only lost by like a field goal.
- 44:35Like it was always close.
- 44:37Can't quite put the last nail in the coffin.
- 44:41Yeah, it becomes a culture, unfortunately of losing and, you're right.
- 44:45And it's been actually three or four years as I remember it, that they've been in games.
- 44:50A lot of them, they just, they, they can't finish it.
- 44:52And I, for whatever it's worth, I really feel like, um, I think I posted on blue sky last week that the Elks are channeling the spirit of the late seventies, early eighties, rough
- 45:03riders.
- 45:04Cause it's been a decade of futility there, just like Saskatchewan went through back in the day and
- 45:10And to me it's management.
- 45:11back to last time Hervey was GM and I can't remember who the president was.
- 45:15And they did a bunch of stupid things, including getting rid of, it Mazuziak, the, the equipment manager that had been with them forever and really sort of tearing down the
- 45:24team.
- 45:25And then they got, from that, they went to Chris Jones, which was just pretty much a joke.
- 45:30And now they get a chance to start new and they get a rookie head coach.
- 45:34Okay.
- 45:35Well, Kilam's been sort of.
- 45:37People have been saying he's the next one for quite a while, but even though they've tried to revive the dead name and say that's the secret to success, it's not there.
- 45:46And the thing I questioned this year is it's obvious to me that Macymik as an OC does not want to play a game that Trey can play.
- 45:56And you've just, they signed Trey before they signed him.
- 46:00So you've just signed a quarterback that's supposed to be the franchise guy.
- 46:04to a long-term contract, I think with guaranteed money in there, and you don't talk to the OC about how he's going to use them when you're doing the interviews.
- 46:12It baffles me.
- 46:13how much Trey had input on that too.
- 46:17Like quarterbacks, if you're signing a franchise quarterback that's like getting, like he's one of the highest paid ones.
- 46:24He's getting a lot of money to sit on a bench now.
- 46:27It's weird.
- 46:29Yeah.
- 46:29He's not, I don't think he's up in the 500 range, but I think he's making more than Brown is and more than Alexander is.
- 46:35So he is getting money for it.
- 46:37They did renegotiate it And yeah, that's the thing is I would have, if it was me, I would have had him, yeah, definitely giving input on who the OC is.
- 46:45Who do I think I can work with?
- 46:47But even if he isn't, Killam should be doing that.
- 46:50Hervey should be doing that.
- 46:52Rather than say, okay, well, you can come in here with your system you like to run and we'll somehow make it all work.
- 46:58When you know you don't have the quarterback you're pinning your hopes on doesn't have that skillset.
- 47:02So I put it down to, unfortunately, I think that even under the new ownership, they're just making bad moves.
- 47:10And I don't know what happens to pull them out of the spiral.
- 47:13I feel terrible for the fans in Edmonton.
- 47:15Yeah, well desperation moves aren't always...
- 47:17Yeah, well then desperation moves aren't like always the correct ones.
- 47:21Like...
- 47:23Yeah.
- 47:24Well that's the thing is, if there were changes to be made then I might feel better about it.
- 47:29But the changes have all been made and they weren't done well.
- 47:32Should I stop my rants, move on?
- 47:35Anything else for anybody?
- 47:36Yeah, it's, yeah, it is just, they, they are, that's the upside of it.
- 47:47And I hope they get something figured out.
- 47:49You know, I hope that at least Edmonton with Cody in there gets competitive for the last half of the year.
- 47:55They win, where are they now?
- 47:57I think they're at seven and one, aren't they?
- 47:59So they've got 10 games left.
- 48:02I would love to see them at least go like five and five in the last half of the season or something.
- 48:06And they could do that the way they've played the last two weeks against Saskatchewan and Hamilton.
- 48:11You know, the two top teams in the rankings.
- 48:13And speaking of those, and then the other one that was a top team and well, still is a top team, but Saskatchewan went into Montreal and walked away 34 to six.
- 48:24And this one I'm, again, I didn't get my notes transcribed, so I'm not sure.
- 48:29And I was a little disjointed because the way it worked out with TSN, they ran the Edmonton game to the end on one channel and started the riders game ahead on the other
- 48:41channel.
- 48:42So I watched to the end of the Edmonton game, went over to the other channel to watch the rest of the riders game.
- 48:47And my little Shaw box came up and said, Oh, we can't connect to this.
- 48:52And then when I phoned in, they were having some sort of regional outage.
- 48:55so I watched the last three quarters of the game in real time and then Sunday had to get up and watch the first quarter.
- 49:02So I'm a little disjointed, but to me, just like I said,
- 49:06Calgary looked like the team I was expecting them to be without VA out there.
- 49:10And I think they'll turn it around with him back.
- 49:12Saskatchewan for the first week really looked like the team that I thought they could be from the beginning of the year.
- 49:18They went in, they built up a good lead.
- 49:21They didn't go through their usual third quarter slowdown where they go to and out the entire quarter and let the other team score and get back in it.
- 49:31They just, they seem to have Montreal's number.
- 49:35And Montreal to their def, in their defense, as we talked about with Calgary, Montreal had to do some juggling at the end, right at the last minute or game day decision, whatever.
- 49:45Anto was out on the corner from there.
- 49:46So I think they moved roughen out from, I think he was at the, the strong side linebackers.
- 49:51Anyway, it was, it was a complete jumble.
- 49:53And then later in the game, they lost De Qua as well.
- 49:56So they had a young safety in there.
- 49:58their second string safety.
- 50:00They were down to their third string safety at one point there.
- 50:04Yeah.
- 50:07And Montreal just could not seem to move the ball against the Edmonton defense.
- 50:11MBT looked like he did.
- 50:14Well, frankly, I think he looked, and maybe it's the defense he was facing, but he looked the worst he has yet.
- 50:19I thought he played better in his first two losses than he did in this one.
- 50:23Yeah, I just kept thinking and hoping and I kept saying to myself, this is just, know, because MBT is really bad.
- 50:32And then I kept going, no.
- 50:33And then I thought, no, this is just Saskatchewan being pretty darn good.
- 50:37And this is Saskatchewan, the team that we expected when we all had them at the top of the West or at top of the league going into the season.
- 50:46So yeah, I think they're starting to show.
- 50:48I do think there's still some.
- 50:49some issues there, but I think they're starting to show that they are, you know, they are as good as we thought they were going to be.
- 50:57So I might just have to kind of put up with it.
- 51:01Yeah, I think you're right there.
- 51:03And yet you're right.
- 51:04There are, you know, it's, it's the same thing that you'll hear any coach say after a good win or any win, while there's still stuff for us to work on.
- 51:12And it's always true, but that was true of the stamps through their decade and a half of dominance.
- 51:18And it was true or close to that.
- 51:20And it was true of Montreal back in the 09, 010, great teams, but you could say, okay, yeah, we can work on this and we can work on that.
- 51:27And that's where the riders are at.
- 51:29I mean, the most glaring one is still, does Lauther get his kicking locked down when it really matters?
- 51:35Cause that's still a little scary, but it feels like that feels like a traditional Saskatchewan question to me.
- 51:43person who doesn't need to work on their kicking is maltose.
- 51:45Yeah, no, definitely not.
- 51:48But yeah, Montreal's just needs, they got a, they're in trouble.
- 51:53They're in trouble.
- 51:54They're, mean, if, if it wasn't for, you know, Ottawa and Toronto, they would have been, looking at missing, know, looking at being third or fourth right now.
- 52:04Yeah, I could see, I could see Hamilton wrapping up first place by not long after Labor Day if things keep going the way that they are.
- 52:12I will say it's just one of those things that, that I noticed, the quirky little things.
- 52:17Maltose's last three field goals were 58, 56 and 54.
- 52:24I figure if they follow that trend by the end of the season, they'll be kicking all two yard field goals.
- 52:30Just keep working your way in.
- 52:32They couldn't even get past the 46 yard line though.
- 52:36Like I don't think I don't think Alouette's got past.
- 52:39Yeah.
- 52:42Yeah.
- 52:42And I just thought, again, the thing about Saturday was, as you said, where, Oldman it was like, what's going on here?
- 52:49How do we have two different cities in like how far apart and we both have lightning delays.
- 52:57It was like, I turned on one game and now I have to go back and watch another game while I'm waiting for this game.
- 53:03show up again, was just ah, and then you have to try to find it, because on the recording it runs over into some other program that's called something about something else
- 53:12entirely, and yeah, that was.
- 53:15I had to switch over, I was watching live.
- 53:17I had to switch over to TSN3 to finish the Elks and Ticats game, because TSN1 was showing soccer.
- 53:27And so then I had to flip back to TSN3 to finish that game.
- 53:31And then the Riders Alouettes game came on, but the video quality looked garbage on TSN3.
- 53:36So then I had to switch back to TSN1 and then it looked good.
- 53:39So, I'm just like.
- 53:41Yeah.
- 53:42And I Yeah.
- 53:43And I don't remember it was that game or another one, but they were, they had audio problems again at one of the games.
- 53:48That's two weeks in a row.
- 53:49it's, the Gremlins are coming out in full force.
- 53:52I think all, all the people that really know what they're doing are on summer vacation and we've got the interns running the show.
- 53:59Yeah, you could hear the air horns though.
- 54:03yes, the Air Horn ban is working, I see.
- 54:06It's in full force.
- 54:10Yeah, that lasted what, two games maybe?
- 54:14I liked them.
- 54:15I was happy they were back.
- 54:20So anything else in that game or an overall, anything we learned that matters this weekend?
- 54:25I don't really think so because it was...
- 54:28two lasting thoughts on this.
- 54:29One, when you only scored six points in this game, why are you punting in the fourth quarter in garbage time?
- 54:38Just go for it.
- 54:40Just go for it.
- 54:41You are losing by so much.
- 54:43What does it matter anymore?
- 54:44Just pedal to the metal.
- 54:46And also, my last thought is McLeod Bethel Thompson cannot talk smack to the TSN panel when he plays like this.
- 54:54Yes.
- 54:55Yeah, I never heard any reports of that this week.
- 54:57Yeah.
- 55:00Mind you, this week I don't think he had to tell them don't say anything good about me because...
- 55:04you worry!
- 55:06Yeah, so it will be interesting to see who is the quarterback this week for Montreal upcoming.
- 55:14Will it be McLeod-Bethel Thompson in Edmonton?
- 55:19I don't know.
- 55:20Might be Caleb Evans.
- 55:22I've heard people talk a lot about the, apparently they have another third stringer they're really high on.
- 55:27So, but I think he's first year in the season, in the, in the system.
- 55:32So probably a bit early for that, but, but yeah, we, but like I said, I, all we learned this weekend is that Calgary without VA is capable of playing a bad game.
- 55:43I wouldn't say that happens every game, but you know, that's possible to happen.
- 55:47These are my takeaways from the game.
- 55:49know, yeah.
- 55:50Calgary is possible to play bad game that Winnipeg when they've got emotion at home still is awful damn hard to beat.
- 55:58That Hamilton is a lot of fun to watch.
- 56:02And basically I don't expect that performance from Saskatchewan in two weeks when they're back against, I think against Calgary.
- 56:10I hope they play well enough to beat Calgary, but.
- 56:13That was a thoroughly enjoyable game for a Rider fan.
- 56:18I don't think any of us that followed the game well and know what we're talking about would say, well, that's it.
- 56:23We're good for the rest of the season now.
- 56:25We're going to roll.
- 56:26This weekend just proves that like what, like, and I don't understand what's happening this season.
- 56:33It's, I remember on last season's broadcast when I was doing this on my own, I talked a lot about embrace the chaos.
- 56:39This is the CFL and we haven't gone away from it this year.
- 56:42I don't know.
- 56:43There are people who complain that CFL isn't professional enough and all the rest of it.
- 56:47I just love all the quirky little stuff that happens in a league this size.
- 56:51And you know, yeah, there's a lot of players out there playing still hoping to get to the NFL and that, but there's a lot that are playing cause they love to play football.
- 56:59and this gives them a chance and that just makes me feel good.
- 57:02How can you not have fun when your top passer in the league is punting in a game?
- 57:08Yeah, exactly.
- 57:10Okay, so we've covered those off.
- 57:12Get to look ahead to this week.
- 57:13Hopefully I have these all right.
- 57:15Like I said, I was doing this in a hurry right before the show.
- 57:18So game one, Friday night or Thursday night?
- 57:21Thursday night I think.
- 57:22um BC at Hamilton.
- 57:24Predictions?
- 57:24Thoughts?
- 57:26I'll start saying Hamilton.
- 57:28don't think Mike Benavides can scheme well enough to keep Kenny Smith, White and Bo under lock and key.
- 57:39if it had been back to back, I might even think different because those can be hard to win, but it's not back to back for Hamilton.
- 57:44You know, they've had the game in between here and if they couldn't beat them in BC and I expect they'll run a different defense and they'll do somewhat better against Hamilton,
- 57:52but I just, don't see them having the ability to keep up with Hamilton.
- 57:58There's some talk, Hamilton's on another short week this week and BC's coming off the buy.
- 58:04But I don't know, don't think that's gonna matter.
- 58:07Mind you, like I said, two and four, two out of four last week, two and two.
- 58:11So I don't know that what I think matters at all, but, but yeah, I I just can't see it.
- 58:16think Hamilton doesn't have the best defense in the league, but I think they're good enough to win with that offense they've got.
- 58:21And I think even at that, they're better than the BC defense.
- 58:25I would say in just about every facet of the game, offense, defense and special teams, BC is just a step below Hamilton at this point.
- 58:32And I can't see them winning it.
- 58:34So did I get you said Hamilton MJ?
- 58:36Did you say GT?
- 58:37Yeah, I've got Hamilton as well because I don't have anything to add that you guys haven't already said.
- 58:41It's just, yeah, they're just not there.
- 58:44They're just not there.
- 58:46Yeah.
- 58:46And another one that'll be interesting Edmonton at Montreal.
- 58:51I believe this is the Friday nighter.
- 58:54Cody's back in there.
- 58:55Apparently Cody's if there's anything to the chip on the shoulder game against a team that's let you go, he's got that going for him.
- 59:04Montreal didn't look great.
- 59:07I'm gonna let one of you two go first on this one.
- 59:09Go ahead, MJ
- 59:09I think this game is going be spicy.
- 59:11We got two quarterbacks that were traded in the off season to each other's teams.
- 59:16There's a little story there.
- 59:18Montreal is going to be mad about how they played.
- 59:23Edmonton is going to be mad that they could have won that game against Hamilton.
- 59:29They're going to be mad.
- 59:32For chaos, I'm going to pick Edmonton.
- 59:34Me now?
- 59:35Okay.
- 59:36I, I don't know.
- 59:37I talked my way through this one, I guess it's yeah.
- 59:41I want to take Edmonton.
- 59:42I, I do that Montreal defense is just so bloody good, but I see things like one of, we didn't talk about this in the game, but it just came back to me.
- 59:49One of the things was Montreal dressed five defensive linemen to play against the riders that are, they know are a running team that are going to try and overpower you.
- 59:59They had one person to rotate.
- 1:00:02And one of those was Sean Lemmon who
- 1:00:04was just coming off of his year long hiatus.
- 1:00:06So he, I doubt he's in game shape.
- 1:00:08That, that part didn't surprise me that they weren't really great at putting pressure on the quarterback or stopping the run.
- 1:00:15So if they do that again, I could see Edmonton winning it.
- 1:00:18Yeah, I'll go Edmonton.
- 1:00:19What the heck.
- 1:00:20Edmonton has rank and end leak right?
- 1:00:22If they can't figure out a run defense.
- 1:00:25But Montreal is a lot of, I guess have to do, it may matter who's back for Montreal off the injury list too.
- 1:00:31Is Ebto a one game miss or, mean, how much does the extra week of practice help?
- 1:00:36Yeah.
- 1:00:38Philpott's still out too.
- 1:00:40Why do both Philpott brothers have hamstring injuries?
- 1:00:43I don't know.
- 1:00:46Oh, you just triggered me.
- 1:00:47What other thing I was going to say back in the Saskatchewan Montreal game that occurred to me.
- 1:00:51And that's that apparently Shane Ray isn't made of glass.
- 1:00:55We're nine games into the season and he's still in there playing and getting sacks.
- 1:00:59When they signed him, everybody said, it'll last a game.
- 1:01:04Anyway, sorry.
- 1:01:05All these things that would have been in my notes if I'd been prepared this week, they're just having to come out of the foggy old memory now.
- 1:01:10So.
- 1:01:11We've both gone Edmonton.
- 1:01:12GT, are you gonna go the other way or?
- 1:01:15No, I'm going with Edmonton in the upset.
- 1:01:17just think that I just have lost all confidence in Montreal's offense.
- 1:01:22You know, as you said, Philpott not back yet as far as I don't, at least I don't think he'll be back this week.
- 1:01:28And excuse me, I don't know what the status is of, geez, why am I drawing a blank?
- 1:01:37Mac, right.
- 1:01:37uh Yeah.
- 1:01:39Yeah.
- 1:01:40So.
- 1:01:41I just don't have confidence in Montreal's offense anymore.
- 1:01:44So and they haven't established any running games over the course of the year.
- 1:01:48So why would you think all of a sudden these guys are going to be are going to lead you to victory?
- 1:01:52And yeah, so and Edmonton's been close.
- 1:01:55So it's their due, right?
- 1:01:56They're due.
- 1:01:57So yeah, I'm all in on Edmonton this week.
- 1:02:02We're all, we're, we're, very agreeable this week so far.
- 1:02:07See, see what happens when we get to the next one.
- 1:02:09So you get to start this time GT Ottawa at Toronto.
- 1:02:13This could be the most entertaining game of the week.
- 1:02:18Because for two teams that have not played well and have taken a lot of heat, both of their quarterbacks have been slinging the ball.
- 1:02:27Arbuckle's been slinging the ball the entire season.
- 1:02:32And Drew Brown is just, he does it all the time and now he's back.
- 1:02:37And so when he's played, he's slung the ball.
- 1:02:39So I think this is going to be a really high scoring game.
- 1:02:43And I think it's going to be one of those almost whoever has the ball last kind of games.
- 1:02:48So it's the hardest one of the week to pick in my mind as well.
- 1:02:53And, but I just kind of feel like, kind of feel like Ottawa has some momentum right now.
- 1:03:01So I'm taking on.
- 1:03:02MJ.
- 1:03:03Right, this one I think is one of my toughest ones.
- 1:03:07I just looked today and it looks like Hardy's injured and is not playing this week.
- 1:03:12So that's a big target.
- 1:03:13Um, Hardy.
- 1:03:15So yeah, it's I think they said it was his back.
- 1:03:19Maybe because yeah, he's key.
- 1:03:21He's really key.
- 1:03:23He's got two touchdowns last week and they saved me in fantasy.
- 1:03:28ah So yeah, I don't know.
- 1:03:30That's a big deal.
- 1:03:32I looked at it quickly before I just quickly looked and then I meant to write it down, but I didn't.
- 1:03:38I can't remember.
- 1:03:39I don't know if it was like a did not player if it was a limited, but I think it's a he's a questionable for sure.
- 1:03:46I'll check on that while you keep talking for a minute.
- 1:03:50fill, cover for me.
- 1:03:52And then I think Eugene Lewis did well and I think Drew's motivated.
- 1:03:59Toronto, I don't know.
- 1:04:00I don't know.
- 1:04:01Like that, to lose, this is kind of like their loss against Hamilton where they got blown out, but they played well but got blown out.
- 1:04:08This is like, lost, they played well but got lost against Edmonton to Winnipeg.
- 1:04:13And sometimes those are really demoralizing because you did the right things.
- 1:04:18It's not like you played bad, you did right things and it still didn't pan out your way.
- 1:04:23And sometimes those really, really cut deep.
- 1:04:27So.
- 1:04:28It's in Toronto,
- 1:04:30If it matters, I'm, I've got the injury reports here and I did see, um, Hardy on this earlier in the week and he's not on here now.
- 1:04:40So let me check one other thing while you do this.
- 1:04:43And the only other thing I could see is if he somehow ended up on the six game.
- 1:04:47I don't...
- 1:04:47ooh.
- 1:04:49I hope not.
- 1:04:50He's playing so well.
- 1:04:52didn't see anything last week that would have indicated that.
- 1:04:56No, I wouldn't have thought so either, but...
- 1:04:58I'm just pulling up the roster to see if where he shows up if he's still on the roster and if he is because he's definitely not on the injury report.
- 1:05:04So yeah.
- 1:05:06maybe he's back.
- 1:05:07Okay.
- 1:05:07I, let's see here, HHH Hardy.
- 1:05:11Yeah, he's still on the roster.
- 1:05:13So it must've been just a one day thing.
- 1:05:15I thought once he went on the injury report, he had to stay all week, but he must not have been in unless I'm missing something here, but I've got, there, is a long list.
- 1:05:23There's like 20 players on there.
- 1:05:26so Hardy's in, so.
- 1:05:29Red Black.
- 1:05:29Red Black, so Toronto for GT.
- 1:05:33you said Ottawa.
- 1:05:34Yeah.
- 1:05:34So Ottawa for both of you too.
- 1:05:36Okay.
- 1:05:36Yeah.
- 1:05:36So this, didn't make up any game.
- 1:05:38I didn't make up any ground on the two of you where you're ahead of me in the pick them last week.
- 1:05:42Cause I got Saskatchewan right when you both picked Montreal, but I also picked Calgary when you both said Ottawa.
- 1:05:48So I'll take the chance here, but I also not just to get a chance on getting to you up on you guys or catching up a bit.
- 1:05:54I do think Toronto is just slightly better team at this point.
- 1:05:58I think that they will, you never know.
- 1:06:00I agree with what Bolivia said.
- 1:06:02It's the toughest game of the week to pick.
- 1:06:05An Argo bounce or a red black bounce could change things if there's weather, it could change things.
- 1:06:10But I think on everything I know right now, I just feel like Toronto is a little further along than Ottawa is at climbing out of that awful start that they had.
- 1:06:18So that takes us to the last one, which is.
- 1:06:21Yeah.
- 1:06:24Yeah.
- 1:06:26I've been like every last three weeks, I've been like, ah, I wish I could change my pick.
- 1:06:31Oh, something's come up.
- 1:06:33Yeah, you gotta give us another day.
- 1:06:36You gotta give us some more time in between to mull these over.
- 1:06:41Yeah
- 1:06:43this Tuesday to Wednesday broadcast.
- 1:06:45Even if we had Tuesday to Thursday, I'd be able to go, change my pick before the broadcast.
- 1:06:52Anyway.
- 1:06:52But we play the rules we have.
- 1:06:54That's it, exactly.
- 1:06:56I'll have to like split out our picks into a separate one like 2 and Out does.
- 1:07:01Yeah
- 1:07:02Yeah, I don't know.
- 1:07:03I don't think I have one more show of the week left in me with this.
- 1:07:07Between this and doing the fantasy, a retired guy, I'm working harder than I'm used to.
- 1:07:15Okay, so, yeah, well, hey, we can talk offline about whatever we need to do going ahead.
- 1:07:22But yeah, this is...
- 1:07:24We, this is all, at least it's all, we, other people might have an advantage over us cause they can put their pick them in later, but this is fair amongst all of us cause we're
- 1:07:32still picking on the Wednesdays.
- 1:07:33And then we got the last one to do, which again, a lot of variables here, Winnipeg at Calgary.
- 1:07:39Now let me see if I can check here while you guys jump ahead.
- 1:07:43I'll just see what it says about VA at this point.
- 1:07:46Cause last that I heard, they said they expected him back.
- 1:07:50but he was still limited in practice.
- 1:07:52they said he had full practice today and so did olaros
- 1:07:55Okay, good, yeah.
- 1:07:56see what green was up to though.
- 1:07:58didn't, I don't know if I saw, I think I got, the VA thing and got really excited and then stopped looking.
- 1:08:04Okay, hold on a sec here, I'm wondering.
- 1:08:06you guys keep talking but I think I was reading you the wrong- for some reason I've still got week nine up here, so let me just reload this
- 1:08:14date.
- 1:08:15picks the last week's injury report instead of this week's.
- 1:08:17It was awful.
- 1:08:19Yeah, it still says week nine here on mine.
- 1:08:21I'm going to go out and try to go back in and see.
- 1:08:24for a fact that I, I'm sure I looked earlier and saw something anyway.
- 1:08:28injury report and it was the second one.
- 1:08:31It wasn't the top line one, it was the second one down.
- 1:08:34do that that way rather than through my bookmark.
- 1:08:38Yeah, because it wasn't it kept trying to pull me to week nine and week 10.
- 1:08:42They just put out like for.
- 1:08:45players on theirs and it said via.
- 1:08:48There we go.
- 1:08:50Hey, did I make up Hardy?
- 1:08:52Maybe I was just.
- 1:08:53Aha!
- 1:08:54We did!
- 1:08:55Okay, so, let me pop down here to Ottawa.
- 1:08:59Hardy, where are you?
- 1:09:00Yeah, they just, they still have just the Tuesday for them and he did not participate.
- 1:09:04So we don't know if he'll be out or not.
- 1:09:08And with the Calgary, how do they list?
- 1:09:10Um, let me see how they list VA cause they'll only have the Tuesday there too.
- 1:09:16Yeah.
- 1:09:16He was full.
- 1:09:17Oh, yeah.
- 1:09:19What about green?
- 1:09:20was in full.
- 1:09:21You're right.
- 1:09:21So, green.
- 1:09:23Well, let's see where he is.
- 1:09:25Yeah.
- 1:09:25That could be a thing because he did not participate and neither did LeBros.
- 1:09:31So they're going to have some juggling to do in that, in that backfield.
- 1:09:34It's a good thing they have a good number of Canadians because that may help them out some, but.
- 1:09:38Philpott's still out, Moose is still out.
- 1:09:42I heard Philpott was, I thought Philpott was back.
- 1:09:44I thought Philpott I thought Philpott was, I read somewhere Phil Pot was supposed, was probably gonna be ready and Clark Barnes was probably gonna be ready.
- 1:09:55Yeah, I saw that too.
- 1:09:57And Barnes is on, this is just day one.
- 1:10:00So they've still got at least two more, maybe three more days of practice to go, but day one Barnes was full.
- 1:10:05Philpott was limited for Calgary.
- 1:10:08Okay.
- 1:10:08and the Montreal Phil pod is definitely still out.
- 1:10:10Yeah.
- 1:10:11Letcher's still out for, or did not participate.
- 1:10:13All of these guys, Mack, Marhanton, Ducroix, Lawrence from the O line.
- 1:10:19Yeah.
- 1:10:21And the punter.
- 1:10:22but that's non injury related.
- 1:10:24So he'll be back.
- 1:10:25But this is again, day one, I don't freak out too much because I know I've noticed with, um, with the riders who I pay more attention to, of course, cause the other fellow in my
- 1:10:34brain that.
- 1:10:35There Mondays these days, usually there's a full list of did not participate with the veterans and then they go limited and then full and then they're back in.
- 1:10:45So with that takes us back to where we were, the Winnipeg at Calgary.
- 1:10:50Who wants to, who wants to make the first prediction?
- 1:10:53you go GT.
- 1:10:54It's your team.
- 1:10:54Boil, boil.
- 1:10:55I'm going Calgary.
- 1:10:57I think a bounce back there.
- 1:10:58I just don't, I don't think it's going to be the blowouts that the first two were, but I think they can still bounce back enough to be able to.
- 1:11:05And I'm not convinced.
- 1:11:07I'm less convinced on Winnipeg than I was going into the year.
- 1:11:11And I think that they're an up and down yo-yo kind of team.
- 1:11:15And now that's what I'm sort of how I'm feeling about them.
- 1:11:18So I'm not sure they can run to get to back to back.
- 1:11:22weeks like they had last week.
- 1:11:24so, and it's in Calgary.
- 1:11:26Yes, it's in Calgary.
- 1:11:27So yeah, I'll take Calgary.
- 1:11:29Okay.
- 1:11:29I'd, in the end, it's going to come down to if VA is in there and it certainly looks like he is.
- 1:11:34So I'm taking Calgary.
- 1:11:35would, I would struggle just because unfortunately Walker has looked, looked completely lost.
- 1:11:41I don't think I could pick them to win a game with him in there right now, but with VA and I agree with you, GT Winnipeg's tends to be a bit streaky.
- 1:11:49They're not going to get a couple of touchdown returns against Calgary.
- 1:11:54depending on what's happening in that Calgary backfield, they may do a bit better, but Calgary should still be strong against the run and Winnipeg depends on the run to set up
- 1:12:02their passing game.
- 1:12:03So yeah, I think I'll go Calgary.
- 1:12:06That leaves you MJ, final word of the week on these.
- 1:12:10so Winnipeg got their bell rung twice by Winnipeg badly.
- 1:12:15VA's missing couple.
- 1:12:18I know.
- 1:12:20going to regret that statement when you listen back.
- 1:12:21just said Winnipeg got their bell rung badly by Winnipeg for two weeks.
- 1:12:26Okay, well, okay.
- 1:12:27So Winnipeg got their bell rung by Calgary.
- 1:12:30And Winnipeg did it to themselves, really.
- 1:12:33Yes.
- 1:12:33Yeah, you were probably right the first time.
- 1:12:36Yeah, maybe.
- 1:12:37VA is missing a couple big receivers.
- 1:12:40Zach's back.
- 1:12:42But I don't know, they're not.
- 1:12:44Man, I was so mad because was like Winnipeg's a machine just slotting new people into places and it just carries on and they are not this year.
- 1:12:52They're not.
- 1:12:53Are they gonna go three for three against Winnipeg?
- 1:12:59Or is Winnipeg gonna at least eke out one on the season series?
- 1:13:03For Chaos, I'll pick Winnipeg.
- 1:13:05If it matters to anybody out there besides Barnes coming back, they also show Alfred as limited in the first day of practice.
- 1:13:13So there's a possibility he might come back to.
- 1:13:16I hope so.
- 1:13:17I was thinking about that.
- 1:13:18we talked about this, the other two, three weeks ago, you GT said we're going to have him for a year and he's down to the NFL because he's that good.
- 1:13:25I think the only way that doesn't happen if he gets injury prone through the season.
- 1:13:29If he's in and out a bunch, it might hurt him.
- 1:13:31If he can come back from this and just keep playing, he's, yeah, he's a lock to go south.
- 1:13:37Yeah, I think if he's available this week, it's not a bad way to be able to run both of those guys out back because they play the same position.
- 1:13:44Basically, he replaced Barnes when Barnes got injured.
- 1:13:47That means they can just take it easy on both of them.
- 1:13:53Neither of them have to play an entire game and their first game is back type of thing.
- 1:13:57So that might work out okay,
- 1:13:58And I think that's about all of it.
- 1:14:01My voice is almost gone again.
- 1:14:03I don't know what's wrong with me this year.
- 1:14:04can't, by the time that I get through here, I got to go gargle all salt water every show.
- 1:14:09But, so any, let's wrap it up.
- 1:14:11Any closing thoughts and your social media for folks that want to follow your brilliant uptakes, hot takes.
- 1:14:17No closing thoughts and it's at GT Barnum, at bluesky.social.net, whatever there is, go you guys figure it out.
- 1:14:24Somebody posted online asked a question, were you alive when the Ti-Cats won their last gray cup?
- 1:14:33If you want to hear the musings of an old person, please join me on Blue Sky at Sports and Plants
- 1:14:41Sure.
- 1:14:42Hey, I'm old enough I remember all of Saskatchewan's Grey Cup wins.
- 1:14:49I was very young for the first one.
- 1:14:50I don't actually remember the game, but I was alive when it happened.
- 1:14:53Yes, and they lost to the Balmy Beach Beachers.
- 1:14:56And I'm old man dash SAC on blue sky.
- 1:15:00The show is on blue sky and X both as the CFL outsiders and the show email is oldman all one word dot shoutingatclouds all one word at Shaw.ca.
- 1:15:14And that's about it.
- 1:15:15We hope you have a.
- 1:15:17great weekend watching the football.
- 1:15:19If you play the fantasy and the pick them, good luck on that.
- 1:15:22We're all looking forward to the weekend and we'll be back here next week.
- 1:15:27guess same time, same place.
- 1:15:28So until next week, Get the hell off my lawn.
- 1:15:31I managed to take out my mic on that.