Morning-After Thoughts (Week 6)

The goose eggs are gone. There no more winless or undefeated teams left in the CFL. In fact, aside from the three one-win squads, the league is fairly tight. Winnipeg, Edmonton, Montreal, Calgary and Hamilton are so tight that any of them could beat the other on any given day. This is probably the tightest that the league has been after this point in the season in quite some time. It should make for an interesting, and fun, final two-thirds of the season.

1. It won't get anywhere near as much press as when he broke the TD record, but congrats to Anthony Calvillo on breaking the career record for completions.
2. Another congrats goes to Gene Makowsky for playing his 272nd game as a Saskatchewan Roughrider, which puts him at number one on the list of games played for that franchise.
3. I would like to wish a speedy recovery to Eskimos Receiver Fred Stamps. Stamps was rushed to a Winnipeg hospital for emergency abdominal surgery. Stamps is expected to miss 4-6 weeks. Get well, Fred.
4. I was very disappointed to hear what Chris Schultz said about Arland Bruce. He said that there were "rumours and innuendo" that Bruce had trouble with police during his time in Hamilton. This was the first I had ever heard of such a thing, and while I don't doubt that Schultz heard this, I am curious as to where he heard this.
5. I rag on Cleo Lemon a lot, but he throws a very nice deep fade. The TD pass to Spencer Watt in the first half was a thing of beauty.
6. I really like Andre Durie. He is the most underrated player in the entire CFL.
7. Chad Kackert is going to take a lot of guff for not getting out of bounds at the end of the first half, but the blame really needs to be placed on the person who called a running play with six seconds left. Throw an eight-yard out or kick the 48-yard field goal. Don't call a run.
8. Can we just say that the Argos are a bad football team this year? No more "they're better than their record" stuff. The Argos have lost five in a row and have the look of a 6-12 club.
9. The dubious officiating continued in the Edmonton-Winnipeg game. There were more than a few missed calls. Roughing-the-punter and unnecessary-roughness penalties should have been called on Edmonton and weren't. I think the refs not taking control of the game early – like they did in the Winnipeg-Toronto game a couple of weeks ago – played a part in the chippiness that ensued later.
10. That chippiness manifested itself near the end of the game, when Edmonton took quite a few personal-foul penalties. Those penalties came about because Winnipeg got pretty lippy as the game wound down. I get being excited – and Winnipeg has a lot to be excited about – but I found the Bombers' attitude to be off-putting. You win and lose with class. The Bombers didn't win with much class, and Edmonton didn't lose with much either.
11. Despite a poor performance, Marcus Crandell has had a pretty good start to his coaching career. He has helped to turn that Edmonton Offense around.
12. What was with the ape dance by Winnipeg? Can anyone explain that to me?
13. Swaggerville. I already hated it, but having to hear Rod Black pretty much spend the entire second half saying, "Swaggerville! Swaggerville! Swaggerville!" like a third-rate Jim Ross made me want to throw my shoes at the TV. Enough with the Swaggerville. If the Bombers and their fans,want to say it, that's fine. But I don't need to hear the announcers say it as well.
14. After less than an hour, Farhan Lalji was already a better, and more tolerable, play-by-play man than Rod Black.
15. When the Lions add Arland Bruce to this receiving corps next week, they are going to be deadly. Geroy Simon, Kamau Peterson, Shawn Gore and Arland Bruce are going to be tough to guard.
16. I'm starting to understand why it took Greg Marshall so long to become a Head Coach. His first month on the job has not been a good one. Or could it be that Ken Miller gave up his post because he knew this was coming?
17. At first it didn't bother me, but as the game between Hamilton and Calgary progressed, I got sick of seeing players from each team lobby for flags. This has to stop. Perhaps the league should look into instituting a rule where a player gets flagged 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct for complaining to the official. I'm sure that would put a stop to the lobbying right quick.
18. Why is pass interference never called when a defender tackles a Running Back on an attempted screen pass? If that happens down field, it's a penalty, right? So why does it never get called when it happens on a screen? If that is not pass interference, what is?
19. I know that language changes over time; I accept that. But the accepted term for the yards inside the twenties is Red Zone. So why do announcers try to sound smart by calling it the Green Zone? I get it, green means go. But Red Zone is what it's always been called, and Red Zone is what it shall continue to be called. Much like with the term YAC yards, I hate it when the announcers use the term Green Zone.
20. For the first time all season, I am above .500 for the season after nailing three of four in Week 6. The only wrong choice was the Tabbies, but I correctly selected the Als, Bombers and Lions. Hopefully, the good times can keep rolling next week.