Morning-After Thoughts (Week 1)

It's a brand new year, and it's time to bring back my Morning-After Thoughts. Similar to the plethora of week-in-review articles that spring up on football sites around the country, this is where you will get some of my thoughts on the week that was in the CFL.

1. It is hard to fathom, but the CFL season is now a week old. It took so long to get here, but seems like yesterday all at the same time. I'm just glad the CFL is back.
2. Anthony Calvillo just keeps getting better. You would swear he was in his early 30s with the way he plays. He is an absolute treat to watch.
3. I really liked what I saw out of Shawn Gore. He looks like he could be a real stud for the Leos in the future.
4. Jamel Richardson was the top-ranked Receiver on TSN's Top 50 players list, and he showed why this week. An absolute monster game from arguably the best Receiver in football.
5. It's only been one game and I am already sick of the Avon Cobourne-Brandon Whitaker comparisons. I lost count of how many times Cobourne's name came up when Whitaker, who had a tremendous game, touched the ball. Enough already. We get it; there is no need to beat a dead horse.
6. The ankle injury to Jerald Brown looked horrible. That was as gruesome an injury as I have seen in my many years watching football. He is out for the year, and hopefully he can heal up and return to the field in 2012.
7. The Hamilton-Winnipeg game was just ugly. Neither team should be happy with their performance. It was just a bad football game.
8. I picked Winnipeg's Perry Floyd to win Most Outstanding Rookie, and if his first game is any indication, I may just be proven right on this one. He had a great game returning the football, and he could be this season's Marcus Thigpen or Chad Owens.
9. Jamall Johnson recorded two sacks, but the sack he'll be best remembered for is the second one where he damn near killed Buck Pierce. Johnson came in untouched and lit into Pierce with such ferocity that I am surprised Pierce got back up.
10. Markeith Knowlton picked up right where he left off last year with a blocked punt. Knowlton is one of the most versatile players in the CFL. He's going to have another monster year.
11. One bright spot for the Cats was the game played by second-year man Eddie Steele. The former Manitoba Bison played a heckuva game, recording his first career sack. Steele could have a big year in 2011.
12. That TD pass from Cleo Lemon to Brandon Rideau was a thing of beauty. Lemon put the ball exactly where it needed to be, and Rideau made a great over-the-shoulder catch.
13. Chad Owens was basically a human pinball, but not in a good way. He got jacked up at least twice that I saw, and the hit by Jon Cornish that took him out of the game was crushing.
14. Rob Maver is one tough dude. The guy I picked to be the league's Most Outstanding Special Team's Award recipient showed a ton of guts in going out there with a quad injury that will sideline him for the foreseeable future.
15. Jason Barnes had two touchdowns, both in the first quarter. He was cut by Edmonton in Training Camp and then re-signed about a week later. Both the worst and best move Eric Tillman made. Well, the worst with the exception of giving Chris Bauman – who was a healthy scratch in Week 1 – $125,000/year. That's still mind boggling.
16. The Riders barely got any pass rush on Ricky Ray. When he gets a chance to see the field, he'll kill you. I think people forget how good Ray can be when he has a good team around him.
17. Darian Durant is a very good Quarterback, but I have made it known that I disagreed completely with his ranking of third on the TSN Top 50 Players list. The main reason is that he throws way too many interceptions. In his career, Durant has 57 TDs and 52 INTs. That's not elite production; that's not third-best-in-the-league production.
18. Did I hear Glen Suitor say during the Eskimo-Rider game that it was acceptable to not call a penalty because there were two – one by each team – and both were missed? That's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. That's like saying it's alright that the cops didn't arrest either bugler because they burgled the other's house. What an idiotic statement to make.
19. Week 1 is always the most difficult to predict. Put your hands up if you had Winnipeg beating Hamilton, Toronto beating Calgary and Edmonton beating Saskatchewan all on the road! That's what I thought.
20. And speaking of predictions, after one week, my road to 50 – as in the number of correct picks I want to make this season – has 48 to go. I went 2-2, nailing the Als and Argos, but whiffing on the Cats and Riders.