Adam Gagnon/CFL.ca
Good morning, Hamilton Ticats. It’s fun to go to someone else’s house party and let loose, isn’t it? Not so much fun when you wake up at your own abode and see all the living room furniture in the pool. Here are the Week 2 takeaways:
1. The BC Lions request – no, make that insist – that you include them in your short list of contenders.
Did you pick them to finish fifth in the West? No, me neither. Of course not. The Lions’ win over Calgary in Week 1 did seem to come with at least a little bit of help from the Stampeders. Their 28-3 demolition of the Ticats in Hamilton, however, was a singular, dominating performance that revealed a tight defence and a very capable offence, despite the off-season loss of running back Andrew Harris.
Craig Roh gets a sack against Jeremiah Masoli (Dave Chidley/CFLc.a)
They definitely tossed the living room furniture into the pool but not before receiver Nick Moore did a back flip cannonball from the roof. With the second win of his second head coaching tenure, Wally Buono is now only 252 victories behind himself.
2. Two ways to go: You can adjust or get out of town.
Shawn Lemon’s apparent frustration in Saskatchewan got me to thinking about other players who have been asked by Roughriders’ head coach Chris Jones to adapt or perish. Odell Willis and Ricky Foley being a couple. If you’re a lineman that likes to hunt quarterbacks and then you’re asked to drop into coverage in order to take away passing lanes, that can grate on you. Willis accepted the change and had two sensational years in Edmonton (including 22 sacks in 36 games, by the way). Foley’s example is an intriguing one, too; one I remembered writing about during Grey Cup week in 2012. It wasn’t an easy relationship, between him and Jones.
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“We got into it a few times,” Foley had said of Jones, who was Toronto’s defensive coordinator at the time. “It was a lot of stuff that I’d never done before,” he explained of his changing role. “It was frustrating. It was annoying.” In the end, Foley made the adjustments, eventually got more comfortable and went on to be named Most Valuable Canadian in the Grey Cup Game.
Lemon’s a very good player. He could probably have flourished in a Jones system given time and work. However, that’s not in the cards. Sometimes, you have to stop trying to bang a perfectly good puzzle piece into a spot it ain’t going to go.
3. The Calgary Stampeders are super patriotic. So much so that they provided us with an air show on Canada Day.
Daring and spectacular maneuvers by Simon Charbonneau-Campeau and Joe West. Graceful sky-writing patterns from the sublime Marquay McDaniel. Nice piloting by Bo Levi Mitchell, who would not have looked out of place had he trotted out onto the field in a leather hat and goggles, scarf trailing behind him as he whipped it around his neck. Nice work, too, by the grounds crew – keyed by running back Jerome Messam and his 137 rushing yards – that kept the runways clear and allowed for turbulent-free takeoffs into bright blue pass-catching skies.
Bo Levi Mitchell put on an airshow in the Stamps’ win over Winnipeg (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
The only glitch in the Stamps’ offence was when the new “Quick-Six” originally balked at charging down the sideline after a touchdown. Like the Stampeders’ offensive struggles in Week 1, however, that was just a temporary thing and the charge was soon on.
4. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers need to get on each other’s cases.
That’s not my takeaway, that’s their head coach’s. After Friday night’s loss in Calgary, a disappointed Mike O’Shea – who put his all into every one of the 1,151 tackles he recorded over a 16-year linebacking career – was as blunt as he could be in assessing his team’s surrendering of 489 yards of net offence.
“I tell ya, the hardest thing these guys have to do is put on the film and watch it with their teammates and see themselves turning down a hit or ducking their head and missing,” O’Shea said afterward. After an off-season spent stacking the team with quality free agents, the Bombers need to stop the spiral pronto. Maybe the best way to do that is for someone to knock over a table during that film session.
5. Lirim Hajrullahu is fine.
Whatever was ailing him, whatever got to him in his second year as a Winnipeg Blue Bomber, whatever emotional or psychological fun house mirror took over his perspective as a field goal kicker, seems to be gone now. At least for now.
There’s little doubt that kickers continually fight a battle to stay confident, to stay mechanically sound and to keep goal posts from resembling those “wacky, waving, inflatable arm-flailing tubemen” that you see at car dealerships (I think they’re actually called air dancers but I prefer the “Family Guy” descriptor). So, Hajrullahu will probably face another hurdle as an Argo.
Lirim Hajrullahu is off to a perfect start in 2016 for the Argos (Adam Gagnon/CFL.ca)
With a three-for-three night against Saskatchewan, including a 50-yarder, as well as going perfect on three converts, Hajrullahu has started the season going 5-for-5 in both the field goal and convert departments. He looks much more like the kicker who was named the West Division’s Special Teams Player of the Year in 2014.
And Finally…
Chris Williams gonna do what Chris Williams gonna do.
Give him space? He’ll use that space as a launch pad. Play him tight at the line? He’s probably the best there is at beating the bump. Good luck. ‘Cause Chris Williams gonna do what Chris Williams gonna do.
