The Canadian Press
Hello, Antoine Pruneau. You couldn’t look more comfortable at free safety if they let you play in slippers and a cardigan and put a recliner back there for you.
Here are the Week 18 takeaways:
1. Bo Levi Mitchell doesn’t wanna just watch. Ever.
The Calgary quarterback is not willing to be just an observer, even though the West is locked up and so is, likely, his nomination as the outstanding player in the division. He got out there against the Toronto Argonauts on Friday night and accomplished all he needed to and then more, trotting out for every series including the final one that really called for nothing more than hand offs and kneel downs (note to self: “Hand Offs and Kneel Downs might be a good name for a future blog).
Mitchell seems to really be savouring this most remarkable season of football and I’d be shocked if he didn’t start again against the Montreal Alouettes in Week 19, when the Stampeders try to become the first ever team of the modern era (18 games) to lose just once in a season, so he can fully complete the job.
You get the feeling that Mitchell is the kind of guy who’d drive for ten straight hours to get to his destination, get out of the car and then get right back in so he could straighten up his parking job a wee bit.
2. Ricky Ray deserves better.
Ricky Ray passed for over 300 yards in his team’s loss against the Calgary Stampeders last week (The Canadian Press)
The future hall of famer, one of the more likeable and stoic performers the CFL has seen in the last 15 years, was hammered like a Hillary Clinton hard drive by the Stampeders’ defence on Friday night.
Argos’ pass protections had very few answers for Calgary’s rush schemes. Ray, like Mitchell, would never, ever ask to be taken out of a game and he suffered all the painful hits Calgary had to dish out, right to the bitter end, even though the game was out of reach. That included one more Mack truck hit to the just-healed ribcage that had kept him out for six weeks.
To those who think Ray is past it, consider this: If you put him behind that Calgary offensive line, or Winnipeg’s, or Edmonton’s, do you think he’d be protected and productive? Ricky Ray done? I don’t think so. But if I’m Ray, and Toronto wants to keep me, I’d say “show me the beef.”
3. John Chick is still a magnificent beast.
The former Saskatchewan terror has been pretty steady all season, in Hamilton, but the 33-year-old vet has been really turning it on lately and Friday night’s tour de force was sensational. Chick racked up five tackles, two quarterback sacks and a forced fumble and was generally miserable in his insistence to the right of way in battling Ottawa offensive linemen and backs. His stripping of the ball from REDBLACKS’ quarterback Henry Burris in overtime was a thick, rich glob of creamy icing on top of a delicious cupcake of a game. Wait. A cupcake metaphor does not seem at all appropriate for a defensive lineman’s big night.
Change it to… a thick, rich blob of béarnaise sauce on top of a 32 ounce porterhouse (cooked no more than medium-rare) of a game.
4. Manny Arceneaux can show you all of it on one play.
That play, on Saturday night, came in the second quarter of BC’s win over Edmonton. With the Lions up 11-5, quarterback Jonathon Jennings launched an over-the-middle shot towards Arceneaux, who was being very well covered by Edmonton’s Marcell Young.
Arceneaux’s 70-yard touchdown score came with him going high, fighting off aggressive coverage, snagging the ball and keeping his balance, where he then showed you his speed and – let’s not forget – pretty good big-man agility and acceleration as he juked on defensive back Tyler Thornton just outside the 20-yard line. He even climbed the railing at the side of the end zone and greeted a cute little girl sitting in the front row as he celebrated. The Manny Show. All of it encapsulated in one play.
5. The best catch of the week can be made by a lineman.
Looking at you, Michael Atkinson. The Hamilton defensive lineman is Exhibit A when it comes to big men behaving like ball hawks.
On the final play of the first quarter, Atkinson threw his left arm up and into the throwing lane of Henry Burris, deflecting the pass up in the air and behind the 6’0″, 312 lb butterfly. Yes, butterfly. Because that’s what Atkinson looked like as he pivoted, dove and laid out horizontally, gracefully floating to the turf like an autumn maple leaf, and snaring the ball a mere inches above the ground.
Watch it again while listening to your favourite piece from a Tchaikovsky ballet, because it is deserving. Or a slow jam by Drake. Whatever floats your boat. Big men on defence can take your breath away, and not only by driving their shoulder into your abdomen on a tackle.
And finally…. Ernest Jackson, man. Ernest freaking Jackson. Enough said.
