Well, happy Monday morning here on the Mark Cast. Football is back this
week, I guess, according to the NFL tweeting out the Hall of Fame
game kicking off this week Thursday. But you know, we've been talking football
all the time here on the Mark Cast. I thought an exciting weekend here
Jason was saying, maybe not the most exciting football, but I think we
have a time to talk about including breaking news here. Jason, how are
you doing today? I'm doing good. Raid pretty laid back weekend for me,
So I got to watch a lot of the football this weekend. Yeah,
we'll get into that as well. Evan, how are you doing good?
Yeah, you know, splay the games this weekend wasn't exactly you know,
amazing. Um, I don't really have many notes, so a lot
of what you're gonna hear today from me is off the top of my head.
But excited to talk about it. Nonetheless, well we'll get into all
that here. So first and foremost, and I'm losing my notes here,
we have breaking news coming out from a friend of the show, David Campbell.
I had reached out to Dave. I said, do you want to
come on this week morning? He goes well, I gotta catch up on
some stuff. Well here we have breaking news coming out. We can talk
about this game now or later, but we have Edmonton making the change here,
promoting Jerius Jackson to the OC here getting rid of McAdoo Jason. Initial
thoughts on this, what do you make Well, they had to do something
right. I think that's that's the ultimate thing here is that. I mean
there's just so hamstrung by that football operations cap that I mean, they couldn't
move on from Jones. So I mean, I guess this is almost the
best thing they could do in season here, and they just had to do
something too. You know, two shutouts in this far into a CFL season.
I don't even remember the last time a team's been shut out twice in
the same season. I think that would be something interesting to look up.
But yeah, I think they didn't do something, And I think Jerry's Jackson
brings a little bit of experience to the table. Obviously he's a Chris Jones
guy there as well, but I think at the end of the day,
he is a guy that does have some experience being an offensive coordinator in this
league, So you don't worry about it. From that perspective, but hopefully
a new voice will provide a spark for the team. Yeah. I just
can't figure out here. You know, obviously there's problems with you know,
Cornelius, and there's problems with the penalties, and there's problems with Jones,
Like Evan, is this enough? Is this kind of a band aid here?
Like we had to we have to do something here on the Buyer Week,
Locy you're going out with it? Oh, definitely. I mean I
don't necessarily think this is what Elks fans wanted, but I mean at this
point in the season, you know, given where you are, I mean,
you have to make some sort of change, and if this is what
it's going to be, I mean, this is probably the best thing that
they can do. So yeah, Jerius Jackson, I mean, you know,
before this he was holding both you know, quarterback coach and pass game
coordinator Roles Um those always kind of go hand in hand. And it says
the Elks just said that he's going to retain his job his quarterbacks coach,
So this is doubling up to with the OC role. But yeah, ultimately
I don't really see this as a very impressive move. Maybe it will help
things. I don't know, like, you know, we're gonna have to
test it, right, But I mean, I think if you ask a
lot of elks fans, um, this isn't exactly what they wanted to see.
We all know what they wanted to see, and that involves Chris Jones,
not Jerius Jackson. So yeah, well, and even I saw this
week justin Dunk. You know, I don't know if he's a friend of
the show yet. We're working on it, but you know he was on
a sports set er. You know, I'm starting the free trade for the
hashtag. I said, welcome to the party, Evan, those Flora we've
been We've been doing a hashtag free trade for it. So excited to see
that. We'll get into I think we'll get the end of this game.
We'll go, you know, kind of reverse chronological order here. Overall.
Jason, you said you didn't think this was the greatest slave of games this
weekend. Why did you make overall thoughts of the weekend. I just think
that, you know, the defense is really dominated this week, And I
mean, like, I know there's people out there that like defensive football,
but honestly, I just prefer when offenses are scoring touchdowns and not field goals.
Especially the game last night just drove me in same. We'll get into
it, but zero offensive touchdowns, like each team at six field goals just
not a very watchable game from that perspective. And I thought that the execution
from the offenses was way off this week pretty much from every team. It
looks like here we're having our illustrious CFL dot CIA stats issues here all these
games in pre game here Evan Evan thoughts for the weekend. I though you
had your what was it Leonard Skinner concert as well. Was that more exciting
than some of the CFL football? Yeah, definitely, I think took away
from some of the games for me. But I still, you know,
got in a bit of you know watching I guess of the games here and
there. Yeah, ultimately, like Jason said, definitely more of a defensive
weekend. We've become more accustomed in recent weeks to these high powered offensive games
in the CFL that we haven't seen in a long time. But now this
week definitely marked a shift I think where you know, teams were scoring less.
You saw a lot of scores like in the teens, things like that,
So it was definitely slower. But yeah, if you like defensive football,
I think this was a good weekend for you. So we had the
Sunday night game here, we had Calgary at Montreal. I'm, you know,
listening through and I had tweeted out I was filming. It was I
do this filming for an Indian temple hereover in some Amosh on the East Side,
and they host a bunch of like music events and cultural events and kind
of like, you know, hey, come, you know, enjoy our
culture, kind of see what we have going on. And so I'm listening
to this is how I listened to the Mariners game, and I was listening
to Marshall Ferguson all the way through the rain delay, which I do one
hundred percent blame Marshall Ferguson. I think there's something cursed for that, gentleman.
I just you know, the XFL never had two rain delays here at
this early end of the season. But listening through all of that, so
I heard the game. I don't know, was this a good game,
Jason, because I know it came down to the wire ride and it was
close, and we got you paired, is kicking all the kind of stuff
was this a good game? Well, hot take, I think this is
the worst game that was a one score game that I think I've ever seen,
like honestly, like it's very misleading. Came down to like the final
play, Calgary stold a chance to get it in the end zone to tie
the game on the last play, but ultimately couldn't get it done. But
yeah, zero offensive touchdowns as I mentioned before on this one, six field
goals apiece for every teach team. The only touchdown in this game was a
pick six in this one. So the execution from both offenses was really sloppy.
They both could move the ball a bit, but they just could not
punch it in when it came down to it. And honestly, I think
that's a big problem in the CFL right now. The red zone execution is
very off around the league right now. I think, Well, I think
Edvant with Lighten any sort of their bands, rents and the moment lest these
guys getting because that was the thing here, I mean, you know,
mayor we see these stat lines, you know, twenty four or forty four,
two fifty six, I mean getting down. It wasn't I think it
was last week he had like the really high stat line they were talking with
his passing on there, but Evan with this, yeah, because it came
down like not all of these one score games were built equal. We saw
this a lot in the USFL, like ninety eight percent of our games were
decided in the last minute. Yeah, well but it was you know,
twelve to eight or I don't know, like, I mean, what did
you make of this? And the thoughts like Calgary, Yes, I agree
with everything that was said before. Extremely misleading is what I'm going to go
on with this one. Um. I mean, yeah, you look at
the score and you think, geez, like you know, kind of a
back and forth, like Montreal gets into the twenties, great whatever, scoring
wise, but ultimately yeah, I mean, you know, offense really struggled
in this game, and yeah, I mean had it not been for that
pick six on the Montreal side, I mean you're looking at a potentially you
know, unwatchable game nearly from some aspects, and I just think, yeah,
I mean, it's such a that this is really a steep drop off
from again, everything that we've been seeing this game specifically, now, there
were a couple other games like you know, BC had a nice day on
offense against you know, well the elks of all teams will get into that
later. Not looking forward to talking about that one either, but I am
oh, I'm sure you are read, but man, it's I just feel
so bad every week. Anyway, We're not on that yet, um right
now? Yeah, just looking at I mean Montreal, I think the one
good thing from this game offensively, and really it comes from either side of
the ball. I know, Tradeam's dukes had a good game for Calgary,
so did Riggie Bagelson receiving. But the one point I really want to talk
about here from this game on the offensive side of the ball is William Standback
getting worked in for Montreal. Fifteen carries for eighty six yards I believe was
averaging. Yeah, what is that? Five point seven yards per carry?
Finally, you know, William Standback in week eight of the season, two
months in, is finally getting you know, his work, and I mean
we've been waiting so long to kind of see him, you know, get
going because if you know, obviously stand Back, you know, I think
it was last season that he missed due to injury or he missed a large
chunk of that, and then he hasn't really I mean I remember in twenty
twenty one, you know, him being one of the better backs in the
league. So I was kind of excited to see that this year, but
we haven't seen it really until now. He's finally you know, starting to
get some reps. And he did have a game I remember, I don't
forget which week it is, but you know, he had a couple of
catches. You know, he was getting worked in on that side of the
offense. But to see him, you know, get into this stride again
as a pure runner, I think that's really good to see and I think
that really is going to benefit Montreal moving forward a ton if he can you
know, carry the rock like that, especially because you know Cody Fajardo did
not have the best day passing here too. Yeah, it was like the
Mark cast Curis last year because I think I had standback on preseason and he
was doing like he was in Georgia or something, and he was like,
I've been working out here on the street with my boys and the lift.
I'm like this, like this guy's going to come in and go. We
we're doing a lot of like Alouette's interviews. Yeah, and then he came
in was it that first game. Jason the standback got hurt last ye yep,
and then he came back for the last month of the season and yeah,
like Evan said, didn't look the same until we saw that yesterday.
I have some hot take tweets here. First off, you might know this
Shiman has he talking here. One of the worst goal to gold to go
sequences I've ever seen five year penalty. You know, lots of just you
know, bizarre kind of play calling everything Ryan here checking in too many men
followed by a time count violation. What is calgaries kind of I don't have
a beat on what they want to be as a team right now. Yeah,
I don't know what's going on with them either. I think that it's
very uncharacteristic of them, the mistakes that they're making. I mean, they
just looked confused on offense. They'll look like they have no composure. I
think that, you know, like you said, the gold to ghost sequence
was what drew me insane in this game. But there are also several moments
where they were kind of late coming out of the huddle, and you know,
they take a time count violation or very close to taking a time count
violation. A lot of guys standing around not looking to know what the play
is. So I think that's just uncharacteristic of what we've seen from the stamp
Peters over the last ten to fifteen years. Really, So I think that
this is very new and I think that Yeah, the stamp Peters started two
and five in twenty twenty one, I do believe, and then they ultimately
ended up eight and six. But I think this is a different feel for
this team. They don't seem like they have that veteran core leadership that they've
had in recent years to really rebound from this. So it's not going to
get easier with them having a tough schedule up ahead. Yeah, tell you
about that and we can look at the schedule are coming up. Yeah,
because I saw I can't remember who was tweeting out, Yeah, there's you
see in Toronto twice and BC and there Evan. I have the last play
here. Let me get this up. I have the last play of the
game que up here, and the show there was sound, you know with
with Mayor. I want to talk about it as well on here, But
should Mayor have run for the run for it? Here? Gotten the first
down that we're throwing the long into the end zone. It seems like he
kind of you know, he missed judge here. Whatever, great, this
is what do you make of Mayors? That thoughts are on the final drive.
Yeah, I mean on that play specifically, I definitely think he could
have run a bit more, you know, before at least throwing it.
Obviously you know, well a line of scrimmage whatever. But you know,
I think ultimately, yeah, I see that as more of a a play
where you need to because if you look, I mean right there, he's
throwing it. Guy's not even open. It's like a lot of reaction right
here pretty much. But no, I mean he um, yeah, I
think he could have definitely run there. And you know that's the I mean,
I think Jake Mayor I want to say, I mean, yeah,
he had forty four pass attempts in this game. So again one of these
days where I think they're throwing the ball a bit too much and you know,
being a bit too excessive in that department. He only completed twenty four
of you know, those forty four passes. So yeah, ultimately, again,
I think I brought it up last week. But you know, these
quarterbacks that you know are throwing over forty passes and you know, not throwing
any touchdowns. It doesn't even really matter that point your completion percentage. I
mean, if you're not scoring that way, you're going to lose the game.
And in this case, that's what happened. Now, on the other
side of the ball, Cody Fajardo was sixteen to twenty nine, so not
exactly much better, but at least they were a bit more efficient in the
fact that you know, Fajardo's arm wasn't fallen off by the end of the
game, if you know what I mean. He hit his hand too.
I heard them talking a lot about that going in a half Jason, does
he seem fine? I could, because again I was listening to the games,
not what they were speaking of him, kind of like waving his hand
off. Whether you is fagarda going to be out right here we see anything
about that? Well, I think it's definitely something to monitor going forward,
because it looked like after that happened, every time he had to push the
ball down the field at all, he came up favoring that forearm. So
I think that is definitely something to watch this week, and if it hinders
him at all, going forward. Obviously, he had that entry last year
that langered for him. So I mean, hopefully he can stay healthy because
he's looked very healthy so far this season, and I've been really impressed with
his overall body of work this year. Not the best game in this one,
but ultimately didn't need to with the way their defense was playing. Jason,
do you think Matt Mayor do you think this was the right decision here?
No, I think that Mayor should have took it off and run with
it. But I will say that, as I said, I was communicating
with Marty York on Twitter last night and he was saying that, Um,
that he's not a very mobile quarterback. But you know, I think the
biggest problem with him is, yes, he's not a great athlete, but
he doesn't take off and run when he has those easy opportunities the defense.
Naturally, if you're not a very athletic quarterback, it's gonna dare you to
take those opportunities. And um, he's had several opportunities this year where he
could have just taken off and ran instead of forcing a short row that ultimately
ends up incomplete anyway. Um and UM, I think that he passes that
up way too often, including that last play of the game. You see,
I had the tweet here and key that that's what you called for Duc
here no like Marianna on this day, I like and I'm not going to
play the sound, but I had here and they were talked with Mayor after
the game, and I do at least like how he kind of carries himself,
you know. And we've gone back and forth with Cody, but last
year, you know, when when they were struggling, we had a lot
of Cody and well, I need better receivers and I'm having all these issues
and he was even two years ago. I think Paul and I had like
a COODI Pajarada the Man in Black like kind of heel turn Cody where Mayor's
like, you know, it's on me. Gave the team a lot of
credit. They played as well. You know, they were obviously prepared for
what we were going to do. But like I feel like he at least
is saying the right things. I don't know if that always is going to
translate him off the field, but at least from like a commentator and a
fan aspect, like I feel, you know, okay, as like a
Calgary fan, at least with kind of Mayor's handling that Evan any other thoughts
on the game, Mayor, Cody anything. I have a couple other tweets.
Second pot two. Yeah, I mean I will say, you know,
just going off with Jason said, I don't think Jake Mayor's necessarily the
most mobile quarterback either, but you know he I mean, like exactly like
when you're you know, when the offense opens up and you have an opportunity
to run, you're gonna take that, you know, really like Tom Brady
did that many times, you know, in his career, and he wasn't
necessarily a mobile quarterback. You know, he can at least scramble for a
couple of yards here and there, and then in that case, I mean,
you know, they're the ten yard line. I mean, I think
Jake Mayer, if he really needed to, could run for ten yards.
I've been meant he was gonna, you know, have an opportunity to you
know, win or tie the football game. So yeah, I mean that's
ultimately where I sit on it. I had a couple of tweets here.
First, I guess we can do any of these. It's a Bob Irving
tweeting out Calgary Stampere's I haven't had a Louising riger since oh seven, they're
two and five after the twenty five and eighteen lost in Montreal, and then
that we have a friend of me. This show here a rash and this
is always interesting to me, and I want to get Jason thoughts because obviously
we're, you know, coming into this kind of with all the xfls that
I've been saying this since to see if I returned in twenty twenty one.
The Stamps are disreputation team taken seriously because of twenty eighteen and prior now that
what they are now, the reality Calgary has been poured for a while.
Three three seas into that playoff wins and this bunchlicks lost. Jason reactions to
that, Yeah, I think I'm one of those people that fell victim to
this whole idea of believing in the reputation of this team, and I think
that is what allowed me to pick them to finish second in the West before
the season started. But I think ultimately, when you look at the big
picture, yes, they have been declining over the last few years. They
had a pretty good season last year, but when you looked at how they
played against the best teams in the CFL, particularly over the past three years,
like mcdanny says, they really struggled and they just cannot find the plays
that they need in these big time games. Like I said, they have
no composure, which is a far pride from what they wore twenty eighteen before.
Like mdanny said, yeah, it was checking and you really thought Calgary
is gonna be taken a lot better in the season. They record reflects Evandys
I'm to say, I mean, look, you know, Calgary, the
reality is, I think a lot of people are sitting here and they're surprised
about the way Calgary has been performing. Me personally, you know, I
think there has been a definite ship since you know, the team returned from
COVID and even before that they won the Great Cup and what twenty eighteen,
So you know, over the past I think five years, there's already you
know, been a shift towards I guess the term we could use the term
rebuild maybe right, like you're bringing it like it's the end of an era,
right, like the you know, consistent playoff appearances and things like that.
You know, this might be the year where it officially ends. I
mean, you know, we're looking at two and five right now. Yeah,
like Jason said, they started two and five and twenty twenty one,
they turned things around, but you know that was a shorter season, and
I just don't get the same vibe right now. Again, they don't have
the same personnel. Two years is a long time ago in football, So
I'm interested to see where Calgary goes for sure. You know, I do
think this team has potential. Every time I watched this team, you know,
it's less about I mean, it's a completely different situation and say,
I mean, o God, Edmonton. I hate bringing this up again,
but you know, I at least at Calgary and I'm like, Okay,
they have some pieces, they have the right idea. It just hasn't all
come together. So I could see this version of the team. Yeah,
maybe no play offs this year, but give him another two or three years.
I mean, I do see Jake Mayer still, as you know,
a starting quarterback in this league for many years to come, and somebody that
can lead this team. I have a lot more belief in him than say
somebody like Taylor Cornelius. Now, you know, maybe that goes without saying
I don't know, but I just yeah, I think ultimately Calgary's outlook is
one that will definitely need to be monitored. But I think it's also one
like it really shouldn't come as a surprise, you know. I think this
has been something you know, that has been pending now for a couple of
years, and we'll see where they go, right, I mean, there's
a lot of ways this could branch out as the season goes on. You
know, we're in week going on to week nine of a twenty one week
season, so you know, we're we're not even halfway. But yeah,
interesting, interesting discussion for sure. Any of the thoughts. I just want
to shout Jenna checking in here in the chat as well. Jenna has been
absent on social media, so I'm glad to see Jenna's back. Hope she's
doing good. Coutch Craig checking in at Jason. Anything else from this,
we'll get to the obviously the game of the weekend here, but something Yeah,
So I one thing I wanted to say is that Calgary is far from
out of it. I mean, sascatch one's doing everything possible to leave the
door open for that third spot in the West. So, I mean,
Calgary definitely just needs to spring a couple of wins together. But at this
point I'm losing hope for them, all right, so let's get in here.
I guess this is a good way to start off. I had this
little tweet. I was proud of us. I said, this is uh,
Lisa Purefoy watching all is all of us watching the go Outs this season,
and this is when they were getting like the DPI against I think it
was Whitehead near the end of the game. This tremendous game here. I
have many reactionary tweets about this. We'll toss it first, I guess to
Evan just because Jason just spoke, what you know. Second, shout out
here BC of Edmonton. We talked obviously the new OC at the top of
the show. Thoughts here on this game. I mean again, I think,
you know, every week, I'm like, how low can we go?
You know, how low can we set the bar on a weekly basis?
And I want to say we've hit the lowest of lows now with a
second shutout, and you know, I don't know, but like something tells
me next week, you know, something worse will happen. I can't.
I just it's one of those things where you know, you have to see
it to believe it. You have to watch the Elks to really understand,
you know, what this season has been for them, and it really is
just a disaster. Again, I have been I've tried to be reserved around
this subject, you know, for the course of the season, but now
it's at a point where I mean, you look at not even just Elks
fans, but you know, anyone that looks at the CFL as a whole,
whether it's just fans in general media, I think there is a level
of you know, um criticalness or whatever surrounding this team, just because I
think people expected at least some improvement by this point. You know, you
at least win a game, you at least score some points. But uh,
you know that. I mean, it's like this team just doesn't try.
And I'm not saying like there's you know, not people on that team
you know who care, because there's a lot of people who care, and
there's a lot of people on that team who I know are frustrated. Again,
it's a difficult sport, difficult business, whatever, But I mean,
come on, man, like you know again, like every every week well
that they've been at home, they've had an opportunity to break this streak and
at least get a bit of momentum going. But each time it becomes something
worse. It's like, well, not only did you you know, lose
this game to set you know, the all time record or whatever it is.
Yeah, in you know pro sports history for home losses, you did
it by being shut out for the second time in the season by the same
team that had shut you out before. Like it's just I mean, how
many times, It's how many things can happen before I can just sit here
and just laugh and not say anything. And that's really sad more than it
is funny. But it's just the reality. I mean, this is I
can't I can't wait to see what this team does in the offseason. I
mean I think, you know, yeah, they've just had the OC switch,
but in my opinion, that's really minor in the grand scheme of things.
I really want to see, you know, the direction of this team,
you know, once the season is officially over. I mean we've already
talked about, like again, they're kind of stuck, you know, where
they are now with what they have, and I mean it's very again disheartening.
I can only use so many of these negative terms, saturning terms,
but disheartening because in week one or week two, I was saying, well,
the Elks are already, you know, this is already a rebuilding year,
you know, and for a team to be saying that, you know,
not even a month into the season, is like you're already waving the
white flag. You've given up. And there's been no change in that philosophy
really through two months. I mean we just you know, wrapped up with
Week eate and I have seen no improvement from Edmonton and really any aspect of
the game. I do like. I do like their defense, I think
a bit more. Not that they really played well this game, giving up
twenty seven points, but you know, like a c Leonard, couple of
those guys again, like there are pieces on this team, and I have
the cussed up before, you know, try and find the positives in this
in this terrible situation. But ultimately, yeah, I think you know,
the Elks at this point, it's just like now it's like I don't even
care at this point if they win at home. I just want them to
win a game to just save them from it, some of this despair,
like it has to stop. I mean, you know, it's like,
well, what's the phrase they use. It's like, you know, don't
you know, poke the bear when it's already dead or whatever. I mean
that that's what this feels like. Yeah, I'm trying to I got Jen
Roberts here, a friend of the show. You know, rock Bottom is
beyond even this. Yeah, surege it Fordy with disaster defense may win championships
with offense, sales tickets. Zero points scored equals no fans, and no
fans equals no money, no money again, driven league equals no team,
dangerous game of chicken. I just I think it's interesting, and we'll go
to Jason here. Like we talked these losing streaks, you know, like
losing losing nineteen games at home in the row of basketball. It's a little
different than four years here of football of Loizie, you know, since twenty
nineteen like that, you know, and these aren't all equal in terms of
like games played at home games all that. What do you make of this
really kind of a disaster. It just defies belief at this point. I
mean, I just cannot understand how it's gone on for this long and how
they have not won a home game under the new name, and it's just
I mean, like I said earlier this year, I think it's starting to
feel like a legitimate curse. And I'm not like an overly spiritual person,
but like it really starts to feel like there's something wrong with this I feel
like there's just some kind of curse over this organization, some kind of dark
cloud. And I think for everything that they do, it's one step forward
and two steps back. Every time they have something positive happen within a game,
they make a couple of more mistakes to dig themselves a bigger hole.
And I think, you know, the quarterback play is a big culprit of
it. Obviously, getting that position right will be a priority going forward for
this team, and it's gonna be interesting, like Evan said, to see
what they do in the off season with that. But I think in terms
of what they're gonna do the rest of the season, I mean, like
I just don't see any hope for this team. Even if they do put
tray Forward out there, I think that it would be more exciting. I
think it would be more interesting to watch but I think that ultimately, I
don't know if they're gonna win a game with him either. So it's gonna
be interesting to see them play the rest of the season. And I think
I'm gonna do a video on this this week rank the teams that I enjoyed
watching in the CFL, and Edmonton would be an easy last right now.
I mean it's been a long season. I really don't look forward to watching
their games each week. Yeah, the interesting you were saying it because they
kind of do it both ways where the penalties and I don't know, I
mean Dane played good, right and what was what was his he was like
twenty five or three two, Like he played good, played clean. But
like even the BC, their defense they give up. You know, Cornelius
got that one huge long shot near the end of the game, right,
it was like a couple of minutes left, and then he immediately gets an
interception and they're like, you know, the defense like it bends, it
doesn't break, like oh okay, Like we got beat that one play,
Like okay, now we're gonna come back, Like now we're kind of really
angry on that. I want to talk about the I have the tweet here
and this. I didn't know that this was the thing. And I saw
this yesterday, the Donut Boys calling the defense the Donut Boys because they're putting
up ohs, and I thought that that is tremendous. And Rick co signed
it. He said he's okay with them calling it that. Jason, do
we like the Donut Boys? I said, this is what the CFL needs.
It's like, you know, the Steel Curtain or whatever, like the
NFL. Like, do you like the Donut Boys? Yeah? I mean
I think you call yourselves whatever you want. When you have two shutouts in
the CFL, I mean that's pretty hard to do defensively. I mean,
I'll be really really impressed if they do it against someone other than Edmonton.
But yeah, two shoutouts in one CFL season, that's pretty impressive. Yeah.
We had Terry Jones here getting shut out the CFLs aretually impossible, and
he shut out in this league twice by the VC Lion in the same season.
Said the North American Pro Sports record twenty one consecutive losses fire. The
GM head coach OC released the quarterback. Something that has to happen. Yeah,
we talked about that. I don't know if doing the OC is kind
of enough to do all that. Like I said, Dave here at talking
rock Bottom, embarrassing Evan positives here from BC. How did our boy Dan
look? Oh yeah, well there were plenty of positives on the BC end.
I mean, yeah, starting with the Donut Boys. I do think
that nickname is earned. I think, you know, yeah, pitching two
shutouts in the league like this, you definitely deserve a nickname. And um
again, you know, hopefully they can do that again. I'm really interested
to see, you know, what BC's defense can do over the course of
the rest of the season. You know, are they going to pitch another
shutout? Yeah? Hard to say. I don't know about that one,
but I mean you never know. Like I think they definitely have the capability
to do it, the personnel. But yeah, going back to you know,
Dan Evans in that offense, Um, Dan had a great game.
You know, this was one of the better games I've seen from Dan Evans
in a long time. And that goes back in all the way to Hamilton
when he was starting there. I was very impressed and this, you know,
to me, like again, I think I brought it up last week
or the week before. You know Vernon should keep his job when he gets
back. But you know, to have a guy like that, you know,
just ready to go all the time. Um, it really is,
you know, valuable and this has been proven here. Um, even if
it's in against you know, an opponent that you know maybe isn't exactly of
the strongest variety. Um. But anyway, no, I mean, look
a Dane Evans is definitely finding his stride here, you know, in place
of Vernon, and it's good to see him, you know, get some
reps in this season because to be honest, like if Vernon doesn't get hurt,
I mean he was you know, playing so well. I don't know,
you know, Dan might have just been sitting there hanging out with the
clipboard. Um. But all love for Dane, you know, great game
from him. Um. I was really impressed with Taquan Mizzelle. Mizelle in
this game, however you say it, Um, you know really had a
nice Um. I mean this was you know, we had you know,
sung his praises back. Um a couple of weeks ago. But I think
he's been injured, Um, hasn't really played. I mean yeah, it
was for a while a couple of weeks. Yeah, right, right,
So it was Shiver's in and you know he did a good job too.
But you know, Taquan was always kind of a guy that you know,
I was hoping, you know, would break out, and this was I
think somewhat of a breakout game. You know, one hundred and seventeen rushing
yards, had a receiving touchdown on two catches for thirty yards. All around,
a great game from him. And then I mean, do I even
do I even need to say anything about the receivers at this point. I
mean, I feel like every week we're just talking about, you know,
how strong that receiving corps is, and it just speaks for itself, the
production, not only the production, but again spreading the ball around to different
guys. I mean, everybody gets you know, four or five six catches.
You don't have one receiver that ends up, you know, catching ten
balls in the game. I think that is one of the best things you
could see in football right there, that little you know, receiving box score.
That is extremely impressive. And again they do this week after week.
You know, why do you think this offense has been you know, so
successful over the course of these two months, Because they just have so many
playmakers, and it's obviously going to be hard hard to retain all those guys
going into next year. You know, they're definitely gonna lose some in free
agency. But right now, I don't think that's a concern because again,
and maybe I've said this before too, I do think BC has the personnel
to to you know, make a great Cup run this time around. Well,
that's I wanted to talk with Jason about. And I had my notes
and I had some funny things I want to pull up to here. But
like we look at the depth that BC has, and I've been watching the
Crack on a lot right in the last year and the offseason, the kind
of depth ability and looking at the minor league and how deeps our roster,
and like the Crack had always kind of had a different roster or they didn't
have a lot of superstars this year, Like BC has all these huge names.
Last year, right, we got Nathan Wark, he's on this Penny
deal. We're able to resign Lucky, We're able to bring on Key on
kind of all this stuff here, and now you know, we get Va.
We have we have such like this backup here, like Dominique Rhymes has
been out lucky, he's been out key out like all these guys. You
know, McGuinness is stepping up. You know, my Zell's even taking passes,
you know, Like that's why they wanted to, I guess to bring
him back versus Shivers because he could catch us a running back, like you
know, Verndian goes down. We have Dane Evans. Like the depth that
this team has I just can't figure out, Like, is that just Neil
acivoy credit, Like, like what do you attribute it to? The BC?
Like it just it seems to have no lack of depth here kind of
in any position and where that all these other teams just seemed to be strung,
Like, you know, Evans, he can't get a quarterback here.
We have two quarterbacks that they're playing, you know, phenomenally well right now.
Yeah, I think you gotta give a lot of credit to Neil McAvoy
the GM. I think he was very proactive in bringing in Dane Evans.
I think that was such a good move this offseason, bringing in Dominic Davis
as the third string guy. I think he's an excellent short yardage quarterback.
That quarterback room is just so solid all around. And then I mean any
quarterback could succeed with the wide receivers they have. I mean the offensive line
I think has shown a lot of improvement over the last couple of years.
I think that's allowed them to be a pretty good team as well, because
it was just a disaster a couple of years ago. But I think that's
probably still the weakness on that offense, but it's no longer a huge deficiency.
And then I mean they just have depth, like you said, all
throughout the defense, I think defensive line, and they rotate heavily. And
I think that in this game, Ryan Phillips, the defensive coordinator, who
I think it's going to be head coach in the CFL next year, he
was really just toying with the Edmonton Elks offense. I think they were just
dialing up Blitz after Blitz and Cornelius had no answer for him. It does
feel that way. It feels like, and I think it was it was
last year, and they're talking like their wide receiver by committee, like they
don't care, like no one needs to be which you know is big words.
And you have like all these former NFL guys coming up right like I
think that says a lot like the lucky is like I don't care, Like
I don't need to be the star here. You know, he kind of
does his own thing. But yeah, the defense and kind of the where
it's been kind of three years now of us covering this team and covering the
league and seeing them, you know, in Brian Phillips and where he was
like the co defensive whatever it was, and then getting promoted here and building
up, and it does feel like they're poised right now, you know.
I mean I felt last year with Rourke and we kind of saw everything to
fall apart without him. But it does feel like expectations are pretty high right
now. I don't you know, our tickets are booked already. They hamilt
him, But it does feel like BC this game this Thursday is I think
going to be a real testament to see if they can do the Winnipeg again.
Evan thoughts on that, and I got some other funny stuff I want
to pull up. Yeah, I mean, right now, you know,
I see them. I mean, if there's a you know, a West
Final between them and Winnipeg, I personally see right now BC taking that in
the revenge game, and you know, I think. I mean it was
just so you know, I mean, you talk about Ryan Phillips like you
know I personally, I mean, we don't really talk about many coaches on
this show, but I've really enjoyed, you know, watching him and seeing
what he's done, you know, personally. I mean, look, I'm
not going to start making like connections here, but let's say, well,
I would imagine that the Elks move on from Chris Jones in the offseason.
And if you're gonna do that, or at least maybe you know, you
take Chris Jones away from a certain role, you know, give him one
hat to where as opposed to three, then maybe you bring in a younger
guy like Ryan Phillips who used to play in the CFL Ryan Phillips, you
know, bring him in kind of a younger, you know, guy with
a different mentality, different philosophy, because personally, yeah, I definitely see
him as a head coaching candidate for sure. For twenty twenty four, I
had a couple other funny things here. We were talking the salary cap and
all of that. I said, let's fix the salary cap issue for coaching
stap before we add a tempt team like let's go let's put the cart before
the horse here. And then I did think this was funny because I kind
of thought about this. They were talking or on the broadcast how Jones took
the whole team to go see Mission Impossible, and I thought, well,
that's like I don't want to poop poo on that, because like, well,
okay, let them have a little bit of levity here. They're living
through all this. But I thought they could have went and seen Barbie,
Barbie or Oppenheimer, and they chose to go see Mission Impossible. And so
I said, if you want everything you need to know about the alexistoric LOUSI
in the street, I didn't know this. I don't have you guys did
I put You know, obviously fog jerseys fire BC, and my god,
those jerseys just look really good. But if you guys know this, Jones,
he's normally been wearing that really high button polo. Right, it's kind
of a look. Right. I got my thing up and he was in
like a quarter zip and to me, I'm like, he is, that's
that's jujuus. Well he's sitting there, He's like, we haven't won this
season. I'm switching up my outfit. I don't love you guys saw any
of that, but but I do think one hundred and thirty nine penalty yards
by the Alex at half Kate burnest it was even so high that she didn't
even have it calculated correctly. And then they were talking at the end of
the broadcast. You have to go to trade four. It can't be any
worse than four and twenty three. It's insane. On that Jason and their
thoughts on this will get to the touchdown Atlantic. No, I think I'm
pretty tired about talking about the Elks for this week, so let's go on.
All right, So this was the game I probably have the least amount
of notes on, so hopefully Jason's got a little bit on that. We
have the touchdown Atlantic here, what did we make of this? I guess
we'll start. I'll go back to Jason. I'm I'm watching I'm on the
wedding at this time. I'm watching the notifications on my phone come up.
I'm like this, this this feels like a very safe game for Toronto.
Was this ever really in doubt? No, not really at all. And
I think that, um, you know, tadd Onto. What I said
earlier, I think the offenses just didn't look very good in this one.
This is the first time that Chad Kelly kind of got you know, he
kind of struggled a little bit. He think he threw for like one hundred
and twenty two yards and he really didn't have to do much. I think
the big turning point this one was really early in the game when Javon Leek
had a punt return touchdown for Toronto and that was really all they needed.
Saskatchewan just once again could knock into the end zone with Mason Fine at quarterback,
and then he gets hurt late in the game, and then Jake delac
Alac comes in and when garbage time was in there and you know, uh
led them for a touchdown drive there and finally got in the end zone.
So, I mean, just a disappointing, you know, game for Saskatchewan.
And I think they're honestly one of the toughest watches right now in the
CFL. I mean, right up there. Not close to the ED ten,
but I think they're probably the second least watchable team in the CFL right
now, just based on how their quarterback play has looked post Trevor Harris.
Here and I think at the end of the day, Toronto just once again
looks like the best team in the CFL. I mean, when your offense
plays like crap, honestly and you still win thirty one to thirteen, I
think that's still pretty good. Yeah. This isn't another team like Calgary.
I just don't really kind of know what their identity is. And we've talked
and you're Mason Fine, And I have the quote here from Where's Where's Dickinson
here? Talking like, Yeah, I feel like Mason, it did play
played enough to continue to start. Yeah. Yeah, twenty seven to thirty
nine for three h two, but obviously with the two picks in there and
no interceptions. Like, I just don't know if you're Saskatchewan here coming off
of last year, I don't. I don't know what you do here,
Evan, You have thoughts on Saskatchewan or Toronto. Yeah, I mean I'll
start with the Saskatchewan side first, and I don't get to Toronto. They're
definitely an interesting point, right, Mason Fine, Like, is he the
quarterback to take over? Because personally, like, you know, he had
another kind of weird game where you know, he was close to you know,
throwing forty passes and still had a ton of yards but no touchdowns.
You know, turnovers were a problem. So I just don't really know what
to make of this so far. And then you have Jake Delagala, who
comes in someone I had kind of written off, you know, not someone
I had really thought about. He comes in and he actually looks pretty impressive,
you know, I mean compared to what Mason Fine did. So you
know, maybe like Jake, dolegal gets more reps moving forward? Um,
I think Craig said, yeah, he I mean you got to tweet pulled
up here? What am I saying? Um? Yeah, he said that
Fine will remain the starter, but yeah, he wanted to put Jake in
because the game was out of reach by that point. I don't know,
personally, I would like to see more of Jake after that, you know,
again, not someone I had really thought about immediately, but yeah,
he comes in and you know, probably I mean, just exceeds Mason Fine
really in that time. I mean, he completed four passes to Mason's twenty
seven, but was so much more efficient and actually got a touchdown out of
it that you kind of have to, you know, point that out once
again. I mean it's very similar to last week. You know, Sean
Baine and Tevin Jones great, you know, receiving duo there. I mean,
they had a phenomenal day. They're catching the football, but no run
game. I mean still like, yeah, Jamal Moore was a tiny bit
better, but everyone else, I mean, you know, they're barely you
know, they're what just over fifty rushing yard. It's like, it's not
it's not great, and that's been a problem. I think that's what's really
limiting this team's ability on offense. You're asking again, the more you throw,
you know, with a quarterback who maybe doesn't have as much experience,
you know, this is the result. If you can't run the football,
you're still not going to score many points in this specific situation. So yeah,
I mean Saskatchewan, it's just hard right now. I don't know what
to really make of them either. They're kind of at this impass sort of
like Calgary is. Again, they're much farther ahead of a team like Edmonton.
I think that goes without saying at this point, but you know,
Saskatchewan Calgary are really these two teams. It's like, Okay, who's gonna
start you know, winning and really pulling away from the other. Um,
you know, right now, it's still hard to tell. But then on
the Toronto side, you know, this wasn't exactly a traditional game for the
Argonauts either. You know, Chad Kelly really slowed down, and I mean
really slowed down from what it's been before. Um, you know, one
hundred twenty two yards, one touchdown, one interception, you know, I
mean he had probably one of the you know, more poor I think quarterback
performances you know across the CFL this week. Maybe not. I mean again,
if you threw a touchdown, I think you had ponus points. But
you know, um no that's guy. Maybe I'm being a bit too harsh,
but still, ultimately, Chad really didn't have He didn't have to do
a lot, you know, And I think Jason already brought that up,
like, you know, his offense, you know, compared to a situation
like Mason Fines, you know, did more of the work for him.
They had a better ground game, you know, the receivers, I mean
they didn't really have to you know, just go directly to one or two
guys. I mean Cam Phillips in this one, you know, was the
top target. But I think you know, Davars Daniels and even aj Willlett,
the running back you know, getting worked in there, um, were
equally as important. Um. But yeah, ultimately, I just think it
goes to show like Toronto is more of a complete team in hell, Like
Chad Kelly threw for one hundred and twenty two yards and turned the ball over
and they still scored thirty one points, you know, and I think a
large part of that was because you know, their defense was highly successful in
this game, you know, just allowing you know, the offense to you
know, to go with such ease. I mean, Wynton McManus, you
know, had one of the better defensive games for the argos that I've seen
really from a lot of defensive players this season across the CFL UM, So,
you know, wanted to give him a shout out there. And then,
um, you know, a couple other guys, you know, Quantez
Stiggers, the guy that we had talked about, you know so much coming
from you know, FCF, and he's kind of having a I don't,
I don't want to say breakout season, but he's definitely had you know a
bit of a hot start, you know, more impressive and I would have
imagined for you know, a guy jumping up to this level so immediately.
But yeah, ultimately, all around, you know, just a great day
I think for Toronto and more importantly, you know, I just personally,
I really like the Touchdown Atlantic series. Um, I'm glad that it's kind
of back and it seems like it'll be, you know, here to stay
at least, you know, for well, I don't know for how long,
but I you know, I did an article on that Touchdown Atlantic stuff,
probably a little over a year ago, and I talked about, you
know, every time someone brings up Touchdown Atlantic, it's automatically brought into expansion
talks, right because they want you know, the tenth team has been connected
to Halifax for so long. I don't know. I mean you could say
that they're you know, testing the venues and things like that, but ultimately,
I mean every time they play this Touchdown Atlantic series, I think it's
a pretty good turnout. You know, clearly there is a hunger for football
there. And I mean, look, I don't know, you know,
how many fans in those stands are actually from Nova Scotia or if it's just
people you know, flying in from Toronto or whatever. Again, not that
I had that stat but if you know we did have that, you know,
maybe I would be saying different things. But ultimately, yeah, I
mean, look, I really like the series. I hope it sticks around,
and ultimately I hope that you know, as much of a complex discussion
it is as it is, and maybe it's not something we should be worrying
about right now. You know, whenever you're talking about Halifax and touchdown Atlantic,
that tenth team is always going to come to mind. Yeah, we
got here, the sign of that best signs, best sign for them,
whatever Halifax wants you and I go back to this, that's fix it happen.
Jason, what do you make of the Argo's poor performance? I saw
a tweet put out like they flew in the night before, and I guess
a lot of the teams usually go out there the week of like, do
you blame Jet leg on this? What do you blame their slow sluggish game?
Well, I just think it was bound to happen. I think that,
you know, they can't be firing on all cylinders every week of the
season. I think Toronto up intil this week was firing on all cylinders.
Every week so far this season, so I think at the end of the
day, one of these stinker games was bound to happen, and good thing
for them, They're defense really showed up. I wanted to highlight some players
on defense for them, Sean Oakman and for La and Oro Malaute. What
an inside outside pass rush duo. Those guys are gonna recavoc, They're gonna
stay healthy the rest of the season. They're gonna be a dominant force for
this team going forward. And I thought the secondaries really gave the Rough Riders
receivers really no space to work with in this one. The Sean Amos obviously
had to pick six stiggers. Like Evan mentioned, Royce Metchi had a big
fumble that he forced at the goal line when Jamal Morrow tried to reach out
for the goal line, and I thought that was a huge play in this
game where Saskatchewan still could have climbed back into it. And then Robertson Daniel
also had an interception in this one. He's had four interceptions so far this
season. So I think Toronto's defense played excellent and I think this is a
really a true team that's playing complimentary football in all phases they're punting is really
excellent. Josh Haggarty's an excellent punter for them, and I think that was
another strong suit of them in this game. And I think at the end
of the day, just a great effort from Toronto. Yeah, what do
we got here coming up? Here? We're in the pregame next week?
What Toronto at Calgary? You know? I think this is when they were
talking about kind of the Calgary's rough schedule here coming up. That seems like
a tough game here. We'll talk Montreal Hamilton's and all of that. But
yeah, Toronto here cruising. I was so confused and I've never been more
confused in my life. When I was getting ready to watch the Ottawa Hamilton's
game, right, and they have the rain delay on there and they're like
cutting to the panel and the panels like on the field. I'm like,
what is Like, what is happening? I'm like, Oh, they're at
the I was like, just had it up on my phone. I'm like,
oh, they're at the touchdown Atlantic Because I'm like, wait, how
aren't they Like what is happening here? Why is the panel in Ottawa wherever
was very confused about that a couple of just funny comments here at Scott checking
and the Elk season is mission impossible? And then that Chris says isn't to
win one game as mission impossible? So I thought that was funny. Anything
else on this one we'll get to. We'll do welfare check on Jason here
with the tie Cats. Anything else from this one, guys? All right?
So I feel bad I probably should have checked in at the beginning here,
Jason, how are you feeling here? This is? Uh this was
rough? You know, a win. A win is a win that you
know when it's like Thano. So what did it cost? It costed a
whole lot here? What did you make of the bow levi? I Mitchell
of it all? Here? With the Hamilton game, well, I mean
it's just so like unfortunate that he gets injured right at the end of this
game, I mean, like the first game back. I mean there's questions
about whether this uh po leave I should have even been playing in this game,
given that they took him off the six game injured list a game early,
so they don't even get cap saved savings from that if I'm remembering how
the rules remember correctly. But I think at the end of the day,
it was just an ugly win for the tie Cats. It was good to
see them get back to playing Tiger Cats football in terms of playing well defensively,
really kept Dustin Crum contained basically the entire game, and really kept them
out of the end zone the entire game. So I think that was good
to see from that perspective. But on offense, when bo was in there,
five interceptions, some of them his fault, some of them not,
and then obviously he just hate to see that at the end of the game.
Just a bizarre coaching decision to have him in there at that point.
I know it was on the two yard line, so maybe you do want
to, you know, plunge forward in that situation, make sure you don't
give up the safety. But even then they were up by four points,
so I don't think a safety would have cost in the game. Even so,
I think at the end of the day, any point in the game,
you wouldn't have had bow leave by running that play, and I think
that, you know, I saw a report that maybe it was bow Levi
that went ahead and said that he was going to go and plunge forward on
that one. But regardless. I mean, as a coaching staff, you
should not have allowed him to do that, regardless, and it shouldn't have
even been a possibility for that to happen. So just really unfortunately and just
a nightmare season for bow Levi. Yeah, this is I don't get because
like bow comes back, comes back early. You know, we've like said
all this and the Bow comes back, is that going to be the savior
comes back? There's five interceptions and like so it wasn't even like you know,
and I know, coming back off injury and all that, but it
wasn't you know, it was a second worst performance of the season had compared
to you know, our boy burned it Adams here with you know, against
the Argonauts, but comes back there's five picks and he gets it. It's
hurt again, Like I mean, what do you what would you do here?
What do you what are your thoughts? I mean, it's just really
sad, you know again and we've talked about it before, just you know
how I mean, it's been a bit of a downfall here for bow Levi
in Hamilton, not just because of the injuries, but like when he does
play, I mean in this game, you know, he wasn't exactly spectacular,
and you know, it's just like, if this is the way like
that he's going to go out of the CFF. I mean that's just really
disappointing. And I'm not saying I mean, he could come back for another
year, you know, given another show. But when you're you know,
hindered by injuries at this age and things just aren't going your way, it's
it's so hard to I think, you know, find and regain confidence that
you can you know, keep doing this, and um yeah, ultimately,
I mean this this was just really it's a shame because we had I mean,
well, I don't know, you talk to somebody like Andy Murray,
I mean he was he was already saying, oh, you know, Bo's
not gonna you know, do it in Hamilton. And me personally, I
mean, I you know, I didn't think he was gonna be you know,
like one of the top quarterbacks in the league, but I certainly thought
it would be better than you know whatever this has been. Um just ultimately,
yeah, a very disappointing season for for Bouleva, and I wish him
the best, really, I mean I hope he can get off this six
game injured list in whatever week and come back and finish the season strong.
But you know, who knows where the team is by that point. I
mean right now, I think they're three and four. Um, but you
know, right like looks like what's gonna happen. Is Taylor Powell's gonna come
back in you know, maybe match ELTs fills in later on, you know,
depending on how Powell plays or what that situation looks like. I mean,
right now, we don't even know. You know, when Bolivia is
really coming back. To me, it looked like more I mean I thought
it was you know when I saw it initially, you know, to me,
it looked like he was going to be out for the season. And
um, it's the same situation Saskatchewan with Trevor Harris. Like you know,
rough Riders are saying there's a chance he comes back in the final few weeks,
but I don't know. I mean maybe with Bolivia, like if they
put him on a sixth game, you know that that really does say something.
But like he could easily come back off the sixth game again and just
get injured and we're right back, you know, and then that would be
ultimately the end of his season, So I don't know, it's a tough,
tough scenes over there, is what I'll say. And I mean,
fortunately, now, look, Hamilton's quarterback depth ultimately, I think has been
good considering that had to play you know, three guys or whatever, you
know, bo Leivi, Shiltz, Powell. I mean, Schiltz and Powell
have actually shown a lot of promise, you know when they've appeared, and
of course it was unfortunate to see Schultz go down too, And now I
believe they have Antonio Pipkin behind Taylor Powell moving forward, so we'll see.
Um, you know, it's uh, ultimately, you know, it's just
one of these things that you know, I wish we could avoid it.
There's been so many quarterback injuries in the league this season, but just bad
luck and bad timing, and I mean the whole I think, you know,
whether or not he should have been in the game, that's a whole
different discussion. I'm gonna I'm not gonna touch on that because I just I
see it happened too many times. It really is a complex issue, you
know, because it comes down to a well is it the coaching staff or
the player? And like you know, was it really that big of a
deal in the moment. I don't know. There's just there's just too much
around that. If I start talking about that, you know we're gonna go
well over our time. So yeah, they had here, and I had
the quote from Naylor as well, like you know he always worries about game
of getting in there, uh you know and with it. So yeah,
someone getting injured here when it's running out. I didn't I did this feelings
Yes, well, Welliam Mitchell Soo's five interceptions against interesting Garth. Now I
can't win anyway. We have a question or mad chatter wants to know how
did Crumb look? Yeah, the end of crumb sanity here, Jason,
How how did doesn't Crumb look? Well? I think he still made his
fair share of impressive plays. I think that it looked like on that final
drive he was going to lead them to the promised Land and um yet again
with another dramatic victory, but just cannot close in the red zone. And
I think overall they were the better team offensively in this game. Hamilton had
a lot of yards, but I think that a lot of that came on
a few plays. And I think Ottawa the big palm with them is they're
not getting anything down the field at this point. They have to be so
methodical with their offense, kind of like Calgary. We've talked about how they're
you know, not taking any shots down the field. Ottawa just hasn't been
able to hit those big explosive plays and that's forced them to really drive the
field methodically and they get um drives that stall out in the red zone.
And I think that's been their big problem for this game Specifically. They hadn't
really have that problem in the games against Calgary or Winnipeg. But I think
that another issue here is that Hamilton has dominated Ottawa. Ottawa has not beat
in Hamilton since twenty eighteen now, so Hamilton has won the season series against
Ottawa. That's the big consequence coming out of this game is that if Ottawa
and Hamilton end up tied at the end of the season, Hamilton's already won
the season series over the Red Black, so that could come into play later
on. Well that's the thing here. I mean, we talk all of
this everything you wanted, poo poo, you know, the Hamilton's quarterbacks issue
whatever, I mean, they're not you know, they're They're not that far
out of it here in the East. It's remarkable here with the four teams.
And you know, we had it, Jason, if you live through
the CFL and the XAVL. On the USFL season, we had lots of
talks about like playoffs and the team's winning divisions with lucy records and all this
stuff, Like I would I pour in the CFL to consider that as well,
Like let's get the division winners and then let's get some other stuff in
here. And now I have to have a couple three and four teams.
On all of that I did have. I had a quote from Dave which
I thought was interesting. There's a stat I invented and starting tracking this season.
I called the giveback plays, plays where a team creates a turnover and
then gives the ball back before the end of the play. The Red Blacks
had a critical giveback tonight. Yeah, they talk about that with you know,
they have the five interceptions and still not be able to do that.
I mean, what do you what do you attribute that to, Jason,
to be able to have that many turnovers and still come up short. Well,
Dave is actually a trip that that plays referring to is a play that
I think Hamilton turned the ball over to Ottawa, but then Outawa fumbled it
and Hamilton recovered. In the next play, Kayle Locksley gets a seventy five
yard touchdown on a screen pass. And that was really the difference in this
game when you look at it. Hamilton got in the end zone two times.
Autowa didn't get in the end zone at all. And yeah, like
I said, I thought Ottawa was the better team, but uh yeah,
I think you know, Ottawa a lot of missed opportunities in this one.
Obviously, time you win the turnover battle by that much, it's disappointing not
to come away with a victory. But again, like you, like I
said, I beating a dead horse here. But I think the biggest thing
is that it could not punch it into the end zone. A lot of
teams had that struggle this week. I have a flashed the stat at by
one point, but we had this. But Bo has nine interceptions and twelve
quires that played this season. I haven't anyway way she had. Not seeing
that stat oh, I'm just gonna leave that one alone. I can't you
see. I feel too bad for Bo to be ripping on him here,
Like, you know, the guy's just I mean, if if I'm in
his shoes, I'm devastating. So I'm not gonna you know, I mean,
yeah, it's like, well, obviously it's not great that goes without
saying. But um, you know, I mean you can't. Yeah,
like I said before, you know, don't don't beat the dead horse.
Don't don't poke the bear when it's already down or dead or whatever the case
is. Um, but yeah, I mean I will say, um,
just a couple more points from me here about this game before we move on.
Um. Kyle Locksley, you know, really cool to see him get
involved kind of a receiver. It was kind of known, you know beforehand,
even when he was with Edmonton. He was not necessarily just a dual
threat quarterback, but a dual threat player can kind of play multiple positions.
And in this case, you know, had a seventy five yard touchdown.
And I would like to see um more of that from him this season.
You know, maybe this is a better role ultimately than a short yardage type
of deal. So I would like to see him, you know, have
more opportunities like that in the receiving department and then on the Ottawa's side.
Yeah, so Dustin Crum reverted. I wouldn't say he was bad in this
game outright, He just reverted more to what he looked like in the first
two games, and one of them was this first start where you know,
there was a lack in passing, but he ran you know, for eighty
two yards and was very efficient doing so. So again, extremely mobile,
you know, hasn't stopped flashing that since he's come in and replaced jeremiaha Soli.
But you know, Ottawa, in my opinion, should have won this
game, Like this was such a winnable game for them. Again, having
five turnovers you know, on your end and not being able to pull through
just sucks. But it ultimately comes down, like Jason said, two touchdowns
versus none, right, I mean, if you're gonna get in the end
zone twice, doesn't really matter if you throw five interceptions, because if the
other team isn't getting the end zone at all, I mean, the chances
of them winning the game or you know, still slim, regardless of you
know, how poor you perform or whatever the case is. So it was
an interesting game from that perspective, you know, definitely an interesting result and
yeah, I didn't expect Hamilton to win, but Ottawa, you know,
didn't have the last minute heroics in them this time. And you know,
ultimately, now it's sort of like how I talked about Calgary and Saskatchewan and
the West. Excuse me, you know, it's kind of like Ottawa and
Hamilton in the East. It's which team is going to pull away, you
know, and right now Hamilton has the automatic advantage with a tiebreaker. That's
a fascinating stat to me that Ottawa hasn't beaten Hamilton since twenty eighteen. I
mean, I know Hamilton has been a pretty good team since then, and
Ottawa has had their fair share of struggles, to say the least. But
I mean that's you know, that's five years is a long time, even
with that COVID year. Jason, final thoughts on the tie Cats here,
how are you coping with all this now? I'm I really don't know what
to think at this point. With the quarterback situation. It's just been a
whole circus so far this year, and just how how unfortunate it's been with
the injuries. So I mean, I'm just kind of wait and see how
Taylor Powell's second start goes next week and then I should have some more thoughts
on that. Then well, here we go. We'll kind of put this
horse to bed or the carton, I don't even know the same. We'll
put this show in the bed here, we'll get out of here. Just
looking forward, I think I think this week I have a couple of emails
that's in here, but I have a feeling this week the show is going
to be a live preview show on Thursday with a special guest. I have
a wedding Friday, so that kind of gets in the way posting some stuffing.
So I think if all goes, I got the email some XFL people,
but I have a feeling we'll be doing that previewing that because I'm very
excited for this BC at Winnipeg having me clearly the game rematch whatever of the
season. Evan, you're looking at the schedule here, the game that peaks
here interest the most. Yeah, I mean BC Winnipeg by a country mile.
I mean, if you think about it, BC wins this game.
You know they've already beaten Winnipeg once this season. I think Winnipeg would move
to five and three and then BC would move to seven and one now you're
talking about real separation. And again I'm not saying Winnipeg isn't competitive. We've
been over this. I think Winnipeg is a great team, even if it
sounds like I'm always ripping on them, Um, you know, I just
think again, they might be a little step behind where they were, you
know, a year ago, definitely two years ago, and with the way
the lines are playing, that could really hurt them. And you know,
right now, I'm thinking this is again that the West Final rematch, that
that BC is gonna win. That's my prediction and I've been sticking with that
for the past couple of weeks. So you know, looking at that game,
I mean that could tell a lot, and especially if BC wins it
at Winnipeg, two I think is extremely significant. So yeah, that game,
I think above all, and the fact that that's the first game,
you know, kicking off the week should should be very exciting, Jason,
and the thoughts on that any of these other games before we get out Yeah,
so yeah, that's obviously the game of the week this week. Everybody's
gonna be circling the BC Winnipeg game. But I think these other games have
some intrigue to them. Ottawa Saskatchwe, who's gonna walk away with a victory
in that one? Someone's got to win. I think that if Ottawa bounces
back, they will be interesting because one trend that we're seeing in the CFL
so far this season is that the East teams have been relatively competitive with the
West so far this year. So it's gonna be interesting to see if that
continues the rest of the season. And Saskatchwe, it's gonna be really hungry
for victory and that one after dropping a bunch of games in a row here
Montreal and Hamilton. I'll be at that game. I'm excited to see how
Hamilton plays in that one after Montreal really kick their ass the first time they
played for the Tikats home opener. And then Toronto and Calgary looks like a
mismatch on paper, but Calgary did beat Toronto. I think it was thirty
one to two last year when they played in Calgary, So I mean that's
worth noting. I mean McLeod Bethel Thompson versus Jake Mayor. Now it's gonna
be Mayor versus Kelly and Toronto just completely different vibe right now. But I
think at the end of the day that could be an interesting game and maybe
a potential upset there. It's funny. So last year this time, our
anniversary is August sixth, and so we went to this There's like this Italian
restaurant down on Al Kai and they don't do reservations, so you kind of
just go down there, like, oh, they'll be forty five minutes or
an hour. And I remember watching it was I think it was like the
BC Elks game. Evan, you were there. It was the game whatever
game when you went up to BC that you're watching, and it was like
Rourke just went off and like Evans Dowe need and I was standing there in
line on our anniversary and watching the game on my phone. I don't know
if ottawas s Scotchewan will hold quite my attention this year about I'll PVR or
DVR here and check it out of you know, on the CBS Sports Network
of I camp. But yeah, a little bit of differ stakes is here
for that. But I remember it was like one of the BC games to
the season that Eva was sitting there. I said, how lucky are you
that you got to go watch that live? Oh? Man. I mean,
look, I you know, I've said it many times. You know
that game that I went to last year, you know BC, Um,
what is it? It was Edmonton? Yeah, it was no because I
remember because um, uh like Emmanuel Arsenal was coming up and like signing stuff
because he was in Edvant obviously been in BC for many years, was coming
up and talking to people. I remember that pretty well. But I also
remember like, yeah, I mean you know that it was a Nathan Rourke
clinic and I went I mean I was sitting there, like, you know,
on my phone during the game. I'm like, this has to be
one of the best quarterback performances I've ever seen live at any level. Keep
in mind, I've seen plenty of college football games, you know, handful
of NFL games, but that I mean just cleared you know anything. And
it's a bit crazy thinking that I saw you know that Chris Jones led Edmonton
team, knowing where they are now, you know, making the wrong kinds
of history. But this year I will be um, I think it's uh
not this weekend, but the weekend after I'll be up in BC again for
the um Line Stampeders game. They're so excited for that. I haven't really
announced that formally yet, but that'll be my other CFL I guess event outside
of the Great Cup this year. Very nice, said Jason. Anything else
and you will get out of here. I appreciate everyone's sticking through. No,
I think that's all that needs to be said this week. Well we
did it. Check back Jason, like you said, doing that some recap
reaction videos and Jason will have his preview and I guess I think we'll do
that. I gotta figure it out. But it's a little, you know,
a little slow right now in the XFL and the USFL. But that's
good that no offseason here, So I appreciate everyone like and subscribe, get
on Jason's channel. I'm sure everyone's on there as well, and we'll see
you guys next time. Vix