September 2, 2016

Who woulda thought?: Landry picks five first half surprises

Larry MacDougal/CFL.ca

Ah, the midway point of a CFL season. The sun sinks earlier, the gathering wind hints of far off snows to come and all those watermelons get hollowed out in anticipation on Mark’s Labour Day Weekend. Time for a little reflection and – depending on your outlook at the beginning of the season – to take stock of the things that surprised through the first ten weeks. Here are a few of the things that caught me off guard, to varying degrees:

Who woulda thought … the road teams would reign supreme?

The road is a friendly, friendly place. Through the halfway point of the season, out-of-towners were nine games over the .500 mark. Nine games over! And the second half of the schedule has started off the same way.

After Ottawa’s Week 11 win in Montreal, along with BC’s in Toronto, visiting teams were sporting a record of 26-15-1, for a winning percentage of .619 and it’s .634 if you toss the tie. Only once, this season, have home teams won the week outright and it didn’t happen until Week 7, when Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton all triumphed at home. Only the Calgary Stampeders have a winning record on their own turf, at 4 and oh, while at the other end of the spectrum, the Toronto Argonauts are 1 and 5. Most everyone is feeling at home on the road in 2016 and that ranks as the biggest surprise of the season so far.

Who woulda thought … the Riders would enter Labour Day with one win?

Johany Jutras/CFL.ca

The Saskatchewan Roughriders find themselves at the bottom of the Canadian Football League standings and while that might not have been a surprise had they basically just tinkered with the roster over the off-season, it is because of the massive change the team underwent. With Chris Jones leaving the Grey Cup champion Edmonton Eskimos and bringing a bevy of coaches and players with him to Regina – as well as a very notable and active free agency period – the logical thought was that they would be much better than they were in 2015, when the ‘Riders brought up the rear with a record of 3-and-15.

Not that I thought they would come out a house afire from the get go. To think that they might have struggled a bit early but then put it together by Labour Day was not an outrageous claim to make. Right now, those signs aren’t there and Jones and company have a lot of work to do in order to make 2016 an artistic success in some sort of sense.

Who woulda thought … Matt Nichols would lead a revamped Bombers squad?

Matt Nichols is leading the Winnipeg Blue Bombers into the promised land, not Drew Willy. The mantra for the two previous seasons in Winnipeg was: Keep Willy upright and good things will happen. Willy was belted throughout the 2014 season, as the Bombers gave up 71 sacks that season. In 2015 he was bruised again, getting injured and playing only seven games. So, with Winnipeg’s revamped offence in 2016, it seemed a cinch that Willy would direct a more formidable attack as long as he was afforded the luxury of a pocket from which to throw. Well, the Bombers’ offence is clicking, but only after Willy was benched in favour of back-up Matt Nichols, who has directed the team to four straight wins.

Maybe that doesn’t rate as a shocker, but it’s not the way I envisioned things happening in The Peg.

The Blue Bombers are the league’s turnover kings. That is not to be overlooked as Winnipeg surprises with a four-game winning streak as the season makes the turn. And that’s not something you could have predicted, based on recent history. The Bombers had 37 takeaways in 2014 and 38 in 2015. Know how many they have so far in 2016? They have 33. In half a season. The Winnipeg defence has powered the Bombers into a CFL-leading turnover ratio of +16. They’ve given up a whopping 405 yards of offence per game (better only than Saskatchewan’s 410) but Winnipeg’s defence is a mile ahead of the rest of the league in the category of suddenly getting the ball back.

Who woulda thought … the Lions are Grey Cup contenders again?

jonathan_jennings_2016

The BC Lions are a Grey Cup contender. “They’ll be lucky to be middle of the pack,” they all said. “Might finish last,” they all said. “I don’t think so,” Wally Buono said. Wasn’t hard to find observers who figured the Lions would be – at best – a decent team and you could even find those who were firm in their assessment that the crew from Vancouver would sink to the bottom of the West in 2016. If they hadn’t spit the bit in Calgary back in late July on the way to an overtime loss, they’d be in first place right now.

Who woulda thought … the REDBLACKS would have cooled off this much?

The REDBLACKS looked ordinary through the first half of the season. That was not something I, personally, would have predicted at the beginning of the year and when they got off to a rousing start of three wins and a tie in their first four games, they looked every inch the class of the CFL and I even called them the rest of the league’s measuring stick.

Since then, the REDBLACKS have had some injuries to deal with, but nothing more than anybody else, really. But they have lacked a certain something and have been inconsistent on both sides of the ball, losing four of five heading towards the midpoint of the year. Had the REDBLACKS kept up their elite play of the early season, they’d have turned the race for top spot in the East into a jog in the park. Maybe that road win they gutted out in Montreal will set them straight.

Other quick surprises:

Henry Burris telling critics to “shove it” while on national television: Surprise.

A receiver catching a touchdown pass then knocking over the opposing head coach (or that coach flopping dramatically, if you prefer): Surprise.

Keon Raymond being cut by the Argos: Surprise.

Clarence Denmark returning to key Winnipeg’s offence after being released in the off-season: Surprise.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders signing defensive lineman Khalif Mitchell: Surprise.

Shawn Lemon becoming an Argo after a very short stay in Regina: Surprise.

Montreal kicker Boris Bede, who made 90% of his field goal attempts in 2015, being benched after an extended nightmare to start the season: Surprise.

Hamilton quarterback Jeremiah Masoli setting the all-time consecutive completions record: Surprise.

If you thought Nik Lewis, Brandon Whitaker and Chad Owens were past it, well: Surprise, surprise, surprise.