Tag Archives: charlie taafe

Saskatchewan will find a way to win, Winnipeg and Hamilton will find a way to flush it down the toilet and home teams win a lot more than they lose.

On the one hand, through the first six weeks of the season, we’ve learned that the Western Conference is significantly better than the East. On the other, we’ve also learned that home teams will win most of the time. In fact, if you’ve done nothing but select home teams this season, you’re 15-9 through the first six weeks — 10-2 over the last three weeks.

So here’s the deal, when picking winners on your Pro Line tickets, take Western teams to beat Eastern teams first. However, if the teams are playing within their conferences, always take the home team. With the exception of Saskatchewan’s 22-21 squeaker in Calgary, it worked this week. (By the way, we went 4-0 this week, but we’ll brag about that on Thursday).

And that’s the good news for the 1-5 Blue Bombers. Their next two games are at home — against Montreal and Hamilton — and by the end of August, they could very well by 3-5 and back in the hunt. Montreal, however, plays two straight games on the road and just like Winnipeg, they could very easily be 3-5 by Labour Day.

While Winnipeg head coach Doug Berry whined about everybody else but himself, while the entire province of Saskatchewan praised the Riders defence for its 6-0 record and while the Edmonton Eskimos looked to injured Jason Tucker for the extra jump they needed to beat B.C., we learned a lot about the CFL through the first 1/3 of the season.

Let’s look closer…

1. An issue was made by Doug Berry this week that his running game hasn’t been very good. He made the point a day after his all-star runningback Charles Roberts had his best game of the season, carrying only 11 times for 66 yards. Berry even hinted that Fred Reid might start on Friday night against Montreal. What a maroon. This year, Roberts has carried 64 times for 263 yards. Last year, after six weeks, he had carried 81 times for 509 yards. Berry, who prides himself in the number of people he can throw under the bus, blamed Roberts — unbelievable — for the lack of production in the running game. Roberts carried the ball 262 times last year (in 2006, he carried it 303 times). He is currently on pace to carry it 192 times this year. Doug Berry has no clue.

2. So why is Saskatchewan 6-0 despite the fact that the team has had to use three different quarterbacks over six weeks? Defence. Sure it’s a cliche, but Saskatchewan has the best defence in the CFL and that’s why they’re unbeaten. The Riders are No. 1 in points allowed (131), fewest per game (21.6), total yards allowed (1,627), average yards allowed (325), average gain per pass allowed (7.0), lowest percentage of passes completed against (59 per cent). Winnipeg and Hamilton, by the way, battle for last place in most defensive categories. Anyone surprised?

3. Choosing the all-star quarterbacks this season shouldn’t be hard. Anthony Calvillo looks like a 27-year-old (he’s 36) while Ricky Ray might be putting together the best year of his career. The fact that Montreal (3-3 with three straight losses to Western teams) is first in the East and Edmonton (4-2) is second in the West, says a lot about the importance of the quarterback position to a team’s success. Not surprisingly, Hamilton and Winnipeg have struggled at QB all year, but that might be the fault of Doug Berry and Charlie Taafe, not the guys taking the snaps.  

4. Here is an interesting stat. The leading tackler in the CFL is Hamilton’s  Rontarius Robinson. Now, on the one hand, the leading tackler should be praised for his hard-hitting approach to the game. On the other hand, however, Robinson is a defensive back. At 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, he’s a tough guy, really hard-nosed. He also can’t cover. In six games, he’s made 66 tackles. Giving him credit for stopping the sweep on occasion, it still means that nearly 66 passes have been caught around him. No. 2 in tackles? Another Hamilton DB named Markeith Knowlton with 62. When two defensive backs combine for a league leading 128 tackles in six weeks, no wonder you’re 1-5.  

5. Here’s why the CFL is getting better as a league every year. It’s a news release from the league’s director of officiating, Tom Higgins, that was sent out on Sunday afternoon:

The Canadian Football League announced Sunday that it has conducted a supplementary review of a player ejection made during last night’s game between the Calgary Stampeders and the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Calgary. During the game, Calgary linebacker JoJuan Armour was ejected from the game for making contact with a CFL official during the course of play.  Upon review of video footage, it was determined that the contact between Mr. Armour and the official directly resulted from prior contact between Mr. Armour and a Saskatchewan Roughrider player.  The ejection of the player was unwarranted.  CFL Director of Officiating Tom Higgins stated, “We sincerely regret that this officiating error was made and cost Mr. Armour the opportunity to play during last night’s game. Our officials are professionals and do a tremendous job, but when a call is missed we take it very seriously and have an internal review system to deal with it appropriately”.Mr. Armour will be eligible to play in this week’s rematch between Calgary and Saskatchewan in Regina on Thursday.

Everyone knows that officials aren’t infallible. They makes mistakes just like players. Higgins reviewed the tape and instead of blindly supporting the officials, he made the correct decision. That’s s step in the right direction.