Well, happy, Mark cass whether we Wednesday here, busy day, Welcome
to the first part of our double header today, should be exciting talking it's
CFL Week fifteen, and then lots of news on the XFL front. Another
merger here. I was just telling like, we've lived through this before and
nothing new. Here here we go again, Jim Carrey and that what was
that? Me and myself and Ireen or whatever? Here we go again.
I think that's going to be the theme for Friday. Should be excited here.
But first we are talking CFL. We have Jason and Evan here midweek.
Jason, how's your week going pretty good? I mean the weekend was
great. I'm really great week on a football on both sides of the border,
So I'm happy from that perspective in my week's going pretty well so far.
Evan, I know we have lots of other things. We'll get to
XFL here at four or forty five Pacific. How how's your life going here
CFL and otherwise? Yep, it's been a busy week, man, lots
of news coming out on so many different fronts. I think I've touched every
league this week to some capacity. But sticking to the x CFL. Excuse
me, kind of be careful there sticking to CFL with this st you know
obviously what the stream is about. You know, it was a great slate
of games over the weekend. I think I was pleasantly surprised. You know,
every game I felt like was really close. And this was the first
weekend in a long time where I was actually able to sit down and watch
you know, every game since it was equally divided up between day and Saturday.
So I worked out really well and I was very pleased with the football
was played. Yeah, and again you know late this week. I appreciate
everyone, but we've made the commitment. I'm feeling it's important to do this
every week on here. I had to work Saturday, Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday all day every day, so this is the first time we could do
it today. Evans got class. I appreciate it, you know, I
think it was Tuesday last week and Wednesday this week, but darn it,
we've made a commitment here. I had a great weekend at Commanders at two
and o two and oh here left hand up. I don't want to hear
any of that hating on that taking down Russell Wilson and then the BC alliance.
I really was about to Mariners got swept by the Dodgers at home.
BC. I thought was going to get you know, like I said,
you cannot lose into Ottawa at home. This is a must win. Looked
like they were going to until about the last few minutes. Jason, are
we after Labor Day games county more? Are you feeling like the CFL is
peaking at the right time? Yeah? Absolutely. I mean I just compare
it to the previous two seasons since we came back from COVID, and this
season has easily been way more exciting than twenty twenty two or twenty twenty one.
I just think we've had so many more close games and you know,
dramatic finishes down the stretch, and a lot more offense this year just in
general. So I think it's been great from that perspective. Yeah, Evan,
I feel like this is kind of what was promised online because we all
got into this obviously during the other merger talks, and you know, the
twenty twenty one season was a little sleepy. I think, in as much
as CFL apologists wanted to say, you know, hindsight, whatever, are
you feeling. You said, you sat down and enjoyed the whole slaty games
we had, you the dual dueling double headers. You feel like everything worked
out. Yeah, I mean, you know, I've talked a couple of
times of this season about how I feel like there were peaks and this was
the best football that we've seen since you know, CFL came back from COVID
and the canceled season in twenty twenty. I've been overall, Yeah, I've
been really impressed. I feel like in this third season back, you know,
teams are finally getting things together, and of course, you know,
I think we still know who the top teams are and we still know who
the bottom teams are. You know, I don't know if that's changed too
much. Well, Toronto's I think definitely been surprised, but you know,
Winnipeg's still there and all that. So, you know, some things I
think have stayed the same. But ultimately, you know, there have been
a lot of surprises and there's been a lot of shakeups. You know,
a lot of the season, you know, even though there's only nine teams
in this league, a lot of it has been extremely unpredictable. Even for
I think people who have devoted you know, more time than myself to covering
this league and have been a fan for longer. So yeah, overall,
I've been very impressed, and I think, you know, this is we
are sort of peaking again, like this season has been the best since COVID,
and I don't think it's necessarily close. Yeah, so let's get into
this. So, you know, I'm looking at the CNNs here obviously,
and I was filming. I was filming. I do work for a elderly
service provider. They do, like they do transportation and meals and housing and
all that. So they have this game on and they were going to do
they like cornhole and you could do like giant you know, Chess and Jenga,
and they had bands and stuff, and you know, I think they
probably expected, you know, a few hundreds of people to come, and
there was maybe fifty people there, so, needless to say, by about
the third the fourth hour of this event, I had a little time on
my hands. I had my phone mounted to my camera walking around turned on
because I'm kind of tracking the score for the first little bit of this Winnipeg
Hamilton game. And then I'm like, what the heck is going on.
You know, I turned it on. I guess we'll get to that game,
you know, in full. But but it had so many ramifications leading
into this BC game. Jason, did you think that the BC was going
to take advantage of kind of the Winnipeg loss. I mean, it really
did seem my kind of a weird outing for BC. Yeah. I mean
they just kind of, you know, saved their chance there. I think,
uh, what do you call it? Like, you know, it
didn't look like they were going to take advantage of that until those final few
minutes where Audible really just gave the game away to BC to give the BC
credit as well. But I mean, at the same time, it looked
like the Lions did their best to try to give this game away through three
quarters, and then ultimately they turned it on in the fourth and h B
scored. BC scored twenty three. You see that right down the screen,
twenty three fourth quarter points. Yeah, you're not gonna win many games if
you're oddwa if you do that. Yeah, Vernon, here a little bit
of a messy game three and three. Evan, Like I said, I
started watching this game after the Winnipeg literally turned it off kind of in disgust
and then had it back onto the bar kind of seeing that, you know,
the final three and a half four minutes and that when did you make
of this game overall? Yeah? Well, you know, very rarely do
I turn off a game, you know early. I always like to ride
things out, you know, stick it through. But I just had a
gut feeling this game was over when Ottawa had that picks six. I think
Vernon, if I remember correctly, had an interception and then I think you
threw another one and ended up being a pick six. And after that,
I was just like, you know what, I think this game's over.
And usually I'm right. Usually I whenever I turn a game off that feels
two out of reach, I have been correct in the team who was leading
wins. But this was a rare exception where BC just had some sort of
fire in the fourth quarter and they said, you know what, Hamilton,
you know, blessed us in a way with their you know win over Winnipeg,
and now we're in a position here to to really you know, make
things interesting late with the standings. So they really took advantage of that,
you know, and hats off to BC, you know, forgetting it done.
At the end. But I think really that the main storyline coming from
this game is it's another Ottawa collapse. We've seen this happen so many times
where they just can't finish, you know, and it's unfortunate. Bob Dice,
you know, who's a coach, been in the CFL for a long
time, somebody that I very much respect. But you just can't have that,
you know, you you just can't do that. And a loss like
that is a loss that will you know, it can cost you a job.
You know that that's a real red flag, I guess you would say
on the resume or on the slate. And it's not the first time that
you know, something like this has happened to Ottawa, but this was definitely,
I guess one of the ones that happened in more dramatic fashion. I
think we can all agree, uh, you know, BC pulling this out.
I don't know what the odds are, you know, I don't know
what the percentage was, you know, after Ottawa went up whatever it was
thirty seven to twenty or something. I don't know what the you know,
odds were that they were gonna win, but I have to imagine they were
pretty damn high. And you know, I was honestly stunned when you know,
I was. I had turned the game off by that point, I
was watching you know, college football by then I'd put on another game,
and you know, I was talking to Andy and he was like, yeah,
man, like BC's right back in it. You know, like they
the decision again, and this is not the first time there's been a specific
questionable coaching decision decision. Sorry, I can't speak today on behalf of Ottawa
and their coaching staff where they you know, they kicked that field goal the
fifty yard or I think it was, and you know, kicker misses and
then the ball is you know, returned all the way back for a touchdown
and is a coach. That's kind of like the ultimate face palm moment,
you know, And that was what, really, more than anything, spearheaded
the BC comeback. I think that was the point in the game where everybody
knew like, Okay, there really is a chance now, and ultimately they
went on to win it with the lucky Jackson are not lucky Jackson, lucky
whitehead excuse me, touchdown, you know, and that was that so very
surprising game. Definitely, I think more disappointing for Ottawa. You know,
if you're BC, you know, great comeback win, but you know that
the game shouldn't have been that close and you definitely escaped with one. But
yeah, honestly, I was just I was amazed that they were really able
to pull that off. And it says a lot about you know that that
teams I think, you know, culture and ability to win in tight moments.
BC has been you know, criticized more on the road, I guess
than at home this year when it comes to you know, certain games where
they just seem out of here character, you know, when you're not really
sure what to make of him. But I still believe this team, you
know, can't go to the Great Cup, and this game proved it to
me with the way that they played at the end. Yeah, I have
a couple of questions and obviously, like you know, my manute minute recollection
of all of this game is a little cached right now, especially after the
weekend and working then whatever, But you know, to have a couple of
like big picture of things, because the two takeaways from this was it really
feels like this is the first time that people are calling for Bob Dyce's head
here. You know it's calling, and like he's in the hot seat and
we've had discussions on here, and you know, he came in last year
and you've got no Missoli and you know he's trying to ripe the ship and
people gave him a lot of credit. I interviewed him in the off season
and the CFL media day and even this year, you're like, okay,
well you're you know, you're fighting through everything and you're losing Missoli and Arbuckle
didn't work out and Tyree Adams right in my right and that didn't work out.
Now we're onto this, uh this play. You know, Bob Dice
was a special teams coach, Like you know that that is kind of the
first one of this. But Jason, like are you It feels like the
tide has has shifted here where people now are kind of Antibob dies am I
missing? Was this before now? Or is this really where it's sorry to
come out? I think yeah, I think now there's starting to be some
heat under Bob DICE's seat in Ottawa. But I think the thing is when
you look at this, in the struggles that the Red Blacks have had,
they've had multiple general meagers, multiple head coaches, multiple starting quarterbacks during this
four year period where they've been just so bad. I mean, without being
that twenty two game home losing shriek, we would have been talking about Ottawa
since the beginning of this season and just you know the seasons struggle pad and
I mean does epic fails this season and failing to close games. They've been
a very competitive team for a lot of this season. But I think at
the end of the day, you know the game I went to Montreal and
Ottawa they had eleven point lead with four minutes left. They blew that one.
This one, There've been other games they've been in that they haven't been
able to clothes out as well. So they could have a much better record
than they have right now. And I mean, obviously they've had some bad
luck with the quarterback injuries, but you can look around the rest of the
league and say a lot of other teams have had bad luck as well.
So yeah, I think the Red Blacks the hot seat is heating up for
Bob Dice Jas. Let's see if your internet's peaky just a little bit.
Let's see if it catches up here, Evan, because That's that's the thing.
Like we deal a lot with this, and I especially like the USFL
or Well US and L and XFL. But you had a lot of like
Trull Buckley this last season, like, hey man, I had to build
a team from scratch, Like it was really hard. And you're like,
yeah, so I did every other head coach, Like this is not a
unique problem. And like Jason said, that's a great point. Obviously,
Ottaway has had the injury bug, especially at quarterback, but you know,
other teams have been able to navigate that. Evan, are you thoughts on
Bob Dyce? I know you said high on him, but do you feel
like kind of the walls are closing in on him a little bit? I
do, you know. And it's more because Ottawa has just struggled so much.
I feel like, you know, people might not be calling for his
head as much if Ottawa wasn't going through such an extended rebuilding period and maybe
had they won more before, you know, we wouldn't be sitting here right
now talking about his job being at risk. But again, football is a
winning business, you know, and that goes without saying. And Ottawa has
had their fair share of controversy to say the least, not just this season,
but over the past couple of seasons really, you know, since they've
returned again from that COVID year, there's just every year it just kind of
feels like a disappointment and I can't imagine. You know, I have again
a lot of respect for everybody in that building. I know they're all great
people, but when you don't win games, it's just harder to have a
happy atmosphere. And Ottawa, you know, again, there was a point
this season where everyone was really high on Ottawa. It looked like they could
go to the playoffs. You know, they could stunt everybody. That the
crumb sanity that we always talk about. Now all that is long gone,
you know, now it's back to I might have said it on the show
last week, but it's just kind of like you already feel like, you
know, you're getting ready for twenty twenty four. Yes, there's still a
couple of weeks to play in this season, but it almost feels like,
you know, the white flag has been waived. And that was really what
I felt like when I watched this game. You know, it was like
such a winnable moment. I mean, for a team like that to go
on the road and win against one of the top teams in your league,
that's not you know, in your division, is a really big deal.
You know that that was going to be a monumental win for Ottawa, And
to be honest, had they did pull that off and BC just kind of
stagnated in the fourth quarter, I would probably be, uh, you know,
talking about a completely different thing right now, I'd probably be saying,
you know what, Ottawa still has some firepower in them. You know that
they still have a drive and a motive, and I understand it. There's
good players there, you know, but right now, it just it feels
like there's still pieces missing to that puzzle. And I don't know, I
don't know if changes the right answer, because they've already had so much change,
and you know, you can only change a team around so much before
it just becomes a mess and it might not necessarily improve the same situation.
So we'll see what happens. You know, definitely a team to watch,
and again one of these teams where I'm really interested to see what they do
in the off season, particularly with you know, free agency and again,
you know, possible coaching changes. Who knows what happens with the front office.
There's a lot that goes on there when you don't win. But you
know, I agree the excuses, I think a kind of running out.
Yes, you know, you had a difficult season, You've lost some people
that you thought were going to, you know, turn things around. But
as a football team, you're supposed to win. You know, you're supposed
to find ways to win, and other teams have been able to do that.
I mean, you look at Hamilton. There was a point in this
season where it looked like they were going to throw in the towel as well
and just kind of move on in twenty twenty four. But I'll talk I'll
talk more about them later, but ultimately because again I've always thought that they
had better personnel and some better experience, Like they still have a lot of
concrete pieces there from the times that they were in the Great Cup, they
still had an opportunity to turn that around. And now it looks like they're
a playoff team. You know, they're coming off a huge win this weekend
against winnip You know, I thought that that was one of Hamilton's best games
of the season. And again we'll get into that in a minute, but
just bringing it back to Ottawa, it's you know, I understand things are
tough, but you know, football's a winning business and the CFL season,
in my opinion, is long enough to where you should be able to turn
it around if you are struggling, and unfortunately they have not been able to
do that so far. Yeah, I said, I like the I like
the Bob hiring. I know that there was a lot of you know,
he came in, and I like the idea of, you know, the
guy that was elevated that's kind of been able to write the ship as much
as they can during the season to get a full shot kind of the next
year. Okay, let's let's do that. Let's not hire in. I
saw a criticism and oh, you know, Bob Dice is a lazy choice
or that, but I don't know. I mean, I think you got
to give him this season. I think, like we said, he's had
a lot of different adversities to work through. My other question and we'll go,
Jason will see if how you're internet is or else, we can figure
that out. You know, the BC finally wake up here because I feel
like we've kind of been in the fog for about a month, and I
would just like it kind of felt like maybe they finally got their heading gear
and like, oh we are you know, because this was a gift.
You know, Winnipeg locy was a gift. Okay, let's get with you
know, at least get one be able to get one game on them.
You know, I'm watching the Mariners right now in the Al West, and
you know, you're hoping when the other team loses that you're going to be
able to capitalize that. I was very afraid that, Like I said,
I think the optics and now three and ten team be a beating you at
home, this unbeatable defense and doing that boys and Ryan Phillips and all that.
I think the publicity around that would have been quite bad. Do you
think BC finally woke up here there's such a weird team, because I think
they're a team that's capable, you know, beating any team in this league.
We saw them going in to Peg win convincingly. But they're also a
team that's capable, like god, you know what we saw this past weekend
a couple of weeks ago against Hamilton losing to any team in the league.
So I think at the end of the day, you know, BC,
They're just a strange game to try to figure out because they're never truly out
of a game, because they are capable of making a lot of big plays.
I mean, like Justin mckinnis had a massive game and this one he's
really like their fifth or sixth best receiver when all their guys are healthy,
and I mean, it really just shows you the depth of off fence.
And I mean, if Vernon Adams can avoid the turnovers that he had in
this one, because I think that's the only thing that really kept this game
close and really gave Audible that lead. So I think at the end of
the day, if Vernon could avoid those turnovers which have plagued this season this
year, I think this team is right in the thick of things up to
get first place in the West. And I mean that's a huge game up
in a few weeks. Evan, it has BC like, do we just
not run the ball anymore? Here? Like if we just completely like if
we traded James Butler, like Vernon, we just throw it all over we
as long as he gets three hundre yards like we got Mizzelle here thirteen yards
rushing I mean Vernon scrambling. This isn't see to be looking at the stat
line. Well, you know, it's a couple of things. I mean,
I think losing James Butler in the offseason has proven to be a very
significant loss given what he's been able to do in Hamilton. And he's really
you know, carried a large person that offense throughout the season, or at
least up until you know, Taylor Powell has found his stride. But you
know, I think this game, uh, it was a bit different.
You know, typically when you're playing down that late in the game, you're
not going to be running the ball that much. You're going to rely on
the pass game and throw it more. You see this really in any you
know, level of football, whether it's NFL, college, anything like that.
So you know, it doesn't surprise me, especially because you know BC
has again, I mean, you know, their entire offense I feel like
has been a past first system for this entire season. You can't not throw
it given the receivers they have, you know, key On Hatcher, Alex
Hollins, all of our favorites. So yeah, I mean, you know,
you could maybe argue that Mizell should be getting a bit more work,
but in this game in particular, I just feel like, you know,
there was no point in running the ball, you know, when you're down.
You know, however, many points of seventeen or whatever, you know,
going into the fourth quarter. So it's something that's uff for debate,
but personally, I feel like, you know, they're fine doing what they're
doing, and obviously they were able to win the game, you know,
just kind of throwing it and then having that boost on special teams with the
return touchdown. I think that was all the funny tweets I had for this
Farhan was on the call. He you know, good for him and being
able to you know, be their live and call that. You know,
the nineteen point fourth quarter comeback the largest in BC Alliance history. Jason,
anything else on this one because I want to deep dive this Hamilton Winnipeg situation.
Anything else from you? H No, I think let's move on to
the next game. Okay, so we had here. Let me get out
of this all recent Like I said, I'm I'm filming the old folks get
together here listening to the Hamilton because I'm like texting the group chat, like
what the heck is going on. I'm tracking the score. I got my
my selfat score with ever going on here? You know, Winnipeg following to
Hamilton. Jason, were you at this game? And what was this like?
Unfortunately I had something to attend to that day, so I had to
watch it on TV. But I mean I was just as happy watching it
on TV as I would have been if I was there, because, I
mean, one of performance from the tie Cats totally unexpected. I mean,
something weird about Winnipeg playing in Hamilton's Zach Calaris is actually the last tie Cats
quarterback to lose to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at all. That's been quite a
long time since Claire's played for the tie Cats, So I mean, just
something weird happens when Winnipeg travels to Hamilton. But as a fan, I'll
take it a three. Evan, what did you make of this one?
Jason, Let's see if we can get you logged off and log back in
here. Evan, Like I said, kind of, I just couldn't leave
this. I turned this on. It didn't you know? To me,
Winnipeg always kind of feels like, Okay, we can work our way way
back. We can work our way back. It really felt like this leads
to a safe even if the score was a little closer the end. Yeah,
this game was a surprise and I watched the full thing, and the
entire time I just kept telling myself, Winnipeg will find a way. You
know, they're gonna find a way. They're a winning team. This is
not a game that they can lose. It just didn't seem like, I
don't want to say, it didn't seem like a losable game for them.
But again, we've seen what they're capable of doing. They're one of those
teams where every time you think that they're gonna let something happen, they don't.
They come right back in it. There's a big play and they kind
of pull through. But Hamilton just kept going, you know, they kept
you know, finding things. I thought one of the most interesting plays that
game was I think it was a miss. It wasn't a missfield goal,
it was a missed extra point, and Entyreet mccaaluister returned it all the way
back for two points. I thought that was a very I guess you could
say pivotal play in the game, even though it was only worth two points
as opposed to six, But you know, things like that. Really just
you know, I feel like it was the little things in this game that
you know, killed Winnipeg in the long run. And I wouldn't say it
was an outstanding performance by Hamilton. I feel like it was you know,
I mean, obviously they didn't enough to win, but I don't feel like
it was anything. You know, it wasn't a blow your socks off type
of game. I mean, yes, they beat Winnipeg. Obviously that's a
big deal given you know, Winnipeg's past, and I think there is a
bit of maybe bad blood between those teams, given the two Gray Cups,
and I'm sure Hamilton is that they definitely feel probably disrespected, you know,
considering that Winnipeg beat them twice in the Gray Cup, and again one of
them was at home, so that makes it you know, that's a whole
nother thing. But yeah, you know, I was impressed by Hamilton and
this one and the fact that they were able to win this type of game
further proves my point that I made several weeks ago about how I thought that
this was going to be this surprise playoff team, because again, it all
comes down to you know, experience, and again I mean, I think
it goes without saying Hamilton's roster. While they might not have performed well at
all points throughout the season, it's been very up and down. I feel
like they just have so many different dynamic playmakers like they have on paper,
one of the stronger rosters in the league. And again that's why I still
viewed them as one of the top teams going into this season. There were
a couple, you know, things to be concerned about, and I think
some of those issues were amplified throughout the season. But Hamilton's rolling right now.
You know, I feel like they're in a really good spot. I
feel like they're confident and you know, maybe they maybe there's some chance some
way, And I'm not saying this is gonna happen, but hey, you
know, Gray Cup's gonna be in Hamilton. We're all gonna be there.
It would be really cool to see that team at home and the Gray Cup.
Again. I know Jason for one, would would probably enjoy that.
But again, there's no guarantees. You know, again, I'm not gonna
I'm not gonna make any predictions like that, but ultimately, I like what
they're doing right now, and you know, I want to say this was
the most surprising game of the week, but I think the next game that
we're gonna get to Saskatchewan Edmonton might have surprised me a bit more. Yeah,
I love this, And you know, if if Taylor Powell gets the
High Cats here to the playoffs, And it was kind of the same thing
where we had Air and Rogers go down for the Jets and everyone's like,
well, you know if they make it to the playoffs, like you know,
Air Wilson's gin. It's like if Zach Wilson gets the Jets to the
playoffs, like Zach Wilson's probably going to be played in the playoffs, Like
if you know, if by God's will Taylor Powell here you know, gets
the tie Cats saying like I don't know how you bring real rusty ass of
bow back after eighteen whatever weeks, like a right bo get in here,
Like, Jason, what did you make of this? Because you know,
Taylor Prowl had a pretty pedestrian game here. I mean, all things consider,
obviously Winnipeg and the interceptions they're d really taking over. We talked about
the miss field goal or the miss extra point that for you know, first
of my godly reason, there's only two points going the other way, which
I don't understand. What did you make? What did you attribute Hamilton's victory
too well? I think there's certain things and elements of this tie Cats team
that are coming together over the last month or so, the connection and chemistry
between Taylor Powell and Tim White. Tim White over the last month has been
arguably the best receiver in the CFL. We saw that last year where he
had a slow first half of the season and really turned it on. So
that's good to see. I think they've had a commitment to the run that
they have not shown over the last several years. You know, when they
had Tommy Condell as the offensive coordinator, They've really committed to the run and
James Butler. Even though James Butler I think average under four yards per gary
in this one, they committed to him, gave him like twenty two carries.
I think it was, so that's good to see. I think,
you know, they had really good commitment to stopping the run in this one.
Brady olivera who was really just chewing everybody up in the running game throughout
this season, has you was kind of shut down in this one, So
that was really good to see from the tie Cats. I think there's elements
of this team that have improved steadily the last several weeks, and you know,
they're peaking at the right time. And the Tiecats, it's worth noting
they've always kind of been a second half of the season type of team.
I think there was one year where they were like one and seven and they
finished nine and nine. I forget what year exactly that was sometime in the
last ten years, but they've been a second half of the season type of
team before. So baby, I shouldn't be surprised, but given how Polly
the first half of this season went, I definitely was not expecting this,
especially the victories against Winnipeg and BC a couple of weeks ago. Well,
I mean, and I know that like never I'm just looking at the standing
jail, like if you had told me that it's a three game swinging between
the tie Cat season and the and the VC Lion season, Like I feel
like Hamilton's and we we're poo pooing every week and though you know, the
end of the world and welfare checks on Jason, and then you look here
like VC's got three more wins, Like it's like it's really not that big.
I mean, all things considered here and I know the divisions and all
of that they're playing, but it does feel interesting. I had a tweet
here a friend of the show, Rod Peterson, who just I guess Plug
will be on the Rod Show this Friday, coming up talking and I gotta
get the XFL guy on again. We got XFL news. But Rod is
staying the good times are over for the Bombers. I like this hashhake for
the l Evan Like, you know, Bombers, this has been the least
dominant season we've lived through them. And I mean, obviously they're still kicking
the crowd out of many teams, but I kind of a different world.
What do you make in the Winnipeg Well, I don't know if the good
times are over, you know, I think once we get to the playoffs,
we might see a different level of aggression from this team. And hell,
I mean we've we've already seen a good chunk of aggression from them at
times this season. I mean, look at the I guess it was Banjo
Bull against Saskatchewan, you know, fifty one to six, Like they came
out there and you know, destroyed that team. We all know that they're
still capable of doing that, but there has been several times this season where
Winnipeg has looked you know, I guess you would say uncharacteristic. I don't
think they're as complete as they were on the previous you know, great Cup
runs. And again doesn't mean they're a bad team. I still feel like
they could easily, you know, go back and we might be seeing them
in November in Hamilton. I don't think that's out of the question at all.
But it's you know, they have lost a couple of games where you
do scratch your head and you wonder, like, you know, will they
let this happen when it really matters. You could say that about a couple
other teams too, like BC I think will be even more interesting when it
comes time for playoffs. But yeah, I mean Winnipeg right now, you
know, I feel like that there's still some questions and you know again that
there's there's no denying. There's never there's no denying. Like you're gonna get
some people that say, well, the dynasty's over. You know, Toronto
will win again, and you know that that's very I I feel like if
Toronto does win this Great Cup, you know, if you're Winnipeg, you
do have some bigger questions to answer in the offseason than maybe you anticipated.
But right now, I know they've had a couple of losses, and I
know this game again was a surprise to a lot of people. But you
know it's not. It's not the end of the world, right Like it
was just it was one of those days. And as Jason pointed out before,
when Winnipeg travels to Hamilton, it seems that weird things just happened,
you know, and specifically for Calaros, I think weird things happen too.
So I don't know. I you know that that can be debated, but
me personally, I think Winnipeg is gonna be fine. I feel like I
kind of have like a trust factor here, and you know, I feel
like if if the Toronto Argonauts were a person, I have ultimate trust,
Like you can watch my house while we're out of town, you know,
take care of our dogs. Like I have total faith in that year ten
out of ten, Winnipeg is right there. Like I have zero faith in
the BC Lions right now, Like I wouldn't you know, I would pay
the BC Lions to stay away. I have zero trust in them. Uh,
but you know, just like I just feel like we're last year Winnipeg,
there was just so many more like this is a guaranteed win, and
the games that Winnipeg has dropped has been kind of surprised in this year.
Jason, what do you think, what is your trust factor of Winnipeg here?
Well, I do still trust them because I think a weird thing that
I've realized what I looked at there. Like, you know, the last
couple of years, they've played worse against the East than they have against the
West. It seems like they really bring it. With the exception of the
Labor Day game this year and that a game earlier this year against BC,
you know, they've been pretty dominant against West Division opponents, which are ultimately
the ones you're gonna have to go through to get to the Great Cups.
So I feel pretty confident. If BC and Winnipeg play in the playoffs this
year, I would probably be taking Winnipeg. Even if maybe it was in
BC place, I probably would still go with Winnipeg. But I think at
the end of the day, you know, there are some cracks in this
team. That have not been shown over the past couple of years. You
know, they're giving up a lot of big plays on defense. They've had
some pretty poor performances on defense this year that we haven't seen the last couple
of years, So I mean that's concerning from that perspective. Zach Clariss has
I believeteen or fifteen interceptions on the year, so that's pretty high. Had
three of them in this one that was really huge for the Tycats and getting
to win. So I think there definitely are some issues with the Bombers this
year that we haven't seen in the past. But I think, you know,
there's still one of the teams that, you know, I would just
put them right behind Toronto right now as the second best team in the league.
Still. Yeah, spoiler alert. Like whatever a home field advantage BC
has, like being inside in the dove whatever, it's like pretty beneficial on
the boat. I think Winnipeg's home field advantage. I'm like, we're used
to playing in the frozen tundra and you're not, like our water bottles are
frozen on the side of the sidelines, Like I think that, you know,
even if it was at BC plays like I don't I think it's a
Washington. I think Winnebeg has a home field advantage. I think anyone kind
of comes in there. Evan other thoughts on this? I had a you
know, where was my tweet here about you know, Sergio Castillo missing again.
He's a friend of the show, been on right former, he was
in the XFL and you know Chris and Mark Leggio is real. Then letting
him go. I'll be curious. I have Derek Taylor, a voice of
the Bombers, coming on this week on the BI, curious to get his
thoughts. I kind of discollapse that. Evan, any other thoughts on this
and anything else on the game, I don't think so. I'm really interested
to talk about this next game between Edmonton and Saskatchewan. Had a lot of
takeaways from that one. All right, Jason, anything else from me,
we'll go on. Oh yeah, let's move on. All right. So
we have here Evan chomping at the bit to talk Edmonton Elks. This is
Scatchean rough Riders. This has to be at least the most point to Edmonton's
put on the entire season. I'll give Evan the four here. You seem
excited for this one. Yeah, Well, you know, I'm excited for
this one because you know, I've started to notice something that I think is
really positive for Edmonton and I haven't pointed it out on the show yet,
but we talked at the top of the show about, you know, how
Ottawa has been unable to close games. You know, Edmonton now has had
a couple big fourth quarter rallies, and I feel like in this one it
really stood out, you know, just I you know, Edmonton now,
I think I projected them, you know, having maybe three wins this season,
and with this game, they were able to surpass that. And you
know, keep in mind there's still you know whatever five six weeks left in
the season, so they could very well win a couple more. I haven't
looked at their schedule, haven't looked that far forward yet, but there were
a lot of positives in this game from the Edmonton side of things. And
the other really big takeaway on that side of the ball for the Elks that
I had, you know, Kevin brown Man, he has really become the
saving grace for this season. We've talked about Trey Forward at nauseum. You
know, We've talked about Gino Lewis you know, and what he was hoping
to bring to that team, you know, being one of the top receivers
in the league. But Kevin Brown has absolutely exploded. And if I'm not
mistaken, I believe he's second in the CFL and rushing yards right now behind
Brady olivera in Winnipeg. So yeah, Kevin Brown, man, hats off
to you. It's, you know, what a fun player to watch and
really someone who you know has been leading i'd say the offense. I mean,
he had more rushing yards than Trey Ford had passing yards in this game.
And now I just you know, I feel like I've been watching him
the past couple of weeks and you know, he's doing all these really good
things, but we haven't been given him enough credit. Maybe it's because it's
Edmonton. You know, it's not necessarily a winning team. We're still focused
on some of the drama and struggles that they've had before. They've been able
to win a couple of games year in the second half of the season,
but a lot of improvement, you know, a lot of improvement across the
board, and Edmonton you know, continues to impress, which is not something
I thought I would be saying, especially after all the mid season you know
shift between Victor Quee, I thought, you know, they still might not
be at a point where they're winning right now. But fortunately they've been able
to turn some things around again under the guidance of Trey Ford. And that
continued against Saskatchewan in Regina, which was really surprising to me. I thought
that Saskatchewan would would win that game, and they do it, you know,
by a decent margin, but I guess not, you know, and
Saskatchewan now, you know that they're I don't want to say they're on a
bit of a slump, but you know that whole ever since you know that
Banjo Bull loss where they got decimated by Winnipeg, I feel like they're still
recovering from that a bit. And you know, they didn't play poorly in
this game. There was a lot, uh you know about this game that
I thought, you know, things things still looked all right. Really.
One of my main takeaways too, not necessarily about this game, but about
Saskatchewan is there was something brought up on the TSN broadcast. I forget which
game it was, but it was about you know, looking at you know,
quarterbacks for next year. Uh you know what some of the top options
might be. And you know, Drew Brown was brought up in Winnipeg.
Obviously he's played a bit this season and in place of Zach Colaros. But
the guy that I can't stop thinking about here is Jake Dela Galla and the
impression that he's made over the past couple of weeks. You know, obviously
Mason Fine gets hurt. You're going to Dela Galla. No one's really sure
what's gonna happen. He's kind of an unproven guy, but he's coming and
he's been really impressive, you know, a week after week and even in
this loss, still had three touchdown passes. You know, I really wonder
because I think Trevor Harris will come back to Saskatchewan next year, and that
kind of, you know, begs the question, you know, is Jake
Dela Galla gonna stay and take that reserve role behind a veteran guy, or
you know, is he ready now to kind of you know, go on
to another team, find a new opportunity and you know, start for a
quarterback needy team, wherever that may be. Obviously, I think there'll be
a couple of teams that you know, could be in that position if they
don't feel confident about who's there now. So I feel like jackdol Gala could
definitely challenge a couple guys at this point, and he'll be an interesting name
to watch going forward into twenty twenty four. You're talking here, you know
Edmonton, and he said, all you know, looking at their schedule ahead
and whatever, I'll tell you next week BC at Edmonton, I would not
be surprised at all of Edmonton beats BC atoll. I'm like, at all,
Like I completely think responsible Jason thoughts on that BC here going into Edmonton,
I I gu said, my faith on BC is about a negative point
five. Yeah, I think the way with that Edmonton is playing right now,
they could beat almost any team in the CFL. I mean they have
such you know, unique formula right now in terms, you know, running
the ball. They're averaging almost two hundred yards games since pray Board took over
as the starting quarterback, which are basically just like video game or college football
like numbers, and that's just really impressive. And I mean it's hard to
consistently win like that in the CFL. Right now, it's working, and
I mean it comes to the Elks in their hopes of making the playoffs.
I mean, I just don't see a way that they get in because of
that tiebreaker that they lost to Saskatch One. I think back to that twelve
to eleven game earlier this season with the one you know, with that game,
the way that Edmonton tiebreaker. Right now in one game behind Saskatch one.
So I mean, if they just had one less loss right now,
they'd be riding the thick of things. But I think ten losses, it's
just a little bit too far behind to catch up unless they somehow run the
table here. Yeah, I you know, playoffs or not. I still
they're gonna make I've really messy here. And I mean I'll tell you I'm
tracking the Mariners here, and you know we you know, at the time,
I think we were in second in the division going in the key Kansas
City. Who is he bounces between the worst or the second the worst team
in the in the you know the league. Uh. I mean they ran
us the extra Indians every night, and maybe you know, hey, like
we we love playing spoiler here and you know, we're still professionals and we
got a lot to do. Like I just like if I'm BC, you
cannot go into that game sleep blocking here at this point, like we need
to keep up whatever was was found in this comeback. Yeah, who would
have thought, like the comeback victory against the Ottawa and Dustin Crumb like united
you can you need to kind of keep that going. Evan similar I questioned
you about else here against BC as as we're looking forward, Well, you
know, you can't rule it out. I would say maybe it's upset alert,
especially you know after that again tremendously close game the BC played against you
know, Ottawa. I do feel like BC is a bit overconfident sometimes and
I think that's been the reason to blame on a lot of their losses this
season. And I know you've brought up read like Rick Campbell, the way
that he kind of goes about him self and and sort of handling you know,
the team in those situations where they lose a lot of it. I
know you said, uh, you know, talking about like move on to
the next game or whatever, and you want them to sort of reflect on
things and think about it. But I don't know, I feel like,
you know, we don't need that much negativity, right, Like you need
to think about it to think about it. Hey, man, I get
it. Look, I understand, you know, there are some frustrations in
BC. You know, is far from perfect. They definitely have slowed down
a bit, I think, in the second half of the season compared to
their hot start. But I will say, you know, BC, again,
despite everything that's gone on with them, I still feel like they are
an extremely strong team. And again, it's one of those situations where you
look at experience and personnel and the combination of those two. I feel like
BC if they do lose this game against Edmonton, which I'm not going to
rule it out, I feel like there's a chance for anything to happen.
If they were to lose that game to Edmonton, I would start to question
some of the things I have said. But I think for now, I
think for now, yes, even with the Ottawa game, even with a
couple of games before that that we're really close and we're you know, what
you could call an excusable losses, I still feel like this team is in
a prime position to go into Edmonton and hey, maybe go beat them by
thirty. You know who knows? Right, Like Edmonton as much credit as
we've given them, you know, I don't think it's going to take much
to find their weak spot or their soft spot, and you know, then
they could just go back to the way things have been or the way things
were at the beginning of the season. So you know, it goes both
ways, right, And I feel like every game, you know, there's
no guarantees, especially in a league like this where you know, teams are
meeting each other so many times during the season and it's so long. I
mean, you have an opportunity, you know, to really beat everybody.
It's not like the NFL, where you know you're not playing every team,
uh, you know, every season, So you know that that's something to
keep in mind. I think, you know, I understand, you know,
there is some worry about BC, and again they're another team where if
they don't get it done this here, you know, do you think about
maybe making some significant adjustments. I mean mean personally, I like what they
have. I don't think you change anything even if they do, you know,
if they don't advance to the Great Cup this year, but you certainly
have to consider it. Right, They've been so so close now for what
feels like a while, and you just watch them this season and there's times
where you think they can do it, and there's other times where you feel
like they're still right at the edge, and you know if they if there's
one little thing that goes off, then then maybe that could just derail things.
Because I will say one of the things with BC two my last point
about this, which is a bit random, but I'll point it out anyway,
Like I noticed this against Ottawa and it happened like in the Toronto game
too. You know that was a long time ago now, but you know,
BC, at least on offense, like or especially with Vernon, it
seems like sometimes you know, they make a mistake and then they just can't
really get over it. You know, Vernon, it's like if he throws
an interception, well you're know he's gonna throw two more after that, because
I think he sometimes struggles to get over that hurdle and whether that's just you
know, just mental or just not you know, recognizing the certain things,
not moving off to play quick enough and you know, making decisions because your
mind's note in the right place. Like I don't know, I'm not in
his head. And again he's still a very good quarterback. That's nothing against
Vernon. I just think. You know, that's something that I've noticed in
a couple of games where BC's lost, where it's like they have one little
mistake where you know it's not gonna end the game or anything, and you
can easily move off that, get the ball back, go score a touchdown.
But then suddenly everyone goes in the panic mode and it's like, okay,
like we have to start making all these adjustments, and I'm like,
you just gotta, you know, keep it together, stay collected. I
think if they, you know, just stayed true to that a bit and
kind of road things out, you know, like I've seen other teams where
it's like they make a mistake, but then they just, you know,
they don't they just keep going, you know, they don't think about that,
and it takes them a bit of times, you know, get back
into things. But those teams, you know what, we'll find ways to
make a game competitive, and even if they don't always win, you know,
those are still some of the better teams in the league. So I
know that's a lot. I know that's a bit of a tangent and definitely
some weird niches in there everything that I've just explained, But I feel like
That's all important, you know, because BC is one of these teams where
people are really eager to see what happens. And uh, they're again like,
you know, they're one of the best in the CFL. But are
they Winnipeg good? Are they Toronto good? We don't know, you know,
we gotta we gotta figure that out. So we'll see two questions here.
I'll ask Jason kind of back to back and I hate you know,
and then we're talking a lot of BC. But you know, we're kind
of midweek here and we're you know, we'll hit the last game and we'll
get out of here. You know, I was talking with obviously, we
had some of the BC social team down here last week. I'm going to
the Mariner game and we're talking and you know, I can't wait for Great
Cup next year and oh my god, it's going to be so exciting and
whatever, and like I just I, you know, every team kind of
has a window right that they're going to win them. You know, I
know a Buffalo Bills right is is you know your NFL team, I think,
and like very yeah there, I mean, their their window is very
shrinking right now, and they're their win that might have already shrunk, but
like, yeah, you have the work thing and then you have Vernon.
Like it's not like Vernon's the problem, right, It's not like the receivers
of the problem, like the defense some of the time, Like what do
you attribute Like if they don't make it this year, what do they do
going in the next year, like to be in to host like the game
is going to be there? Like I just I don't know how you extend
this window more than what they're doing, except just Winnipeg is that much better.
I think that the running game is a big, you know, separating
factor from them in Winnipeg. I think, you know, BC's I think
the worst team in terms of running the ball this year. I guess that
Winnipeg is number one or right up there as the number one team running the
balls. That's a massive problem between these two teams, especially if BC has
to go on the road in the playoffs to Winnipeg. That's just an element
that's completely missing from their game. I think as much as the CFL is
a passing league, I think you still do need to have that change up
element. And I mean, maybe you bring back James Butler. We're pretty
happy with him in Hamilton, but I think, you know, you know,
a guy like him, they really missing from this offense, and I
think, you know, that's something that BC just doesn't have right now.
And I mean I feel like, you know, sometimes they're just not you
know, awaked. A lot of these games there, they kind of played
down to their opponents. So I mean, it's gonna be very interesting to
see how they their season shakes out, because I think, excuse me,
I think that you know, they're right in the thick of it. They
easily could make the Gray Cup this season, but I also could see them,
you know, getting blown out in the West Final. I think the
variance with them is very high. Like I just don't, you know,
I get that, like they're sleep blocking, you know, they're kind of
I'm like, well, I don't know what else you're wanting to do at
this point. Like I feel like, you know, you're in the CFL
and like, you know, the money's fine and it's not great, and
we've had all, you know, the discussions that you know, axebl and
lot football, like you're there, like I always want to kick ass and
take names, and like, I just don't understand some of these weeks,
Like you said, they show up and like I feel like I'm sitting there
and you know, I'm throwing my remote through the TV and I'm more passionate
than it feels like. And I know that that's not the case, and
I'm given, you know, one percent of the effort that they're doing every
week. It just doesn't always translate it on the field that way. My
other question, Jason, then we'll get Evan's thoughts. You know, Chris
Jones, it was like fire. Chris Jones and I have this football database.
It's just kind of interesting, like if you look, you know,
olivera obviously, like twelve hundred yards, we got you know, tach On
miss l half the half the rushing yards you'll lead rusher here for BC.
People calling for Chris Jones's head earlier. I can't remember which guest I was
talking about on the podcast last week, but like, you know, Chris
Jones could be like coach of the year now with the turnaround, Like,
Jason, what do you make of that? And then we'll get Evan's thoughts,
like how Jones is doing now that we finally played tray forward. It's
so weird, Like I mean, as you said we had this conversation a
month ago. I'd be like everybody would have expected that Chris Jones would be
let go at the end of the season, but oddly in a I mean,
you know, the decision to not tray board for a long time could
be a reason to fire him, but also the fact that he drafted tray
Foard the first place showed that he had faith in him in the first place.
And I mean, I just don't know what was going on earlier this
year. I think they're, you know, a little bit you know,
committed to Cornelius because of that guaranteed portion of his contract next year. But
I think at the end of the day, you know, maybe with this
strong second half of the season, Chris Jones is going to be safe in
terms of his head coaching job here in Edmonton, because I mean, you
know, I think it's kind of going in the right direction now. They've
kind of found a formula on how to win and you're starting to see a
lot of these pieces come together, and I feel like they're gonna be a
very exciting team next year if we have the same nucleus together. Evans same
thoughts on that, and then we'll get to the last game. I mean,
Jones is like, you know, we're talking, we're gussion over Edmonton.
Here, we're a couple of weeks ago. Well, I guess like
a month ago now certainly wasn't the case. Yeah, you know, it's
it's mixed feelings. I mean, I think we've talked at NAGYM about you
know, Edmonton's turnaround and how staggering that this really is, you know,
in the second half of the season. I mean, it's two different teams,
you know. But the one thing that I can't get over, and
I'm not saying I'll say, well, I'll say this much. I think
Chris Jones job is safe now. I feel like at this point, you
know, it's just a lot easier to go into the offseason and build with
him knowing that you've now won a couple of games and there is actually something
there despite everything that happened earlier. But I just can't get over the fact
that for so long, you know, we said, like, you know,
the only thing that that team really needed to do was, you know,
get Cornelius out of the lineup and insert forward instead. And you know,
in the back of my mind, I always thought that there was maybe
a bit more than that, but there really wasn't you know. Once Trey
Forward came in, it was a completely different game. Again, it was
it was two different seasons, and it's just staggering to see, like it
was such a simple adjustment that wasn't made that early. And to be honest,
I mean, I think, you know, maybe we all agree here,
but had trey Ford started at the beginning of this season, Edmonton might
be, you know, competing for certain spots in the West. I mean
they might be up there, you know, winning big games on a weekly
basis, and they would have you know, they would have never even got
to that you know, home losing streak record or whatever, because they probably
could have just taken care of that earlier. Again, it's just such a
weird, such a weird kind of dynamic. And I think this is one
thing, regardless of you know, what happens to Edmonton here in the next
couple of weeks, this is one of the things that I will remember most
about the twenty twenty three CFL season was not having trey Ford play earlier.
Because again, like that's all it really took. They have not made any
major adjustments, Like yes, that there was a couple of things on the
coaching side, I suppose, but you know, like again I just can't
believe that. Like we were sitting there, you know, literally calling for
trey Ford's name, and then he started, and then it was like everything
was fixed. Everyone was happy again. And you know, I almost feel
bad for a guy like Vick your Qui, where the second he left the
organization everything started, you know, being great again. They won a home
game, you know, they won other games. Trey Ford was the talk
of the town in the CFL and still is to a great extent, one
of those players where it's a new highlight every week, and you know,
just to not you know, do that earlier and to possibly cost your team
a spot in the playoffs. I mean, I think there's going to be
people that, you know, go both directions when it comes to you know,
Chris Jones and where he stands, you know, like whether he should
be there next season or not. Again, I think he should be just
because, like you know, if you get rid of him, that removes
everything that you've built in the second half of this season. And I understand,
you know, it's been it's been difficult, right and you can't forget
what happened, you know, for all those games, you know that they
lost at the beginning of the season where it looked hopeless. You can't forget
about that. But you know, at the end of the day, like
if they, you know, get rid of Chris Jones, he wears so
many hats, Like who else are you going to bring in to replace all
that? I don't think they can afford word really, to go through another
rebuild. I mean, hell, it just seems like yesterday when you know
him Alizondo was the head coach, you know, and it was a completely
different team. But you know, to get rid of all that again,
I just don't think that's a good idea now that they've at least won a
couple of games. Was it didn't I have Stephen Dunbar on the podcast and
he was talking about like I love you know, I love Chris Jones,
and I love and the guys, because I say, like, was there
ever, you know, was there ever any doubt of any of that?
I will think, you know, it's kind of like the Elks winning once
Victor Qui left. It's kind of like if you're like maybe like dating someone
and it's kind of wrong and then you break up and then maybe you end
up getting a new job or you move on with your life and do something
good, Like was that you know, was that because of the past relationship
or was it in spite of the past relationship? Kind of curious where that
goes. Let's get into this last game, because then we're gonna we'll flip
the channel here, we'll start the new stream, we'll get on the XFL.
This probably at least surprising game, maybe just because it was close.
I mean, alolettes here really seemed to be on the slide. Jason thoughts
on this one. I mean Toronto comes in, takes care of business,
and moves out. Well, I would argue this is the worst game that
Toronto's played the entire season to this point. Yet they still were able to
claw their way back and win it at the end of this game. And
I mean both teams had a sloppy first half. It was pretty low scoring.
But you know, Montreal in particular, really got it going in the
third quarter of this game. They had I think a seven point lead.
Late in the fourth quarter, Toronto was able to tie it up. They
had a situation where they were third and three from their own eight yard line
and then Toronto went for it. They get a big pass interference call on
Demonte Coxie and that springboards the game tying drive, and then the next drive
when it's already when it's tied up at twenty, Bajardal throws a killer interception
and that leads to the game winning field goal for Toronto. But Montreal was
able to get the ball back with a little bit of time left, get
into field goal position and they get their field goal blocked on the last play.
So heartbreaker for the Alouettes. They let one slip away here, But
I think Toronto it really shows even if they're not playing well, they can
still win a lot of games in this league. Yeah, very reminiscent here.
Blatched field goal of a different, different Toronto black field goal player,
and it made a little bit more infamous when from my last year, the
great cap Evan what's wrong with my friend Kedy Frigar? Though I don't know,
you know, in this game, I'm not even a Montreal fan,
but my heart kind of sank when he threw that interception on that you know
what, that second to last drive. I watched that entire game and the
entire time I thought Montreal was gonna win. I said, this is their
chance. You know, Toronto they've won obviously, they win all the time,
you know, but that game, like it just felt like the opportunity.
You know, they've played Toronto, like this was the third time that
they played Toronto the season, and they had an opportunity to take down one
of the probably the best team in the CFL right now, arguably at home,
you know, in Montreal, in front of their great fan base,
and they couldn't do it, you know, and they were so close too,
that that's the part that just really hurts, Like it. I again,
I'm I'm not a Montreal fan. I'm not connected to that city in
any way. But with the second Fajardo, you know, through that pick,
which was a really bad pick by the way, you know, I
just it was kind of like a face palm. I'm like, and that's
your game. Yeah. I know, Montreal was able to get the ball
back and you know, obviously have an opportunity to tie. They weren't able
to do that with the field goal block, but it really felt like,
you know, Figardo was just gonna drive down the field right there and put
the game away with a touchdown and that was gonna be it. You know,
Toronto wasn't even gonna have a chance, you know, to do any
of that, and there wasn't gonna be need for overtime or anything. But
you know, it happens. It happens, and you know that. The
reality is it's just you know, I it's another week of you question you
know, Cody Fajardo and you know where he's at, and I mean,
I, you know again, I still think, you know, there's a
lot of promise there. He hasn't looked terrible this season. But again,
Montreal, for like what feels like the millionth time, is unable to beat
somebody, you know, superior to them. And I understand Toronto's a tough
task, but it was right there for the taking. It felt like Toronto
played so slowly that they were just giving Montreal these opportunities, and while they
took advantage of some of them, it wasn't enough, you know, And
that's all that really matters. At the end of the day. People are
just gonna look at the final score and think, oh, well, you
know, Montreal drops another one to a top opponent, and then we're right
back to our discussion last week about you know, where does this team stand
going into the playoffs and what is it going to look like them? Obviously
going into the next season, they've already kind of their big period of adjustment
happened last year. You know, they shifted a lot of things, including
ownership. So I think they're just gonna stick with what they have now.
But there's just gotta be some sort of mindset change, you know, some
I feel like this is a team, you know, a team that can't
beat people above them, that beats everybody below them, Like that's the definition
of content, right. It kind of just feels like they've stagnated, and
it sucks because I thought this was again the game where Montreal was going to
get over the hump and they were going to really you make a statement,
especially again late in the season. You know you've played Toronto. I guess
this was the third time they played each other. You want to close out
that, you know strong, and they just couldn't do it. They just
couldn't do it, And uh yeah, it's it is what it is.
I you know, there was a lot again, like they showed plenty of
promise in this game. Tyson Philpott, you know, who is one of
the greater stories coming into the league Canadian. I believe, you know,
had a nice game, kind of the first time we've really been able to
talk about him in this season. And you know, again, but it
doesn't matter, like it just it doesn't matter. And I know, I
know Montreal is gonna go to the playoffs. I get it, like they'll
be they'll be fine. They can you know, ride things out. But
you know, it's it's difficult. It's difficult, and I you know,
I don't know. That's just kind of where I'm at on it now.
It's it sucks. Yeah, like you said, it's you said, well,
I saw I cut, you cut, you throw that terrible pick,
and it's like they're always terrible, Like they're always terrible, like it's always
in double coverage or this is that whatever, I Jason, I'll give you
the final stand here and then we'll get out of here and we'll reset XFL
stream coming on at four forty five Pacific, seven forty five Eastern. We're
gonna reset here and hop over to that stream. What do you got,
Jason? Yeah, So I think the big takeaway a half from this game
and no big takeaway off in the weekend in general, is because they lost
this game and Hamilton's won on Saturday. They're now tied. Now, you
know, Hamilton's in that conversation for that home playoff game. As we go
down the stretch here, Montreal still has that typebreaker that didn't look like it
was possible for this week, but now it looks like it's definitely a possibility.
You shouldn't be exciting. I mean, they you know, people always
poop with the ease. I don't know. I like this year, I
like Winny Pig dropping something. I like they're being just a little bit more
than you know, Winnipeg's ten and one and going through you know, our
our argos here are still kind of kind of the the one outlier of that.
But I think otherwise this than that, I think kind of anybody can
at least keep it close. You know, we just talked to it kind
of Ottawa and DC and kind of all that stuff late episode here this week.
Jason, are you going to be doing a preview coming up on your
channel? Yeah, I'll be dropping one probably by tomorrow night. I still
have another video tomorrow, so it'll be two videos coming out on my channel
most likely tomorrow, I'm going to be doing just a full out examination of
the playoffs all the different scenarios as we have like five games lapping the season
for each team. So check that out on my channel. Well, it
should be exciting. Like I said, Evan's gonna hop over with me.
We'll put the you know, go to the YouTube, it's up on there,
pinned on, I'll pin it on Twitter if you want to do that
as well, talking xfl US and l Merger. Evan's going to be there,
We're gonna have Anthony Miller joining us, Mike Mitchell is going to be
coming on live, and then you know, we'll say comments and if people
want to hop on and kind of talk to that stuff as well. We'll
probably go for our fifteen or so and then we gotta go. We gotta
big like trivia party thing to another. I gotta go to So check out
Jason stuff. Thanks guys, Like I said, making time this week and
late and everything else, but we did it. You know what is a
week fifteen here in the buck. So we'll see you guys next time. M hm