TORONTO — What you see isn’t always what you get — just ask the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The Bombers were all but written off a month into the season, but a quarterback change and back to back wins have them right in the middle of a heated West Division race.
Meanwhile, in Edmonton, the defending Grey Cup Champions aren’t looking quite like the defending Grey Cup Champions.
Have the Bombers turned a corner? Is there reason to panic in Edmonton?
We ask the tough questions, you answer in the Week 8 edition of The Weekly Say.
Here are nine pressing questions for Week 8:
1. Have the Bombers turned the corner?
All off-season we wondered aloud whether a slew of big-ticket additions on top of a young core would help the Bombers get over the hump and become a competitive team in the West Division. Today, after their 3-4 start to the season, the answer is really no clearer.
The Bombers started out 1-4 and essentially saw their season on the brink, especially with two tough matchups on tap at the Eskimos and at home against the Ticats. In need of a big response, Head Coach Mike O’Shea opted for the quarterback change.
Matt Nichols came in and helped the Bombers win their next two games in convincing fashion, and suddenly, at third in the West and only a game back of the second-place Lions and three points back of the first-place Stamps, there’s hope in Bomber land.
Still, as impressive as Nichols has been and the Bombers’ mini two-game winning streak looks, Winnipeg still has its skeptics.
Are the Bombers for real?
2. What impact will Collaros have on the Ticats?
Zach is back, something the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, their fans and the rest of the CFL have been waiting for for a long time. The question now is what impact will the veteran quarterback have?
Expectations are sky-high for Collaros a year after the Steubenville, Ohio native was the favourite to win Most Outstanding Player before suffering a torn ACL vs. the Eskimos last September. But is it entirely fair to expect Collaros to step right into the Ticats’ offence and pick up where he left off?
» Ticats confirm Collaros to start Week 8 vs. Lions
It won’t be an easy first match against the defensively-stout Lions, but even just beyond that game, can Collaros help the Ticats go from 3-3 and third in the East to division winner and, even more, Grey Cup Champion?
Fair or not, these are the questions Collaros will face when he returns to action on Saturday for the first time in nearly 11 months.
3. Is it too early to panic in Edmonton?
The defending Grey Cup Champions don’t look like the Grey Cup Champions, at least not through seven weeks of play in the 2016 CFL season.
It wasn’t the defence plaguing the Eskimos (like through the first six weeks of the season) in a 23-20 loss to the REDBLACKS but the offence, as league-leading passer Mike Reilly failed to throw for 300 or more yards for the first time this season while facing constant pressure from the Ottawa pass rush.
In short, the Eskimos have struggled to overcome key losses on both sides of the ball as well as on the sideline with Chris Jones now in Saskatchewan and key defenders like Aaron Grymes, Otha Foster and John Ojo now out of the picture.
Even at 2-4, no one’s writing off Edmonton yet. The Eskimos have a dynamic and explosive offence, while Head Coach Jason Maas just last year helped the Ottawa REDBLACKS make it to the 103rd Grey Cup Championship. But three straight losses for the Green and Gold certainly warrant questions.
The Eskimos host the Alouettes this weekend in danger of losing four straight and falling to 2-5 on the season, something they can ill-afford in the hotly-competitive West.
Should the Eskimos be worried about their slow start?
4. Henry Burris: Onside or offside?
One of the most outspoken and well-recognized characters in the CFL, Henry Burris was visibly perturbed when he called out the CFL on TSN panelists during a halftime interview with TSN’s Matthew Scianitti.
Burris is a future Hall of Famer and the league’s third all-time CFL passing leader, while last year he was the league’s Most Outstanding Player and led the second-year Ottawa REDBLACKS to a 12-6 record, an East Division Championship and an appearance in the 103rd Grey Cup Championship.
Yet credentials aside, football has always been about ‘what have you done for me lately’, and while injury has taken a large part of Burris’ season, he struggled in his return against the Argos and for parts of the REDBLACKS’ meeting with the Edmonton Eskimos back in Week 7. Some fans are already calling for injured quarterback Trevor Harris, who was the league’s most productive quarterback when leading the Ottawa huddle.
With all of Burris’ past success and the Trevor Harris talk that’s followed him around this season, is Henry Burris offside with his rant?
5. Should the Riders sign Brandon Bridge?
Considered one of the top national quarterbacking prospects to hit the CFL in decades, Brandon Bridge is on the loose after being released by the Montreal Alouettes.
Bridge has all of the ability needed to play quarterback in the three-down game and he showed quite well in his first career start late last season for the Alouettes against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. But opportunity in La Belle Province ran out for Bridge just now, as the Alouettes’ crowded depth chart (including Rakeem Cato and Vernon Adams Jr.) became too much for the Mississauga, Ont. native to overcome.
While reports surface that Bridge was worked out by the Riders as a quarterback on Monday, would he be a good fit for the Green and White? The Riders still have veteran pivot Darian Durant entrenched as their starter, while Mitchell Gale showed some signs that he could be the team’s quarterback of the future with strong showings against BC and Ottawa.
» Flight Path: Where will ‘Air Canada’ land next?
Brandon Bridge was released by the Montreal Alouettes last week (David Chidley/CFL.ca)
Still, while Jones’ quarterback cupboard has been shuffled often this season (the Riders just released B.J. Coleman on Tuesday), there’s surely room for a developmental quarterback like Bridge if the Riders’ brass can see the upside.
Would Bridge and the Riders be a good long-term fit?
6. Should the Als consider a QB change?
The Montreal Alouettes were that one team everyone talked about ‘on paper’ going into the 2016 season. On paper, the Als had the look of a possible contender — star receivers; last year’s rushing leader; a veteran quarterback; an experienced coaching staff.
Whether it was injuries, a lack of chemistry or struggles on the O-line, it’s all gone downhill since a winning start to the season in Winnipeg back in Week 1.
It’s not that Kevin Glenn is to blame for the Alouettes’ woes this season, but at 2-4 this is a Montreal team that is in danger of drifting outside of the competitive window in the CFL East Division. Is it soon time to consider a quarterback change?
Glenn was brought in to bridge the gap and help make the Alouettes more competitive in the short-term, something he’s achieved only to some degree. How long before the Als turn to Rakeem Cato to see if he’s the future?
Cato’s 24 while perceived quarterback of the future Vernon Adams Jr. just turned 23 back in January. If the losing continues in Montreal, Jim Popp will have a decision to make at quarterback much like the Riders did in 2015 — coincidentally where Glenn was also at the helm.
7. Do the Stampeders have the top Canadian content?
John Hufnagel is an expert when it comes to Canadian content. After all, for a general manager who openly avoids big-ticket purchases in the early days of free agency, he can’t afford not to be.
The Stampeders have always had the shelves stacked with Canadian content, which again made itself clear when every point scored in last week’s 35-15 win over Saskatchewan was produced by a national.
Canadian kicker Rene Paredes kicked five field goals; Canadian receiver Anthony Parker scored the team’s opening touchdown; Canadian dual-threat running back Jerome Messam scored a rushing touchdown; and Canadian quarterback Andrew Buckley put the game away with a rushing touchdown for good measure.
Every year someone says the Stampeders have lost players, expect them to take a step back, and every year Hufnagel’s crew casts those doubts far aside. Canadian content has surely played a role, but is Calgary’s the best in the CFL?
8. What’s the biggest factor in the Lions’ turnaround?
The BC Lions have turned back the clock like it’s 2011, the last year they played in and won a Grey Cup Championship.
It’s a far cry from the third or fourth-place finish many pundits had predicted this CFL off-season, but should a 4-2 start that has the Lions competing for top spot in the West really come as a surprise?
After all, Wally Buono, the CFL’s all-time wins leader, is back behind the bench. Solomon Elimimian and Adam Bighill are on the field and healthy, forming a black hole in the middle of the Lions’ defence that swallows anything in its path. Offensively, meanwhile, the Lions and young Jonathon Jennings are explosive as anyone out there.
Four wins this season have everyone talking about the Orange and Black again like it’s for real, and it’s hard not to be convinced. But what’s the biggest factor in the team’s sudden resurgence?
Coaching has surely helped as the change from Mike Benevides to Jeff Tedford in 2015 to Buono now gives the Lions a new outlook – there’s no denying they’re a much more physically-opposing team to play against.
Yet such success also wouldn’t be possible without the resurgence of a defence that for the last few years has ranked merely middle of the pack; or the continued progression of 24-year-old Jonathon Jennings, one of the league’s bright stars under centre.
What’s most responsible for the Lions’ step forward in 2016 — one they’ve been longing to take?
9. Which up-and-coming Argo has impressed you the most?
The Argos are 4-2 and sit second in the East with a game in hand on Ottawa, putting them in a strong position out of the gate in their hopes of winning the CFL East Division.
Their path, however, has been less conventional. If you were told of this scenario heading into the season, you would’ve imagined it couldn’t be without Tori Gurley, Ricky Ray, Kevin Elliott and Diontae Spencer, among others. Yet injuries are an obstacle the Argos have had to overcome.
True, every team in the CFL overcomes injuries, but think about it — in a Week 6 win over Ottawa, rookie 23-year-old centre Sean McEwen snapped the football to first-time starter Logan Kilgore, whose favourite targets were second-year reciver Kenny Shaw and first-year pass-catcher Devon Wylie.
That’s not to mention a defence that’s lost starting corner back Akwasi Owusu-Ansah for the season and is still implementing a new system under first-year defensive coordinator Rich Stubler.
Many newcomers have stepped up in a big way to help the Argos to get to 4-2 and most of them have bright futures. Which one do you see being the biggest future star?
