Mitch Ward
CFL.ca
With Stein away being a new daddy this week we will push our Showdown on the league’s defensive all-stars to next week. Instead, I’m going to ramble for a bit with my thoughts from the past week. Let’s start.
HE’S BaaaaAACK
Opposing defences take note. Cory Boyd is back. After missing two games with a concussion Boyd came back and immediately retook the CFL’s rushing lead after bulling through the Riders for 145 yards on 20 carries. This guy is a beast. At 6-foot-1 218 pounds Boyd has the speed and quickness to make guys miss and run past them in the open field, or he can just go right through them. It’s one thing for a guy to break big runs when a team has a lot of other weapons to spread the defence out. It’s another thing entirely when everyone knows where the ball is going. With Dalton Bell making his first CFL start it was obvious the Argos were going to rely on Boyd and the Riders still couldn’t stop him. The Argos may have lost the game but getting their best offensive weapon back will be a huge boost for them as the playoffs approach.
FINALLY FOR FANTUZ
It’s about time Andy Fantuz notched 1,000 yards receiving. Since his rookie year everyone in Saskatchewan has been waiting for Andy Fantuz to have this kind of season. He has always had the talent. The biggest problem has been staying healthy the last few seasons. A broken leg ruined a great start in ’08 and then a hamstring issue held him to just 13 games last season. Well in 13 games this year he has finally turned the trick and sits third in the CFL with 1,058 yards so far. He looks like a lock for Most Outstanding Canadian at this point and should likely earn an All-star nod as well.
WEST STILL BEST
After all that talk about the CFL power pendulum swinging east and the potential for the first ever Eastern crossover a few weeks ago the West had their say last week. West teams won all four games last week and now sport a 14-10 lead in head to head matchups this season. With the Argos and Ticats both losing it also makes the Als the East’s only team above.500. The Lions are on a roll and the Eskimos have put together back-to-back wins for the first time all season (both against Eastern opponents). Add in the Riders better play and the Stampeders rout of the East leading Als and I think it’s safe to say that the West is still best. The East has definitely narrowed the gap but the title isn’t theirs yet.
COWTOWN BEATDOWN
Speaking of the Stamps routing the Als, did anyone outside of Calgary expect the beatdown they laid on the East leaders? I wasn’t shocked to see them win, they were due for a bounce back, but I was not prepared for them to dominate the Alouettes so completely. Henry Burris was spot on in a 412 yard four TD performance that featured the longest pass play of his career, a 100-yard catch and run with Ken-Yon Rambo. Nik Lewis’ demolishing of Mark Estelle pretty much summed up the entire game.
SHOUT OUTS
Rod Davis – After picking up his first interception of the season against the Argos in Week 13 Davis talked about how his teammatess had been bugging him about putting up a bagel in both the sack and interception departments going in. Well no one’s laughing now after Davis took his second pick to the house in as many games against the Ticats last week. The big linebacker read Kevin Glenn perfectly and jumped Marquay McDaniel’s route for a clear path to the endzone. Just a great play.
Greg Peach – Huge play in the fourth quarter to force a DeAndra’ Cobb fumble. Cobb juked Peach at the line and beat him to the outside. Instead of giving up Peach tracked Cobb down and spiked the ball out from behind to set up an Eskimo field goal.
Odell Willis – Another solid defensive effort wasted by the Bombers. Willis was a one man wrecking crew picking up three sacks in the Bomber loss.
Travis Lulay – Did you see the leap? If not, watch it.
Jason Clermont – Seven catches, 48 yards. It was nice to see Clermont so involved in the Rider offence. His best day in terms of catches in two years with the Riders.
