Cauz: What you may have missed last week in Montreal

Matthew Cauz

CFL.ca

@mcauz56

I feel bad for Trevor Harris and Chris Williams. I bet that is a sentence you didn’t expect to read considering they’re currently the deadliest quarterback/wide receiver combination two weeks into the season. If you’re an Edmonton Eskimos or Montreal Alouettes fan I’m guessing your emotional response to these two is the exact opposite to how I am feeling. But for myself, I’m all swelled up with sympathy because they have been damn fun to watch and ridiculously productive and yet they have been overshadowed.

The main storylines from the REDBLACKS’ Week 1 45-37 win over Edmonton was the crazy comeback; the injury to ironman Henry Burris and the “can you bleepin’ believe he made that!?” 55-yard field goal by Chris Milo to give Ottawa a small measure of revenge from last year’s Grey Cup loss. Hell, that contest may go down as the best game of the season. Amid all the hoopla was Harris going for 292 yards and three touchdowns and Williams laughing at double teams and coverage schemes meant to slow him down. They have been overlooked because of bigger storylines that have dwarfed their red hot start.

Which brings me to what happened this past week in Ottawa’s 28-13 win over Montreal. I was listening to The Dan LeBatard Show on Friday night, a sports talk radio show from ESPN. Amid all the discussion about NBA Free Agency was Duron Carter and his uncalled for actions against Rick Campbell and just about the entire REDBLACKS bench. That story had gotten so big, it was so sensational, the visuals are so compelling that a Thursday night CFL game made its way prominently on an American radio show devoted primarily to Miami sports.

Well you know what got lost in that sideline skirmish? Harris and Williams again treating an opposing secondary like a mere inconvenience; a barely noticeable speed bump on the way to the end zone. Harris leads the league in passing yards and touchdown passes while Williams has almost double the amount of receiving yards over his closest competition (which happens to be teammate Brad Sinopoli) and together they are the primary reason for Ottawa defying the critics (critics = me and all my “regression” theories that sound pretty dumb right now) and getting out to an impressive 2-0 start.

Harris has nearly as many incompletions (eight) as he does touchdowns (six)! He came in cold against the Eskimos and ripped them apart and did the same thing to a Montreal defence that last year was one of the few teams that could actually slow down Zach Collaros. The Harris signing seems less and less like a greedy splurge purchase and more like the absolute correct succession plan that just happens to have gotten started earlier than most expected. This isn’t me saying that Burris has been permanently jettisoned to the land of backups where your career is defined by the odd TV shot of you holding a clipboard while talking to the head coach who pretends to be listening. I’m not afflicted that much by being a prisoner of the moment, it’s just that… well, damn Ottawa sure has its bases covered at the quarterback position. Moving on.

The Als will be without star receiver Duron Carter for their Week 4 matchup (The Canadian Press)

Than there is Chris Williams. Is anyone through two weeks playing better than him? There are a couple different forms of speed in football. There is fast enough to get open, fast enough to scare you deep and than there is the most dangerous level, faster than whatever angle you choose to try and tackle me! In just eight quarters we’ve seen a bunch of examples where the defender chooses an angle they felt should have lead to an eventual tackle only to have looked foolish. The fact is their geometry was correct but their radar gun was broken. Williams is not only beating defensive backs, he’s beating math as he is leading the league in DB’s questioning themselves. Now eventually the rest of the CFL will catch on and adjust — that’s what football is all about, adjustments — but for now it has been a joy watching a video game on my TV.

As a public service announcement for people who missed the game or are still caught up in what sort of punishment Carter should receive, here are several other fun moments from the REDBLACKS/Alouettes game that you may have missed:

1. Rod Black in the first quarter commenting about how long it’s been since we’ve seen an injured Henry Burris “in his skivvies.” Ironic that Black would make such a reference that was so old school that the only player old enough to have understood that term was Burris.

2. I couldn’t help but imagine how angry Eskimos fans must have been seeing Chis Milo badly miss a 35 yard field goal early in the first quarter.

3. We may have found the greatest marriage of name and choice of celebration when Alan-Michael Cash sacked Harris near the end of the second quarter. After taking down the Ottawa passer, Cash got up and yup started doing the “making it rain” gesture much to the delight of his teammates. Between Cash and Bear Woods the Alouettes are set in the potential nickname department. I can’t wait to see what happens when they share a sack.

4. Nik Lewis had over a 100 yards alert! Nik Lewis had over a 100 yards alert! This one is simple: when Lewis has over a 100 yards I need to write about it! Through three quarters this right guard playing receiver found just about every different way of getting open and as always it was fun to watch.

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