Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
Hey, there, Nik Lewis. I hope you play forever. A forever filled with sticky catches and trucking defensive backs. One filled with you always doing sideline interviews with your helmet perched on the top of your head, backwards. You’re looking as good as ever, maybe better. You got some reverse-aging thing going or something? I dub thee “Benjamin Button Hook.” Guy could always use another nickname.
Here are the Week 19 takeaways:
1. Sasky does it right.
Well done, Roughriders and the sea of green that packs Mosaic Stadium.
That was a terrific send off for The Old Girl on Piffles on Saturday.
Other than the game, itself, of course but that’s beside the point and it’s not the first stadium to be closed with a loss anyway (cough) Maple Leaf Gardens (cough). The retrospective was warm and wonderful and hit on all the touchstones as far as I could tell and when George Reed threw off his cape under a spotlight as the ceremony neared its end, he got a little standing ovation in my heart.
I got to see just one game at The Old Girl, back on August 12th, 2010 when the Riders blasted the BC Lions by a score of 37-13. Like any football fan, I arrived early, took in all the sights and sounds of the grand old place I’d seen on TV since I was a little kid. I stared at Ron Lancaster’s name on the Ring of Honour for, I think, about a full half hour. Took a selfie with his name behind me as I sat in the stands during the game, although I’ll be damned if I can find it anywhere.
No matter. It’s clear in my head as I’m sure your memories are too. One mystery remains to this day for me: That night, I had the best – and I mean the very best – slice of stadium pizza I’ve ever had and I kept telling strangers I met all about it. They all looked at me and shrugged when I asked if “the pizza here is always this good.” So I don’t know if I got exceptionally, once-in-a-lifetime lucky or if ‘Rider fans had just gotten blaise about the best damn stadium pizza ever. So long, Taylor Field. I’m glad I got to know you, even if just a little. Thanks for the misty, water-coloured memories. And the best damn stadium pizza ever. It haunts me still.
2. The real Ottawa REDBLACKS just stood up.
I think so. Maybe.
I’ll be more sure of that if they follow up their 23-10 victory against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with another effort that resembles it this week in the return match at home. Not since July, really, have we seen as complete an Ottawa showing as Saturday’s. Crisp, sure and at times dominant on offence. That part isn’t exactly a huge surprise since the REDBLACKS are blessed with explosive firepower and have displayed it often enough this year.
On defence, the REDBLACKS forced the issue in a way we’ve not seen against a quality opponent in a long, long time. Three interceptions (should have been four), three knockdowns, three sacks, three tackles for losses and a forced fumble. Two turnovers on downs. Linebackers Taylor Reed and Damaso Munoz combined for 22 tackles between them. That’s very Team 100 of them, no?
Could it be that the real Ottawa REDBLACKS have sprung from bed and rushed out the door, just in time to catch their train to the Grey Cup Game?
3. Game reps? We don’t need no stinking game reps.
The REDBLACKS pressed offensive lineman Tommy Draheim into action in that game versus the Bombers. He hadn’t played a game in 2016 and yet they asked him to protect quarterback Henry Burris’ blind side when they plopped him in at left tackle.
The Bombers fed him a steady diet of a guy named Jamaal Westerman. Westerman did get a sack because, you know, Jamaal Westerman’s gonna get home on occasion. However, Draheim looked pretty solid for the most part, especially for a guy who’d been watching for the entire season. Practices ain’t like games. We have been told that time and time and time again, so Draheim was jumping into the lake without benefit of first dipping a toe in and he made the grade.
Something to be said for fresh legs at this stage of the season.
4. Running CJ Gable more might be a good thing.
The Hamilton Ticats might want to think of doing more of handing off to their very talented running back.
With Gable running wild and running well on Friday night, the Ticats were looking good, early, against the Edmonton Eskimos at Tim Hortons Field. During the first quarter, Gable racked up 38 yards on four rushes. The rest of the night he was handed the ball just twice and finished the night with a total of 55 rushing yards, or 9.2 yards per carry.
Now, it’s not like Gable was completely ignored, as he was thrown at 12 times on the night, catching 9 passes for 88 yards, with 78 of those yards coming after the catch. As long as he’s getting touches, I suppose but Gable’s ground game is shifty and powerful and when you’re averaging nine yards a lug, another ten or twelve carries might just be in order. Just so defences are guessing a little bit.
5. You kinda need your starting QB to beat Montreal’s defence.
Even if you’re the Calgary Stampeders. Stamps’ head coach Dave Dickenson had apparently already made up his mind to give back-up Drew Tate the starting assignment in Calgary’s last game even before the lead up week at arrived and there was no changing that plan, even with a shot at the best season in the CFL’s 18 game history on the table.
Tate had thrown just a handful of passes in 2016 while starter Bo Levi Mitchell had thrown, you know, significantly more in leading the Stamps to a record of 15-1-1. While Tate started sharply with some connections on short passes, he looked understandably rusty for most of the afternoon and a sizeable number of missed connections stalled the offence time and time again. Make a few mistakes against a very good Montreal defence and that’s all it takes, obviously.
Did Dickenson make the right call? Not if you really thought his team should have gone after an historic 16-1-1 mark. But if you – and I think most are like this – believe that guzzling from that big, beautiful silver mug at the end of November is the only thing that counts, he probably did. Mitchell was spared the slings and arrows of Montreal’s bruising defence in a game that, ultimately, did nothing for Calgary in the standings and Tate should be a little better if for some reason he is needed for any stretch in the playoffs after a day of working things out.
And finally: Lineman Ryan Bomben on a crossing pattern that then veers 20 yards down field on a touchdown shot? Yes, please, lets have more of that kinda thing.
