Morning-After Thoughts (Week 13)

Regardless of any outcome, the biggest news of the week was about Touchdown Atlantic in Moncton. I think it's safe to say that the entire endeavour was a huge success, aside from the actual game, of course, which wasn't very good. Rumours abound that an annual sojourn out east is in the cards for the next few years. Hopefully, one day soon, these trips will be part of competing against a permanent CFL franchise in Atlantic Canada. This week's festivities showed that there is an appetite for football in the Maritimes. That appetite needs to be satiated with a pro team not long after Ottawa finally returns. A ten-team CFL might not be a pipe dream after all.

1. I would like to congratulate Ben Cahoon on being only the second player in CFL history to record 1,000 catches for a career. In the next week or two Cahoon will surpass Terry Vaughn's record of 1,006 catches. Cahoon is a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame when his career is over, and ending his career atop the receptions list seems fitting for one of the most reliable Receivers to ever grace a CFL field.
2. What a debut by Greg Carr. Over 160 yards and two TDs in the first half of his first game. That's insane. He was injured in the second half, so one can only wonder what his final stat line would have looked like had he played 60 minutes.
3. I'm starting to doubt what a catch is and isn't. I'm confused in the NFL (Calvin Johnson), and I'm confused in the CFL (Jamel Richardson). The Bombers got completely jobbed on the call that took a fumble recovery away from the Bombers and gave the Als a chance to win, which they did. Had the fumble been called correctly, the Bombers likely would have knocked off Montreal for a much-needed win.
4. Of all the confounding play calls this past weekend, none flummoxed me more than the call by the Bombers that had Terrence Edwards throwing a pass in the fourth quarter while trying to protect the lead. That was an unnecessary risk for the Bombers to take.
5. I haven't checked, so I don't know, but hopefully Kerry Watkins's injury isn't serious. The Als have a ton of weapons, but Watkins has been so good for so long that losing him will hurt. It won't cripple them, but it's never a good thing to lose an über-talented player like Kerry Watkins.
6. I still don't know why any team would sign him, but would Jesse Lumsden have been better off going to Winnipeg? Fred Reid is hobbled, and the backfield in Calgary is already crowded with Joffrey Reynolds and Jon Cornish. If Lumsden wants to play, he should have gone to Winnipeg. I guess he'd rather try to ride a good team's coattails to a Grey Cup. Why does that not surprise me?
7. While it was nothing Earth shattering, Stevie Baggs's Tiger-Cat debut was quite good. He had a couple of tackles and a strip-sack of Darian Durant. It wasn't a dominant performance, but if it is a sign of things to come, Baggs will turn out to be a great signing.
8. Anyone who frequents the Tiger-Cat forum knows that many fans have been having some fun with Dylan Barker's lack of success with interceptions. Well, he finally got one. Not only that, but yours truly correctly predicted back in August that Barker's first INT would come this week against the Riders. You may now start calling me Blogstradamus.
9. What an absolutely great catch by Weston Dressler.
10. Congratulations to Arland Bruce for being the first player in the CFL this season to reach the 1,000-yard receiving mark. Bruce has never led the league in receiving at the end of the season. Hopefully that changes this year.
11. Is it OK to ask whether Casey Printers is done? He has not looked good since he left for the NFL. He was terrible in Hamilton and has done nothing to help BC. Perhaps his magical 2004 season was the exception, not the rule. It sure looks like he doesn't have it anymore to me.
12. Year after year we see teams get out to hot starts and then swoon around October. It looks like Calgary is following that trend. Losing to the Riders in Regina is acceptable. Losing at home to a then 3-8 BC team? Ouch.
13. Last season, Henry Burris started off like gangbusters, then hit a rough patch starting in October. If this week's performance is any indication, he might be headed in the same direction. Last season, he was the presumed front runner for MOP, then faded. Isn't he the front runner for MOP again this season? History may be repeating itself. If so, Stampeder fans should be worried.
14. As hard as it is to believe, this week marked the first time that a Wally Buono-coached team beat a John Hufnagel-coached team. Very odd that it took over two years for the Lions to beat the Stamps again.
15. Is there any worse team that has two better wins than the Lions? They are 4-8 and have a win at Montreal (where they snapped a 13-game Alouette winning streak) and at Calgary (where they handed the Stamps their first home loss of 2010). How can a team that is four games below .500 beat two teams that may play for the Grey Cup?
16. Since beating the mighty Alouettes, the Toronto Argonauts are an absolutely horrendous 1-4. At one point the Argos were 5-2 and the talk of the league. Now they're 6-6 and trying to figure out how to right the ship. Because of how bad the Bombers have been, it's still likely that the Argos will make the playoffs, but it's doubtful they will go very far.
17. Fantastic hustle play by Jeff Johnson. While the Argos still lost the game, Johnson never gave up and saved the Argos a touchdown.
18. Elliott Richardson had two interceptions and would have had a touchdown had it not been for the aforementioned hustle play by Jeff Johnson. Richardson was the unexpected star of Touchdown Atlantic.
19. Is this finally the time that Calvin McCarty will break out as many have hoped he would? A two-TD game in Moncton could help to establish McCarty as a starting Running Back for the Eskimos with Arkee Whitlock out for the season. Perhaps when Whitlock returns next year, he and McCarty can form a dynamic duo like Reynolds and Cornish do in Calgary.
20. The bubble had to burst sooner or later. After weeks of going 2-0 or 3-1, I finally dipped below .500 on my weekly picks. I could have easily gone 3-1 had the Bombers and Cats been able to protect leads at home. The only one I was way off on was the Stampeders. But I went 1-3, and now sit at 26-22 for the year. Not a bad record, but not great either. Hopefully I do better next week.