Speaker 1: Well here we are back here, happy Wednesday, getting you
Speaker 1: ready for the CFL Division Finals this weekend. The Marcast
Speaker 1: here live, big announcements here coming in a second.
Speaker 2: Like it.
Speaker 1: Subscribe, We'll be here live from the Great Cup next weekend.
Speaker 1: I'll give you all the details just in the living
Speaker 1: room today. Couldn't marry together, everything set up. Spend busy
Speaker 1: times here at America, busy times with work and everything else.
Speaker 1: But we are here a love. We have Jason back
Speaker 1: in the fold. We have Evan here, and then we
Speaker 1: have the professor Andrew Murray who just got home. We
Speaker 1: will be your rag Take group here next weekend at
Speaker 1: the Great Cup. But first off, Jason, how are you?
Speaker 1: We did last week with Anthony Miller talk semi division finals.
Speaker 3: Now we're here for the finals. How are you doing?
Speaker 4: So?
Speaker 2: I'm doing good.
Speaker 5: Read you know, exciting time a year and I'm excited
Speaker 5: to be here in the Great Cups coming up.
Speaker 1: Evan, it's been a couple of weeks there, it's been
Speaker 1: a I don't even know a long time.
Speaker 6: Here.
Speaker 1: We got Evan back on talking CFL. We were talking
Speaker 1: pre you know, pre coming on here.
Speaker 3: We're all locked back in.
Speaker 1: Jason, I said, last week. You know, it's been a
Speaker 1: long season.
Speaker 3: We're here to go. We're going to be in Vancouver
Speaker 3: next weekend. How are you, Evan?
Speaker 6: Yeah, man, I'm doing well. Really excited for Great Cup,
Speaker 6: you know, really excited for the games this weekend. There's
Speaker 6: only you know, three games left, but it still feels
Speaker 6: like we have so much, you know, to get through
Speaker 6: an experience. But Vancouver should be great. I'm looking forward
Speaker 6: to that. I was just out there like three weeks ago,
Speaker 6: so won't I won't feel too different for me, But yeah, man,
Speaker 6: looking forward to the show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so we'll the professor Andrew Murray is going
Speaker 1: to be here as well. He's getting parts coming home
Speaker 1: from work so he's working through his schooling, you know.
Speaker 3: And his professor.
Speaker 1: And what's this, Mike Mitchell textan on here, Mike Mitchell
Speaker 1: texting things in the group chat.
Speaker 3: Here's the deal. Like it. Subscribe.
Speaker 1: Like I said, we will be at the lions Den
Speaker 1: Live next Saturday, So this will be the last show
Speaker 1: you hear from us until next Saturday. We'll be there
Speaker 1: the sixteenth. Our credentials came in from the league. Appreciate that.
Speaker 1: And we'll get all our Great Cup festival and all
Speaker 1: of that figured out as well.
Speaker 3: But we'll be at the game. Dorothy. I always joke.
Speaker 1: We went over to her parents' house last week. Again
Speaker 1: I said, you know, Dorothy is a credential member of
Speaker 1: the CFL media here, so that you know, you got
Speaker 1: to have that respect.
Speaker 3: But we will be there. Evan will be there.
Speaker 1: Andy, you'll be there live in person, Jason will be there,
Speaker 1: and then we will have a bunch of guests, you know,
Speaker 1: far Haun and Naylor, they'll do their run in and
Speaker 1: I'm sure the Winnipeg Crow be there.
Speaker 3: Saskatchewan.
Speaker 1: I know Derek Taylor was c seed on some stuff
Speaker 1: that I was on as well as I want to
Speaker 1: get either in person or otherwise, like Rod Peterson been
Speaker 1: talking with him. Maybe a Saskatchewan makes it in. I
Speaker 1: still have a gift for Rod Peterson here, so that
Speaker 1: would be nice to see him in person. But should
Speaker 1: be a star state of affairs. So like I said,
Speaker 1: like a subscribe, but make sure you're a part of
Speaker 1: all that should be excited to get us up to
Speaker 1: when we have four thousand subscribers now trying to get
Speaker 1: to give you a couple free jerseys here at courtesy
Speaker 1: of world retros. We will recap a little bit the
Speaker 1: semi finals here today, the division semifinals, will look ahead
Speaker 1: some news and notes. I want to talk through jc's article, like, hey,
Speaker 1: did you know the BC Lions are going to be
Speaker 1: over the salary cap. We will talk through all of that, Evan,
Speaker 1: just because we haven't heard from you as much here.
Speaker 1: Big games this weekend, that kind of as expected with
Speaker 1: BC following the Winnipey or excuse me to Saskatchewan troynt
Speaker 1: to taken care of business, any major thoughts of the
Speaker 1: weekend or anything else before we kind of do any
Speaker 1: deep dive stuff.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, those would have been the teams I picked.
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, I could go over the East
Speaker 6: and West summi final and depth. I'll wait, maybe you
Speaker 6: know U a little bit later in the show or whatever,
Speaker 6: But yeah, I mean it was relatively I think it
Speaker 6: went just about as I expected. You know, both both
Speaker 6: home teams taking the win, and you know, I mean
Speaker 6: both teams I think deserved it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, Jason, I'm gonna pull up my tweets
Speaker 1: here because I was on a little bit of a
Speaker 1: rank here, you know, our team, like thank God for
Speaker 1: the Commanders, here really suffering through cracking or I think
Speaker 1: a five game skid right now, BC missing that, Mariners
Speaker 1: obviously had to live through Otani and all of that
Speaker 1: getting that World Series. So really, my life's kind of
Speaker 1: shambos right now. Jason, what did you make of everything?
Speaker 1: Because like, yeah, as expected, BC didn't have enough kind
Speaker 1: of frustrating there, So what did you make?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 5: Like Evan, I expected these two teams to win, obviously,
Speaker 5: but I thought they were both pretty exciting games. I think,
Speaker 5: especially that first half of that audible Toronto game. We'll
Speaker 5: get to it, like Evan was saying, but you know,
Speaker 5: it was one of the most entertaining halfs of football
Speaker 5: that I think I've ever seen in the CFL in
Speaker 5: the last several years. So I think, you know, it
Speaker 5: was a really entertaining weekend. I that the quarterbacks in
Speaker 5: general played pretty well, and I think that is always
Speaker 5: a good thing for the CFL. And I think, you know,
Speaker 5: ultimately the four best teams I think in the CFL
Speaker 5: have advanced to this this weekend.
Speaker 3: And here I'm hearing Glass break.
Speaker 1: Back, God Back God, that's the professor for his music,
Speaker 1: and and Andy, how the heck are you? Are you
Speaker 1: your professor and right now, how's everything going on?
Speaker 7: Uh, pre professoring, I'm getting ready to pre professor and
Speaker 7: then actually professor.
Speaker 4: But I'm all right, good to see you fellas.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just spread the news here be live next weekend.
Speaker 1: Great cup Andy, what are you excited for? And that
Speaker 1: I want to get your thoughts on the Lions that
Speaker 1: kind of downfall here, but thoughts here overall as we
Speaker 1: approach the division finals here this weekend.
Speaker 7: I think these are matchups that, just to what Jason
Speaker 7: was just saying, I think these are the best teams
Speaker 7: in the CFL that are left in the field. I
Speaker 7: think for some people it might be annoying. It's a
Speaker 7: little bit of the same. As far as Winnipeg, we're
Speaker 7: in the not I wouldn't say the frozen tundrick because
Speaker 7: actually the weather report looks actually pretty favorable this weekend,
Speaker 7: which we'll get into. But still it's in Winnipeg again.
Speaker 7: It's kind of like becoming that New York New England
Speaker 7: Patriots feel again, where it's like, oh, we're back here
Speaker 7: for the AFC title game, while we're back here for
Speaker 7: the West Final again, but deservedly so, and again Saskatchewan
Speaker 7: more than deserving to be there in Montreal. I think
Speaker 7: this is extremely exciting for them. Obviously they've already want
Speaker 7: to break up. Now you have that absolutely raucous crowd
Speaker 7: in personal malson stadium for a home playoff game. I
Speaker 7: have to double check when the last time they hosted
Speaker 7: an Eastern Final. Maybe Jason knows that off top of
Speaker 7: his head, but I can't quite remember the last time
Speaker 7: they did. But still regardless, I'm really excited to just
Speaker 7: hear how boisterous and absolutely agonizingly loud it's going to
Speaker 7: be on my TV screen on this weekend.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, like you said, is the four best teams.
Speaker 1: You know, I've been having a lot of conversations lately
Speaker 1: with kind of Dorothy Battle, this kind of you know,
Speaker 1: ramping up.
Speaker 3: Okay, what what's happening here?
Speaker 1: We're going up to Vancouver and all that, and yet
Speaker 1: like you look here in the the playoff list, you
Speaker 1: know where it's it's six to nine make the playoffs
Speaker 1: in the CFL. Like I don't view that as like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we are a playoff team.
Speaker 3: That's the success.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 1: Obviously we talked with Calgary last year coming in and
Speaker 1: you eking in and had missed the playoffs and how
Speaker 1: many years and they get bounced?
Speaker 3: Jason Lions was this.
Speaker 1: I do not view this as success of any hand
Speaker 1: of them just making the playoffs and getting bounced.
Speaker 3: You view the BC Lions season as a success.
Speaker 2: Absolutely not.
Speaker 5: I think anytime you're in a Great Cup hosting year,
Speaker 5: the expectation, fair or not in the CFL, is to
Speaker 5: make the Great Cup or at least yeah, like I said,
Speaker 5: make the Great Cup.
Speaker 2: Let alone win it.
Speaker 5: So I think, you know, we went through this last
Speaker 5: year in Hamilton, a very disappointing year. We made the
Speaker 5: playoffs similar to BC, but we lost in the opening
Speaker 5: round the division semi finals. So it's very disappointing for
Speaker 5: the BC Lions. I think they really were shown to
Speaker 5: be frauds. Really just they talked a lot about how
Speaker 5: this team was different in style from the previous couple
Speaker 5: of years and how they were more of a physical team.
Speaker 5: We went out, we got Williams stand back, we got
Speaker 5: you know, some guys that are better at defending the run,
Speaker 5: but ultimately those are the things that cost them in
Speaker 5: this game. And ultimately they couldn't match the physicality of
Speaker 5: the Rough Riders. And yeah, it was a disappointing season
Speaker 5: for the Lions.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I had a couple and I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: through a little bit of Rick Campbell's kind of post
Speaker 1: stuff on here.
Speaker 3: Evan, do you have anything else to add to this,
Speaker 3: and then we'll circle back.
Speaker 1: I got a couple of tweets and one that pull
Speaker 1: they just kind of spurs my memory. Anything from you, Evan,
Speaker 1: just abod the Lions in general, and then we can
Speaker 1: kind of deep doute the games here.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, look, like Jason said, it's obviously
Speaker 6: a disappointing season, you know, and with what a Mark
Speaker 6: Doman has done, you know, bringing fifty cent in there
Speaker 6: for the opener, you know, hosting the Great Cup this year.
Speaker 6: You know, a whole list of things, you know that
Speaker 6: they did to kind of make this, you know, the
Speaker 6: magical season, you know, and they regressed right the first
Speaker 6: the first two years where BC you know, was in
Speaker 6: that West Final against Winnipeg, it was well, you know,
Speaker 6: disappointing end of the season, but there's a lot of
Speaker 6: positive takeaways and this year, you know, it felt like
Speaker 6: there was just there was a lot going on there, right,
Speaker 6: I mean, you bring in Nathan Rourke midseason, that's a
Speaker 6: whole different thing. Not really going to get into that
Speaker 6: because I think that's gonna take too much time, you know,
Speaker 6: But there was a lot going on, and ultimately it
Speaker 6: didn't work out. So I think there's a lot of
Speaker 6: you know, maybe difficult decisions that will have to be
Speaker 6: made there in the off season. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 6: You know, I'm not saying that anybody's going anywhere, but
Speaker 6: I definitely think, you know, Amar Doman has some things
Speaker 6: to consider, you know. But yeah, I mean, ultimately it's
Speaker 6: it's a disappointing season for them. And I remember, you know,
Speaker 6: I kind of bought into the hype, you know, before
Speaker 6: the season started that you know, this was gonna be
Speaker 6: the year where it all you know, came together and
Speaker 6: your host and the Gray Cup and they were finally
Speaker 6: going to get past Winnipeg and all the things that
Speaker 6: you know had kind of been said for two years
Speaker 6: or whatever up to that point. It didn't happen. So,
Speaker 6: you know, it's unfortunate, but you know, I'm hopeful that
Speaker 6: they'll be able to rebound. And again, you know, they've
Speaker 6: committed to Nathan wark Now as their quarterback, so that's
Speaker 6: your starting point. For whatever happens moving forward.
Speaker 1: Andy, I kind of look at two years ago when
Speaker 1: we went up to Regina and there was kind of
Speaker 1: a lot of lament of the rough Rider fans and
Speaker 1: they weren't in it and they didn't show up and
Speaker 1: how desploytment. But this feels wildly different because I don't
Speaker 1: think Saskatchewan was necessarily a great team at that point.
Speaker 1: I think they were fine, kind of trying to figure
Speaker 1: their way where BC it feels like, you know, they
Speaker 1: really went It's like the New York Jets. Here, we
Speaker 1: went all in on everything. We got everybody, and we're
Speaker 1: trading for this and we're signing this and we're doing that.
Speaker 1: So it feels am I right and feeling like this
Speaker 1: is even more kind of embarrassing that that. I do
Speaker 1: think that's the right word.
Speaker 7: I mean, it was style and hype over substance, and
Speaker 7: the substance was a nine to nine season. In fact,
Speaker 7: to Jason's point, I think he made on your podcast
Speaker 7: about a month or two ago about the curse of
Speaker 7: Rick Campbell. I mean, he's what it goes nine to
Speaker 7: nine usually does. He's eighty two ninety two and two
Speaker 7: in his career. Yes, He's bought himself a lot of
Speaker 7: currency as far as the head coach, as far as
Speaker 7: his finishes. He's won a great Cup, he's been to another,
Speaker 7: he did a lot in Autowahich. He seems like an
Speaker 7: outstanding success in Audoware considering what it's been like there recently.
Speaker 7: But the fact of the matter is, I mean this
Speaker 7: is about a step below a colossal failure. I mean,
Speaker 7: they absolutely had all of these pieces that they brought in.
Speaker 7: You bring in Christian Covington, you bring in Matthew Betts,
Speaker 7: you bring in Nathan Rourke, the Godsend, and what you
Speaker 7: have the show for it other than you don't even
Speaker 7: get to host a playoff game. I mean, that's really
Speaker 7: the biggest thing to me is the fact that they
Speaker 7: didn't even get to host a game in the playoffs,
Speaker 7: which they've done in.
Speaker 2: The last two years.
Speaker 7: I mean, if you travel for the Western Final, fine,
Speaker 7: but not even being able to host in the semi final,
Speaker 7: I think to me was really kind of the marker
Speaker 7: of just how far this had fallen off. And for me,
Speaker 7: I mean I think there was just so many mismanaged steps.
Speaker 7: The roster construction, for one. The thing that really gets
Speaker 7: me about the team is the lack of physicality, especially
Speaker 7: on the offensive defensive lines.
Speaker 4: I mean, their offensive line just.
Speaker 7: Got beat every single week, no matter if Va was
Speaker 7: in there or whether Rourke was in there. I mean,
Speaker 7: they were just getting pounded. When the pass rush came
Speaker 7: in kind of pinned their ears back. Their defensive line
Speaker 7: just could not stop the run, which I know you've
Speaker 7: been on and on about read. I mean, Ajo let
Speaker 7: look like he was revived, and even if they'd moved on,
Speaker 7: they would have had the same problem against Brady Olvera again.
Speaker 7: So for me, it just it was a roster construction standpoint,
Speaker 7: But it was also just a mismanagement of you could
Speaker 7: stay possibly behind the scenes personalities. We I don't know
Speaker 7: if we're gonna get more details.
Speaker 4: Of what happened.
Speaker 7: It'll be really interesting to see what Va says when
Speaker 7: he leaves BC.
Speaker 4: I'm very curious to talk to.
Speaker 7: See what he says once he leaves, and if people
Speaker 7: get the chance to ask him. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 7: it just as I said in the shat a few
Speaker 7: days ago, I mean, it just felt like such a
Speaker 7: wet fart of a season, and you promised the sun
Speaker 7: and the stars and this is what happens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they had so they had the post era I guess,
Speaker 1: like the season rap whatever. What was this on November fourth,
Speaker 1: a couple of days ago. And I mean I really
Speaker 1: thought that this kind of exemplified kind of everything we've
Speaker 1: talked about with BC this year. And they had the quotes,
Speaker 1: you know, if we had Nathan and Ban here and
Speaker 1: the Neil and Rick and Rick's quote was, you know,
Speaker 1: talking about being able to host it. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: we're not here and able to not able to host
Speaker 1: a break up you guys, that's too bad.
Speaker 3: But we'll have to get over it.
Speaker 1: Like if just if nothing else of that, Like that's
Speaker 1: too bad. We got to get over it. Like how
Speaker 1: many years here is it? You know, we're set up
Speaker 1: for whatever, and like, well, that's too bad. We have
Speaker 1: to get over it.
Speaker 3: Like that's all you.
Speaker 1: Have to say to your fans, like Andy said, to
Speaker 1: not even host the Semis, to not even get one
Speaker 1: playoff game in this Now you're trying to you know,
Speaker 1: I'm getting the emails from BC and obviously we're going
Speaker 1: to be part of the lions down there doing the show,
Speaker 1: Like hey, there's still going to be a lot of
Speaker 1: fun stuff. Here, Hey, still show up, still show up,
Speaker 1: Like it's hard, you know, where you're still trying to
Speaker 1: revitalize and build that fan base. I know we've seen
Speaker 1: a big resurgence with the mar but that's not something
Speaker 1: that you can take for granted.
Speaker 3: I laughed when whoever Andy we was ever like, yeah,
Speaker 3: we brought.
Speaker 1: In fifty sound, I'm like, man, that seems like a
Speaker 1: fever dream ago, Like, oh yeah, I remember.
Speaker 3: That at the beginning of the season when we had
Speaker 3: fifty cent.
Speaker 1: But yeah, even from a game standpoint, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: sitting there and I'm watching it, and Jason knows and
Speaker 1: anyone that's been on the show this summer, like I've
Speaker 1: done my best to kind of recap everything for me,
Speaker 1: you know, the day of so Jason and I can
Speaker 1: kind of do these shows because because I've been traveling
Speaker 1: a lot with work, and I'm turning on the game
Speaker 1: and I watched the start to finish both games.
Speaker 3: I was I told Dorothy, I said, like, I got it.
Speaker 3: We gotta work now, we gotta be serious. I gotta
Speaker 3: get in on this.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh yeah, aj let like huh, And
Speaker 1: then you know, really hasn't been a major focal point
Speaker 1: right the last five six weeks. It feels like a
Speaker 1: lot of the season where he was kind of like,
Speaker 1: you know, thor Hammer coming in and then yeah, he
Speaker 1: was the biggest star of the day. They couldn't do anything.
Speaker 1: It looked like he was the greatest player on the field.
Speaker 1: And Andy's point, even if you get through a j
Speaker 1: you got Brady next week, So it's not even like,
Speaker 1: oh pooh, you know, we kind.
Speaker 3: Of figure that out here.
Speaker 1: You look at even the Commanders right now trading for
Speaker 1: Marshawn Lattimore, like, hey, god forbid, Like we understand what
Speaker 1: our weaknesses are and we try to like, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: let's get some players and fix that. The fact that
Speaker 1: Neil and Rick and all of them have had the
Speaker 1: same problems with the team for the last three or
Speaker 1: four years and seemingly have had nothing to do to
Speaker 1: kind of fix that is just mind boggling to me.
Speaker 1: Jason thoughts on the game, we can let's talk BC
Speaker 1: and then we can kind of reverse Int're already on them.
Speaker 1: The thoughts on the game. My tweet was that you
Speaker 1: can't spell embarrassment without VC allions. That was my tweet
Speaker 1: during the game. If you want to know it if
Speaker 1: you want to know where I'm at, Jason, what did
Speaker 1: you think?
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, the game was tied at halftime, so
Speaker 5: it definitely was not, you know, a blowout by any means.
Speaker 5: But I think that you know, in the second half,
Speaker 5: like I said, it really was the physicality of the
Speaker 5: game that the rough Riders, you know, committed to running
Speaker 5: the ball throughout the game, whereas the Lions did not.
Speaker 2: They could not establish the run.
Speaker 5: I think, standback seven carries for twenty seven yards, that's
Speaker 5: just not going to cut it and providing balance for offense,
Speaker 5: and then there's too much pressure on that really weak
Speaker 5: BC offensive line in pass protection and ultimately you'll see
Speaker 5: that affect their ability to win that game. So, you know,
Speaker 5: it was very disappointing to see from the Lions. I mean,
Speaker 5: I don't think Nathan Rourke would have done much better
Speaker 5: if he was in there. I think it was just
Speaker 5: the style of the team and where they've decided to prioritize,
Speaker 5: you know, spending money on this roster. That has been
Speaker 5: the continuous problem.
Speaker 2: For this team over the years.
Speaker 5: But you know, in terms of Saskatchewan, I think that
Speaker 5: you know, Trevor Harris is still playing incredibly well. I
Speaker 5: think that you know, the running game coming alive a
Speaker 5: j O Lett, even though it was against your BC Lions, Reid,
Speaker 5: I think, you know, getting him going down the stretch,
Speaker 5: maybe he has his best three games of the season
Speaker 5: on a way to a great Cup. Who knows, but
Speaker 5: I think that is huge to have balance for that offense.
Speaker 5: And they also have Rykwell Armstead, who was a big
Speaker 5: part of the Ottawa Redblacks rushing game earlier this season
Speaker 5: before his release due to some per small fouls that
Speaker 5: he was taking there. So they decided to dress two
Speaker 5: American running backs for this game, which is pretty rare
Speaker 5: in the CFL, and you know, it really worked for them,
Speaker 5: So it should be interesting to see how they deploy
Speaker 5: that against Winnipeg. I think having balance coming into that game,
Speaker 5: we'll talk about it, but it's going to be huge
Speaker 5: for the Riders. And yeah, ultimately, I think it just
Speaker 5: boils down to the physicality and BC was not prepared
Speaker 5: to match what Saskatchewan was throwing at him.
Speaker 3: But like we knew that anyway, Yeah, why wouldn't you
Speaker 3: deuvel up on that?
Speaker 1: Like, you know, BC can't do anything to stop that
Speaker 1: at all and to your point, you know, Vernon or Nathan.
Speaker 1: On one of my tweets, someone commented Nathan. I said,
Speaker 1: Nathan would be in the locker room crying, like I
Speaker 1: don't even want to hear anything that they would have
Speaker 1: been any different with him being in there, Like Vernon,
Speaker 1: you know, play this ass off. I don't think he's
Speaker 1: to blame for that. I you know, my thoughts on
Speaker 1: Nathan and kind of how he's held everything has been
Speaker 1: long documented at this point, and kind of them acting
Speaker 1: like he's this untouchable golden boy that we should all, like,
Speaker 1: you know, kiss the feet of I just don't think
Speaker 1: that that's how like athlete culture work. And I understand
Speaker 1: Canada is different and the media markets all that, but
Speaker 1: none of that would fly out at the border here.
Speaker 1: Evan thoughts on the game because, as Jason said, like
Speaker 1: you kind of knew what Saskatchewan needed to do game
Speaker 1: plan coming in, they did that. I think VC's weaknesses
Speaker 1: our defense are very well known and well documented. What
Speaker 1: did you make of Saskatchewan here? And I'm full on
Speaker 1: I tweeted out and that was probably the biggest one.
Speaker 1: I tweet I had cfl here and like I'm all
Speaker 1: in Saskatchewan right now.
Speaker 3: Like I'm all in. This is a.
Speaker 1: Pro Rioters account here for at least until November eighteenth.
Speaker 3: So Evan, what'd you make of the game?
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, listen, I'll start by saying, I didn't
Speaker 6: think BC played terribly. You know, it just wasn't it
Speaker 6: wasn't very exciting, But I don't think it was, you know,
Speaker 6: an absolute disaster for him. What I will say, you know,
Speaker 6: the main issue that I noticed in that game was
Speaker 6: BC couldn't convert on second down I think it was
Speaker 6: like two thirds to one third or something like that.
Speaker 6: It just felt like Saskatchewan to Jason's point, you know,
Speaker 6: they kind of put together these long, sustained drives and
Speaker 6: we're just able to run the ball, you know, two clocks,
Speaker 6: score points and move on.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: So again, not exactly the most exciting form of football, though.
Speaker 6: Trevor Harris, you know, did hit a couple of passes
Speaker 6: and exposed What I would say is, you know, one
Speaker 6: of Beastie's greatest weaknesses probably in their secondary Trevor Harris
Speaker 6: has played some phenomenal football this year, by the way,
Speaker 6: I know there were some concerns, you know about him
Speaker 6: coming into this this year, just with his injury and
Speaker 6: his age, but he's played great when he's help I know.
Speaker 6: I you know, Shane Patterson came in for a bit,
Speaker 6: you know, to help out when Trevor was down, but
Speaker 6: you know he's backing up and running and they're having
Speaker 6: a good time, you know, on offense for BC. I
Speaker 6: think it would have been a lot better if Keon
Speaker 6: Hatcher and Alex Hollins got involved. You know, they were
Speaker 6: pretty much non factors in this game, you know, and
Speaker 6: those are guys who you're paying a lot of money,
Speaker 6: you know, to make plays. And I understand, look it
Speaker 6: was a bit of a slower night and whatever, you know,
Speaker 6: but I was just hoping, you know, maybe they could
Speaker 6: do a bit more. You know. The wind was all
Speaker 6: obviously a factor.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: Seawan White, who's been automatic on field goals, you know,
Speaker 6: missed a couple of kicks. Although you have to take
Speaker 6: into account that Sean White plays in a dome for
Speaker 6: most of the year, you know, so when you get
Speaker 6: into those weather conditions, it might be a bit harder,
Speaker 6: you know, to kick. And I you know, look, I
Speaker 6: think Sean White is a great player, outstanding kicker. You know,
Speaker 6: one of the best in this league. He's been doing
Speaker 6: it forever. And I don't think, you know, even if
Speaker 6: he had made those kicks that it really would have changed,
Speaker 6: you know, much of the game. I felt like from
Speaker 6: early on, kind of in the first quarter, that Saskatchewan
Speaker 6: was really set in the tone. I know BC had
Speaker 6: that quick score early, but from there on out, it
Speaker 6: just you know, it was ground and pounds Saskatchewan is
Speaker 6: what it felt like to me. So what else do
Speaker 6: I have here? Uh, you know, just Saskatchewan converting on
Speaker 6: second down when they needed to, you know, and I
Speaker 6: feel like the real turning point in that game. The
Speaker 6: last thing I really say about this is, uh, Marcus
Speaker 6: Sales getting that interception off Ernon Adams. I felt like
Speaker 6: that was a pretty notable moment where I don't want
Speaker 6: to say it was a momentum shift, because I felt
Speaker 6: like Saskatchewan had a lot of momentum already at that point.
Speaker 6: You're playing at home, but you know, Marcus Sales was
Speaker 6: a guy that BC let go, you know, because they
Speaker 6: thought he was too old, and you know, he became expendable,
Speaker 6: and you know, there he is in a big moment,
Speaker 6: you know, playing against this former team coming up big,
Speaker 6: and you know, I think that's one of those things
Speaker 6: that you know, if you're BC that maybe I don't
Speaker 6: know how you think about that, just because again, you know,
Speaker 6: in that game in particular, I felt like the secondary
Speaker 6: you know, maybe didn't do enough, and if you had
Speaker 6: a guy like Marcus Sales, right, it might have made things,
Speaker 6: might have made things a bit easier. So I don't know,
Speaker 6: those are all things I took away from that game,
Speaker 6: you know, but I again I expected Saskatchewan the win,
Speaker 6: and they did.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was right.
Speaker 1: BC scored first, right led Like I never sat there
Speaker 1: and felt like, oh, this is this is momentum in
Speaker 1: this way, right, they missed the field goal or missing
Speaker 1: itch your point, and then the you know, the other
Speaker 1: the other score they had, you know, were Vernon did
Speaker 1: kind of the quick kick and then they were able
Speaker 1: to pin him and then they only.
Speaker 3: Had to you know, drive like twenty five yard whatever.
Speaker 1: That was like, you know, it was kind of like
Speaker 1: a flukey like I didn't even take that as like
Speaker 1: he well you basically had to, you know, it didn't
Speaker 1: feel like you drove the length in the field there.
Speaker 1: It kind of felt like you pinned them deep and
Speaker 1: they were able to use the field position, which, okay,
Speaker 1: the seal felt like all about field, but you know,
Speaker 1: it just felt like I would like to see this
Speaker 1: team decent sustainable drives.
Speaker 3: Here Andy thoughts on the game itself.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Actually, to piggyback a little bit off of what
Speaker 7: Evan was saying, you mentioned Keon Hatcher. I actually did
Speaker 7: think they were trying to get him involved. He had
Speaker 7: eight targets and only two catches, and I distinctly remember
Speaker 7: a couple of plays where like he either ran kind
Speaker 7: of an incorrect post route I believe was one of them,
Speaker 7: and then he had a drop in another instance. There
Speaker 7: was also another one where Vernon I think kind of
Speaker 7: overthrew him. So like they were trying to get him involved,
Speaker 7: but the chemistry just wasn't there.
Speaker 4: Another guy that just absolutely fell off the map.
Speaker 7: For BC in the second half of the season was
Speaker 7: Alexander Hollins. I mean, he really just he was on
Speaker 7: fire the first two months. I know Jason could attest
Speaker 7: to that in that game against Hamilton when he just
Speaker 7: went off in the first quarter, but we haven't really
Speaker 7: seen that from him since he kind of faded away
Speaker 7: justin mckinnis was spectacular the entire season. He obviously, you
Speaker 7: know all Star mentioned he was fantastic. But I just
Speaker 7: kind of want to switch back over to the sketch
Speaker 7: one for a minute here, because I really I think
Speaker 7: there needs to be more said about Corey Mace's job.
Speaker 7: That he's done with this team, and for a couple
Speaker 7: of reasons, one love to see that Trevor Harris kind
Speaker 7: of got to finish the season.
Speaker 4: I sat here with you.
Speaker 7: Months ago and boldly predicted that he would lead the
Speaker 7: league in passing, which the Alouettes f like decks. Guys
Speaker 7: looked at me like I was nuts, And to be fair,
Speaker 7: his injury concerns definitely came back up. He got hurt
Speaker 7: during the season and it kind of hampered their offense.
Speaker 7: But the biggest thing to me is just how Corey
Speaker 7: Mace was able to kind of overturn the culture really,
Speaker 7: and it wasn't easy. There were there was that span
Speaker 7: of weeks where they just kept in close games and
Speaker 7: they were just so close, and the margins were so
Speaker 7: razed within and they kept dropping those games in like
Speaker 7: August and September, and then they had that infamous report
Speaker 7: where they like called off practice because Mace was just
Speaker 7: upset of the team and just said, I've had it
Speaker 7: with you guys. I think he really kind of got
Speaker 7: them all roped together and really got them playing outstanding
Speaker 7: football down the stretch. And it showed up here. I mean,
Speaker 7: like all of you been saying, they just were more physical.
Speaker 7: They showed up on the prairies. You know, the wind
Speaker 7: was just gusting through. Also a fantastic strategy for them
Speaker 7: to play with the wind as opposed to into the wind,
Speaker 7: especially in the fourth quarter. They they planned that out
Speaker 7: very well. So I had to give it to the saskatch
Speaker 7: One too. I think this is an immense turnaround, especially
Speaker 7: considering how they've ended the last two seasons. And Corey
Speaker 7: Mace absolutely, for me, for my money, earns the Coach
Speaker 7: of the Year or not. I know, you know, those
Speaker 7: ballots have been turned in and everything, but that for me,
Speaker 7: I think really it stands out just what he's.
Speaker 4: Done with this culture. So well.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yes, part of it is BC's failure. I also
Speaker 7: think sasketch One was just able to kind of turning
Speaker 7: around this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, like so.
Speaker 1: You mean when Corey Mace came out as a leader
Speaker 1: of men and yelled and motivated their.
Speaker 3: Team as opposed to being like, Wow, it's too bad.
Speaker 3: We got to get over it.
Speaker 1: Like I am, like I am a fan of I
Speaker 1: like hard nos, I like mean coaches.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 1: The new thing nowadays is the you know, the cool vibe,
Speaker 1: and I think dan Quinn with the Commanders is kind
Speaker 1: of the balance of that of culture building but kind
Speaker 1: of being the cool guy.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: I don't think you need to be Bill Belichick kind
Speaker 1: of you know, screaming or whatever people. But I do
Speaker 1: think that the dichotomy there of Britt Campbell being like
Speaker 1: that's you know, we did our best, Like I think
Speaker 1: that there there's a clear difference of that.
Speaker 3: Jason, any comments on any of this stuff.
Speaker 1: I want to just touch on this Lion step before
Speaker 1: and we do the other stuff and if anyone else
Speaker 1: has but anything else on this on the game SASCAR
Speaker 1: of the Lions.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Corey Mace has done a fabulous job this year.
Speaker 5: It's really been remarkable and it's nothing too crazy. I
Speaker 5: think he's just really worked on the fundamentals of this team.
Speaker 5: They stopped the run. I believe they had the number
Speaker 5: one rush defense in the league this year. You know,
Speaker 5: they you know, got their veteran quarterback back and he
Speaker 5: was able to play you know, most of the season.
Speaker 5: I mean unfortunately not all of the season like Andy
Speaker 5: was alluding to, but I think, you know, and they
Speaker 5: they brought an Ajoelette who was not you know, a
Speaker 5: big difference maker in the regular season. But I'm going
Speaker 5: with those all in moves. I think has really you know,
Speaker 5: given some positive momentum to the franchise.
Speaker 2: And just you know, Corey Mace.
Speaker 5: I think another thing is that he's done a really
Speaker 5: good job with the defense in particular, you know, so
Speaker 5: many takeaways this season, and that played a huge role.
Speaker 3: Again.
Speaker 5: You know, Marcus Sales interception in this game, and I
Speaker 5: believe burn downs through three interceptions in this game. So
Speaker 5: they led the league in turnover differential this year. So
Speaker 5: that's always a key stat to league the league in
Speaker 5: and I think, you know, if they want to beat Winnipeg,
Speaker 5: that's one thing they'll probably have to do in that game.
Speaker 7: To Jason's point, real quick, yeah, they have like a
Speaker 7: turnover our differential plus twenty eight, which is nuts.
Speaker 4: That is absolutely outstanding.
Speaker 2: Stistic.
Speaker 4: I just wanted to allude to what you were saying.
Speaker 1: Evan, any other comments and I want to talk this
Speaker 1: just real quick BC looking in the next season here,
Speaker 1: but any other comments on this step?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, look, Saskatchewan's got a great culture. You know,
Speaker 6: they're the one team right now. They're kind of the
Speaker 6: odd man out in the sense or I should not
Speaker 6: odd man out, but they're kind of unique in the
Speaker 6: sense that out of the four remaining teams, they're the
Speaker 6: only one who wasn't in this position last year. It's
Speaker 6: been three years since they went to the West Final,
Speaker 6: you know, against Winnipeg, and Winnipeg went on to win
Speaker 6: the whole thing against Hamilton again. You know. But it's
Speaker 6: a fun team, Like, it's a really fun team. And
Speaker 6: I think, you know, their defense, it's good. I still
Speaker 6: don't know if it gets enough credit. I think Roland
Speaker 6: Milligan brought a lot of attention to that team with
Speaker 6: what he's done this year, you know, but they have
Speaker 6: playmakers on defense all over that place. You know. Shout
Speaker 6: out to Jordan Lennon, who's a defensive assistant over there.
Speaker 6: I talk to him every week, you know, we talk
Speaker 6: about guys and whatever, and I'm like, you know, what
Speaker 6: do you think of this guy? You know, and they
Speaker 6: seem to have a really good operation again in terms
Speaker 6: of culture getting guys to buy in, and I think
Speaker 6: that goes a long way again. We'll get into uh,
Speaker 6: you know, the preview for Winnipeg Saskatchewan later, but you know,
Speaker 6: I'll bring up that culture thing again because it might
Speaker 6: be important, you know for a game. Uh this big
Speaker 6: coming up.
Speaker 3: I want to get just everyone's thoughts real quick on this.
Speaker 1: We have the article with three down that JC had
Speaker 1: talked about your BC going over the the salary cap
Speaker 1: this season, which I replied in the group chat like yeah, no,
Speaker 1: s Sherlock, like obviously we went over that. But I
Speaker 1: was watching far Hauns you know, postgame and obviously he'll
Speaker 1: be part of the Great Cup Show next week. But
Speaker 1: talking about like well, you know, obviously they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to like rework Nathan salary and the marketing, I'm like.
Speaker 3: What are we like really like we're already talking about
Speaker 3: like this is already in mistake.
Speaker 1: And this is already like curious this kind of andy
Speaker 1: will start with you just your thoughts, like I know
Speaker 1: it already feels like we kind of got cold feet
Speaker 1: on this or like well now we're gonna.
Speaker 4: Have to go.
Speaker 3: We don't know.
Speaker 1: If I don't know, this seems kind of like a mess.
Speaker 1: I want to get your thoughts because ye've been on
Speaker 1: here in the well.
Speaker 7: Yeah, the mythical marketing cap is always like one of
Speaker 7: the fascinating parables that I think I think about in
Speaker 7: terms of how it's used at the CFL, which is
Speaker 7: not really used to like an extreme degree. Although I
Speaker 7: remember one point, I think months ago, I was listening
Speaker 7: I actually happened to listen to the three Dowunation podcasts, and.
Speaker 3: I know you're in that.
Speaker 4: I know, I know, I know, I know I.
Speaker 7: Obviously, but John Hodd was saying some sort of like
Speaker 7: hypothetical like well, what if they paid like Lamar Jackson
Speaker 7: forty million dollars off the marketing cap, Like, well, that
Speaker 7: would never happen, but you know, like kind of I
Speaker 7: always wonder about like how that works.
Speaker 4: It's kind of like the same thing people in the NFL.
Speaker 7: I'm not sure how familiar with it, Jason, but like
Speaker 7: people always say that the cap is a myth, like
Speaker 7: people don't really believe that the salary cap exists. But
Speaker 7: in this case, I mean, if if that's how they're
Speaker 7: kind of phrasing it, well, then maybe there is buyer's
Speaker 7: remorse on how much they're giving Rourk. I mean, like
Speaker 7: I said, his performance was not very good this year.
Speaker 7: But you know, this is the thing. Are you buying
Speaker 7: into this version of Nathan Orrick of the one two
Speaker 7: years ago and the one that if given preparation and time,
Speaker 7: can be at that same level. But again, this is
Speaker 7: kind of what happens with athletes. And you guys were
Speaker 7: sort of talking about a little earlier, was sometimes you
Speaker 7: kind of get this currency as a player when you
Speaker 7: play so well for one year or for a couple
Speaker 7: of years, and you just kind of buy it. I mean,
Speaker 7: I still remember thinking that way. Just to give a
Speaker 7: random example, not a football player, but a basketball player,
Speaker 7: Derek Rose. I mean I loved him, and then he
Speaker 7: tore his ACL and then he just kept having injuries
Speaker 7: and everyone kept thinking like, well, can he get back
Speaker 7: to that MVP season he had and it just never happened.
Speaker 7: Like sometimes you just buy currency as an athlete, and
Speaker 7: people just take a lot longer to kind of, you know,
Speaker 7: let it go because they really believe like, well, maybe
Speaker 7: this is gonna happen, Maybe it's gonna happen. Now, maybe
Speaker 7: this is you know, the magical mcguffin, So it really
Speaker 7: depends they're gonna have to do that evaluation in the offseason.
Speaker 7: But the fact of the matter is they're not gonna
Speaker 7: have their safety valve because VA is pretty much gone.
Speaker 7: So you better be damn sure you know what you're
Speaker 7: doing with that. And maybe that is what it is,
Speaker 7: But I don't know. It's hard to say because he's
Speaker 7: been away. He was in the NFL. He came mid season,
Speaker 7: which I will admit is tough to just try and
Speaker 7: adjust and try to start games all of a sudden,
Speaker 7: like he was going to start playing like he did
Speaker 7: two years ago. That was kind of an unrealistic expectation.
Speaker 7: But I think it's hard to be saying that you
Speaker 7: need to be restructuring the marketing cap after you promised
Speaker 7: all of that to him like six weeks ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he had the article out. I think he
Speaker 1: said like, well, at least I know where I'm going
Speaker 1: to be next year. And I'm like, well, thank god
Speaker 1: for that, Like I'm glad that you know now where
Speaker 1: you're going to be. No, well, I mean a perfect
Speaker 1: player example Andy of your time about I mean all
Speaker 1: the allegations decided is to Sean Watson right, like here,
Speaker 1: we've waited what four seasons now, like hey, it's Shawn
Speaker 1: going to get back to kind of what he was.
Speaker 1: It's good to know that they're missing now in the
Speaker 1: Three Down podcasts, I'm missing out on conversations about Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson being paid forty million dollars out in the market
Speaker 1: budget to come play and then uh them Zach Clara
Speaker 1: sending Jason Kelsey uh Winnipeg Blue Bombers merchant and now
Speaker 1: arriving in the mill.
Speaker 3: So it's good to know. Let's getting into the conversations
Speaker 3: that they're had on there.
Speaker 1: Jason thoughts on that's on the Lions situation here, and
Speaker 1: they will well I want to talk Toronto all that.
Speaker 1: We'll get to the game preview. But yeah, we got
Speaker 1: an hour battle this stuff. I think we're going to look.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I wasn't aware of I didn't see
Speaker 5: what bar Han said about this. I thought that, you know,
Speaker 5: like obviously they're gonna have some problems with this roster,
Speaker 5: just given the fact that where they finished the season.
Speaker 2: I think they have some obvious holes.
Speaker 5: So it makes sense that they would want to free
Speaker 5: up some money, especially given the fact that Work's gonna
Speaker 5: be given such a huge figure next year. So I
Speaker 5: think Nathan will probably be okay with that full season
Speaker 5: of preparation, like you know what Andy was saying, But
Speaker 5: I think, uh, you know, there definitely are concerns about it.
Speaker 5: I think that you know, maybe it was that he
Speaker 5: wasn't fully comfortable there, just given the fact that was there,
Speaker 5: and it kind of still felt like his team. So
Speaker 5: that's what gives me hope going into next year, if
Speaker 5: you know, he's the guy, and you know, obviously they're
Speaker 5: gonna move on from Va this offseason, and VA even
Speaker 5: said that himself, But I think that if you do that,
Speaker 5: I think, you know, Vernon Nathan is probably gonna have
Speaker 5: some success next year and play a lot better. But
Speaker 5: they do have other problems on this roster. And I think,
Speaker 5: you know, as for why they went over the cap,
Speaker 5: I'm being almost every team that hosts the Great Cup
Speaker 5: ultimately goes over the salary cap. It's just a pretty,
Speaker 5: you know, normal thing. I think people need to stop
Speaker 5: overreacting to the CFL teams going over the salary cap.
Speaker 5: It's more like the NBA's salary cap. Where you pay
Speaker 5: a luxury tax for every dollar that you go over.
Speaker 5: So I don't think people really understand that fully. And
Speaker 5: one final thing is I want them to fully say what,
Speaker 5: like how does this marketing cap work or how does
Speaker 5: this marketing money work? I think they really need to
Speaker 5: start explaining that at her They put that in the
Speaker 5: CBA obviously when they agreed to that a couple of
Speaker 5: years ago, but I still don't understand it. And I
Speaker 5: follow this league on a daily basis, so you know,
Speaker 5: just your average fan trying to understand that must be
Speaker 5: a pain.
Speaker 1: Yeah, two quick things and we'll go to Evan God
Speaker 1: blessed Vernon. Like his post game, he's staying on a
Speaker 1: really emotional about a lot of stuff, like really gone
Speaker 1: through a lot. And you remember, you know, two years
Speaker 1: ago and being traded from Montreal mid season, and I
Speaker 1: mean I think he was on the podcast at that
Speaker 1: point talking like, Okay, well I'm paying rent into Cooma
Speaker 1: and I'm paying rent in Montreal. Now I got to
Speaker 1: get a place in BC. And then this year and
Speaker 1: the injuries and and Nathan and all.
Speaker 3: That like has to be a mess.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 3: I did laugh.
Speaker 1: Speaking of the luxury taxes and all that. Like, uh,
Speaker 1: Dorothy the other day we actually had a very insightful
Speaker 1: conversation where she's like, you know, that's why I like
Speaker 1: football and not baseball is because like she's like, the
Speaker 1: Mariners are never gonna win because they're never gonna spend money, right, and.
Speaker 3: Like get the football.
Speaker 1: It's a little more like I'm like, this is a
Speaker 1: little bit more of a nuanced conversation. I wou there's
Speaker 1: actually perjority here after a badge and the Dodgers and
Speaker 1: all that, but evan any other thoughts on the Lions
Speaker 1: or sask and then wile transition to Toronto here?
Speaker 6: Yeah, simply put, I mean, you know, they're paying Nathan
Speaker 6: Work a lot of money and what I'm interested to see,
Speaker 6: you know, next year in BC. You know, regardless of
Speaker 6: who the coaches or what else is going on, you
Speaker 6: know what happens to the rest of the roster, right
Speaker 6: because as Jason pointed out, you know, there's some holes
Speaker 6: on both sides of the ball they got to fill.
Speaker 6: For me, you know, if I was you know, they're
Speaker 6: sitting the GM. If I was Neil McAvoy, you know
Speaker 6: I would I would probably look at the run game. Still,
Speaker 6: you know, look, they brought him Williams stand back this year.
Speaker 6: I know he was mentioned before. I think he did
Speaker 6: his job, but I still think you need more than that.
Speaker 6: You know, he was just like the one back that
Speaker 6: they could use, and then there wasn't much else there
Speaker 6: outside of that. So I would take a long hard
Speaker 6: look at the run game, so you know, who are
Speaker 6: we going to add there? You know, do a proper evaluation.
Speaker 6: They did trade for that guy Blake and on his
Speaker 6: name from Montreal mid season. I don't have the numbers
Speaker 6: on the y yep, josh Ron Antwey, that's right, you know,
Speaker 6: they so they got him, you know, and that I
Speaker 6: don't know, that was like maybe they're moved to booster
Speaker 6: the bolster the run game rather you know, But we'll
Speaker 6: see what happens. Again, there's a lot of things I
Speaker 6: don't have see what's tough about salary right and especially
Speaker 6: you know in the CFLs like I don't have you know,
Speaker 6: where every guy is at with his contract. It just
Speaker 6: sounds like they have some work to do, you know,
Speaker 6: So hopefully they get started on that sooner rather than later.
Speaker 6: And again, just a really interesting situation overall to follow,
Speaker 6: you know, whether you include the salary cap or not.
Speaker 6: What's gonna happen with BC? And you know, does Nathan
Speaker 6: Rourke get back to back to his twenty twenty two form.
Speaker 6: I think it's worth pointing out, you know, as good
Speaker 6: as Nathan work was, and you know, we all bought
Speaker 6: him into the hype. Like I saw him play in
Speaker 6: person through for like four hundred yards against Edmonton. You know,
Speaker 6: he only ended up playing in like eight games, you know,
Speaker 6: in the regular season and had the playoff game. That's
Speaker 6: a very small sample size. Like if you compare that,
Speaker 6: you know, I don't normally do this, but like if
Speaker 6: you would, you know, he compare that to like the
Speaker 6: UF right, which is Look, it's different than Canadian football.
Speaker 6: I get it, okay, but a UFL season is considered short.
Speaker 6: And you know, if you're starting quarterback in the UFL
Speaker 6: and you don't lose your job or you don't get hurt,
Speaker 6: that's ten games, you know. So Nathan Rourke had less
Speaker 6: than one UFL season of tape in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 6: and since then he's gone on. You know, multiple NFL
Speaker 6: teams came back to the CFL. You know, I'll be
Speaker 6: interested to see what happens because you know, again, he
Speaker 6: came there, you know, mid season, towards the end of
Speaker 6: the season, you know, for BC. And I still think
Speaker 6: it was a bit strange, you know, that they decided
Speaker 6: to play him right away, expecting that he was just
Speaker 6: gonna be himself in twenty twenty two and there wouldn't
Speaker 6: be any need to build up. I think again, if
Speaker 6: I was the one making the calls there, you know,
Speaker 6: I say, hey, Nathan, look nice to have you back,
Speaker 6: but we're going to give you more time, you know,
Speaker 6: to work with the offense and see how you fit
Speaker 6: and adjust back to the Canadian game since you've been
Speaker 6: in the NFL for a year. And then I would
Speaker 6: have just, you know, maybe played Chase Brice until Vernon
Speaker 6: Adams was healthy, and then you know, gave Vernon Adams
Speaker 6: his job back, as opposed to letting Nathan play all
Speaker 6: those games is kind of an experiment and then saying,
Speaker 6: oh boy, well now we've lost a lot, you know,
Speaker 6: let's go back to Vernon Adams. And then you know,
Speaker 6: me and Reed were there last week of the regular
Speaker 6: season when Vernon played lights out, And you know, the
Speaker 6: last thing I'll say about all this, just because I
Speaker 6: know we're you know, we're at like forty minutes now
Speaker 6: already and we haven't even gotten it thrown on Montreal.
Speaker 6: But Vernon's like the ultimate class act. Like I just
Speaker 6: love the way that guy talks, you know, I love
Speaker 6: the way that guy presents himself in the media. He
Speaker 6: says all the right things. That's gonna look really good,
Speaker 6: you know, when you need to have a market right
Speaker 6: Because again, it's pretty clear that Vernon Adams is going
Speaker 6: to be out of there barring a miracle or you know,
Speaker 6: they restructure the cap or he adjusts into a backup role.
Speaker 6: I don't know, Like I think Vernon Adams is good
Speaker 6: enough to be a start in this league. I know
Speaker 6: a lot of people agree with me on that. But again,
Speaker 6: the way he's carried himself through all this, I think,
Speaker 6: you know, if you're another GM you know, wherever else
Speaker 6: you know, who's looking for a quarterback, You're like, that's
Speaker 6: the guy I want, you know, to to lead my
Speaker 6: locker room and to lead my team. You know. So
Speaker 6: we'll see where he ends up again, another interesting situation
Speaker 6: to follow out.
Speaker 4: Of all this. And then you stole my chess move.
Speaker 4: You stole my chess move.
Speaker 7: I was just about to interduct and say that, sorry
Speaker 7: to cut you off for you, I just wanted to
Speaker 7: say real quick, I absolutely agree with you.
Speaker 4: And not only that, let's talk. Let's talk a little.
Speaker 7: Bit of just a tiny bit more before we move
Speaker 7: on about be a maturing as a person in this league.
Speaker 7: I remember two years ago he got unceremoniously benched in
Speaker 7: Montreal and subsequently traded later on, and there was all
Speaker 7: that subtweeting that he was doing about getting replaced by
Speaker 7: Trevor Harrison, kind of getting undermined by the team, and
Speaker 7: there was a whole question about his his maturity.
Speaker 4: And all that.
Speaker 7: I distinctly remember all that, and then when he got traded,
Speaker 7: he kind of took over when Rourick was hurt, but
Speaker 7: then where it came back and.
Speaker 4: Got his job back. And this time around he had
Speaker 4: the job where it came in.
Speaker 7: Va was hurt and then kind of lost and he
Speaker 7: kind of lost it for a while. But for him
Speaker 7: to kind of be the guy that he was that
Speaker 7: entire time really showed his growth and his maturity. And
Speaker 7: to Evan's point, I think he can absolutely be a
Speaker 7: primary start in this league. And I'll go one step
Speaker 7: for further. And this is just my personal belief. I
Speaker 7: think you can win a great Cup with him.
Speaker 4: I really do it.
Speaker 7: In the right situation, I absolutely believe you can do that.
Speaker 7: So I just wanted to say that and thank you
Speaker 7: for saying bring that up, Evan, No.
Speaker 1: I do one hundred percent because and there wasn't there
Speaker 1: the whole thing too, Like he wasn't showing up early
Speaker 1: enough for the like I feel like early on, like
Speaker 1: years ago, there was kind of that, and then I
Speaker 1: think the first time he was on the show with
Speaker 1: me or one of them, and he's like, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I really kind of had to mature here and grow
Speaker 1: in and know that I'm I'm. It's not just how
Speaker 1: I play, but it's kind of how I lead. It's
Speaker 1: funny because you know, BC basically and we've tied around
Speaker 1: this story. We basically fell over themselves to bring Nathan
Speaker 1: back right and really like this was dating and I
Speaker 1: understand the complexities and football are very different, but like
Speaker 1: I have some sense of like self esteem here, like
Speaker 1: oh hi, I like to.
Speaker 3: Oh please, like what can I do to help you?
Speaker 3: And and and so.
Speaker 1: But what's ironic now is that the way that Vernon
Speaker 1: has handled everything correctly, I would say from a you know,
Speaker 1: media perspective almost now. I mean I could see teams
Speaker 1: and we have talked in here, you know, falling over
Speaker 1: themselves again Vernon next season. And I think Vernon's going
Speaker 1: to get a major contract here for a team you know,
Speaker 1: Calgary or Edmond, Tander, someone wanting to do that. And
Speaker 1: this is you know, how the turns table here with
Speaker 1: you know, the office and everything. Like, I think Vernon
Speaker 1: played himself into a better position this way. Last things,
Speaker 1: for me, I think Rick should be gone. I would
Speaker 1: blow up all of that. I've had all of these
Speaker 1: people on the show. I think they're all tremendous, and
Speaker 1: Neil and Rick, and we've had the same issues with
Speaker 1: all these teams for years. And Nathan never should have left.
Speaker 1: You should have got a full season. I said that
Speaker 1: at the time. He left too early. I understand betting
Speaker 1: on yourself, but you know, win a playoff game in
Speaker 1: the CFL and then and then try to kind of
Speaker 1: kind of move your talents down down south here, let's
Speaker 1: talk about this, Let's get Jason on this. Toronto really
Speaker 1: kind of thrash here a little bit. Drew Brown forty
Speaker 1: six and sixty one.
Speaker 3: This was a wild game. Well, we won't do as
Speaker 3: deep a dive.
Speaker 1: Because I want to make sure we actually preview these
Speaker 1: matchups in full.
Speaker 3: But Jason, what'd you make it this one?
Speaker 5: Well, as I said earlier in the show, this was
Speaker 5: one of the most entertaining first halfs of a game
Speaker 5: that I could ever remember. I think it was just
Speaker 5: you know, constant big plays back and forth, you know,
Speaker 5: every offense or each offense just making plays to stay
Speaker 5: on the field. And Ottawa looked very good and looked
Speaker 5: like they had a real shot to win this game
Speaker 5: early on, but ultimately they settled for a few field
Speaker 5: goals in the in the first half, and then they
Speaker 5: cooled off in the second half, whereas Toronto does, where
Speaker 5: it was a you know, smooth oiled machine. They just
Speaker 5: you know, kept on making big play after big play.
Speaker 5: You know, Chad Kelly, I mean, say what you want
Speaker 5: about him, but he played a near flawless game in
Speaker 5: this one. Ottawa got to him a couple times early.
Speaker 5: I think Lorenzo Maldon had strips act on him, but
Speaker 5: you know, other than that, I think, you know, he
Speaker 5: was basically twenty yards a pass just big plays down
Speaker 5: the field, just you know, just regular stuff that we've
Speaker 5: seen from him going back to last year when he
Speaker 5: won the MOP. So that is a great sign if
Speaker 5: you're an Argus fan going into this game against Montreal,
Speaker 5: that he showed he could do it in a playoff
Speaker 5: environment and fifty eight points. I know they had a
Speaker 5: couple of pick sixes in there, but that kind of
Speaker 5: speaks for itself with how well this offense performed in
Speaker 5: this one in Ottawa, just you know, just gave up
Speaker 5: too many big plays and it's ultimately been the story
Speaker 5: for them the last couple of seasons. They've been pretty
Speaker 5: weak in terms of their past defense, and it really
Speaker 5: reared its ugly head in them in this game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this really high flying. I really loved the move
Speaker 3: me here. I laughed, and I had a tweet at
Speaker 3: one point. I didn't I didn't tweet.
Speaker 1: It out, but when Regas Chad was pulled out for
Speaker 1: concussion or whatever for a couple of plays there, and
Speaker 1: there was that weird shot of sidelines with the ref
Speaker 1: like fist bump and the argo sidelines, and I said like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta let Chad back in the game
Speaker 1: because we all know what happens when you tell Chad no,
Speaker 1: that's andy on the Toronto and Ottawa.
Speaker 4: No comment on that situation.
Speaker 7: But what I can coming on, I you know what
Speaker 7: I'm gonna say, Evan, I think you're onto something about
Speaker 7: getting Jun Jones back in the CFL, because can we
Speaker 7: have the air raid every game?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Oh my goodness.
Speaker 7: Ottawa's game plan for a team that lost by twenty
Speaker 7: can I say they just love their offensive game plans.
Speaker 7: Having six receivers as crazy as it was, completely befuddled
Speaker 7: Toronto for an entire half. They were absolutely just gassed
Speaker 7: going up the field. I know they had a predictable
Speaker 7: situation as far as like running their pass rushers, but
Speaker 7: my god, like Ottawa's just running wild out on the
Speaker 7: on the field. I love the that they had six
Speaker 7: receivers and Drew Brown was really dialed in. I know
Speaker 7: we had the two pick six's at the end of
Speaker 7: the game. He was trying to force it. He was
Speaker 7: trying to force a comeback. But overall I thought he
Speaker 7: played really, really well. I think this is extremely encouraging
Speaker 7: for Ottawa going forward. But really two things stand out. One, yes,
Speaker 7: obviously their secondary got absolutely eviscerated. I mean, when you,
Speaker 7: as a quarterback are able to have more touchdowns than
Speaker 7: in completions and it almost by like more than double,
Speaker 7: I think that just kind of is a testament to
Speaker 7: your performance. But also the defense is really doing nothing
Speaker 7: to stop you. Second of all, look, Reid, I know
Speaker 7: you're gonna get on me about this, about the whole
Speaker 7: momentum thing, but just let me talk for a second.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, okay.
Speaker 7: Ottawa had a huge gaff at the end of the
Speaker 7: first half where they tried to squip kick because they
Speaker 7: didn't want to kick off the Janearing Grant fair enough,
Speaker 7: because that's like kicking off the Devin Harris Hester in
Speaker 7: his prime. But they hit one of the Argonaut's players
Speaker 7: and it was in basically bounce into field goal range,
Speaker 7: and the Argonauts got a field goal right before half,
Speaker 7: and that cut into the deficit. I think that did
Speaker 7: like for Ottawa. I don't think it would have ultimately mattered.
Speaker 7: They probably would have given up enough points anyways. But
Speaker 7: for you to have that kind of performance on offense
Speaker 7: and score touchdown right before that and then to give
Speaker 7: up points and kind of lose that a little bit
Speaker 7: going into the second half, I mean Toronto came right
Speaker 7: back down the field and scored a touchdown, So there
Speaker 7: you go, ten points shifts over, they take the lead.
Speaker 7: I think that was kind of a bit of a
Speaker 7: I do believe it was a bit of a momentum killer,
Speaker 7: even though ultimately I think they would have lost the game.
Speaker 7: So I know you were going on and giving me
Speaker 7: a crap about it and then the group chat, but
Speaker 7: I think it's just kind of a testament that coaching
Speaker 7: matchup wise. Look, Bob Dice had a much better year
Speaker 7: this year, but Ryan Didwitty. Where we were talking about
Speaker 7: Coach of the Year candidates, I can't believe Ryan did
Speaker 7: Witty wasn't on the ballot from the East. I know
Speaker 7: Jason Moss had the team that won the most games
Speaker 7: in the East, but you lost all that talent, and
Speaker 7: you didn't have Chad Kelly for half the year, and
Speaker 7: you managed to somehow sweak out ten wins with this
Speaker 7: team with you know, obviously Camberon Dukes and Nick Arbuckle
Speaker 7: getting major playing time. I mean, I think that was
Speaker 7: an an outstanding, really just overall coaching performance by Ryan Dinwitty,
Speaker 7: and ultimately I think that's what took the argos over
Speaker 7: the top.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jason, we were having a conversation in the group
Speaker 1: chat about how, yeah, the field goal and all of that.
Speaker 1: Somehow them related to you all the way. Messing that
Speaker 1: up somehow related to them giving up. I went thirty
Speaker 1: eight points in the second half, Like, don't I believe
Speaker 1: the momentum in sports? I hate it because all of
Speaker 1: my teams, for the most part, seemed incapable of adjusting
Speaker 1: from it.
Speaker 3: I just watched the Crack And play.
Speaker 1: Last night and there was like this weird fluky and
Speaker 1: it was offsides. Then they got scored on and they
Speaker 1: challenged it, and then it was reversed, and then they
Speaker 1: sat there for ten minutes and then they re reversed it.
Speaker 1: Like you know, at that point, you're like, well, the
Speaker 1: crack And are never winning this game because like, if anything,
Speaker 1: they're like and it.
Speaker 3: Was like breaking my mic.
Speaker 1: It was like halfway through the second period, You're like, well, like,
Speaker 1: this game's done.
Speaker 3: I do not believe that out of one messing.
Speaker 1: That up related to thirty eight points giving up in
Speaker 1: the second half. I will beg to differ with Andy
Speaker 1: on that that. Evan thoughts on this game.
Speaker 6: Yeah, before I get into the game. I'm gonna build
Speaker 6: off Andy's point because this is something I've wanted to
Speaker 6: say for a long time. At the beginning of the season,
Speaker 6: I said in Toronto is going to be a team
Speaker 6: to look out for this year, and a lot of
Speaker 6: people said, no, they've lost too much talent. You know,
Speaker 6: they're not gonna be able to get over the hump.
Speaker 6: Chad Kelly suspended, Like you know, everything's coming undone. I'll
Speaker 6: just give you some perspective here. You know, Toronto, So
Speaker 6: the players that they lost after twenty twenty three, Jamal
Speaker 6: Peters to Hamilton a Darius Pickett to Ottawa, ajl At
Speaker 6: to Saskatchewan Javon League to Edmonton Quantes, Stickers to the NFL,
Speaker 6: you know, being drafted by the New York Jets. That's
Speaker 6: a lot of key losses, no doubt. But then I
Speaker 6: look at the guys, you know who they added, and
Speaker 6: this is why I predicted them to be, you know,
Speaker 6: a good team this year. And look, some of them
Speaker 6: were a surprise. Some of them I felt like, we're
Speaker 6: just underrated. Kadeen Cary from Calgary, you know, doing what
Speaker 6: he's doing at like thirty three years old for a
Speaker 6: running back is phenomenal. Genarian Grant from Winnipeg. It is
Speaker 6: amazing how he was a free agent for so long
Speaker 6: and that nobody wanted to sign him, and then Toronto
Speaker 6: brought him in and you know, he's probably gonna win
Speaker 6: Most Outstanding Special Teams Player. I mean, that's unbelievable. Again,
Speaker 6: they had Javon Leak, you know, who was like the
Speaker 6: top return guy in the league last year, and I guess,
Speaker 6: you know, took over a place that had been owned
Speaker 6: by Mario Alford in Saskatchewan for a long time. You know,
Speaker 6: Javon Leake goes to Edmonton and then Toronto snags Jenerary
Speaker 6: and Grant and it's almost better again. Just an incredible
Speaker 6: turnaround there. Speaking of Edmonton, Jake Cresna, you know, being
Speaker 6: traded from Edmonton over there. I believe it was for
Speaker 6: Curly Gettons if I'm not mistaken, But you know, Jake Ceresna,
Speaker 6: I mean, outstanding player in Edmonton, felt like he didn't
Speaker 6: get enough credit and he's really, you know, bolstered that
Speaker 6: Toronto defensive line this year. And then Ralph Hawley, another guy,
Speaker 6: you know, former Philadelphia star in the USFL. He really
Speaker 6: came along this year. You know, he's a guy who
Speaker 6: I maybe thought, you know, could have had, you know,
Speaker 6: a vote for most out Standing Rookie ar should have
Speaker 6: been on the ballot. Unfortunately he wasn't.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of offensive playmakers, including McKay polk, you know,
Speaker 6: he's on there, rookie out of Mississippi State. And then the
Speaker 6: two guys who have been there, you know that I
Speaker 6: just don't think have gotten enough credit. You know, for
Speaker 6: a while now are trying not to butcher this name,
Speaker 6: but Falerin Arima Laude and then who's a defensive lineman,
Speaker 6: and then Wynton McManus, the linebacker. You know, I think
Speaker 6: both of those guys are very high impact players that
Speaker 6: got overlooked, you know during this cycle where everybody's talking
Speaker 6: about Toronto losing this guy, losing that guy. Yeah, so
Speaker 6: a lot of credit, you know, not only to Ryan Dinwiddie,
Speaker 6: but to the Toronto front office in particular the general
Speaker 6: manager Michael Pinball Clemens and assistant general manager John Murphy.
Speaker 6: You know, fantastic work with the roster, even in the
Speaker 6: even in that the East Final, which I'll get into
Speaker 6: the actual game now. You know, you had guys stepping
Speaker 6: up who hadn't really done anything or hadn't done much
Speaker 6: all year. Jake Herzlow, you know, the receiver from Houston
Speaker 6: who's supposed to be UFL guy. Benji Franklin, another guy
Speaker 6: that could have played in the UFL. Both Herzlow and
Speaker 6: Franklin had their rights with Houston. Tavaris McFadden, who I
Speaker 6: thought it was really kind of interesting, you know, where
Speaker 6: wenton McManus. I think he had the interception and kind
Speaker 6: of threw it over to Tarvaris mcfadd and he ran
Speaker 6: it back for the pick six. And Tavaris McFadden, you know,
Speaker 6: was on the Ottawa Redblacks roster at one point this year,
Speaker 6: and again another former XFL guy. So there's a whole
Speaker 6: lot of lower there for you know, all of the
Speaker 6: people like myself who keep up with you know, player
Speaker 6: personnel and where this guy's been and all that. But anyway,
Speaker 6: looking at the actual game, I think a lot of
Speaker 6: it's already been covered. The main storyline here should be
Speaker 6: Chad Kelly redeeming himself. I mean after that, you know,
Speaker 6: meltdown in Montreal last year, you know, probably one of
Speaker 6: the worst playoff games, especially by a guy who won
Speaker 6: Most Outstanding Player. Nobody expected that. I think we're still
Speaker 6: all reeling from that to some degree of like the
Speaker 6: oh wow, you know, like that that really happened. But
Speaker 6: he went out there and man, he he looked exceptional.
Speaker 6: I mean, I you know, you talk about teams getting
Speaker 6: hot at the right time. I mean, I don't think
Speaker 6: what Toronto did there was a fluke, and I think
Speaker 6: they can carry that. They can carry that a long ways,
Speaker 6: maybe to the Great Cup. That's certainly where I'm leaning
Speaker 6: right now. As for Ottawa, you know, like Andy said,
Speaker 6: I'll give Tommy Condell credit, you know, to have, you know,
Speaker 6: to not have like a traditional running back in the backfield.
Speaker 6: You've got Braylan Addison, Devonte Deadman, who's your returner. You're
Speaker 6: running a lot of those five six receiver sets. For
Speaker 6: him to keep Toronto on the ropes like that for
Speaker 6: an entire half is pretty incredible. You know, I didn't
Speaker 6: know what to expect, you know, from Ottawa going into
Speaker 6: that game, you know, whether their past game would be
Speaker 6: able to make up for the lack of a run
Speaker 6: game that they haven't had for you know, some time now.
Speaker 6: But I also think it's ultimately the run game. You know,
Speaker 6: that really hurt them because you know, look, I understand
Speaker 6: there were a couple you know, coverage busts by the
Speaker 6: DBS that was pretty obvious. It allowed Chad Chad Kelly
Speaker 6: to be really efficient, you know, But I just don't
Speaker 6: you know, I don't know why there wasn't another running
Speaker 6: back option there. I mean, there were a couple of
Speaker 6: guys I think. I'm not sure if Layborne, the running
Speaker 6: back for Marshall, is still there on their practice roster.
Speaker 6: If he was, I don't know why, you know, he
Speaker 6: didn't play or wasn't elevated. I had talked about it,
Speaker 6: you know, privately before. But like Kevin Brown, you know,
Speaker 6: who was a thousand yard rusher in Edmonton last season,
Speaker 6: you know kind of you know, took a step back
Speaker 6: to Justin Rankin, who you know, came up from the
Speaker 6: IFL this year, you know, in Edmonton, ended up being
Speaker 6: on the practice roster in Edmonton at the end of
Speaker 6: the season. But what that means is he was a
Speaker 6: free agent, and as far as I'm concerned, you know,
Speaker 6: the interim GM and Edmonton Gerroy Simon didn't sign him
Speaker 6: to a futures deal to keep him there. So he
Speaker 6: was a free agent. He was available you know, to
Speaker 6: sign going into that game, and they didn't make that move.
Speaker 6: And you know, I'm not saying he's like the only
Speaker 6: running back that would have made sense, but to have
Speaker 6: a guy you know, who had so much success last
Speaker 6: year or some success this year just kind of ended up,
Speaker 6: you know, kind of getting outworked by another really good
Speaker 6: running back and you know, yeah, you just don't see
Speaker 6: that situation. Kind of There's not players who are available
Speaker 6: like that all the time, who have just you know,
Speaker 6: played a full CFL season. Now they can go join
Speaker 6: another team for the playoffs. I think that's it, you know.
Speaker 6: I mean Ottawa's offense obviously slowed down in the second half.
Speaker 6: I think Toronto just did a really good job at
Speaker 6: keeping pace right Like that first half you could kind
Speaker 6: of tell they were hitting all the right you know,
Speaker 6: deep shots to Makay Polk and Deavars Daniels, and then
Speaker 6: they came out of the locker room and continued to
Speaker 6: do that, you know, like they didn't slow down, whereas
Speaker 6: Ottawa kind of does. Long sustained drives on offense that
Speaker 6: they had in the first half just weren't there. And
Speaker 6: Chad Kelly was still dealing, you know, they were still
Speaker 6: running the ball very well and then kind of ran
Speaker 6: up to score at the end with two pick sixes.
Speaker 6: But again, fantastic game by Toronto. I really I again
Speaker 6: picked to win. I thought they would win that game
Speaker 6: just based on everything. But they looked real good. You know,
Speaker 6: I think that's a team. Again, we're not the previews yet,
Speaker 6: but Montreal, you know, they they might have, you know,
Speaker 6: a right to be concerned.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see if Toronto can carry that momentum into
Speaker 1: the finals.
Speaker 3: Here will see.
Speaker 1: Let's go here a game previous here, get out of here,
Speaker 1: and he's gotta go work, and I'm gonna go.
Speaker 3: My brother is a big John Wick fan. I guess
Speaker 3: they're re released John the Wick and Theater. So I
Speaker 3: guess that's what we're doing tonight, Jason. I'll go to
Speaker 3: you first. Let's touch on both games.
Speaker 1: We'll go around the horn here at Toronto with Montreal
Speaker 1: and then sask Winnipeg.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so Toronto and Montreal. I think the main thing
Speaker 5: I'm watching is do the turnovers from last year's East
Speaker 5: Final repeat themselves. Because we talked about last week that
Speaker 5: was the main reason that Montreal was able to win
Speaker 5: that game against Toronto in blowout fashion. I think that
Speaker 5: if Chad Kelly can keep the turnovers to a minimal
Speaker 5: or zero, I think they have a great chance of
Speaker 5: winning this game because they're a much more explosive team
Speaker 5: than Montreal. I think that, you know, Montreal, that's the
Speaker 5: big question I have for them in this game. Can
Speaker 5: they hit those deep shots and you know, you know,
Speaker 5: it doesn't have to be anything crazy, but you know,
Speaker 5: provide a couple of big plays to really loosen up
Speaker 5: the defense underneath and get them going. And I think
Speaker 5: Austin Mack is a guy I'm really looking forward to
Speaker 5: seeing if he can pop off for a big game.
Speaker 5: He's been pretty quiet and a little bit injured since
Speaker 5: he's been back from the NFL, so he's a guy
Speaker 5: I'm watching in this game. So those are what I'm
Speaker 5: looking for in that one. And then for Saskatchewan Winnipeg,
Speaker 5: I think it's strength versus strength. They talked about Saskatchewan's
Speaker 5: run defense earlier being the best in the CFL. Well,
Speaker 5: you're going up against Brady olivera who's probably the favorite
Speaker 5: to win MP. I think that is the matchup to
Speaker 5: watch in that one. Because Winnipeg's passing offense still hasn't
Speaker 5: been great in the entire season if you take the
Speaker 5: whole body of work. They for certainly better the second
Speaker 5: half of the season, but you know, they weren't the
Speaker 5: greatest throughout the course of the season. So I think
Speaker 5: that's what you're more concerned about. If your sascatsch one,
Speaker 5: and then you know, can Trevor Harris translate to what
Speaker 5: he did, you know back in Saskats one on the
Speaker 5: road in Winnipeg, you know, with the elements, I think
Speaker 5: having balanced on the offense with the Brady oliveras or
Speaker 5: a jo O Lett and raykul Armstead will be huge
Speaker 5: for that team. And yeah, it should be interesting to
Speaker 5: see what happens in these two games.
Speaker 7: It's good to you, Andy, Yeah, I mean, I love
Speaker 7: the fact that we're getting a rematch of the Eastern
Speaker 7: Final because is Chad Gilly going to be seeing ghosts
Speaker 7: again and specifically is he going to be seeing Mark
Speaker 7: Antoine Daqua again, who he threw that infamous pick six
Speaker 7: to really start off the absolute debacle at home that
Speaker 7: he had against Montreal. And again Montreal has been awesome
Speaker 7: at home. Their defense has been fantastic this year. Tyres
Speaker 7: Beverett has been an absolute monster for them in the
Speaker 7: linebacking corps.
Speaker 4: I just really.
Speaker 7: Like the fact that they get the house a home
Speaker 7: playoff game and that those horns are just going to
Speaker 7: be working over time. But for Toronto, to Evan's point,
Speaker 7: they have been playing outstanding. I know Reid can't wait,
Speaker 7: but to Evan's point, I really think it's been outstanding
Speaker 7: play from the Toronto Argos lately, and especially on offense,
Speaker 7: they've really found their groove. Chad Kelly has kind of
Speaker 7: come back into the form, you know, condeem carry. Can
Speaker 7: he be a factor in this offense? Engineering grant have
Speaker 7: he had a return touchdown against Montreal the upset Montreal.
Speaker 7: They actually got the first win against Montreal this year
Speaker 7: earlier in the year, so they've done it.
Speaker 4: They can't do it. It's very possible.
Speaker 7: You're talking about the last two great Cup champions in
Speaker 7: a final like that's fantastic.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 7: I'll sign up for that matchup any day of the week,
Speaker 7: but we'll see. I think for me that that matchup
Speaker 7: ultimately boils down to how well both defenses play, and
Speaker 7: I do think Montreal does have a bit of an
Speaker 7: up and hand there to flip over really quickly to
Speaker 7: the Western Final. Yeah, Winnipeg, I mean standard quote, you
Speaker 7: just kind of play within your game. Interestingly enough, CISCT
Speaker 7: which one did get five turnovers off of them in
Speaker 7: that last Western Final three years ago, and it didn't matter.
Speaker 7: They still lost by four. And to Jason's point, that's
Speaker 7: been their calling call card all year. So SASH one
Speaker 7: is plus at huge plus in the turnover margin, but
Speaker 7: can they make the plays when it matters Winnipeg time
Speaker 7: after time after time. I mean, they're on the verge
Speaker 7: of having their fifth straight birth in the Great Cup
Speaker 7: that is Edmonton Eskimo's levels of history right there. So
Speaker 7: I don't know if they if they have the firepower
Speaker 7: as much this year. We kind of dogged them all year,
Speaker 7: but really again, it's kind of the same thing in Montreal.
Speaker 7: Their defense has been really good, their their secondary is awesome.
Speaker 7: So I think for me, it's the home playoffs and
Speaker 7: the defenses at home that really I think could go
Speaker 7: a long way into dictoti dictating both of these matchups.
Speaker 3: A last well and Evan take it some.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, so in this Montreal Toronto game, I
Speaker 6: think a big key for Montreal is you know, Cody Fajardo,
Speaker 6: you know, finding some receivers, like I think a big
Speaker 6: you know, hit that team took early in the year
Speaker 6: was losing Tyson Philpott. You know, he was doing some
Speaker 6: great things before he went down. The guy I'd look
Speaker 6: out for in that game is Charleston Rambo, former XFL guy.
Speaker 6: I think I talked to him, talked about him on
Speaker 6: the on the season preview, said, you know that's a
Speaker 6: that's a rookie receiver, you know who might have a
Speaker 6: big year in the CFL. Of course, there were a
Speaker 6: lot of good rookie receivers this year in the CFL.
Speaker 6: Makai Polk already talked about him, Shamar Bridges, Khalil Pimpleton.
Speaker 6: You know, but I really I still like Toronto a lot.
Speaker 6: In that game, again, I just can't get over what
Speaker 6: they did against Ottawa. It was the definition of a
Speaker 6: complete game, all three phases, you know, And I think
Speaker 6: if Montreal loses that game, you'll go back to that,
Speaker 6: you know a bit about well, you know, they played BC.
Speaker 6: You know, they weren't really it was kind of a
Speaker 6: vanilla game for them. Then you get to buy then
Speaker 6: you have a big playoff game, you know, is that
Speaker 6: necessarily a benefit? I think that's gonna come up, you know,
Speaker 6: if they dropped that game. What I'm really focused on, knowing,
Speaker 6: what I'm really excited for is this West Final because
Speaker 6: I think Saskatchewan they are a team. You know, they've
Speaker 6: had the This is the team who has the best
Speaker 6: chance to beat Winnipeg in a while. In my opinion,
Speaker 6: I think the way that team is constructed. You know,
Speaker 6: you look at their backfield between A. J. Lett and
Speaker 6: rkweil Armstead, you know, and then you look at their defense,
Speaker 6: who I still think is a bit underrated, but a
Speaker 6: really good unit. Again, you talk about the turnover margin,
Speaker 6: a couple of other things they've done great this year.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: That is again, I think they're in a good spot
Speaker 6: to win that game. Now, with that being said, it's
Speaker 6: gonna be a sold out crowd in Winnipeg, you know,
Speaker 6: thirty three thousand. I'm not saying that Saskatchewan can't play
Speaker 6: in front of crowd noise. You know, I definitely know
Speaker 6: they can play in weather. Although, as we've talked about too,
Speaker 6: the weather looks pretty favorable that day, you know, so
Speaker 6: that one to me is very interesting. Again, I think
Speaker 6: to Andy, he said it perfectly. It's just gonna come
Speaker 6: down to Kansaskatchewan make the big play in the big moment,
Speaker 6: because we know Winnipeg can do that, and they do
Speaker 6: that a whole lot. You know, That's why they've gone
Speaker 6: to you know, four straight Gray Cups on the verge
Speaker 6: of five. It's going to come down to, you know,
Speaker 6: in that moment. Again, very similar. I think about the
Speaker 6: Great Cup last year when Cody Fajardo, you know, it
Speaker 6: was third down, you know, once he got over that,
Speaker 6: you rattle off a couple of plays and then you
Speaker 6: win the game. You know, can Trevor Harris do something
Speaker 6: similar in this game? And I'll go out on a
Speaker 6: limb here and I'll say, if Saskatchewan does win that game,
Speaker 6: which right now I'm not sure if I would pick
Speaker 6: that out right, but if they do win that game,
Speaker 6: I'm giving them a good chance. I think that game
Speaker 6: might be bigger than whoever wins the Great Cup, just
Speaker 6: because you're dethroning you know what, is essentially a team
Speaker 6: who I don't know if you put the dynasty label
Speaker 6: on them yet, but you know, I think that they're
Speaker 6: I think that they're borderline. You know, four straight Gray
Speaker 6: Cups is hard. It's really hard, and especially you know,
Speaker 6: you have to give credit to that organization. They went
Speaker 6: to one in twenty nineteen, had a season canceled in
Speaker 6: twenty twenty where there was a lot of uncertainty around
Speaker 6: the league. You didn't know. It was like the whole
Speaker 6: world was kind of collapsing around him. And then you
Speaker 6: come back the next year and you win, and then
Speaker 6: you go again, and you go last year, and I
Speaker 6: know the past two years they haven't been able to
Speaker 6: do it, but they've been so close in every game,
Speaker 6: Like if you look at the past two Great Cups
Speaker 6: that they lost, it's a couple plays, right, you know.
Speaker 6: But if Saskatchewan can go in there and pull off
Speaker 6: an upset, I think that I think that has you know,
Speaker 6: that will change the entire landscape of the CFL. I'm
Speaker 6: not afraid to say that. So I'm really excited for
Speaker 6: that game.
Speaker 3: No, it should be good.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm going with sask My head says Toronto.
Speaker 3: My heart wants Montreal just because of the guys over there.
Speaker 1: But as you guys have said, I think Toronto's gotten
Speaker 1: that firepower for that we'll get out of here. I
Speaker 1: appreciate everyone. Like I said, we'll see you next week.
Speaker 1: I live from the lions Den in Vancouver. Appreciate everyone
Speaker 1: hopping on and we'll see everyone next time.