The Canadian Press
Hello, Lirim. Gonna suggest that Argos fans might take to calling you Lirim Hallelujah after that effort against Ottawa.
Here are this week’s takeaways:
1. A SHORT WEEK IS NO EXCUSE.
Not anymore it isn’t.
We’ve heard it constantly, year after year after year. Coaches, fans and players will curse it as the most unenviable of tasks to take on. Playing a game with so little time to prepare? Upsetting what is supposed to be the normal rhythm of a football week? Asking for a clean, crisp performance and – gasp – a win under such circumstances? Impossible! Well, exceptionally improbable at least.
Well, the Alouettes won a Friday night game in convincing fashion and played superbly in doing so a mere four days after they played a road game in Toronto. Write it a hundred times on your football team’s meeting room whiteboard; A short week is no excuse…a short week is no excuse…a short week is no excuse….
2. JON CORNISH CAN CHANGE GAMES WITH HIS INTENSE FLAG-WAVING.
That’s what turned the trick, right? Might have had something to do with the Calgary offence and defence doing everything right in the last few minutes of an incredible, come-from-behind overtime victory against BC.
The Stampeders have sent a clear message that they are the elite squad in the West with the Lions getting a chance to dispel that notion when they host a rematch on August 19th. Charging back like that was absolutely huge for the Stamps, especially since the defence did as much to spur the comeback as did the offence. That’s the kind of win that can put you on top of a big wave that you ride for an entire remainder of a season.
As for Cornish and his flag-waving; Athletes are pretty superstitious, I have found, but they’ve got nothing on the fans. So, Jon, I hope you’re prepared to be there for every Stamps home game from here on out.
3. THE WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS NEED TO HAVE A SEANCE OR SOMETHING.
Andrew Harris currently sits first in the league in rushing yards (CFL.ca)
Originally, this takeaway was going to be all about how receiver Darvin Adams has emerged as a thing. Which he has. A big thing that you have to worry about when you play Winnipeg. Had a terrific night against Edmonton including burning corner Pat Watkins for a touchdown. Then, he got injured and we get reports that he might miss some significant time.
Oh, and now receiver Weston Dressler is on the injured list too.
So, the Blue Bombers finally get the offence creating some steam – including firing up running back Andrew Harris – and this all happens? I’d suggest they were cursed except that when I look across the entire map of the CFL, I see teams with stars on injured lists everywhere. Maybe we all need to join hands and shout some incantations, or something. Anybody got some dried Carob we can burn?
4. JONATHON JENNINGS HASN’T QUITE FULLY ARRIVED.
But he’s close. For the most part, the BC quarterback’s performance against the Stampeders on Friday night was just outright superb. Poised and lethal, Jennings delivered tremendous strikes all over the field, particularly in a sequence highlighted by TSN’s Glen Suitor during the third quarter.
A cross field drop-in bomb to Manny Arceneaux while under duress. A sizzling touchdown strike to Shawn Gore at the pylon. A dart to Brian Burnham in a tight window. Then, he scrambled for a first down in the late stages of the fourth quarter. Damn fine quarterbacking.
However, trying to float one down a seam instead of dumping the ball out of bounds late in the fourth quarter gave the Stampeders a short field as they marched in to tie the score. That was just Jennings’ eleventh start.
Imagine what he’ll be able to do if he eliminates that kind of unforced error.
5. YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS AN ALOUETTES OFFENCE.
It exists as certainly as Kevin Glenn’s fine arm and Duron Carter’s sure hands and Nik Lewis’ powerful legs exist and you know that they abound to give you and Montreal football fandom its highest beauty and joy.
Alas! How dreary would be Molson Stadium if there were no Alouettes offence (like in Week 2 and Week 4). Not believe in the Alouettes offence! You might as well not believe in the single point! No Alouettes offence! It lives and it lives forever.
Well, at least it did last Friday night, Virginia. Ask me again after Thursday’s game against BC Okay, I don’t want to be accused of pulling a Melania Trump so let me just offer thanks to the September 21, 1897 edition of the now defunct New York Sun.
And finally…
Stefan Logan will play until he’s 70. At least. At 35-years-old, he still has killer speed. And he can escape through spaces no bigger than the gaps between the words in this sentence.
