Well, happy Monday morning, number one, Happy marcast day here back normal,
now back on Mondays. I think for the duration of the season,
we'll figure out. You have Jason Van have things going on. My schedule
is pretty easy during the summer here, coming off three weddings in five days.
I think still watch the games here driving on my phone everything. The
only won the winning pag Calgary game. Have limited notes on that, but
hopefully Jason and Evan will hop on a little bit on that. But weekend
here we'll bring in the crew. This it's really starting to feel real here.
I don't know if that is any difference here with all of the stakes
and kind of horrific weekend for Ottawa and Mizzoli and kind of all that stuff,
but it feels a little bit grander than even the XFELA, the USFL
stuff that we kind of cover. Evan, Does that make sense, Yeah,
definitely. I mean this is what week five now, so we've done
a month of the season. I definitely think. You know, things are
starting to formulate, I guess, and you sort of we talk about the
cream of the crop rising. You know, the teams are really starting to
separate themselves, and of course there's still a lot of time left. I
keep saying, you know, eighteen game season, twenty one weeks, it's
a really long time, right, So you can't you know, we're not
at a point where we can say everything is finalized. But yeah, I
mean this weekend slay the games definitely, I think gave us a better idea
of where some teams are at. Jason, you were there. I will
start Normally we kind of go reverse chronological order, but obviously I think the
biggest game of the weekend here was the Ottaway Hamilton game. You were there.
I'll kind of give it to you first and foremost thoughts. And obviously
James check Din here already, that's from Missoli Ottawa. What do you have
to say? You can start with the weekend, you can start with the
game. How are you up? Yeah? So I was there in attendance.
It was, you know, just such a heart wrenching moment, just
the silence that was in the stadium. Obviously, he has a Missoli himself,
has a very special relationship with Tigercats fans. He was there for a
long time, not just as a starter, but he was there for a
number of years as a backup. So he was really viewed as one of
our own, and to see him go down, even as a player playing
for the other team, it was just, you know, completely heart wrenching.
I mean I was there when he got hurt in twenty nineteen as well.
That was you know, completely devastating because that looked like the year he
could have won CFL MOP And then you know, last year was just we
all know what happened last year with the Marinos stuff, So I mean,
to see it happen again third career, you know, season ending injury,
so I mean, it's gonna be very hard for him to bounce back from
that. I mean, at the end of the day, I don't think
that we know exactly what the injury is at this point, like if he's
out for the season for sure, but it did not look good, and
especially when the team rules him out as quickly as they did, it's not
a good sign. Yeah. I was setting up. We had a wedding
on Saturday, and I was setting up and Andy Murray send in the group
chat to win here is picking up with Andy Murray send in the group chat
and said, you know, Missolee's legs look leg looks at And I thought
oh, maybe he came you know, came back slow or you know,
because we've kind of delayed him coming on. And then I said, we
always this knew goes. Oh, they're like he just went down again.
And I obviously went back and watched the game yesterday and it was really weird
watching it, like, Okay, when's you know, because you kind of
know what's going to happen. Okay, what's going on here? Yeah,
we have a no, it's just coming in cef im on ts and Crumb
is going to start and we can talk about Crumb and all of that.
The ex sent of Minoa's injuries, Like Jason said, still unknown here Evan
thoughts on this because you guys kind of lived through a real time and then
I kind of went back and kind of lived through this all on delay.
He asked you that. Yeah, I mean, I'm glad we're addressing the
elephant in the room first. You know, extremely unfortunate to see Jeremiahassoli get
injured on what should have been a very you know, special day, a
very happy day, you know, him coming back literally a year or two
the day since his last injury, which I think just makes this even more
cursed and terrible. It's it's really hard to believe. And again we don't
really know the extent of his injury yet. The fact that he was ruled
out, you know, right after he went down in the game, was
extremely alarming. And I'm at a point now where this to me at least
seems you know, I mean, he's going to go on the six game
injured list at least minimum, um, I think. And you know,
to me, if a lot of people were saying it was as achilles,
and if that's true, obviously that's going to be a season ending injury.
So at this point, you know, he turns thirty five in August,
and that means, you know, if he plays another CFL season after this,
he'll be thirty six next year at the end of next season. So
you're really starting to look at, you know, a possibly career ending situation
and there's it's a very real chance that we might have just seen Jeremiah Massoli
play his last snaps in the Canadian Football League. So that's a pretty devastating
to say. And you know, especially for me, Jeremiah Massoli was one
of the first guys that I really knew in the CFL because he was with
Hamilton for such a long time, and you know, just such a great
guy, you know, great player, but of course even better man.
And you know, he went through so much mental hardship. I think through
this past injury that he had dealt with this year and had some surgeries and
I think there might have been a setback of some sort. Reminded me a
lot of Alex Smith, uh, you know, on the on the Commanders,
And I know obviously this wasn't as extreme and he wasn't going to lose
a leg or anything like that. But again, there was a lot of
discussion around the mental aspect and the video went up on the Red Blacks um,
you know, social media stuff, and they you know, you could
see Jeremiah. He was visibly you know, emotional talking to the team,
you know, before he went back to that game, especially going back to
Hamilton again. There was just so much there to unpack. So yeah,
I mean, bottom one here is the injury was incredibly unfortunate and wasn't fair
at all. It's just so heartbreaking, really is the is the bottom one?
Yeah? I said out that was working. I did send that my
tweet. I said that Gay Marino here if anyone, you send him the
double bird salute for me because he's obviously blocked at me. And I don't
think it's a non zero where you rehab one leg the entire season, you
know, come off not playing everything, come back into the game, and
then have an injury in your other leg. That's that, And we've got
there was discussions that went into that below here. But I do attribute that,
you know, and being out for the season, you know, and
that was a dirty hit last year, and obviously we've seen that this year
was Resna and everything else, and there's certain I think there was a certain
attitude that came along with the Marino one. I think that rub people more
the wrong way that just a dirty hit. It was kind of the flippant
kind of w W E attitude of like trying to get heal heat on that.
But I do I attribute these two together, and I don't think that
if that happens last year, I don't think that, you know, clearly
this isn't happening now. But anything else on the actual injury Jason there,
I mean, we can talk at the game and everything else and crume,
but did anything else on his only well, I will say that I think
it was more like almost a non contact kind of injury, kind of just
slipped there. And then that's the scary part about it. When that kind
of happens, like it's usually a pretty serious injury. Yeah, no,
really bad. Non contact is obviously the worst. It was like that what
was it a couple of years ago and the Rough Riders when they came back
from like the delayed start and everyone was popping their their achilles heels and that,
whether it was like that one practice game or like the three Riders robbed
the achilles is like, Okay, let's save this, so we have the
game here. I guess we can start with that, you know, thirteen
twenty one kind of a weird game. You know, Crum comes in.
I think he kind of gets the backup quarterback kind of bump, right,
Like, Okay, this guy comes into the game, played good, scrambled.
Oh, I didn't want to mention too. I was texting with Dwayne
Ford, who was on the show obviously the Friday Show, kind of previewing
all this, and Dwayne echoed, kind of, Jason, what you said
as well, just really gary moment and probably one of the emotional that he's
seen kind of taking part in that. But Crumb comes in here plays decently.
Evan, I know that you were high on his performance. Like I
said, I feel like it might be a little bit more of it.
Was like when BJ Daniels came into that ex Dragon's game when Silver's got pulled,
Like Okay, we're not expecting this. He's kind of running around the
field, but what did you make a crime? Yeah, I was.
I was impressed by Crumb. I think if you take away the two interceptions,
he had a very great performance, you know, especially in his first
CFL game where he really saw you know, action like that where he could
control the offense and you know, especially on the ground. To think he
had six carries for ninety one yards and unfortunately, you know, he wasn't
able to run it into the end zone at the very end when it mattered
most, but you know, other like again, I thought it was pretty
impressive and he still managed a rushing touchdown. And that's good because it was
just announced this morning that he was going to start next week. And I
think if you want to talk about Ottawa's current quarterback situation in general, I
think we're pretty much out Arbuckle at this point, just given his performances prior
to Tyree Adams coming in. You know, my personal opinion, I think
you just have Crumb as the guy from now on. I think he showed
enough potential in this game, and maybe I'm sure they're going to bring in
someone behind that. I think the two top options right now Three Down put
out an article this morning or last night sometime recently the two top options,
at least in my opinion, and both of them were in this article.
Jake Dunaway, the quarterback from Sacramento State who I interviewed last year. He
was someone that was in training camp with the Red Blacks, played a bit
in the preseason. And then Tyrell Pigrom, who was with Winnipeg for a
couple of games earlier in the season, who got released because of the Dakota
preu coop situation. I think he could come in, and you know,
both of those guys could be a backup to Dustin Crumb down the stretch,
assuming you know, Crumb performs well and can sort of maintain a starting job.
I think what's most impressive about his performance is he was signed like September
of last season, you know, somewhat late and the fact that he's coming
in and doing this, you know, at the beginning of year two,
like he doesn't even really have a full you know, sort of CFL season
under his belt because he came in at the end of last year or so.
To see him come in and you know, really put on a show
and make things close at the end, I thought that was great. If
you're you know, a Red Blacks fan, I think that's all you can
really ask court this point, just given you know how much hardship your team
has had and just seeing all the struggles continue, you have to find positives
and I really do think Dustin Krumb was one of them. Well that's the
thing is, you know, and we just had the Tyree Adams injury here
where you're like, you know, a worst case like, okay, you
know, it was always you know, this is horrific and okay, at
least we can go back and obviously I think it was a surres and they
hit that kind of took him out. Jason, what do you make of
this, because I think there's a lot of different ways I mean, obviously
that we could go here in terms of the quarterback situation. Yeah, So
I mean I think it's going to be kind of a wait and see thing
with the quarterback position in Ottawa. I think they're probably gonna give Krome a
couple of weeks to see if he can follow up that pretty strong performance from
how played in Hamilton. I thought the first thing I noticed about him is,
man, this guy's got some wheels, and I think that it really
presented a lot of challenges to the Tirects defense. Now, was that the
Crum playing well or was that the Tirects defense continuing to struggle like they have
so far this season. We'll have to wait and see. But I think
Crum did very well, placed in a very difficult position to come and hold
off the bench like that. But he didn't expect to see any action in
this game other than maybe short yardage, So at the end of the day,
I think he played well. I agree with Evan it was crazy because
obviously it's one of those things where he's coming in and it's almost like a
war, right, like you come in like, okay, I just gotta
go, like we gotta give ball downfield. He had the run and the
touchdown at the end of the first half, or I think it put them
up by one. After which he was like insane after everything, the thing
that they could come back and do that, and then obviously trying to kind
of have this run at the end here, and it's just so poetic how
you imagine in his mind as he's running, It's like, I'm going to
be the hero here, right, I'm going to save the day. And
they had just cut to the shot of Mizzola here on the sidelines, and
you know just how close it could have been, and it's so poetic,
and obviously you can't if this was you know, the movie version, right,
he makes that touchdown and wins the game and gets carried off and it's
the hero, but it's it's not. It's real life. And I just
thought it was really crazy that it came down to this very similar, like
I said, play where you got the touchdown the first half, here your
two yards short, and then it's kind of all for not but really incredible,
and I think a lot of courage should go to him. Anything else
from him, I have some more notes on the game. Anything else on
Dustin here, Evan Evan or I think I think we've pretty much discussed.
I mean, you know, again, I'm more interested to see what happens
behind Dustin Crum. But like Jason said, I do think they're gonna give
him a couple of weeks. You know, at this point you're kind of
just in this experimental phase. I think it's now it really shows just how
much of a shame it is that they lost Tyree Adams to that injury on
that shot from Jake Serezna, and you know, it's a it's a shame.
I never really talked about that play much, but I'm a pretty big
Jake Sarezna fan. But you know, too many times now we've seen,
you know, these injuries to quarterbacks on low hits and things like that,
and it's just it's a real shame. It's what, you know, ended
Missoli's season last year, and now it's ended Tyree Adams season, who was
much less proven than Missoli but was still showing a lot of promise there,
you know, for Ottawa after our buckles. So I think that's where we're
at with up. Yeah, I feel bad, ye, Jake, I
think I said last year, he was on the show last year when they
were honor and I believe it was his father said with his ham where they
were doing an event with the Elks. So here we get on the w
side here, Jason with your tie Cats, I have thoughts, but I
want to hear from you because obviously you were there. It certainly seems like
we're kind of doing a different offense now, we're actually running the ball.
We signed, you know, one of the greatest running backs right now in
James Bell, are utilizing him. What do you make of Schiltz and the
rest of the team. Well, for Shell, I think he has definitely
been an improvement over what we've seen from both those first couple of games of
the season, So I think that's an improvement from that perspective. I think
they're still having a lot of problems in the red zone. I mean,
the one touchdown that they had was kind of a long catch and run,
so I think they still need to execute better down there. But I mean,
still baby steps for this team. It's almost like Dejahbou last year.
They got their first win over Ottawa by the skin of their teeth. I
think it was like a missed field goal in the last play, otherwise Audible
would have won. So at the end of the day, just another win
at the gun against Ottawa for their first win of the season, and I
think, you know, going forward for the tire Cats, I think there's
still some positive signs you can build on. But I'm not too overly optimistic
about this team still going forward because I'm still seeing some of those issues.
And if they had lost this game, it would have been pretty embarrassing,
I think, given the situation Outawa was going through. Yeah, I mean
you look at both sides of that, where would have been this heroic either
rise for this in crime here writing then? But yeah, you look from
Hamilton's had like our team loss their starting quarterback to this, you know,
horrific could be career ending injury here, and then they're able to rally and
come back. I mean we beat them by a touchdown. H Hamilton I
had notes on here. Yeah, reevaluating the offense, right, I think
we're so we're finally moving away from kind of the June Jones right and all
of that and getting they said that they're okay, we're using the bye week,
we're figuring all this out. I don't know why we didn't come into
this season. I guess they thought Bo was going to throw throw a lot
more on that. Penalties penalties from Hamilton on special teams? Is that a
rhyme Bold issue? Is that a Is that a player issue? Jason?
What do you make of that? Because they have like two different time count
on the onlike kick and field goals or punts whatever. Yeah, I think
they also got one on offense on like a second and short, So I
think, um yeah, penalties in general have been a pretty big problem for
the tire Cats to begin this season. I believe they're one of, if
not the most penalized team in the CFL so far this season. So that's
that's a great point. But at the end of the day, I don't
think that, um, you know, it's that big of a deal.
I think they're they'll they'll sort those things out. I think Jeff rhin Bold
specifically, when you're talking about special teams, I think rhin Bold does a
really good job with that unit, has a great track record, So I'm
not too overly concerned with that. But the penalties in general, yeah,
it's pretty bad. Well, and even with Hamilton's because you know, I'm
watching the game and when they Aitherway had because it was like a minute,
it was like a minute fifteen you've ever left, I'm like, how the
hell, does Ottaway even get the ball back here? And it's like Hamilton's
so ineffective of even keeping the ball to give Like to me, that shouldn't
even happen. It's like BC gets the ball back against Montreal, we put
the game on ice, like you should be able to do that. Yes,
Scott's checking it could MBT be an option for Ottawa. We've we've talked
about it. I mean, I don't know. I had a lot of
tweets about it and Okay, what's the USFL contract situation all that kind of
stuff. I mean, MBT just played eleven weeks of professional football here.
I mean, Evan, do you think that's a realistic expectation or probability?
You know, you can you can't rule it out. I don't think you
can ruled out because you know, MBT had great success in CFL and you
know, I'm not, like, to be honest, I'm not sure how
he feels about the USFL. I never really heard much from him on that
end or about it. But you know, I don't see why you could
leave the door open, I guess, is what I'm trying to say.
Personally, I don't see it. I think he's gonna stay in the US.
I mean, he moved there, you know, to be with his
family and everything like that, So it would be hard for me to picture
him coming back to a team like Ottawa where they're rebuilding. I understand,
you can get some money, you can get some reps. It's a long
season, but like, I don't know. I mean, he's thirty four,
you know, going on thirty five or whatever. He might be at
a point where he's just ready to settle down. So again, personally,
I don't see it, but you can never rule anything out. I mean,
I'm sure they've probably reached out to him. I assume, so,
well, it wasn't it. Mike Mitchell was standing in our group chat like
he feels like those communications that started, and McLeod's close with Mizzoli and Sean
Burke wants to be kind of aggressive in all of this. Like I said,
I just I get these messages a lot of okay, like well can
this guy Like well, why didn't they get to go back to the CFL.
Why. I'm like, I would like to normalize treating football players as
humans, and like McLeod just imagine like just getting done, you know,
plenty of a professional football season. Oh yeah, let's just okay, move
back up to Canada, Like, you know, maybe he can do it
later in the season, right, maybe you kind of see like condestin kind
of can we keep the ship afloat here? Kind of how Vernon did would
bec last year? Like can we kind of keep it afloat? And then
maybe McLeod comes in after Labor Day kind of take them month August off,
Like I could see that where Okay, maybe we don't need you the whole
season. And they say that the CFL season doesn't really matter to Labor Day
anyway, which I would say is an odd marketing ployt. But you know,
maybe you bring him in after Labor Day. Maybe he gets to take
the summer with his family and Atlanta and then come up after that. Jason,
anything else? Tie Cats Red Blacks. I'm looking here and they are
they got Winnipeg. They're at home against Winnipeg. I don't know if they're
going to keep that winning streak alive here? Anything else station on the tie
Cats? Um? Yeah, I wanted to mention that Tyreek McCalister, playing
in his first career CFL game, had a prod of really big spark for
the team both on the return game and then obviously he had that long catch
and run. So I think he's a guy that's gonna be featured in that
offense going forward. Brings a lot of speed to the table. So yeah,
I was pretty impressed by him. And one other guy I want to
mention is Mark Leggio. He's off to a pretty good start where the tire
cats kicking the ball. I think he made all of his field goals so
far except for that one. Um, you know, extra point doesn't really
count as a field goal. But I think Leggio has had a pretty strong
start for being a pretty maligned player with his time with the Bombers. We
will have lots of kicking to talk about here when we get the the venting
game, I think will be funny. It is crazy to me though,
the you know, Mark Leggio, We've got the faithful guy. We've got
Chrissy Blewett over the USFL Like, we have a lot of really weird,
weird kicker dames. Mark Leggio is certainly one of them. One. Yeah,
I love that all right, So let's move on here. I guess
we can. You know, if we're winning, we'll go all through this.
I watched most of this game on mute. We were top golfie with
my brother for his thirtieth birthday. We wanted to keep an eye on my
boy. Burned in here against Cody at home at BC Place. I know
there was a lot of issues about, like the attendance, and I saw
my baker tweeting that out. But twenty thousand and change attendance there at BC
Place. Evan bounced back burnon only the one interception, didn't throw six,
so obviously better than last week. What did you make a burnon here?
Evan? Yeah, I you know what. I thought this was a great
sort of bounce back from his six interception game in Toronto, although I will
say, you know, I think it might have been the second or third
play of the game. He had a pick six that was called back,
and I really wonder, you know, had that not been called back,
what the outcome of that game would have looked like, because you know,
to be honest, I didn't really see the need for the penalty there.
I forget specifically what it was, but I don't know that one could have
gone either way, so he might have got bailed out there and all love
for Vernon. But you know, it was interesting how the commentators were like,
oh, you know, he's he's shaking it all off from last week,
and then third play of the game, it's like, up, there's
another one going back again. Fortunately it was you know, it didn't count.
But other than that, I mean, yeah, he had a very
solid performance. And I will say, just staying on the topic of BC's
offense as a whole for a minute, Sean Shivers, the running back,
I thought, you know, him in place of Tequan Mizzelle was extremely impressive,
especially in his you know, first real CFL game. So you know
what that tells me is that BC has extremely good running back depth despite losing
James Butler to Hamilton, which was considered a really big loss for that team
offensively and for good reason. And then looking at the receiving department again,
we've talked at nauseam just about how diverse this receiving corps is. Personally,
I think Kean Hatcher is making a case now to be like the most valuable
receiver on this team next to Dominic Ry was personally, you know, dominic
is probably my favorite. And then I'd say, you know, the other
guy there too. What Lucky Whitehead. I'd say, honestly, Keion might
have you know, taken over Lucky Whitehead in terms of value. And I
know Whitehead was the guy that was talked a lot about last year. You
know, I had an opportunity to see him. He was sort of a
breakout player. But this year, you know, I feel like there's just
so many receivers now, and you have guys like Justin mckinnis, you know,
coming and Javan Katoy and whatever. There's just so many targets that it's
kind of hard to you know, there's no real number one receiver. And
that's why I say, you know, yeah, this guy might be the
best, but it's next to this guy and slightly ahead of this guy,
you know what I mean. But um, overall, again, another great
performance from BC. They're right on, right back on track, you know,
four and one. That's probably the best start you could ask for,
especially with all the questions that they had going into this season BC, and
I said for it, like piggybagging on with Evan said with kind of this,
you know, you have this cold cast and wide receivers, and I
just think when BC's running, they just feel so cool to me right now.
And I don't know if it's like the x MFL thing with a lot
of these guys, but you know, like a toy is going into the
end zone and he's like it. Just it feels I like that energy.
It feels very marketable to me and cool just in the way like when BC's
rolling and if they're putting up points. And I know last week, but
you know, when we had what forty five against whoever week before, I
was like, when we're rolling against Winnipeg, like when they're rolling, it
just it feels very cool. Jason thoughts on BC's offense here or anything else
with BC. Yeah, so I had the same point as Evan. I
was gonna say, it's just you can't really slow this offense down because they
have so many playmakers. I mean, if somebody has an off game,
then there's somebody else to step up and has take his place. I mean,
Javon Katy was huge in this game. I mean they said it on
the broadcast, but he's the closest thing in the CFL that we have to
a tight end type body. And I think that's very accurate, and I
think he presents a lot of matchup nightmares. I think they said he's caught
every single target he's been thrown his way so far this season, which is
pretty remarkable here in Week five. So, I mean, this offense is
just so dynamic. I mean, Verdon Adams doesn't have to play perfect with
the way that these receivers are playing. I think that specifically with this game,
there's a couple of plays that really swung this game in BC's favor.
Obviously that interception that you alluded to, Evan on the you know, the
first play of the game, first series of the game that was called back,
but also a blocked field goal that when it was a one possession game,
BC blocks the field goal returns of her touchdown that really blew the game
wide open. And I think that's what BC was able to come away with
the victory here. Well, yeah, because he had the trading right where
he had the blocked it was a blocked punt to go in and then the
BC and be able to run it back for the pick six, like even
if we do make that mistake, like we're good enough here the week and
go back. I thought it was funny too, the Sean Shivers, which
there was all the computer game if anyone ever played The Shivers, that was
a little the computer like a miss kind of did you ever play any of
that where you were going through like the Haunted Museum or whatever. It was
kind of like miss back in the day. But he had that fumble even
that, like, okay, we fumble at the way at the one yard
line, you know, mon Charles running the back and they had to quote
here, I just hadn't pulled up, but he said, my mom is
going to be mad. I thought that was funny him talking to a far
haun about that. But he was good, you know, just getting elevated
with Mozzelle going down. But like Evan said, kind of the depth on
that, I wanted to say, Evan had his while we're bringing that famous
people tweeting here, Evan high on Fjardo here eleven, you know, perfect
at half. Evan thoughts on your boy, Cody Fejardo here as we are
in the Sazanda. Cody Fjardo. Yeah, I mean, you know,
look, this was not a great game. If you're Montreal. They haven't
had much success playing INBC for a long time. Um, but yeah,
Cody Fejardo again, I still thought he played a nice game, Um,
you know, didn't throw any interceptions, you know, nearly through for three
hundred yards, was effective on the ground ding seven point one yards per carry,
So I thought that was you know, worth pointing out. And then
just as set that whole Luetz offense as a whole. How many times we
mentioned Austin Mack you know in the past five weeks, Um, he's continued
to shine um. And then there were a couple new guys in that receiving
corps that stepped up this week, specifically Tyler Snead and Courtney Davis, who
I believe played at Texas A and M. He's in his first year in
the CFL, and he had a really big, impressive catch kind of down
the sideline over one of the BC defenders. So good to see him get
some work in. And then there's one player that I've never properly um given
a shout out to on Montreal, but just wanted to take a minute to
say, you know about Chandler Worthy. We talk a lot about, you
know, sort of CFL returners, and Generian Grant from Winnipeg always comes up,
but personally, I think, you know, Chandler Worthy is someone where
it's like, every time I'm looking at him on the TV, I can't
look away, you know, every time Montreal you know, is about to
return and he's there. I mean, I just you know, he he
had some explosive runs in this game. You know, didn't run any back
for touchdowns, but he's done that, you know, plenty of times before.
I think he had two in one game last season. So, um,
just wanted to, you know, take a minute to you know,
say thanks to him for his you know, efforts and everything. Not that
I'm a Alliotts fan, but just super fun player to watch and it makes
the league more dynamic. I think, thoughts on the Alolettes, and then
I have a followup question for you, Jason. Yeah, so I'm glad
you brought up Chandler Worthy because I wanted to talk about the Alouette special teams.
They had so many penalties on special teams in this game. I thought
that was really crucial for them. And they had a couple of big returns
by Worthy that were wiped out. So Worthy actually had a much better game
than the stats show. But I mean, at the end of the day,
if you're just taking you know, holding penalties on every punt return that's
going to set you back because, as Paul Lappalie actually pointed out on the
halftime for TSN, if you're taking a penalty there, you're not just losing
the yards that you gain, but you're losing those yards plus you're loose in
ten from where you caught the ball. So, I mean, the really
crucial penalties in the seaff all game field position just so crucial. And then
the other thing I wanted to talk about was when it comes to Cody Fajardo,
I think the biggest thing is that he looks very healthy right now,
and I think at the end of the day, mobility is a big part
of his game, and it's it's good to see him healthy because he has
a completely different quarterback when he has his legs available to him. Well,
that was going to be my fallow up question here and watching because I and
I love Cody. I love the Outlets. You know, that's that's my
team of the East. I'm sorry for the you know, Hamilton tiecats here,
but seeing him play here now four week or five five weeks now going
in UM I compared to Trevor Harris would like they always say okay, like
Trevor Harris is the most accurate and he's a quick think or whatever. I
think Cody is maybe not as accurate as good as a passer, but his
legs and mobility, like where he was such a terrible situation last year for
him in Regina, Like, would you take Cody over Harris if you had,
you know, if he had more protection than more time? Like it
feels like Cody's a better quarterback riding right now than Trevor Harris, even though
obviously Saskatchewan has a better record. Like Jason, who would you take there?
I would still take Trevor. I think he has more of a track
record. I mean, maybe he doesn't have as high as a ceiling as
uh Cody Fajardo did it back in twenty nineteen one West West MP, But
at the end of the day, I do trust Trevor Harris more going forward.
Still Evan thoughts on that, would you take Trevor Or Cody? Yeah,
you know, that's a difficult question. You know, I'm glad you
brought that up. That's a that's a fun one. Um. I'm gonna
go Cody Fajardo here, gonna go against the grain. I agree with Jason
I think, you know, Trevor is like the proven vet, you know,
someone you can count on. I just think Cody, again, when
he's healthy and when he's hit in the right situation with the right people,
I think, you know, he really can't produce. And I'm not saying
that necessarily happened this game, because there were a couple of things I thought
he could have done better, and I could probably say that about the pre
just four weeks too. But I still have belief in Montreal and a lot
of that is from Cody Fajardo. A lot of it, too, again
is from the receiving corps. We've talked about that already, but if we're
just looking at Cody Fajardo specifically, I think he does bring a lot to
this team and it definitely gives them sort of a refreshed look. And what
I think I mean by that is I feel like Cody will last longer in
Montreal than Trevor will and Saskatchewan. Maybe I'll be wrong, you know,
maybe you know I'll be proven. I'm sure now that I've said that,
of course you know it won't happen. But you know that that's just my
take on it. I'm not I like both. I just think Cody has
a tiny bit more upside, But ultimately they are both, you know,
very i'd say upper tier quarterbacks above average. You know, they're not Vernon
Adams or Chad Kelly, but they can you know, guide a team,
you know, when when needed. I like Cody. I think, like
I said before, he feels a little more smull this year. It feels
like when when Colby came back on Survivor and it was a little where I'm
a little older, a little more swollen here. I'm talking Vernon just the
kind of getting back to you know, obviously not doing six interceptions is going
to do better anytime, but it scrambling more, running more, like Vernon
is not that pocket passer. And I think that, you know, last
game against Argos, you know, trying to do that and kind of you
know, dice down the field there with the ball. Obviously, I don't
know if it's his mental whatever or kind of reading everything, but him him
running more is going to I think improved that quality of that. Jason.
I felt watching the game this time, it felt like they were trying to
rely more on his legs. Did I imagine that or are we getting back
to that. No, I think the big thing is it's not necessarily running
to run, it's running around in order to make a big pass down the
field. He does that so well, and I think that's something that needs
to utilize in his game. It's one of the best players in the CFL
at doing that. Yeah, I just think I don't know. It feels
to me an entirely different situations. But like we brought Russell Wilson into the
Broncos and like, Okay, we're gonna have and like stand in the pocket
of pends. Like that's not Russell Wilson. That was never if you watch
him in Seattle, that's not his gameplay. I don't know why we were
trying to do that, And it feels the same here. Like, let's
see we have Vernon, he's athletic, let's let him run around. Evan,
any other thoughts on that? And I had Matthew Bets as well,
continuing. I think he's broken his own personal record last year of sacks in
five games right now, really looking crazy on that. Anything else about the
Lions here, Evan, Yeah, I was going to touch on their defense
a bit too, obviously. Yeah, Matthew Bets was someone they talked about
at nauseum kind of on the broadcast, just because of how dominant he's been
this season. I believe he had seven sacks in eighteen games last year and
now he's up to eight through five games, which I mean this rate,
it looks like he's going to be the CFL sack leader. I don't I
don't have the stats in front of me to see who else is coming close,
because I do typically look at more offense than defense. That's just who
I am. But the other guy too, Jaylen Edwards Cooper, although he
made you know, his big play on special teams, he had six tackles
for loss. I thought that stood out. And the fun fact about him,
I noticed he played at Texas A and m Commerce, which was a
Division two school, and that's also where um Kator Coohu of the Miami Dolphins
played, who was one of the top undrafted free agents last season, had
a really good rookie year with them. So I thought that was kind of,
you know, just an interesting connection to see those guys, you know,
doing cool things in two different leagues. So yeah, shout out to
Joe Edwards Cooper. You know, that was a very electric play. I
think we can all agree on that. When he returned the blockfield goal for
the touchdown and definitely put BC I think again sort of in that position to
you know, take over in the second half because that was I think it
was only about three minutes left in the second quarter when that happened. Jason,
anything else on this one and then I have a funny convent before we
move on to the next game. Nothing more for me, really, I
think we got our bases covered with this one. I thought it was funny
they had. I saw a couple of videos and the always so we had
we had the Rourkan family here coming back and they're like, see Nathan still
loves us, Like you know, we were an unexpected detour. He didn't
want to be here, but if Nathan still loves us. But I did
love that they posted as lots of videos and Nathan tweeted out you cropped out
of his wife, so he and Nathan was there with miss Rourke here getting
ready for that. But I didn't think that was funny, like you know,
like the hometown kid, you know whatever, returning back to college,
like see, like we still matter. Nathan's here questioning, but you know,
that was good. I'm glad. I'm glad. Let's get out.
You know, we'll do all that. We'll get to the next game here.
Like I said, I this was the one that was not available on
CBS Sports Network, so unfortunately my coverage and this was slightly limited. Jason,
do you want to start with this Calgary at Winnipeg Here Winnipeg continuing to
go. Yeah. So the story with this game is that Calgary came out
punch Winnipeg in the mouth in the first half. I believe they were up
eleven to one at one point. But at the end of the day,
Winnipeg just responded in the second half with a really dominant performance, really put
the clamps down defensively. There was a big clock killing drive when Winnipeg had
the lead in the fourth quarter. I believe it was like ten minutes or
so. So that really just illustrated that Winnipeg, you know, just has
the physicality and the mental fortitude to win these games against Calgary. I think
they've won like ten in a row against Calgary or something crazy like that.
Calgary usually comes close, they play Winnipeg well, but at the end of
the day, they just can't close in these matchups. Yeah, Mayor here,
I wanted to shout out. So you know, Ryan Valentine, a
friend of the show here came on and he tags me and all this kind
of stuff now and he had the articlup in three down talking about kind of
Mayor continuing to struggle. We we haven't really figured out is it trying to
come into place? And but what do you make here, Jason? Is
it I saw comments on it is about play calling? Is it Mayor?
Like what do you attribute that too? Well? I do think the play
calling has declined in Calgary ever since Ryan did Whitty went over to the head
coaching job in Toronto. So I do think that's worth mentioning. But at
the end of the day, Jake Mayor just has to play better. I
think there's just nothing that you know is down the field. But this passing
game, it's very diac and dunk and even then he's missing some really easy
throws. I mean, there were a couple throws in this game where you're
like, Okay, this is what the stampeter saw in Jake Mayor. The
last couple of years, he threw with anticipation, just um, you know,
it was under a lot of pressure in this game. But at the
end of the day, I think that Mayor did not play well overall.
And I think it's very hard to win the CFL obviously, you guys know,
if you cannot pick up first downs passing the ball. I think Calgary
is great running the ball. We saw that in the first half, but
at a certain point a team is going to take that away from you and
you're gonna have to throw for it, and um, I don't think Calgary
has been able to prove that so far this season. Yeah, I mean,
fourteen to twenty five here, like not setting it in the world on
fire. Dedrich Mills had had a day here fourteen and carries for ninety seven
yards. That was good. Evan thoughts. I mean, it's just so
weird. We really kind of annoyed that Jake as the air apparent here even
was it two seasons ago, kind of coming into relief and then last year
taken over, Like what do you make of Calgary and I don't know what
they do here. Yeah, So I'll start with the Calgary side of the
ball before we get, you know, into Winnipeg and just sort of the
whole flow of the game. I had in my notes, I said,
you know, another slow out for Jake Mayor. And at this point,
if you're a Calgary fan, I think you do have a right to be
concerned about his play, and you know what the future looks like, the
next steps. So am I saying they're gonna make a quarterback switch. No,
I don't think this is a situation where they need to do that quite
yet. But after this game, you know, the reality is like,
this was a winnable game for Calgary. You know, if they had kept
on that trajectory sort of from the first half and they didn't let Winnipeg pull
away, it was very much in their grasp. And you know, for
a minute there, I really thought they were going to pull it out.
But obviously that hope went away quickly as well. So, yeah, Dedrick
Mills, another guy had that you brought up read easily the best player for
Calgary offense made this game. I think, really I'm exciting if you eliminate
him from this offense. I think, you know, to be honest,
it would have just been a snows fest. There's no other real term for
it. And there was a couple of guys though, you know, in
the Receiving Department. Trey Adam's Dukes is someone I was really happy to see
get involved, and I sort of think he's one of these, you know,
more underrated secret weapons, especially given the state of Calgary's receiving Corps.
But it was good to see Reggie Begelton back in the fold. I think
he had been out for a couple of games injured, so you know,
he came back there and had a couple of catches and then well, one
thing that is really worth pointing out, it was sort of an underrated storyline
that I didn't really hear anyone else talking about, was the return of Mark
and Michelle to the receiving Corps after four years away in the NFL. Obviously,
you know, he had been there in twenty eighteen and a couple years
before that. It was a pretty quiet day for him. He had one
catch for eleven yards on six targets. Again, got a lot of looks
but didn't really capitalize on a lot of them. Makes sense, you know,
your first game back in the CFL. But I think, you know,
I said, it was quiet but but still wholesome and another player that
will hopefully be able to help Mayor down the line, and this morning there
was just news that the Calbury signed Julia Billingsley to the tight end from Texas,
who you know, had played at Alabama and you know he's going to
switch over to receiver hopefully helped them out. He was an XFL draft pick.
So again, they're really trying to boost this receiving corps. I think
in hopes that Mayor will sort of, you know, open up. And
I do agree with Jason. The play calling isn't perfect, right. I
can't sit here and put all this on Mayor. I still think he is
a very good quarterback with a lot of upside despite the slower start to the
season. But yeah, I mean something's got to change soon, right,
I mean this team, I wouldn't say they're in a dire position, but
just given their history, I mean there's a lot kind of riding on the
line here. Yeah, well, you know, one in three here,
a second to last in the West after the Alex Jason any other thoughts,
and then one can transition to Winnipeg with the other thoughts on Calgary here.
Yeah, so I agree with Evan, it's the Stampeders have kind of lost
prominence in the West Division over the past couple of years. I remember a
few years ago, this was a team that was looked at every single year
as the best team in the West Division, and it's just simply not the
case anymore. They've been passed over by obviously Winnipeg, but also BC Saskatchewan's
got their stuff together so far this year. So at the end of the
day, I mean, the Stampeders, it's kind of a troubling situation for
them. I don't think that, you know, they're completely out of it
yet. Obviously, this is the CFL we're talking about. There's still very
much alive for if not a third place seed in the West crossover position in
the East Division, but I mean, it's not looking good for them so
far. I think the biggest thing, like you said, Evan, is
that the you know, the Stampeters need to get healthy and the receiving corps
get a lot more, you know, playing time with those guys, get
Mark and Michelle back in the fold. I think that will help them a
lot. Maybe play some easier opponents might help them a little bit as well.
But at the end of the day, I think the Stampeders could be
in trouble here. And I made a video about that this week. Go
check it out on my channel. Yeah, Jason, and I love kind
of the previous stuff and the reactions Steve Jason does over. They're a great
Steff to check out kind of during during the week as well. I think
it's good because I get this is all I can bear. We get this,
we do our Friday show, Jason a little bit more effectible with that.
I appreciate it switching here because I wanted to make sure we talk about
the Rouge game before we get out. But you know, Winnipeg, you
know Claros, you know, twenty something of twenty something throwing two hundred plus
yards, you know, two td looked like a very kind of typical Claros
clean game. Here stat line Evan thoughts on Winnipeg continuing to kind of roll
here. Yeah, just going back to my notes. I mean, I
just said, another well rounded, kind of textbook performance from Winnipeg. You
really know what to expect from him at this point. You know, the
only thing I would really point out is that they maybe haven't been scoring as
many points still as I would have hoped, and they definitely had a slow
start, but again, like they got the job done. Claros had like
his typical you know, like you said, completing twenty twenty something passes,
you know, for two hundred something yards, two touchdowns, just a typical
normal day. Brady Olivera carrying the rock, you know, only averaging four
point nine yards per carry, which is decent. Didn't score, but you
know, I think we've talked before about how he's kind of a workhorse in
a way. And then yeah, you know, on defense for them,
the one guy that was nice to see that had a pretty impressive game was
Dietrich Nichols, the former Houston Roughneck obviously from the XFL, someone that I'll
never forget. And then along with Malie Clements too, I think had a
really nice outing there as well. So yeah, I mean, again,
not much on the Winnipeg side at this point. You just know, like
once they're on, they're on. Was it a perfect game for them?
No? Was it their standard? Probably not? But they won, you
know, by what thirteen points, So that's that's all right for me.
And you have a famously USFL, former USL Generals quarterback to kind of prucop
returning back up to the North. Yea, it was did he play last
week? Or was this his first game back after the trade m or not
the trade, but you know him coming back, you know, I don't
know. I read something that said Tyrrell Pigrom played in or was active for
three games, So I assume Dakota was active last week. But I could
be wrong. I have a feeling this is the first action that he's got
because I didn't notice him last week. But I wrong, Jason anything else
here Winnipeg, Yeah, So I just think the Winnipeg goes just a classic.
They could beat you so many different ways. They don't have to play
the perfect game like a lot of teams have to to win games. So
I think at the end of the day that they played excellent, complimentary football.
The defense is kind of making me eat crow over what I said a
couple of weeks ago that they were kind of declining a little bit back there.
But the first last couple of weeks they played very well. So I
think at the end of the day, Um, things are going pretty well
in Bomberland, and um, you know, it's interesting to see what happens
going forward with this first place race with the Lions. Yeah, Winnipeg is
the kind of team where you have to play perfect to beat them, right,
we saw BC really dismantled them a couple of weeks ago. But yeah,
they can they can be afforded a few mistakes here. I think BC
is in that position like we talked about where hey we can have the one
year one year on line fumble one kind of all that, you know,
kind of rally a little bit. Obviously we can't throw six interceptions, but
Winnipeg like we were allowed a little bit of it. Okay, you came
out hard. Okay, well you know we can turn this around. Last
note I had three with the three then or the coln here was what are
we thinking about this comparison the away the away Calgary jerseys looking like a box
of popcorn. I think they're hot. I think they're really hot jerseys jas
thinking. I know Evan hasn't partake in any uniform between the think so Jason,
any thoughts on the popcorn? Yeah? So I think that, Um,
you know, I don't really critique the away uniforms in the CFL has
uh, you know, harshly or in any sport, because there's not so
much you could do with the white uniforms. I feel like, so I
think I aworred a little bit of creativity here by the Stampeters. So I
mean I liked the jerseys all right. So now we are finally here to
the famous rouge game. Now I'm gonna say this. So I was out
Thursday night. My wife's birthday was Friday. I had weddings to work both
Friday and Saturday. So I did my wife out Thursday night. I'm getting
the score as this is going on. I'm like, okay, it's like
it's one zero, Okay, it's USA. I was. I was sitting
there, like, you know, this is a USFL game. I might
just have Pat. I might just let Pat. Okay, you can talk
about this game when we come to the recap. I went back on demand.
I watched on this entire game driving to him from my weddings Friday and
Saturday. So I did watch and it was actually like we'll get anyway.
But I thought it was an actually really entertaining game because the score and like
we're going in and Rash is tweeting, and I'm like, this is the
definition of excellence, Like a Rash's just go crazy about all this healing on
this ya about. I didn't think this was that terrible of a game.
I mean, the ending came down, Jason Am, I am? I
out on the limb here. I mean I thought this was actually pretty exciting
for eleven to twelve on a Thursday night. Yeah, I had fun enough
time watching it. I feel like the fact that it was close definitely helped,
and just the dramatic finish made this game one of the more memorable games
so far this season. Evan, did you catch any of this game on
the Thursday? I did. Yeah, I didn't watch the whole thing,
but I watched. I watched the first half, so I didn't see the
blunder at the end until well, I obviously went back watched the highlights.
I saw it all over Twitter and all that conversation. We'll get into that
in a couple of minutes here. I do want to talk about just the
game itself first, aside from the rouges and everything else that made it so
interesting and really so close. I think my first note here we'll talk about
the Elks. Taylor Cornelius. To me, this was really the first game
where he looked like a starting quarterback. Maybe that's being a bit horror,
but like to be honest, I mean Prior to this, every performance he's
had was I mean, you can only say so many good things, right,
and I really hope Taylor can continue this. I'm not trying to you
know, sit here and you know just say bad things about and rip on
him all the time. But really this game stood out. I was like,
okay, like, you know, it's finally looking like after a little
over a month, you know, maybe they can have something here. And
again especially it really came into play on the ground right. You know,
Taylor people talk about him having this big frame, and to see him be
so mobile in this game, you know, score average over five yeards a
carry, you know, carried multiple times, you know, had eleven carries,
you know, to see him do that I think should at least give
Edmonton fans some confidence. Now keep in mind, this could all you know,
go like on a landslide next week. Who knows, right, there's
been so much inconsistency, But I really did like what I saw from Taylor
Cornelius this week. Still had an interception, still wasn't perfect, you know,
could have gotten a couple more poles, I think, but ultimately,
you know, better stuff from him than what it's been. And I mean,
because there really wasn't much before that. A couple other things, This
was definitely a revenge game for some of the players on the Elex, Kyron
Moore who used to play for Saskatchewan on offense, and then A C.
Leonard obviously who played for Saskatchewan on defense. Both of them are now with
the Elex, and both of them had I would say, pretty noteworthy games
this time around, especially a C. Leonard again, one of those guys
that I've known one of the first names that I was familiar with in the
CFL going back a couple of years, so that was good. And then
the run game too, I think was the last thing I was going to
point out. But besides the whole CJ. Sims business, I think it
was Kevin Brown again, him and Cornelie's kind of, you know, really
combined, and I don't from what I remember, Edmonton hasn't had much of
a run game up until this point. They've just been trying to force feed
to Gino Lewis and a couple other guys. They didn't have Gino Lewis in
this game, by the way, but ultimately there was improvement from Edmonton.
Did they win, No, Could they have won. Yes, another heartbreaker.
I want the main takeaway from me from this game, and I know
I haven't talked about Saskatchewan yet or what happened at the end, but I'll
wait for that. I think my main takeaway from this game was, you
know, there was so much heartbreak. I thought it couldn't get any worse.
And then we saw that Hamilton Ottawa game where Massoli went down and it
just kind of put a whole kind of sombering blanket of sorts on the weekend.
It was still, i'd say, a good slate. I enjoyed the
BC Montreal game and even the Winnipeg Calgary game, even though it was pretty
clear like by the third quarter Winnipeg was going to pull it out. But
again, it was these things like this where you know, those are the
more sad storylines that you kind of just have to discuss, unfortunately and accept
if you're a fan of one of those teams, especially all right, Jason,
good to you. And then I got some notes here. Yeah,
so I mean I echo your sentiment Evan that Cornelius played better in this game,
but I think at the end of the day, I mean, even
if he played better, it still wasn't good enough. At the end of
the day, you put eleven points on the board, it's not gonna win
you very many games. And I mean it could have won you this game,
if very close to winning you this game, but at the end of
the day, just not good enough. I think what was huge in this
game were the missed field goals by their kicker, Dean Faithful. Again very
controversial decision to go with him as their field goal kicker this season, given
that he's a thirty six year old rookie that had never kicked in like a
college or like a pro game before. I think so, I mean,
you know, those are just missed points on the board. Those were enough
to win the game right there. And I think he got three rouges from
three field goals. So at the end of the day, it was just
a very disappointing effort from the Elks, even though you know, they came
close to winning. I think that there's still so much to work on here
that I can't be too encouraged by the performance. And I mean, I
think that a couple of guys, like you said, Acy Leonard had a
really good game in this one. Luchz Purifoy is another former Saskatch One rough
Rider that played pretty well for them in this game. Has been playing pretty
well for the Elk so far this season. But at the end of the
day, it's the same issues. They can't move the ball consistently on offense,
they can't stop the run. Saskatch One was really attacking that in this
game, even though they didn't come away with a ton of points. So
I think the Elks still have so much to work on. Yeah, it
was crazy. So I just got a couple of notes. We'll get to
the rous thing here because I have a bunch of funny tweets about that.
But so first off, Taylor Cornelius only has four wins in this CFL.
I thought that was remarkable, and I know, like, because we've talked
and it's only been a couple of years, I'm like to give the bag
to this guy last year. And I love Taylor, we watched him in
the XFL and all that, but they only have four wins. Shout out
Trevor Harris one hundred career starts. You know, that's pretty remarkable. Also
the fact that the Riders had seven losses in the row at home before this,
and I can't figure out how in the nineteen league we could have Ottawa,
who now thankfully as one, but we had Ottawa, Emton and Saskatchewan
all with home losing streams, Like I don't really understand how that's possible here
with nine teams. A couple other things. We're back to country. We
had fallout boy in trowing the shows last week, and I said, for
all you people saying that the CFL has demographic problems, we're playing that two
thousand and sixes the sugar. We're going down. We're back to a country
here and my other note I had, and then we'll get to the ruge
unless anyone else has anything. We even had a penalty on Chris Jones this
week where it's like the Elks just we're like, how else can we lose
this game? Jones is on the white line the raft throwing the flag and
then they show him the next play and he's still on the line. It's
like, how do you not you know? We're done penalizing ourselves here.
We're penalizing the coach Evan or we'll go Evan any other thoughts in this because
I want to get to the rugs before we get out of here. Yeah,
So two things. One I just wanted to clarify, is that score
for them, because I think it said et two touchdowns? But that can't
be right, can't it. No, Yeah, there's mistakes all over this.
Yeah, that's what I thought. I was sorry. I've been very
weary trusting this the past couple of weeks because I looked and I'm like,
there's no way Stephen Dunbar and Taylor Cornelie's both scored in this game. Do
you know which one it was? Who scored? I'm trying to think.
I can't remember Dunbar had the Dunbar had Dunbar had the tv dard. Okay,
so Taylor didn't score rushing touchdown. I mean, still an impressive game
rushing. But yeah, that makes me wonder too, because I said Joe
and Edwards, Cooper and BC had six tackles for lost. That seems like
a lot, and they had another player it might have been on Saskatchewan.
He said he had eight tackles for loss. Yeah, I have to I
don't know. I'm again, this is the best thing I have. So
I'm going off this because I only watched chunks of all the games, So
forgive me, and I think I think that speaks for all of us,
you know, Um, it's it's a shame. I mean we you want
to talk about the whole CFL stats that that's a whole nother debate. But
I will talk about Saskatchewan here for a minute, even if the stats,
uh might not be exactly up to date or accurate, not saying they've been
in other weeks either. Let's see. Um, yeah, I didn't have
too many notes here, just yeah, Trevor Harris had a pretty nice game,
still had a turnover, but um, you know, nearly through for
three hundred yards average, you know, ten yards per attempt, which I
thought was pretty good. And then Mitchell picked in and Tevin Jones stood out
in the receiving corps. Tevin Jones especially I thought was interesting. He's had
two separate stints with Saskatchewan. He came in and in twenty twenty one and
then signed with the Jaguars and then came back last year. Don't really know
what his stats look like from last year or even this year, but this
was the first time where I was like, oh, Tevin Jones, you
know, good to see him. He was kind of a NFL veteran,
spent a couple of years with the Steelers, and I think he's, you
know, thirty going on thirty one now something like that, so older guy.
He's kind of, you know, still riding out in Saskatchewan. And
then Nick Marshall is someone you know who keeps impressing me. Kind of had
the interception at the end to seal the win for Saskatchewan. That's always a
name, you know, I've been hearing about for so long. It feels
like ever since I think he joined the rough Riders in twenty eighteen. I
feel like ever since I started watching the CFL around that time, I've been
hearing his name. I will never get over the fact that he played quarterback
at Auburn instead of corner, and he was the quarterback for Auburn in that
game in the Iron Bowl where they had that kick return. So I always
find that fascinating. That's that's how I remember who Nick Marshall is. All
right, so let's get here to the Rugs. I got a couple tweets
here to kind of set this up and then we can talk about it.
We had Dave Campbell here talking Alex score for four rugs this night and it's
a ruse that sings him in the end. CJ SAMs with a or epic
gaff at the end of the game. I can't believe this. The team
finds new Lais to lose, you know, far Han hopping on this the
Elex record. Notwithstanding, when something that ridiculous happens to determine the game,
it makes the entire league bad. That type of mental error shouldn't simply shouldn't
happen at any level. The last thing of a couple other chat OUTSINKO checking
in watching the game. What an ending to the Evathan Sass game? So
I will play the replay here on the video and I will I will toss
you Jason and Jason, you know you're you're the Canadian guy here. What
do we make of this? I just don't think there's any excuse, Like,
I just think it's really silly to end a game like this. So
it's like, I hate seeing this. I think BC in Toronto had a
game in twenty nineteen that ended with a guy accidentally stepping on the back of
the end zone on a missed field goal to to give up the one point
to win the game. But this was even more bizarre than that. I
mean, it makes me feel a little bit better about the Tiecats given up
that one point in the Great Cup a couple of years ago to Winnipeg that
would have potentially won them the game with the field goal. But I think
that there's really no excuse for this happening. I blame the coaches for this
more than anything. I think there should have been explicit discussions. There's no
way that you let this ball go into the end zone under any circumstances,
or you absolutely try to get it out of the end zone if it gets
that far. So I mean, I just don't think there's any excuse for
it. But it's really, you know, encapsulation of what the Elks have
become over these past couple of years. Yeah, I have a comments here
across the pond, just talking and he pointed out it was a Cornelius one
yard rushing touchdown because it was the dumbar one got called back for holding.
I think as that was my Again, this was Thursday. I've had I've
had twenty two hours for the wedding filming since Thursday. But yeah, it
was the dumbar one I believe got called back for holding it. Was a
cornelius one that stood. We had a comment. Ryan is A is a
Calgary person here, a longtime friend of the show. He says Edmonton just
made the entire CFL look bad by allowed the team to win on the long
field goal. Coick, Edmonton football is amateur hour, Evan, Does this
make the CFL look bad? Because I see both sides like, we'll see
this like this is why because we had the Winnipeg had the run back right
where they got. It was like ran back to the thirty yard line.
There would ever kind of off the miss field goal. Does this make too,
because I get both sides like, oh, this is the best thing
about the CFL and this is the worst thing. Yeah, well, it's
definitely a unique thing, right, we can start with that. I have
had so much difficulty trying to explain the rouge to people who I know here
in the United States who don't watch the CFL. I think it's the weirdest
thing, you know. I personally like it somewhat because it's another scoring opportunity
on special teams, and I think special teams is a super kind of important
facet of football, you know, regardless of league. But you know,
There's been so many times where you just see these players who aren't, you
know, trained, and they come in from the United States. And I'm
so glad you brought up the Great Cup, Jason, because that's the first
thing I thought about when I saw that play. I said, you know,
why does this look so familiar, Like I feel like someone blundered like
this before in a much more important setting. And then I was like,
oh, that's right, Hamilton did it in the Great Cup. And then
yeah, I've watched highlights of that BC Toronto game where yeah, they pretty
much lost on the ruge, and you know, it's such a weird way
to lose or win a game. I'd like to say it's very anti climactic.
I mean, you look at that whole game. There were so many
rouges, there's so many weird plays. It was such a weird night and
it just ends like that. And you know, in the NFL, like
you know, that's nothing, that's like a touchback, you know, so
you look at that and it's like, Okay, I just it's so weird,
Like even though I've watched the CFL now for a handful of years,
every time I see something like that, to think that a team essentially wins
a game because of that is I don't I don't know what to say.
Really, It's just such a you know, a unique complexation. I've heard
so much debate between whether or not the ruge just a good thing, or
if it's just too complicated, or you know, it makes the CFL Canadian.
I don't know, there's there's so many different takes on it, but
yeah, I was. I was just stunned, honestly that that happened.
And you know, again it's if you're Edmonton, it's just it's how many
things can go wrong, you know. I mean, this is just so
embarrassing, is the bottom line. And I think c J Simms, you
know, the guy who you know, had that play or let that play
happen, admitted he said the same thing. He's like, yeah, I
was embarrassed. You know, I can't like, you know, our team
is, you know, the only only winless team in the CFL. Now
that Hamilton, you know, got a win, and obviously Ottawa got on
the board against them. So yeah, now Edmonton's still you know, looking
up and it's like we've had a couple of these opportunities where if we just
did these simple things right, you know, it wouldn't be a problem.
But obviously that's in the past now, and I don't know, I just
it's it's so weird to me. The whole thing is just so bizarre.
Well, yeah, but if this doesn't happen, we're not talking about this
game in the same vein here. I think it's a prettypore game. Jason
thoughts on this anything else. Yeah, So I think it's not necessarily a
reflection on the league. It doesn't necessarily make the league look bad. I
think it just makes the Elks look bad. And again, I think it's
just an encapsulation of what they've become over the past couple of years, specifically
how badly they've begun this season, just the little things that they're not doing
right. In terms of the rouge itself, I think that I like it,
depending on the situation. I think the thing is I hate when it
goes through the back of the end zone and you get a point on a
short missed field goal. I think that is stupid. I think it should
be a returnable ball. I think that is uh, you know, an
amend amendment that the type CFAL can make to make the Rouge a little bit
more better. But I think situations like this, I think it's completely fine.
I just think it was a bone headed mistake. All right, Well,
we'll start to wrap up here. We'll get out of here soon.
I don't want to, you know, hammer down on t J SAMs anymore.
But you know, he was kind of the stand out all season.
He said, Man, I got to Alex at least the returner, you
know, Porfoy and everything else there going in here, Argos on the their
back, Who's oh yeah, BCS on the by this week. That's right,
okay, Argos on the BUYBC here Hamilton at Edmonton. H we'll see.
I don't I don't know is shelf enough? Is Evanson gonna write that
we got Toronto here at Montreal? I think that's a good game here Friday
Friday night Winnipeg and oiaway, that's a little scary. Calgary at Saskatchewan that
might be excited here this I don't know. This is an interesting week here,
Evan. What game are you looking at? And then we'll go to
Jason. We'll get out of here. Yeah, definitely looking at that Saturday
finale Calgary at Saskatchewan. I think This is a must win game for Calgary
at this point, especially given the standings. You know, Saskatchewan is there
at third in the West and Calgary really needs to kind of start climbing up
soon if they want to be in playoff contention. So getting a win or
Saskatchewan, who's currently in that third spot, I think is extremely beneficial for
them. Jason, what game of you I in that here, and I
would like to know your thoughts also if it's not this game about the Hamilton
game, Yeah, so I'll start with that. I am genuinely terrified,
as Tykats fan that we're going to be the team that gives the Elks their
first home victory and what was it four years? So, I mean it
kind of scared from that perspective. But I think I don't think that's the
number one game this week, as you guys pointed out, I'm too looking
forward to Calgary Saskatchewan. I think those two teams always play really good games
when they play together. Obviously an overtime game in Week three, so I
think that's gonna be an excellent game. Um, it's gonna be interesting to
see if Montreal can get Toronto that first l on Friday night. But I
think this is a pretty good slate looking forward to next week. Yeah,
I don't have to worry about BC here lousy and it's say my internet connections
on the stable here, so hopefully I'm coming through all right. The same
same position is every week, but I'm getting the airmen there, we go,
going the way, getting the air messages here, we'll wrap this up.
Yeah, I'm excited for that. I think the Toronto game will be
good. H this is scary, this this Ottawa. You're on the ropes.
You got Dustin Crumb. I don't know if you know, Winnipeg defense
is maybe the best thing you want for your start coming off the bench,
you know, not coming off the bench, you want your first official start.
But it is interesting that that is his last name is Crumb, and
like you know, oh Crumb, you know here we are back, but
should be good. This was and like I said, trying to get out
of the way here to watch these games as much as possible. So I
appreciate everyone checking it out. I appreciate Evan every week for coming on as
his schedule allows means a lot. We're excited to do the Gray Cup and
everything else and then obviously Jason here every week and then doing all his other
content and stuff on there. Anything else from other of you guys before we
get out of here. We're good, all right, guys, Like and
subscribe. This was a fun one. I think we're gonna have. He
was supposed to come on last week. I think Naylor's coming on this week.
We're gonna talk with Nails on Friday, and then I want to get
welfare check with Tim Bains as well, and then I have some of my
emails to write to the XFL office today as well, So hopefully it should
be a good show on Friday. Like and subscribe, and obviously Jason's channel
as well. Where's my thing? All right, we'll get out of here.
Thanks you guys. See him