Morning-After Thoughts (Week 12)

Has there ever been a CFL season that was this... strange? Nothing makes sense, and I can't figure out what will happen from one week to the next. It seems as if anything can happen, and as soon as I think I have it all figured out, I realize I know nothing. I feel as if I'm not the only one out there that feels this way.

1. A big congratulations to all the newest members of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. And a giant hand to former Tiger-Cat greats Danny McManus and Joe Montford.
2. Still on the Hall of Fame, can someone please explain to me how Damon Allen did not get in, but Chris Flynn did? I have all the respect in the world for Flynn, and winning three Hec Creighton awards is no small feat, but we're talking about Damon Allen. The all-time leader in passing yards. Flynn was an excellent CIAU Quarterback, and it's great the the Canadian Football Hall of Fame wants to recognize that, but you simply cannot put a player who excelled at the university level in, when you don't put the professional game's all-time leader in passing yards in. Allen should have been a first-ballot, no-brainer Hall of Famer. If that means leaving out a guy like Chris Flynn, I'm alright with that. Leaving out Allen, even for one year, is inexcusable.
3. There were a couple of big pass interference calls this week, and it got me wondering what the appropriate penalty for pass interference should be. Right now, it's a spot foul; I wonder if making it a 15-yard penalty would make more sense. It seems as if the penalty is too harsh, especially when sometimes it's not as blatant and can drastically alter a game.
4. Jerome Messam must love playing the Tiger-Cats. In two games against Hamilton this season, Messam has rushed for 243 yards and four touchdowns. Against the rest of the league, he has rushed for 286 yards and zero touchdowns. He has all his TDs and nearly half his yardage against one team. That's having a team's number if I ever saw it.
5. Looks like Fred Stamps is back at full health. He was unstoppable against Hamilton.
6. With all the problems that Hamilton has in their Secondary, I bet they wish they still had Chris Thompson and Jykine Bradley.
7. Watching Steven Jyles play, you can see he is a good quarterback, but he is just as clearly not the cure-all for what ails the Argonauts. Cleo Lemon was a convenient and easy scapegoat – the quarterback always is; just ask Tiger-Cat fans – but the Argos haven't won with Jyles either. The problems go higher than the players, and I think many people who didn't recognize that already surely do now.
8. The Argos' Offense has been one of the worst, if not the worst, in the CFL this season. But even I was stunned to find out that Andre Durie's third-quarter touchdown against Saskatchewan was Toronto's first offensive touchdown in 33 possession. That is offensive ineptitude of epic proportions.
9. Player celebrations are endlessly debated. Some like them, some don't. Time and place is important. Seeing Ejiro Kuale jump around and hit himself like an uncaged gorilla after tackling Wes Cates after Cates picked up a first down is where I draw the line. Kuale looked like a fool, just like Hugh Charles doing backflips when his team is down by 10 points or Dwight Anderson dancing after hitting Nik Lewis when Lewis picked up 12 yards. Time and place, gentlemen. Time and place.
10. Winning the turnover battle is one of those stats that pundits say decide games. The Argos being 1-40 since 2008 when losing the turnover battle proves that point.
11. I still find it funny when players argue about fumbles when they come off a shanked kick that results in a no-yards penalty. You see players try to argue why their team should be rewarded the football and it shows you the difference in the Canadian and American game.
12. Prior to this season, the Calgary Stampeders were a very impressive 20-6-1 at home under John Hufnagel. This season, they are a horrendous 1-4. McMahon Stadium has become a house of horrors for the home team.
13. I have heard a lot of rule explanations in my 20-plus years of watching football, but hearing Andre Proulx utter the words, "Illegal procedure, Defense. They made the Offense move," has to rank up there as one of the strangest.
14. Geroy Simon keeps getting better with age. He collected his 900th catch this week, and if he keeps playing the way he's playing, he might hang around long enough to take the career receptions mark from Ben Cahoon.
15. Paul McCallum is another ageless wonder. He has made 90 per cent of his field goals over the last two seasons. That's phenomenal for any kicker, let alone one in his 40s.
16. The touchdown-less streak that the BC defense had was one of the more impressive streaks I have ever seen. Not allowing TDs is a great way to win games, and the Lions have now won four straight. Those two things are very much linked.
17. Overcoming injuries is something the Bombers couldn't do last year, Buck Pierce being the most notable among them. This week, Winnipeg lost Linebacker Joe Lobendahn and up-and-coming Receiver Kito Poblah, yet they still went into Montreal and took home the "W." Just more proof that this Winnipeg team is not the same as last year's Winnipeg team.
18. Montreal has had trouble with good teams. The Als have only beaten one team with a record over .500: the Edmonton Eskimos. They also have losses to the 5-6 BC Lions, the 4-7 Saskatchewan Roughriders and the 5-6 Hamilton Tiger-Cats (who they lost to twice). Montreal is no longer the king of the jungle, and I would be surprised if they got to the Grey Cup, let alone won it, this year.
19. Batted .500 this week, as I nailed the Riders and Lions, but missed on the Ti-Cats and Als. That takes my yearly total to 24-20. Not good. Not good at all. I'm going to have to step it up considerably.
20. I'm heading to Moncton next week for Touchdown Atlantic, so it is unlikely that I will have a Morning-After Thoughts for Week 13. I don't know how much football I'll get to watch aside from the Calgary-Hamilton game. There are so many wonderful things to see and do between Hamilton and Moncton that football will not be a high priority. I'll be back with some thoughts in Week 14, but don't expect any next Monday.