Morning-After Thoughts (Week 14)

In a year where there are no elite teams, one thing is for certain: there are six legitimate Grey Cup contenders with five weeks left to play. You can take your pick between Winnipeg, Montreal, Hamilton, Calgary, Edmonton and BC; any of those teams could win it all. Never before can I remember a season where so many teams were still in the race this late. It's fun to be a football fan right now.

1. Regina will be the host of the 2013 Grey Cup. The 101st edition of the annual event will take place in Saskatchewan for only the third time in its history. Should be a fun party in Regina on that night.
2. Congrats to one of my favourite players of all time, Matt Dunigan, on being inducted into the Louisiana Tech Hall of Fame.
3. This season, it looks like home-field advantage is a myth. Of the 52 games played so far this season, the number of home and road victories is the same: 26. So come playoff time I expect one road team to win in the Semi-Final round and one road team to win in the Division-Final round. The playoffs are going to be fun.
4. In a year in which the MOP race is wide open, are Jamel Richardson, Anthony Calvillo and Brandon Whitaker 1a, 1b, 1c in the race for the award? Has Travis Lulay played himself into contention? Should make the next five weeks a lot of fun.
5. There were plenty of bad calls in the Montreal-Winnipeg game on Friday night, but the absolute worst, and maybe the worst call I've ever seen, was the pass interference call on Montreal's Greg Laybourn.
6. Despite a few bumps in the road, I thought both Alex Brink and Chris Garrett played well.
7. A few weeks after complaining about his lack of playing time, Anwar Stewart had a monster game – more accurately, a monster first half – against Winnipeg. Stewart had an interception, a tipped ball that resulted in an interception and a forced fumble all in the game's first 30 minutes. Guess his age hasn't slowed him all that much.
8. Chris Williams got the early jump, but Clarence Denmark is starting make a nice case for himself for Most Outstanding Rookie.
9. BC Place looks phenomenal. They did a great job on the renovations. I imagine it looks even better in person.
10. Does Travis Lulay remind anyone else of Dave Dickenson? Also, does anyone else think that Lulay is the next great CFL Quarterback?
11. I will never understand why a player, in this case Jerome Messam, throws a punch a player wearing a helmet. It has never made, and will never make, any sense to me.
12. Have the Lions finally found their Running Back in Andrew Harris? Looks like that might be the case.
13. Edmonton's swoon – they are 2-6 after their 5-0 start – seems to have coincided with a downturn in Fred Stamps's production. With Stamps either out or not the focal point, the Eskimos can't seem to win. It seems pretty simple: get Stamps involved and good things happen.
14. That's what you call a breakout game from Jon Cornish. The Joffrey Reynolds benching is still weird, but if Cornish keeps playing like he did against Saskatchewan, it won't matter.
15. Remember all the good feelings when the Riders beat the Bombers two weeks in a row? Looks like that "Miller Magic" has run out. It also looks like the problems in Regina were not all because of Greg Marshall.
16. If my math is correct, the Argos and Riders can be eliminated from playoff contention next week if BC, Hamilton and Edmonton all win. The bell could be tolling for both teams come Monday evening.
17. Is it just me or do the Argos seem to be regressing under Steven Jyles?
18. Hopefully, for the Argos' sake, Ejiro Kuale gets out of the guarantee game. Kuale registered one tackle – one tackle – in a game he assured everyone the Argos would win. Not good. Not good at all.
19. Should we just count on an Argo defender to make one inexplicable fumble per year? Last season, it was Ronald Flemons; this year, it was Lin-J Shell. I still don't know how Shell fumbled that ball.
20. Alouettes: check. Lions: check. Stampeders: check. Tiger-Cats: check. Yup, that's a 4-0 week. That pushes my overall record to 30-22 for the year.