Well, the USL lives here today on a Monday. Apparently, if you're
following Josh Gerban on Twitter, that might be a short for later today.
We'll figure all that out. I have a feeling we're going to be having
some XFL USFL news coming out this week. Should be excited but happy victory
Monday, unless you are a San Francisco Fort Niners fan. Sorry Matt Baker
or Anthony Miller with the Philadelphia Hopefully the Cowboys will follow a suit tonight.
I know a gentleman here that lived through rivetying Sunday night game last night,
which I do want to talk about as it relates to the CFL in this
with Jason Hussein then Evan at Rams looking good, put the Cardinals to bed.
Are How are we doing today, guys, I'm doing good. Raid
thanks for having me as always, and I mean yeah, my football teams
that chair four tried to give me a heart attack this weekend, but I'm
ultimately I'm still alive. Yeah, I had doated. I think I had
put it in the group chat. I said, if the tie Cats be
the Lions this weekend, I'm not going to Great Cup. I can't look
at Hussey. I can't look at Hussey in the face. I can after
all the smack talking crazy weekend to see if I will get into that.
Evan, I thought NFL was good. It was exciting. Yeah, I
mean, you know, NFL really we're getting into the thick of things with
the NFL, whereas the CFL, you know, just wrapped up Week nineteen
really feels like, you know, we're in the last last bit of things
before the playoffs. So it's two different worlds for sure. But no,
I enjoyed the NFL this weekend, so I wanted to get into that first
because obviously we lived through the Bills. Was it the Bills Giants game last
night? Fourteen to nine, I think was the final scarred with I was
like, hey, Mom, let us come over, like this will be
excited, like she loves Josh Allen, Like this will be good. We'll
go watch the game. But a really really slow game, right, you
know, six zero at half, and we had all that kerfuffle with all
of that, and you know, this is these are the games that you
always have the CFL people like this is the no fun league. This as
the matter. And I'm curious Jason, because obviously, and I'm gonna get
Evan's thoughts as well. Like there's many a time when I get a notification
on my phone like Montreal Alouette's at Redblacks games start zero zero and then I'll
get the notification like Montreal Alts and whatever. Second quarter start zero zero and
I'm like, oh God, like this is you know, these are not
like Jason, do you what do you make of that? Just in terms
of like, I mean, it's still riveting game last night? Like are
you do you view them the same with the CFL? Like when you get
some of these slow games, like how did you view the game last night?
I'm curious. I know your Bills fan too, but kind of remove
that. Yeah, I mean it was it was an awful football game,
but I just view it as you know, you know, both leagues.
You know, bad football is bad football, and I don't think that you
know, you know, I think you know the CFL the bad games are
more like you know, pointed too, because there's only four of them on
each week, and you have these games not running like concurrently with other games,
So I think that they kind of stand out a lot more like a
sore thumb. But I think at the end of the day, you know,
a bad football game was a bad football game, and the NFL has
had lots of bad primetime games the last couple of years. Yeah, they
got to figure that out. And I don't know. I mean, the
Bills were super flat against the Jaguars in London, and obviously like the bye
week or the travel and like the Jaguars were there and they didn't have to
travel. Because my mom's sitting there, She's like, I think, Josh
Allen is you know Jet Leg I mean the game was last Sunday. I
mean, I can't imagine it was. Evan, what did you what did
you make of this? I'm kind of curious. I mean, you know
in terms of the Bills, like in terms of I mean, it was
very much like that. You what I say reminds me of the Chiefs Broncos
from last year. And he said, no, one, what's not I
mean, like it is puts these games on a pedestal because it's the CFL,
because you got four games, I mean these primetime NFL games. But
like I think the NFL benefits from having nine games playing co currently on a
Sunday a lot. Oh well, absolutely I mean in the CFL, with
the number of teams, you're always kind of in primetime, you know,
you don't. I mean, yeah, you're you're gonna have games, you
know, on the same day, but usually not at the same time.
So you know that means you're gonna have more eyes concentrating on it if you
were following that league, just like in the NFL. I mean the contrast,
you know, between games that are in primetime and aren't in primetime.
You know, so take like one of the games from the I guess it's
one o'clock Eastern Slate. You know, those aren't going to be nearly talked
about as much as you know, Bill's Giants, even if you know Bill's
Giants wasn't one of the better games of the day. So yeah, I
just Patty a little bit. I don't know if we have an hours we're
at the CFL, like need week nineteen stuff to talk about. But I
will just say, like to Mike Mike Mitchell's of the world like, yeah,
he's were watching the Jets game yesterday and oh everyone hates the Jets,
said at least they talk about the Jets like we No one talks about the
commanders. We don't like the commanders going to talk at least he talk.
I mean at least the Jets you know, you know, skip Bayless and
whatever every day. So Jason, let's get into this. Do we learn
so from the standings Lions were able to hold up out. I got a
little worried there. We'll get into all that stuff. But why did we
lock in here Alouette's home picture, You're like, what what was the playoff
implications coming out of the weekend? So with Hamilton picking up the loss on
Friday night, they are locked in the third in the East, so you
know, Montreal is going to be hosting that East semi final against Hamilton.
So basically the East is all set, and then in the West, Calgary
keeps its playoff hopes alive. They're very much alive with you know, two
games left in the season. Saskatchwan has one more win right now, but
they only have one more game remaining, so Calgary technically controls its own destiny.
But they have a couple of really tough games against BC in Winnipeg the
last couple of weeks of the season, so we't to see how it plays
out. So they would have to win out. Then let me get the
schedulep here. So Calgary at BC, but obviously BC wants to maintain,
right, they don't want to drop. I mean, is BC hoping that
that Edmonton comes in and plays spoilers? That kind of where we're at,
Yeah, exactly, Winnipeg has to lose the last two games and BC has
to win this game on Friday night against Calgary to have any shot at first
and Calgary still could make it if even if they lose against BC on Friday
night, because now with the win on Friday, they have the tiebreaker over
Saskatchwan. So if Saskatchwe loses this weekend, Calgary loses as well. Calgary
just have to beat Winnipeg the last week of the season in order to make
the playoffs. So, you know, Calgary big victory on Friday. It
just feels like Saskatchewan's really running on fumes right now. Is that how you
Evan? Is that how you take it? It seems like the right to
me, this is a far more juice here. You know, Tiger Cats
going into Montreal here and potentially playing upsever I don't think DC has any issue
taking care of either of these teams. Right now it seems very lost.
Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, for a long time I
was saying Saskatchewan like they they had things figured out. You know, they
weren't anything special, but at the same time, like they were able to
get the job done. And you know, they were that they were six
and five at one point, you know, they were above five hundred I
believe at one time. But now they've lost you know, six games straight,
and even that, you know, going into that Calgary game when they
had lost five straight, I suppose I wasn't too concerned still about them.
I thought, you know, Calgary again is still the slower team, you
know, and they won't have a problem with that, and you know,
we'll get into that game because to me, that was probably you know,
the most impactful one of the week, without a doubt. But yeah,
they didn't, you know, and now now you're kind of you've kind of
hit the panic button. I think if you're a Saskatchewan fan, you know,
everything was kind of fine. You know, things were going along as
usual. You know, you playoff spot it it didn't look like again like
there wasn't there just wasn't that much competition. But you start racking up these
losses late in the season and in a twenty one week season, you know,
that can continue for a long time. You know. Now Saskatchewan's at
a point where, you know, oh, like they really got to they
really got to tighten in here in the past couple of games. But I
think what's honestly, just in the bigger picture a bit disappointing is you know
we're talking about the way I'm phrasing this. You know, if you were
somebody who didn't know the records, you think that this would be like,
you know, Bill's Chiefs fighting for a playoff spot. But really it's more
like, you know, I don't know, I dare bring up examples in
the NFL, but it's just like when the Buccaneers. It's like when the
Buccaneers was saying the Panthers last year and they were trying to win the win
the NFC South, right, the Buccaneers get seven to nine here, they
can win the division again. I mean, it's a pretty it's a pretty
tough, you know battle being fought when both of these teams, you know,
haven't even reached the seven win mark yet, and you know, we've
been watching both of these teams all season, and you know, I've been
saying all along, you know that last playoffs bought was gonna come down to
Saskatchewan or Calgary. But it's very interesting again, you know, we're sitting
here this late in the season and now you never think you would say this,
given how things were just a couple of weeks ago. But I think
a lot of people would rather see Edmonton in the playoffs now over both of
those teams, you know, And that's a very again, very interesting takeaway.
I know Matt Dunagan was talking about that, you know, on the
panel during halftime of this game on TSN, you know, just talking about
you know, Edmonton honestly has more momentum even though they'd been eliminated than really
either of those teams. He was kind of laying in the Calgary more at
the time because that was the must win game for them and they were down
at half. But yeah, you know, Saskatchewan clearly is kind of in
the same boat. So it's tough. You know, it's tough because to
be honest, like, you know, it'll be interesting to see who gets
the spot at the end of the day. You know, a couple of
interesting things now, can happen here down the stretch. But let's be honest,
like either one of those teams, you know, the Lions are just
kind of sitting there like I mean, I hate to sound disrespectful, you
know, and I again, you know, all all due respect to to
Calgary and Saskatchewan, but you know, to b C, like for all
intensive purposes, it's almost a body week for them, you know, in
a way, it's just kind of like, well, we're going to have
a home game. You know, someone's gonna come in, and I understand
anything can happen, right, I mean the second I say that, everybody
you know gets excited, and you know, there's a there's a different level
of energy. So I certainly hope that, you know, if I say
something like that, that maybe one of those teams will go in there with
a different energy and make the game competitive. I don't know, but yeah,
I understand BC's you know, had their struggles and they've lost some games
they should have won whatever, But I don't know. Man, if b
C, I'll just say this, you know, before we actually get into
the games here. Before what was I gonna say before? Uh? I
mean, I don't know if BC were to lose this game and we see
potentially Saskatchewan or Calgary, you know, in the West Final that that would
be I don't know, I I don't know that would be that would be
something that would be really something one of those teams against Winnipeg. I mean,
I feel like Saskatchewan would have the best chance of taking down BC and
you know, pulling the what would be the upset of the year, and
then going into Winnipeg. But I don't know. I mean again, like
I'm ninety nine percent certain PC's gonna win that game, but you can never
leave it off the table. Well, and just especially with no disrespect to
you know, Rick Campbell and everything we've talked about. This hasn't always felt
like the Lions are always like showing up to all these games. I think
the Bills were a little sleepy last night. Yeah, it's a Giants whatever
them. As I break my microphone here, I hope, I hope the
Commanders don't feel that way next week as well, you know, taking on
the Giants. But it's interesting you're talking about. Yeah, there's one of
the Twitter accounts, like Jock Cartier or whatever falls me, and he's has
advocated like you know, we get tray Ford and kind of get the leftovers.
We'll do the traveling team and all that because they did, and we'll
talk that the elks here. But you know, like Kevin Brown coming on
the show last week, who I thought, you know, delightful, man,
was so on time I do all these We' found a lot of player
interviews lately where it's like, hey, it's going to be noon Pacific.
I'm like, okay, so I get on there nothing nothing, you know
that I text that, you know, the people that are trying to set
it up, you know, not the player, Like okay, let me
get in touch with them. And then they're like, oh you want to
do that now, like oh okay, is that video? Okay? Like
okay, hang on, like you know, next thing, you know,
it's like one forty five and I'm like, I've you know, I work
from home, but I've devoted two hours to get in this whatever. Kevin
Brown, you know, twelve fifty nine, he's sitting there one o'clock log
in like he's ready to go. So I appreciate that and the od the
day, but he was talking a lot. We have a lot of momentum
right now going in and we're playing this like we have a lot to play
for for next year and a lodger proof. So I like that, I
mean Edmonton, And yeah, this game where they're coming into Winnipeg next week,
like, you know, I don't, I don't take it off the
table. I mean, Winnipeg is really really good. But I do feel
like Edmonton's got ahead of steam right now, at least, you know,
I know that the records and Sandys all that stuff, But Jason, any
other thoughts on that before we get into the games. I knew they I
know they blewed the whatever I was trying to look up the lead they blew
against them Montreal, But overall, it feels like we have a little bit
more going. Yeah, I mean yeah, I do think Edmonton in general
has looked the best of those three teams Calgary, Saskatchewan and Edmonton the last
half of the season. But at the end of the day, Edmonton made
its own bed with how they started the season. And I think that even
lately they've had a couple of very disappointing games. I thought that, you
know, we'll get into it. But the twenty one to three blown lead,
I think it was twenty one to three lead that they blew in this
game. And they blew it within one quarter too, So they had the
lead at the end of the first quarter and then they blew it by halftime.
So I mean, I don't feel too bad, but bad for Edmonton.
I just wish we could have like a two game series between BC and
Winnipeg to the side first place in the West. Yeah, I'm a bigger
bue lead the twenty one to three the Edmonton had or Colorado? Was it
twenty was it twenty nine to zero? And the keVs tweeting or posting on
Instagram as merchandise links at halftime? I'm like, this is anyway, so
let's get into this. Ottawa nothing to play for at all at all led
for a good portion of this game. Toronto, you know, still putting
up the forty burger. Chad Kelly in the game for a lot of this
Duke's looking good, Evan, what did you make of this? Like,
because I'm sitting there watching the score come down, I'm like, this is
crazy, Like why is I mean, Ottaway has just looked like do you
do here for a while? What did you make? Yeah? I mean,
you know, this was a game I actually expected Ottawa to win,
but at the same time I didn't realize, you know, Toronto's got this
thing going on where it's like they don't pull all their starters but at the
same time working other guys in, so you kind of get this mixed bag
of like the team that we've seen all season and then sort of like more
like a preseason element where you're just testing depth and all that. But I
really expected Autowo win this game. And you know it's another I understand you
have nothing to play for, but it would be nice to, you know,
go into Toronto and you know, play the best team in the league
and get a win, you know, just for the sort of culture and
moral victory more than anything. But they weren't able to do that. You
know, Toronto still scored forty points, you know, with only some of
their starters really in for a majority of the game, so that was a
bit of a red flag. I didn't catch too much of this game,
I know. You know, on the Ottawa side, they had some guys
you know, worked in, like a Tyrell Pigrom at quarterback. They were
kind of testing some things out too. From what I heard. A lot
of lost fumbles in this game seemed like there was a bit of a ball
control issue, you know, between Crumb and Pigrom. I think they're might
have been three lost fumbles or something like that. So Toronto, you know,
definitely getting some work in there. One of the interesting storylines for me
in this game. You know, that's very kind of niche, but I'll
bring it up anyway. Elijah McGhee, whose rights were claimed by the Roughnecks
in the XFL. This was his first game in Ottawa. I believe he
was on the practice roster before this and got called up for this game and
you know, register to tackle. So good to see that. You know,
it could be a well, I don't even know if I can say
XFL guy anymore in the future, UFL guy and SFL guy, I don't
know, but it could be could be a part of that pool later on,
so you know, keep an eye on guys like that. And who
knows, maybe a couple of these other American guys will be too. You
know, I'm sure i'll get some heat for saying that, but oh well,
on the Toronto side, yeah, you know, Chad Kelly again,
even though he even though you could argue like he maybe shouldn't be playing at
this point in the season. Still went out there and and put on a
decent game, you know, throwing to you know, some different guys like
Richie So and Danny getting worked in there, Tommy Neal, Deontay McMahon,
you know, again having a decent you know, scoring a touchdown. You
know, he's getting worked in. That's nice to see somebody that I know
personally, so you know, obviously always take that heart. But yeah,
other than that, not too much to talk about in terms of this game.
Just really you know, yeah, Toronto I think had like Ottawa had
a very strong first half. I'll say that I because I watched a bit
of the first half. I think they put up like twenty four or something
like that, and in Toronto just kind of came out swinging in the third
quarter, you know, fourteen points, and then Ottawa didn't score at all
in the fourth and then by that point it was just kind of a just
kind of out of reach. So it's too bad, you know, a
team like that. Again, you know, I know, you have nothing
to play for and a lot of people don't care about that game. But
if I'm an Autawa fan, it's like, well, let's just you know,
have a bit of fun in these last couple of weeks, But losing
a game like that, I wouldn't necessarily say it's fun, especially when you
had a big lead and think you only had you know, three points total
in the second half. So yeah, I mean, again, as we've
said before, a lot of work to be done in Ottawa. You know,
we'll see what they do in the off season in terms of you know,
coaches and some of their key positions. But yeah, I think they've
got some work to do for sure in terms of and I want to get
Jason Statts on the quarterback stuff here for Toronto. But yeah, just looking
out of a late late bye I got that week twenty by, we're looking
forward to and then hosting Toronto again. So I mean, clearly not not
the greatest there in terms of this Chad Kelly thing, Jason, Like,
why why can't we see I know, Brian came in and didn't play great.
Why why aren't we giving these backups a little bit more? I just
don't understand putting chat in any harms wear it all right now. I think
it's mostly just because you know, this was their last home game of the
season. They still like a lot of teams, They still have two games
left, so they have a game at Saskatchwan and then at Ottawa as you
just said, So I think they're going to have the backups play the vast
majority, if not all, those games the last two weeks of the season.
So I don't think I'm too concerned yet, But yeah, it is
kind of confusing that they have played them basically the whole game for a couple
of these games the last couple of weeks. And we'll have to see how
they manage that the last couple of weeks. But I think that's what their
plan is. I thought it was interesting, and I had on was Eddie
Steele two weeks ago. We were talking about, Hey, you know the
resting people and these you know, all this stuff that's been going on,
and hey, you know, how do you prepare for this? And you
know, Eddie's like, they got the first round by right, you're playing
the thing that you got to get up for one home game and then be
in the playoffs. Is He's like, it's not an issue at all.
He's like, I would have no concern at all. You could rest everybody.
They they you know, you'd have that the kind of the double buy
going into that because I don't think they're playing you're missing the semi finals,
You're playing at home against Odawa the week before that. I just thought it
was interesting where he's talking about, just you know, from a player point
of view, because we sit here and talk a lot about that kind of
stuff. How did Ottawa look by your eyes, Jason, Like I said,
not a lot playing for here. What did you make? Well?
It was kind of deja voud to the last game that we saw between these
two teams, or the previous game between these two teams this season, where
Ottawa had one of their better offensive showings of the year, but again they
just could not stop anyone defensively. And you know, they had a really
strong first half offensively Dustin crumbin company, but ultimately they fizzled out in the
second half, like Evan was saying, And I think at the end of
the day, you know, Ottawa just still has a ton to work on
if they're going to beat a team like Toronto. They have not beat an
Eastern opponent this season, and I think that is the most telling stat about
their season so far. I'll guess we'll go Evan first, in terms of
I when Farha was on last week and we've talked and Bob Dyce and other
so far Han doesn't expect Sean Berg to go the GM there or Bob Diyce
to go Barhunt expects kind of a minimal changer. Does that surprise you,
Evan? And then we'll get Jason's thoughts. Yes and no. I mean
in a league like the CFL, you know, the pool of guys that
you can pick from in terms of replacements is very thin, you know.
And I listened to the show that you had last week with Farhan and I
did agree, you know, to an extent about a lot of the things
that he was saying with some of these questionable situations, not just with Ottawa,
you know, but with Edmonton and you know, all the other teams
that have struggled Calgary. You know, like you could, you know,
kind of clean house and just you know, do a rebuild. But in
Ottawa's positions specifically, they've been rebuilding for so long that if you just keep
changing things up, you're almost delaying the progress. So I think even if
they are, you know, dissatisfied with the results from this year, I
mean again, you know, if you just bring new guys in, I
mean, then you're essentially like it takes so long to get that going.
It's like, well, you know what next? You even count because then
you got to you know, you got to retool everything. And I don't
know, I think they're just trying to stay afloat right now more than anything.
And you know, that's tough. It's a difficult spot. I don't
think it's what a lot of fans want to see. I mean, we
often, you know, push for change and things like that very quickly,
you know. But yeah, I think the CFL, you know, you
kind of got to pace yourself because you look around and it's like the amount
of experienced guys who could come in and make you know, an immediate impact
right away. It's not a very big group, you know, because in
the NFL, we've got thirty two teams to pick from in terms of you
know, coaching hires and things like that, like who do I want who's
done a good job this year? In the CFL, there's not that many.
You know, there's nine teams and let's say, you know, only
four or five of those teams have actually done well, uh this season?
You know that's even less right, So I don't know, like I understand,
like it should be surprising, but I'm not surprised, just because like
I understand the approach, I guess is what I'm trying to say, and
I agree with it. I agree with it. It's hard, Like you
know, I think Commanders one yesterday against the Falcons and obviously, but you
know, you always want to win. But I almost am like if the
Commander is just sunk all season and then you know, Ron Rivera gets embarrassed
with the new ownership that you know, you almost hope because when you're in
this kind of perennial, like you said, rebuilding, I'm like, well,
we're we're kind of always I felt like that was the Raiders for years,
and like we're kind of with Derek Carr and we're always kind of going
to be in the playoffs. But you know, even if we make it
to the playoffs, you're not going to win. You're talking about the kind
of the number of people out there eligible to sign, and I mean know
even just for this remember we had a Toronto extending Corey Mace this week where
I think Jason, I think we were talking in the chat like this is
someone that very much could have been a head coach somewhere, right Tronta locking
him down. Thoughts on that and kind of the question about the Red Blacks
coaching stuff. Yeah, I mean I think, you know, I don't
think this uh signing of a defensive coordinator Dan Extension. I don't think it
prevents him from being a head coach next season necessarily. So I think there's
always outs too, you know, if a team wants to hire him as
a head coach. So that's something to keep in mind. But yeah,
I don't think with Ottawa that, you know, I think they're just kind
of lost as an organization right now because you know, they've changed all the
players a couple of offseasons ago. They've had terrible luck with injuries in terms
of the you know, Jeremiah MAZZOLDI of it all and everything like that.
But I think at the end of the day, you know, I don't
think that Bob Dice is it as a head coach. I think Sean Burke
has done some good things in terms of, you know, replenishing the cup
board there because when he you know, took hold of this job, that
roster was so far behind the rest of the CFL back in what was the
twenty twenty one when he got hired. So I think he's done a good
job of making this team more competitive, but ultimately they're not getting you know,
them, you know, right decisions like in order to win the games.
And I think that, you know, they're still not as talented as
a lot of teams around the cf I think, you know, their skill
position players lag behind the rest of the CFL for the most part. So
I think that, you know, it's hard to say what the problem is
in Oudawa if it's the coaching or is it, you know, just the
general lack of talent. But they've tried both. They've tried switching up the
coaches, they've tried switching up the players, and none of it seems to
be working. So I'm very interested to see what they do this offseason.
But as to whether or not they will make a change, I'm with Farhan.
I don't think that they're going to make a change in terms of the
GM or head coaching spot just because of you know, the coaches, operations,
cap the aspects involved. It's just funny. I remember it was going
into last year and they were doing that behind the R and they were doing
the documentary staff and we had Mazzoli and hey, we had a big surprise
coming and we're signing Mazzoli and all that, and they just kind of see
this, you know, kind of spiral down. Evan. Were we talking
in the chat like the Argos have more wins this year than the Ottawa has
since like their great Cup win or some some craziness like that. I mean,
it's just remarkable statistics. What did you make on that. It was
a couple of days ago. Yeah, well it's tied now, you know
now that Toronto beat Ottawa. They're fourteen and two. Ottawa is now fourteen
and fifty three. I think over the past three or four seasons something like
that, which is an incredible stat That is well, it's an incredibly sad
stat I should say, uh yeah, I feel really bad. And I
you know, Ottawa I was saying going into this season. You know,
keep in mind, this is you know, months ago, now like half
a year ago. I was saying like and even you know, even last
year, I because you know, the whole behind the R thing, which
I thought was great, and I'll just you know, pivot here for a
quick moment and say that, you know, the CFL has some great content
when it comes to you know, media and documentary type like I know BC
had one this year, I believe on their YouTube channel. Ottawa had you
know, the behind the r stuff. There was a couple others, but
you know, things like that, I think really, you know, like
I enjoy watching those, you know, and you know that some like they're
very well thought out, and you know, they they do like it's like,
I don't know for again, considering you know, how many things the
CFL could improve on that we all know about the fact that they've you know,
done well and at least presenting something to the fans like that, I
think is good. But anyways, like I was saying with Ottawa, you
know, this season, even last season, you know, I was saying,
like this has to be the year of change, you know, And
I'm not saying that if they do bad, you know, in one of
those years, whether it was last season or this season, that you clean
house. I didn't say that, but you know, like this franchise has
you know, struggled for so long, and I feel like a lot of
our attention, you know, was put on to Edmonton this season, just
because they had the slower start in Ottawa. You know, there was a
moment like they beat Winnipeg, you know, they had dust and crumb.
Things did look really good, you know, And I feel like I say
that every week. There was a time where it did look promising and I
was like, Okay, I'm not sure if you know they're back or whatever
you want to say, but but I feel like they've at least made some
progress. But yeah, here we are at the end of the season and
I'm like, well, we're kind of just right back to square one,
you know, another season with like four wins, and I just I don't
know, I excuse me, I don't know, Like I just feel,
you know, if I'm a fan of that team, I would feel lost.
You know, I don't know where you go. And it kind of
feels like you've done everything you can in terms of a rebuild to make things
right, you know, and really the only thing you could do is get
rid of some jobs. But that's not going to help, you know,
because who are you going to replace them with? So you're kind of just
sitting there hoping. You're hoping that things are going to turn around. There
has to be a lot of hope. And that's not a very concrete substance
to put all your chips in. You know, we use the term pushing
all your chips into the table like you're playing a poker game or something like.
It's not that's that's not the best approach, but like it's kind of
all they have. I mean, you think about I mean, we were
you brought up the behind the r thing and the whole like that documentary was.
There was a lot of outlets in that documentary series, but the one
thing that they really focused on and built it around was the addition of Jeremiah
Massoli being our new franchise quarterback. And I don't know how many games specifically
Jeremiah Massoli has played in an Ottawa Red Blacks uniform, but it's not many,
you know, it's not nearly Yeah, five okay, yeah, across
two seasons. Keep in mind that not even one season across two seasons.
And that's you know, that's a frightening thought given that you know, out
of you know how many, I mean that's five out of if I can
do math, thirty six regular season games. Yeah, that's that's an abysmal
you know, number so again really unfortunate. Those were things that were out
of their control. And you know something, you know, this season.
I know you have to leave some things in the past, but sometimes I
still think about, you know, what happened with him and Garrett Marino in
Saskatchewan and how that was almost a domino effect for you know, how things
have gone up to this point because I understand, like, you know,
his injuries this season were separate. It was a separate thing. You know,
he came back from that but got injured again. However, you can't
help but thinking like what if, Like what if that just never happened last
year and they just kind of kept on that trajectory. I mean, I
still don't think personally they would have been an elite team, but I feel
like, you know, they still could have gotten into that sort of you
know where like the tie Cats are at right now, where you're like,
you're like eight wins, like you're you know, almost at five hundred,
like looking at the playoffs, like I feel like they had enough to do
that. But when you don't have the direction and the stability, things fall
apart really quickly. So I'll stop rambling on about it. You know,
there are a lot of thoughts that I have around that. You know,
Ottawa is one of the teams where I've been pulling for him for a long
time, you know, even more maybe than Edmonton and a couple of these
other franchises that you know, would like to turn things around that going into
this season, you know, Montreal and Saskatchewan I think two big teams you
know, with question marks given the shakeups there. I won't get into those
now, but my point being, you know, Ottawa, all I can
do now is hope. You know, I'm hoping that in twenty twenty four
they make the right decisions. Like you know, I trust, I know
people in their personnel department. I trust Sean Burke and and all those guys
to make the right decisions. You just you have to hope people don't get
injured, and you know, you have to hope that, you know,
maybe your game management and certain decisions gets better from the coaching side, and
you just have to carry on. I mean, there's there's nothing much else
you can do at a certain point. So it's a tough spot, but
I you know, you do have to keep hope alive to some degree.
For just remember, for every out of a Red Blacks loss at there,
Jenna, long time listener of the show is I'm set. Jenna is a
long time diehard Red Blacks. Jason, anything else on this, We'll get
to the other game. I think we've done good patting this out a little
bit, cause I'm like, I don't know we're going to get We're good
now. You know, we're thirty teen minutes saying we'll knock through these other
games, Jason, any other thoughts Red Blacks or Toronto. Yeah, I
just wanted to hammer home the point again that this team has not won a
single game against the East Division this year. They've been actually very you know
competitive against the West. They've had wins over Winnipeg, Calgary, Saskatchewan,
but you know, other than that, like they have not been able to,
you know, beat the East Division. And I think that's the main
source of their problems. So let's get into this. And I got a
couple a couple of little tweets here to pull up Montreal a letts, you
know, like we said, Edmonton dropping at the twenty one to three.
I had a tweet here Dave Campbell talking in the last nine games the alex
nfeld a twenty two point lead over Winnipeg, fifteen point lead in the fourth
quarter on Labor Day, and eighteen point lead over the Alouettes and blew them
all on loss. That seven wins and the Edmonton Dugs hang on out a
winner too earlier, and that's eight and nine. Really tremendous here, Jason
will go to you first, what did you make of this? And then
we talked a little bit already. But Edmonton dropping, you know, Montreal
rolling back and having the big coming from behind. Yeah, I was really
excited for Edmonton in this game, like the way it started in like like
this is great, Like they could finish their seeds and oh, they have
one game next week against Winnipeg, but that's on the road. They could
finish their you know, homes late, you know, with a big win
here, they'd have three home wins on the season. But ultimately they just
fell apart completely in that second quarter. And I mean Montreal just their pride
just kind of kicked in, even though Montreal had no need to win this
game with the Hamilton losing on Friday. I mean, I just think they're
probably kind of kicked in and they just started playing like we know they can
against these losing teams of the CFL this season. So I think at the
end of the day, you know, the Alouettes just showing that they're the
better team of these two teams, regardless of the situation, much like Toronto
beating Ottawa. So I mean, I don't have too many takeaways from this
game. I had a clip here I just you know, talking and we
always helped this sound, doesn't player. We always get you know, Friends
of the Show on all the and we saw Kevin Brown here coming back just
having a tremendous leaving performance on it. I did like to see that,
even in the last I always like to see Friends of the Show here coming
back. I mean, look at this, look at this over. Kevin
Brown is a spark plug, A big fan of him, and I get
to see him featured on that Evan thoughts on the game. Yeah, So
you know, for me this game, it was a couple of things.
You know, again, I wanted Edmonton to win this game because I know
they can do it. But as Dave's pointed out, while this team has
had a lot of momentum in the second half of the season, you know,
they've looked a lot better things like that. The one kind of disappointment
I think of this resurgence has been the second half. They've blown a lot
of big leads, and I always think about that one at Edmonton. I
think it was, you know, Trey Ford's like first or second game in
the starting lineup, and you know, yeah, they just they completely you
know, whifted for lack of a better term. So yeah, you know,
it was a bit disappointing, and you know Edmonton. Edmonton came out
strong. You know, in the first quarter, they had fourteen points.
It looked good, but I mean Montreal with twenty three in the second I
think, I you know, that's gonna be hard for any team to come
back from, and especially Edmonton, who you know has struggled with you know,
sort of these you jump out to a lead and then you can't really
get back in it. In terms of individual performances, I'll start the Edmonton
side. You know, tray Ford look decent. This was a decent game
for him. I'd say, nothing special, you know, not one of
his games where you know it was a blow your socks off kind of you
know, how does he do that type of performance? But it was respectable
again, something that Edmonton can build off of going into the offseason, and
you know, like you pointed out read with Kevin Brown, clearly, I
think that is where the mental focus of his team is right now. Like,
hey, you know we're not we can't win any games for an actual
playoffs. Pop can still win games to you know, feel better about ourselves
and put points on the board to you know, have something to build off
of. So yeah, I think tray Ford look good. You know,
Kevin Brown had a catch for twenty two yards on top of like he didn't
do a lot, but six point yards per care. You know, I'll
take that. And then Trey Ford got in a bit there on the running
action too. Kyen Moore for me in this game stood out with the two
receiving touchdowns. He's somebody that I don't know. I mean, there's a
lot of guys I haven't talked about this season, but Kyen Moore I want
to bring up here late. You know, in the last couple of weeks
he came over from Saskatchewan, you know, and he's been silently one of
the better receivers I think a return guys at least you know, specialists in
the league. You know, I wouldn't say he's elite by any means,
but again, another one of those pieces in Edmonton where it's like he's definitely
helped a significant amount and maybe part of the reason he hasn't gotten the attention
is just because of all the other turmoil it's gone on in Edmonton this season,
and a lot of stuff is directed on trey Ford, as we know,
especially over the past couple of weeks with him starting, so things like
that. You know, Gina Lewis was the receiver, leading receiver in this
game. Who to be honest, I don't know. I expected bigger things
from him this year. I thought he was really gonna be the difference maker
at Edmonton, and I think people in their personnel department would probably think the
same, just given his stature, and you know, going into this season,
you know, I think we sung his praises as being the best receiver
in the league. And you know, while he is still one of the
top options, you know that any team would love to have. I think
there's a couple guys this season that have done better, you know, and
that have proved you know that he might not have the crown anymore. You
know, Austin Mack I think being one of them, even if he's you
know, slowing down now, as well a couple others. I won't name
all of them, but on the Montreal side of the ball, you know,
yeah, I mean it was it was a good game for Montreal.
You know, this was a game where for them, again, like they've
got the home playoff games secured. You know, you're you're feeling okay,
like this whole thing about you know, them not being able to beat winning
teams, but you can beat all the teams with the losing record like this,
this wasn't any different for them, Like, you know, as much
as I'm saying, you know, Edmonton had a shot it winning or whatever,
like Montreal still beat him, but Edmonton still has the losing records,
so it's like, you know, he still doesn't really tell anything for anybody.
But it was a good game for them, I think, you know,
for Montreal, this is the game where you know, you're just trying
to build momentum going into the playoffs. Again, you're not really playing for
anything either, but you have work that needs to be done later on the
other team doesn't. And you know, I feel like this was a pretty
complete game for them, you know, all things considered. Fajardo, you
know, I feel I had a again outside of the turnover, which is
what we always seem to point out about him. Outside of that, if
you take that off the board, I think he had a good game in
the run department. Walter Fletcher, you know, not somebody that we talk
about a lot, but a guy that's getting brought up here late in the
season. Thirteen carries for eighty eight yards, close to averaging seven per touch.
A lot of the discussion, you know, has obviously been around Will
stand Back and Joss Ornanti as of late, but you know, good to
see Fletcher getting worked in there. A lot of It's fun at the end
of the season, you know, when you've got these teams sort of working
in other players that you might not have seen as much, and even if
you're not really playing for something, it could be fun. This is a
period of evaluation in the CFL. Teams are deciding, you know, who
do we want to keep, you know, going in the next year.
You know what does that look like? I you know, talking about the
window for practice, roster expansion opens, things like that. So you know,
those are evaluation periods or a telltale sign of them. Yeah, I
don't know if there's too much else. Austin Mack, you know, is
getting back like he's been quiet for a couple of weeks, I feel like,
but five catches for fifty seven yards in this game. Tyler Snead again,
someone that's really come along in the second half of the season. Personally,
though, the guy I'm really excited about in the playoff matchup with Hamilton
is a Tyson Philpot because he's been flashing a lot as of lately, you
know, young guy Canadian. I'm really excited to see, you know,
what he can do. I mean, obviously, seasons nearly over, but
that game against Hamilton specifically, I feel like, you know, if Montreal
really wants to, you know, make a statement, I guess he would
be the one to kind of come in and that seems to be his time,
at least in my mind. So yeah, other than that, not
too much about this game, and it wasn't wasn't really meaningful for either team.
But you know, twenty three point second quarter by Montreal certainly can't be
overlooked. It's funny you're talking Montreal like being able to play Jason's side about
this, you know, no kind of playing win against the teams. It's
like happened like I have X ray vision, but I can only see through
like wood or something like. It's not quite you know, it's kind of
a weird, but you're talking. We're talking Eugenealus and all that, like
you said, because I was looking at his contract here you know, a
ton of money onto that, and that was what made the to me always
made like the Cornelius thing even weirder on that where it's like here, we're
gonna sign this guy highest non paid quarterback and then you know, sticking with
Taylor Cornelius and all that. My last thought, we'll get to adjacent.
I did like, and I'm not the biggest obviously like football expert, right
you guys are. That's why we talk about it. But having Kevin Brown
say on the on the show, like, yeah, you know, I
thought I started the season really slow. I felt like I was thinking too
much. I finally now more come up like I also thought you started.
I was like, yeah, I could see that when he was playing,
like it felt good to kind of have him vocalize that because I remember watching
these games and thinking like something's not you know, mashing at that point,
Jason thoughts some that or anything else from this game. Yeah, absolutely.
I thought that, you know, Kevin Brown, like the production the first
half of the season did not match his talent, and I thought that,
you know, the way he finished last year, I was like, this
guy could be, you know, a top three running back in the CFL,
and that's what he's become by the end of this season as well.
So I mean, really happy to see that from him. And then just
a couple of things from the Montreal perspective, I really think that Danny Machoca,
the GM over there, deserves a lot of credit for restalking the Canadian
talent on this roster. I mean, you see a lot of pact Canadian
players that you know, they drafted really high. Mark Cantwin de Cua was
the second round pick, should have been a first round pick, but he
had NFL interest. Tyson Philpott, you know, a really talented receiver.
The wal Ugawac had probably butchered that name, but he's was their first round
pick this year, went to TCU. Did not play a ton at TCU.
It was kind of a backup there, but the Aloettes took a chance
on him the high pedigree had playing at a big school, and he's paid
off so far with you know, we had a big strip sack in this
one that led to a touchdown and that really swung the game. So I
think the Alouettes that's been a big part of the resurgence over the past couple
of years is the Canadian talent because before the last couple of years I thought
they had probably the weakest Canadian talent in the league. Well, and this
was remember supposed to be the big like come down. Okay, everyone left
Montreal, we got the new owner here, we fed all the Gary ster
and everything like you know here they are. I mean it's you know,
it's second in the East. I mean, you know, you gotta qualify
everything. But I mean this, I think this could be a lot worse
off for the Alowitz right now that you think, Jason, Yeah, absolutely,
I mean that still ten wins season, chance for eleven, right,
anything else on this love will power through the last two games here, anything
else, you know? All right, So let's get into this. I'll
toises back to Jason first. I'm gonna pull up a photo here, but
any thought, you know, we've talked a little bit about this Saskatchewan and
Calgary and everything else. What did you make of this game? Specifically?
The first half of this game was so so ugly, and I think was
it you Evan that said in the group chat that Calgary just wants their season
to be over? It was just like they, like Saskatchwan was playing like
that too. I felt like, you know, both of these teams did
not win win the game. I thought that Calgary, you know, didn't
they have like a two score lead going into halftime. But I think at
the end of the day they didn't look too great either. And then really
it was just the turnovers in the second half that swung it in Calgary's direction.
I think the turnover differential was five to nothing in favor of Calgary.
So ultimately, that's just your game right there, Sascatchwan. I think out
gained them, you know, passing yards, rushing yards, but ultimately,
at the end of the day, they gave Calgary some short fields and Calgary
was able to capitalize. I just wanted to give a shout out, you
know, cover and we've had our feet into a three down. All that
got to hang out covers. The Stampede's got to hang out with a little
bit of Ryan Valentine down in Vegas. So I had a good time with
that, hooked him up with some good uh. I guess his sound is
a big Vegas Golden Knights fan, because I I don't understand how I'm like
gonna give me your obviously cover a huge fan. Anyway, we met up
for a beer. Really fun to see that. You know, I don't
think that the Stamps season has worked out the way that he probably wanted it
to. But you know, they're getting the w here. Like I said,
we're keeping it alive. I don't know for what regard Jason Evan like
thought, you know what I mean, Like, okay, if we got
to win out them, but then we're still going to just get into the
bus off BC. What did you make of this? Well, you know,
when I say, when I brought up the whole thing of it feels
like Calgary just wants to lose. I think Farhan was the one that mentioned
that on your show last week, like that locker room is just kind of
out, you know. But but regardless of you know, everything that I
had heard and everything that I expected, this was kind of like my game
of the week for lack of a better term, This was the game where
I sat down and I'm like, I don't care what happens. I'm gonna
watch all four quarters. And by halftime I almost regretted that. I was
like, oh, this is one of those games like this is yeah it
was. It wasn't looking good, but then second half you know, got
really interesting, Like it looked like I mean, I was ready at half,
and again the panelists were saying the same thing, and Farhan was on
the panel that night. It just felt like, I mean, you could
ended the game there, you know. That's what it was. The whole
vibe. It was like you could have just ended it there and Saskatchewan would
have just you know, closed the door and the West would have been all,
you know, but locked up. But then the second half rolled around
and then suddenly, like you know, all these things started happening. I
credit Calgary's defense more than anybody for this win, because they really, I
think the most pivotal play of the game. You know, there were a
couple you know, nice throws here and there by Mayor the one specifically to
Luther Hokunavanu was that was incredible, you know, And I tagged Luther in
a tweet and I said, this is like, this is good, you
know, this is I'm glad I stuck around for this because that was one
hell of a grab. But specifically their defense. I think the most pivotal
moment in the game for me was Calgary had scored on an offensive touchdown.
You know, Saskatchewan gets the ball back first played Jake Dolegala throws a pick
six and I'm like, and that tied the game at nineteen, and I
was like, okay, like now now we're in business. And you can
feel like I'm sure we've all experienced this watching football, you know, but
you can feel when there's a momentum shift and when a team exactly and you
really you feel like that's the moment where if you're Calgary, you're like,
okay, like now we have to win, you know, like we've been
gifted all this, Like we have to win like something like it's just again.
It's it's the feeling like you've got, you know, season on the
line, You're in front of your home crowd, like it's just the classic,
like you know, it's a must win game. And in that moment
you can tell that they you know, they were gonna pull out all the
stops, you know, for lack of a better term, and just go
get the job done. And they did somehow they did. Like I watching
that first half, you would have never guessed it was even gonna be possible,
but they did it. And I don't know if that's I don't know
if that's a good or bad thing. I mean again, right, like
this seems like we're talking about it is if it's some heavyweight matchup. But
these teams have a combined to eleven wins. So I don't know, like
it's it's nothing, you know, spectacular, But it was a good game.
It ended up being a good game, and I'm glad you know that
second half in particular, at least if you're a Calgary fan, I think
you know, you feel, you feel good. That was some of the
better football that you've seen all season from a team that we have called,
you know, stale and sluggish and really just not exciting. I mean,
hell, I know there's other teams in the league that have a worst record.
Take Ottawa and Edmonton is the two examples. They really are the only
other teams in the league to have a worse record to some degree, depending
on which point in the season we're talking about. I would prefer to watch
those teams over Calgary at any given point in their season, just because Calgary,
like I forget the specific stat but you know, TSN had some graphic
that popped up during the game and it was like Calgary like, I don't
think they were maybe like one in nine during the season at games where they
were down at half, and I was like, so it really is like
a one half type of season for him, you know, but not in
this one, and this one was the one that mattered, you know,
and in football sometimes like it really, I mean we were talking about,
you know, the Bills Giants game, like no matter how bad or ugly
that game was, like it just came down to the final play, Like
that is your game, you know, and that's where it's important to capitalize
and do the right thing. You know. It all comes down to that
one moment, just like for Calgary, it all comes down to this one
game to keep season alive. Yes, you've had a lot of you know,
bad things, and it hasn't been pretty and there's been so many ups
and downs, but you're sitting there and you still have a chance. You
maybe shouldn't have a chance. You know the fact that yeah we're in week
nineteen and they're still fighting for a playoff spot is incredible. But that's the
CFL sometimes, just given the number of teams and the way that the divisions
are laid out. But overall, I'm happy for Calgary. I was pulling
form in this game just to make it interesting again whether or not either of
those teams should be in the playoffs. I'm sure if you're a rough Riders
or Stamps fan, you know, you're, like, you know, you're
probably sitting there thinking, yes, like we are, you know, but
even even some of their fans, I feel like know that, you know,
it's kind of a it's kind of a fluke to some extent, you
know, just giving what's what's happened this season in terms of you know,
their level of competition everything like that. But overall, happy for Calgary and
yeah, it'll be an in interesting couple of weeks now to see who can
get that spot, because I mean, you know, now, like you
know, both teams are still in it, like keep in mind, like
you know, yeah Saskatchewan lost, but you know that doesn't necessarily mean like
Calgary gets the automatic bid, like Saskatchewan could still very well be in it.
And you know, things go on as I thought they would, but
we'll see. You know, it keeps it going for another couple of weeks
and you know, to be talking about interesting scenarios like that in the final,
you know, two weeks of the regular season or whatever. In the
CFL, I don't know if you always get that. So I'm pleased I
talking to Giants bills. You know, if it was the CFL, you
could reviewed that as you could challenge that holding call at the end. There.
This is my embarrassed We'll get to Jason. This is my oppression of
evance to watching it Calgary, Saskatchewan at six thirty simmic on a Fridays,
just like I'm still in this. It's still real to me, damn it.
Jason thoughts on this, We'll talk to your Tay cats here before we
got here. Any other thoughts on Calgary or Sam this? Yeah, I'll
say this is that, you know, we have something to watch for over
the last couple of weeks standing wise, because I think this is really besides
you know, the long shot that BC still catches Winnipeg for first place in
the West. This is really the only thing left to the side in the
CFL standings besides maybe the number one pick for the CFL draft. But yeah,
I think that's important for the CFL to have something meaningful the last couple
of weeks. So we get that with the result of this game. One
thing with Calgary, I thought that our offense looked really, really poor throughout
this game. Besides that last you know, final drive that you know that
that catch by Luther Acunavan, who that was a nice drive, But besides
that, they really didn't, you know, generate too many yards. Look
at the running statistics. Just a really pathetic day for them. And that's
one thing that's really perplexed me about their season. This is a team that
was first in rushing in each of the last two seasons in the CFL,
and they've you know, completely dropped off. I think they're like eighth or
ninth in rushing or seventh or eighth or something like that in rushing. You
know, BC's last. But yeah, at the end of the day,
the Calgary offense just continues to frustrate me, frustrate me. But at the
end of the day, you know, they're still in it. So let's
get here last one in the hurry up offense here before we get out nail
Bider, I'll just play my my heel promo here walking. I was in
the in the bathroom at the Mexican restaurant getting ready for Adam Sandler, watching
Sean White kick the walk off field goal on my phone on CFL Plus.
That's where we're out on here. I'm cutting my promo to Jason's here because
I'm all bawl like, once we win, then I'm just sitting there.
I get already said at the top of the show, like I'm not going
to Gray Cup if this doesn't work out the way we needed to. Uh,
you know, we'll go We'll go Jason, and then we'll go Evan
and then we'll get out of here. Jason thoughts on this, you feel
good about your TI Cats? I mean they're still going to be in third.
What did you make of this? Yeah, I wasn't too hurt by
this loss. I thought that the tay Cats in general played pretty well.
I mean, there was some stuff I didn't like defensively, but it was
good to see the offense move it with both of the quarterbacks in there.
I mean Bo had some like one of the most ugly pick sixes you'll see
in the CFL this season on a screen pass early in this game, but
I think he bounced back nicely from that, and ultimately it was one of
the more enjoyable games to watch in the CFL that season. This season,
I was in attendance and I thought that, you know, this game just
had a lot of lead changes, and I thought that, you know,
it was just a really generally clean played game from both sides. Yeah,
I mean, you know, Vernon but obviously excuse me, had the interception
here, but you know, Bo looking good and Shilts kind of a one
to two punch there. Interesting. One more question that Jayson will go,
Evan are you? Are you? What do you make of how they have
moved bow back into the lineup here. It's very confusing to me. I
you know, if they didn't do this last year, I would be even
more confused. But I kind of see what they're doing here because they had,
you know, Dane Evans and Matthew Shilts last year, and I mean,
I think that may be the best way to use Matthew Shultz because clearly
he's not, like, you know, a full time star under in the
CFL just because of his injury concerns, But in short dosages he can be
a very effective quarterback and we've seen that. And I think the big question
is how do they deploy in the playoff? Do they give both the entire
game, you know, trust their five hundred thousand dollars man, or do
they you know, give Sheltz the reins if both struggles early in that game,
only time will tell. I think to take BC here to the wire
and have to have that. I mean, it was a lengthy field goal
right to get out. I mean right because I'm remembering now, okay,
because I drank a lot at the sorry at the Adams Sandler game. But
like you know, Vernon got hurt and Dan came in and move in the
field and this all coming back to my mind now. But you know,
I mean it wasn't like to me, I would feel very good about this.
I mean, Montreal came in and kind of whipped Edmonton around a little
bit in the second half, like ty Kats took BC a playoff team here
to the last seconds of the game. I feel good about that. Evan
thoughts on this, Yeah, I mean this saw you know, surprisingly ended
up being one of the better games of the week in my opinion. I
mean, I you know, I feel like a lot of people had this
game circled. I didn't, you know, I I just kind of expected,
you know, BC to go in there and to do the job.
But Hamilton made it very close. You know, Hamilton continues to prove that
they are still you know, playing at a high level, and they've really,
they really have come into form as a playoff team in the East.
There's no denying that they are playing, you know, some of the best
football that we've seen all season from really any team you know in the league.
To be honest, it's a very it's become i should say, very
fun to watch, you know. So yeah, I mean, ultimately this
one came down to a field goal. You know, Hamilton still kind of
has their two quarterback system in place with bo Levi and and Matt Schultz.
But yeah, you know this this was a fun game and a lot of
a lot of offense in this one. I felt like, you know,
I feel like this was too kind of you know, I can't I don't
know, well, Hamilton, I feel like wasn't an offense until recently somewhat,
but you know, BC we all know has their great passing game and
things of that nature. Really, I mean I could go into you know,
detail on some of the players here, but I think we all know
who performed well in this game. What I really want to focus on,
you know here in the last couple of minutes, is Dane Evans, you
know, coming into that game, just kind of being called up out of
nowhere at the most critical moment of the game. Hey, Dane, things
are tied, like we need to go, Like you're the guy that's gonna
you know, have this drive that puts us in position to win. For
him to do that, you know, just come right off the bench and
you know, complete four passes in a row and then have the game winning
field goal. I mean that, you know, that's a lot easier said
than done. Like most quarterbacks, you know, come into that situation,
and I mean I think about, you know, like Tyson Badge for the
Bears played for the first time yesterday, first snap of the game, first
snap, fumble return for a touchdown, like welcome to the NFL, you
know, and I get it. Dane Evans has played before Tyson Badgin has
it, So maybe that's not a great comparison, but either way, both
guys were kind of suddenly called into action. And as the backup quarterback,
I've always said, you know, at any level of the game, that's
one of the more interesting positions, Like you know, kicker, there's a
couple others, but being the backup quarterback is so interesting because it feels like
sometimes you're just you know, sitting there to kind of coach and listen and
you know, you kind of I mean, look, I haven't been in
those shoes obviously, but you know, in terms of actual playing time,
you know, unless there's a significant injury, backups aren't seeing the field much.
But in this case, you know, not only like Dane Evans didn't
have to play a majority of the game, but he had to play the
most important part. So the fact for him to go out there and do
that, you know, and get BC in the position to win, I
think that was very you know that that's a good sign, you know,
and hey, Dane, I think you know again, well, what made
it even more important too is you know, it was his return to Hamilton.
You know the fact that he played snaps in that game against you know,
the team that he spent you know, several years with and kind of
you know, made uh well, I mean he was he was there for
a while. You know, he did some great things there. Unfortunately,
you know, last season was a bit of a disappointment. Therefore why he's
not still there now. And they've kind of had all these you know,
I mean they've played three different quarterbacks this season, so they've you know,
definitely definitely gotten a bit creative there. But you know, for him to
go back to Hamilton and to get some playing time, that was good to
see. And I know he was he was tweeting about you know, emotions
were definitely running high. You know, it meant a lot to him,
and you know, I mean he kind of he got to put the dagger
into his old team's heart, which is always an interesting storyline to follow.
So Jason ties back to you before we get out of here and the other
thoughts b C. Hamilton. Yeah, really happy for Dane. I mean,
even though it was against Hamilton, I thought that was pretty cool that
he got to come in there. I was like, as soon as I
saw him enter the game, I said to my buddy who I was at
the game with, I was like, you know, what's going to happen.
You know, he's going to drive down the field and you know,
some stories in sports just right themselves like that. So congratulations to Dane.
And then I just want to finish off with a couple of shout outs for
both of these teams. Matthew Betts just tied the Canadian sack record in the
CFL with seventeen sacks, tied Brent Johnson who played for the BC Lions when
he set that record seventeen sacks. And then for Hamilton, Dexter Lawson,
who's a defensive back, he had an incredible interception that looked like it was
going to be very pivotal towards Baby Hamilton getting a victory in this one in
the final three minutes, but ultimately BC was able to regain the lead on
that last second field goal. But what an incredible interception. If you guys
haven't seen the replay of that, go check that out. Yeah, you
know, friends of the show here, you just can't be a quarterback any
other position. You come on the show, you're probably going to be doing
all right. Kevin Brown, even with the loss, play good what we
made it there. You go. CFL Week nineteen in the books. Got
through the little NFL should be good. Like I said, I like to
subscribe. I think stuff's coming down this week XFL, USFL. We'll get
through all of that stuff and then I'll reach out. Maybe we'll get the
Winnipeg maybe try this week with them having the home game, and then we
have I think I have a couple of ideas for CFL people to come on
to talk. So, like, you know, stay tuned for all that.
Jason's got his stuff. I was checking out his previews and all your
NFL stuff as well. So Evan, thanks as always. We'll see you
guys next time.