TORONTO — If Mark’s Labour Day Weekend is the most exciting time in the CFL regular season, the week that follows can’t be far behind.
September is in full force, the second half of the season is well under way and in Week 12 three out of four contests will involve heated rematches between hated rivals. The pressure’s on for the Argos, Eskimos and Roughriders, all Week 11 losers with plenty riding on this week’s contest.
Then there are the new storylines that have started to emerge for the second half of the season — a change at quarterback in Montreal; the early dominance of Zach Collaros; the unstoppable Stamps; the Bombers’ winning streak and even the Eskimos’ running back situation, among many, many others.
As the 2016 season races along, we have some questions to ask in the Week 12 rendition of The Weekly Say.
Here are nine pressing questions for Week 12:
1. Is the Alouettes’ QB change the right move?
Ranking eighth in the league in both points and net offence, it’s hardly surprising the 3-7 Alouettes decided they needed to shake up their offence. The question is whether changing the quarterback is the answer.
Reports have surfaced that Rakeem Cato is taking first-team reps and will start at quarterback for Montreal on Friday night in BC, while the veteran Glenn finds himself a spot on the bench after throwing for 2,547 yards, 13 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions in nine starts this season.
» QB Index: Rakeem Cato on the board
The Alouettes will have a new quarterback under centre in Rakeem Cato (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
Maybe it’s that the Alouettes feel this move is best for their offence or maybe they’re starting to look toward the future — or, likely, a combination of both.
What we do know is that sitting only five points out of first in the East, the Alouettes are still very much in this thing. Does the switch to Cato give the Als the shot in the arm they need, or would they be better off with the veteran poise and leadership of Kevin Glenn in this difficult situation?
2. Who is the bigger threat to the Calgary Stampeders?
The Calgary Stampeders didn’t just win the first half of the 2016 regular season — they ran away with it.
But while Calgary’s success thus far has been well-documented (see: MMQB, Matthew Cauz and the Nissan Titan Power Rankings), winning a Grey Cup is about peaking at the right time. That’s not to say the Stampeders have peaked at all; more so that anyone can rise up and challenge the Stampeders in the second half of the season.
The Eskimos had a chance to make a statement and pull closer with a Labour Day home-and-home but couldn’t stack up in the first game. The Lions are the only team that’s defeated Calgary this year but also lost the season series to the Stamps and were blown out in the third and decisive game. Then there are the Bombers, who lost twice to Calgary but have since won five straight.
That’s not to mentioned the Ticats and REDBLACKS, potential Grey Cup opponents should the Stampeders make it so far.
All of those teams have flashed potential, but which one poses the biggest threat to Calgary holding up the Grey Cup come late November in Toronto?
3. Is Ricky Ray ‘back’?
The Argos are a struggling football team, but maybe it’s not all bad in Argo land.
Four straight losses for the Boatmen culminated with a loss to the Ticats on Labour Day in which they squandered a 20-point lead. OK, that’s the bad news, but the good news is Ricky Ray is looking an awful lot like his old self.
Ray completed his first 14 passes in a tight loss to the Lions, then hit 17 in a row to help guide Toronto to a big first-half lead against the Ticats. The 36-year-old has shown arm strength this season that hasn’t been seen since the injuries that started plaguing him in 2014, and it showed the most during a season-high 386-yard effort against Hamilton’s vaunted defence.
The Argos have some things to sort out, including a defence that leaked badly against Zach Collaros and the Ticats, but the quarterback position may be the least of their concerns.
4. Is a second-half resurgence in store for the Riders?
It’s not the first time we’ve heard about signs the Riders might be on the brink of winning some football games, but that seems to be the vibe after another close loss — this time at the hands of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The Riders’ offence came to life during what really did turn out to be a Labour Day Classic, as Darian Durant threw for 399 yards and got on the same page as his young receivers in Caleb Holley, Ricky Collins and Naaman Roosevelt.
With reinforcements expected as the O-line gets healthier while Durant gets in tune with his pass-catchers, can the Riders start to turn some of these close losses into wins as they build chemistry in their first year under Chris Jones?
5. Does Zach Collaros have a shot at MOP?
There’s a clear leader when it comes to any Most Outstanding Player discussion right now and that’s Bo Levi Mitchell. That is not, however, a closed discussion.
A lot can change in a hurry in this league, and eight games make up plenty of time for Bo to fall or someone else to rise.
One player we shouldn’t take our eyes off is Zach Collaros, who coincidentally at this time last year was in Mitchell’s position as the leading candidate for MOP. Collaros missed the latter half of last year and a good part of this season so far with a torn ACL and now he’s making up for lost time.
» Landry: 5 takeaways from Mark’s Labour Day Weekend
Zach Collaros overcame a difficult first half to help the Ticats win on Labour Day (CFL.ca)
Collaros has thrown for at least 331 yards in all four starts and has 14 touchdown passes and just two interceptions. If he goes on to play in his team’s remaining eight games he’d be at a pace of 4,530 yards, 42 touchdowns and six interceptions over a 12-game season.
At that rate he’d have more than just a shot of capturing the league’s MOP honour despite a shortened season.
6. What’s Drew Willy’s future in the CFL?
He was a quarterback everyone had their eye on heading into 2016, but Drew Willy has since been forgotten after being benched following the Bombers’ 1-4 start.
Matt Nichols has no doubt taken a stranglehold of the starting job as his leadership has led Winnipeg to five straight wins and a third-place standing in the West — but where does that leave Willy?
While his role as the backup is valuable, it’s far from what it once was. The 29-year-old Willy was considered the franchise quarterback for the Bombers heading into the 2015 season when he received a contract extension reportedly rivaling some of the game’s top quarterbacks.
Does Willy fill the role of backup for the Bombers for the long haul, or could he potentially start again down the line — whether in Winnipeg or elsewhere?
7. Will the REDBLACKS hold on to win the East?
Despite currently holding a one-point lead atop the CFL East Division, the Ottawa REDBLACKS are given a 3.29 per cent chance of holding onto that edge by season’s end in the latest CFL Simulation. That seems harsh, especially for a team that won the East last season and wound up representing the division in the 103rd Grey Cup Championship.
True, things have changed since then — the REDBLACKS have lost four of their last six while the Ticats are humming with their top player in Zach Collaros back under centre. But is Ottawa really an underdog to win the East Division?
Trevor Harris has been the top-ranked quarterback in the league thus far, while the REDBLACKS’ quartet of receivers led by Chris Williams is capable of lighting up the scoreboard at any time. Ottawa’s offence remains the top-ranked in the league with 415 yards per game and the defence isn’t far behind at third in the league with 349.1 yards per game allowed.
Ottawa won’t actually play Hamilton until a home and home in Weeks 17 and 18, a stretch of games that will likely decide the division. But until then we ask: will Ottawa hold on to win the East?
8. Is Wally Buono the leading candidate for AGF Coach of the Year?
This season has smiled upon a few coaches in the league, particularly those in the West as Dave Dickenson’s Stampeders are leading the league while Mike O’Shea’s Bombers have orchestrated an eye-opening mid-season turnaround.
In the end, though, does anything compare to the job Wally Buono has done in Vancouver? Buono has taken a listless Lions team that has bowed out early in the playoffs ever since winning the Grey Cup in 2011 and made it an instant contender in the league’s toughest division.
The Lions can beat anyone in the CFL, something they showed from the very first game of the season with a win over Calgary and demonstrated perfectly again by winning back to back road games down East on a short week. They have an elite defence and an electrifying offence led by the young Jonathon Jennings with the ability to make big plays but also string together key game-winning drives late.
The man holding it all together? Wally Buono, of course.
9. What’s the key to the Eskimos winning the rematch?
After cracking the code last year and winning three straight against the Stamps, the Eskimos struggled in a Labour Day loss to Calgary on Monday.
Consistency has indeed escaped the Eskimos this season and a rebound at home in the rematch is highly possible, but what’s it going to take for the Green and Gold to become just the second team this season to hand Calgary a loss?
It starts on the defensive side of the ball, where the seventh-ranked defence (393.1 yards per game) and eighth-ranked secondary (330.6 yards per game) will have to be much better against one of the league’s top passers in Bo Levi Mitchell.
Yet the Eskimos’ problems against Calgary also stemmed from a lack of consistency on the offensive side of the ball. The Eskimos don’t give up a lot of sacks (they’ve allowed the second-fewest in the league thus far) yet Reilly was sacked four times on Labour Day.
Meanwhile, the offence generated a season-low 219 yards through their air while both Derel Walker and Adarius Bowman were held under 100 receiving yards.
What’s the number one key for the Esks to beat Calgary in the Week 12 rematch?
