THE CANADIAN PRESS
Believe it or not, once the Ottawa REDBLACKS and Toronto Argonauts finish their game tonight, the 2017 CFL season will already be one quarter complete.
While it’s still early, there’s one noticeable trend emerging through the first five weeks, and it’s a trend we’ve gotten used to in recent years. Once again, the balance of power looks to be in the West Division, although there’s some hope that could change before we get to November.
Early trends
The disparity from west to east is pretty easy to see by just glancing at league standings right now. While the East Division is without a team above the .500 mark, the top three teams in the West Division have a combined 8-2-1 record. Edmonton, BC, and Calgary all look like legitimate Grey Cup threats while Winnipeg is a couple of missed opportunities away from being 3-1.
What the unbeaten Eskimos have done is very impressive regardless. Knowing they’ve had to do it while also losing key players Cory Greenwood, J.C. Sherritt and John White to season-ending injury makes it more notable. If it’s possible, Edmonton’s offence looks more formidable than it did in 2016, and that’s even with the White injury taken into account.
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Despite some key injuries, Vidal Hazelton and the Esks have gotten by just fine so far (The Canadian Press)
The Lions opened the season with a close loss to the aforementioned Esks, but they’ve rattled off four straight wins since then. BC looks really strong defensively and has shown the ability to win with either Jonathon Jennings or Travis Lulay calling signals. The Lions were clearly the West’s second-best team in 2016 but they’re truly in the mix for a division title a year later.
And while the 3-1-1 Stampeders haven’t looked as dominant as they were last season, they still look very strong. Even scarier is the fact Calgary is adamant it needs to get better, and all signs point to that happening. The Stamps have been ravaged by injury in the early going, specifically defensively. When key players like Deron Mayo and Cordarro Law return to the fold, this team stands to be even more of a handful.
So where does that leave the East? Well, 0-4 Hamilton is the most disappointing team of 2017 thus far and isn’t showing a ton of signs of rapid improvement. The Tiger-Cats are the lowest-scoring team in the league and only Ottawa has allowed more points, albeit playing one more game. Right now, Hamilton looks in disarray.
Fortunately, there are some more positive trends elsewhere. While their multitude of new faces on offence are still getting on the same page, the Montreal Alouettes sit 2-3 largely on the back of their defensive group. That bodes well for the Als once their offence inevitably finds its groove.
But the two most promising East Division teams thus far reside in Toronto and Ottawa. With Ricky Ray back at 100 per cent, the Argos are as potent offensively as we’ve seen them in a number of years. Just as impressive, though, is Toronto’s work on the defensive side of the ball, evidenced by six turnovers in the first four games.
While the West has dominated, the Argos appear to be on the way up in the East (David Chidley/CFL.ca)
And the defending Grey Cup Champion REDBLACKS sit 1-3-1 but they’ve probably played better than their record suggests. Trevor Harris leads the league in passing yards while a committee approach on the ground has been effective, too. It’s the defensive side of the ball that has been concerning, but positively, that unit allowed a season-low 19 points in Wednesday’s win over Montreal.
Calgary, BC and Edmonton don’t look like they’re going anywhere and I think Winnipeg will remain a factor, too. As such, I think the balance of power is likely to remain in the West Division as the 2017 season continues. I don’t believe things will look as slanted as they do right now, though, and Toronto and Ottawa should have a lot to say about that.
Promising showdown
Speaking of the Argos and REDBLACKS, those two teams go head to head to finish off Week 5 on Monday night. Not only have we identified Toronto and Ottawa as the two most promising teams in the East Division, despite their records, but this has the makings of a really entertaining football game.
The last time these two teams met, the Argos scored 13 fourth-quarter points to take a narrow 26-25 win in Ottawa. Both Ray and Harris threw for over 350 yards while and both sit in the top three in terms of passing yards. Knowing how dialed in Harris and Ray have been this season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see similar results from both again tonight.
It’s also a showdown of two of the league’s most prolific receivers. Coming off another ridiculous performance on Wednesday night, Ottawa’s Greg Ellingson leads the league with 584 receiving yards. Ellingson also leads the league by averaging more than 116 yards per game while right behind him is Toronto’s S.J. Green at 113 yards. Both guys went off in their Week 3 meeting so watching Green and Ellingson is high on the list tonight.
Greg Ellingson is the CFL’s leader in receiving yards with more than 100 yards per game (Patrick Doyle/CFL.ca)
It’s an important game, too. The REDBLACKS got their best defensive performance of the year in Wednesday’s win over Montreal but the Argos present a much more explosive challenge right now. For Ottawa to truly be a factor in the East, its defence needs to be far better than it was in their first four games and Monday’s matchup will be a real test.
For Toronto, the Week 5 finale is about bouncing back. The Argos didn’t score an offensive touchdown in their Week 4 loss to Winnipeg in what was their least effective game of the season. That carried to the defence, too, as Toronto had a rare bad night against the run with Andrew Harris racking up solid totals.
We don’t get Monday night games very often and even though the records may not show it, I think this is going to be a really entertaining game. As stated, the Argos and REDBLACKS look like the two best teams in the East Division thus far, so seeing them go toe to toe tonight should be fun.
No rush
The BC Lions have a nice little luxury right now. In this week’s Berg vs. Ferg, Marshall and I debated who has the league’s best backup quarterback. Regardless of whether you were with my pick of BC’s Travis Lulay or if you liked Ferg’s selection of James Franklin in Edmonton, you can’t deny how well the former has played the last two weeks.
And because Lulay has looked so strong, I’m not sure Head Coach Wally Buono is in any rush to put Jonathon Jennings back under centre. Now, don’t get me wrong: I believe Jennings still gives BC the best chance to win and has the higher ceiling. But why not give him ample time to recover?
Jennings suffered a shoulder injury on his first play in BC’s Week 4 win over Hamilton and hasn’t seen a snap since, which makes sense. Jennings’s range of motion has improved significantly since the hit and it doesn’t look like a major injury, but he’s too important to rush back. And when you’ve got a guy like Lulay playing the way he is, it’s a whole lot easier to feather the gas pedal.
Yes, Lulay threw a couple costly interceptions in the second half, but otherwise he was really good in Friday’s thrilling 45-42 win over Winnipeg. Not only did Lulay orchestrate a fast start for the Lions, he was also at the helm as they scored 18 fourth quarter points to complete an impressive comeback.
Lulay looks more confident than he has in a long time right now and has put together two straight 400-plus yard performances. Perhaps most impressive is how much he’s aired the ball out, which is an area I’ve questioned in Lulay’s game in recent years. That of course is due to the problems he’s had with his throwing shoulder in recent years, but Lulay’s arm strength has looked just fine the last two weeks.
Starting Lulay against the Bombers was the right call, regardless of the result. Next up for BC is a big showdown with the unbeaten Eskimos, but it’s also only Week 6. Lulay will give the Lions a chance against Edmonton if Buono wants to give Jennings another week of rest. At this point, why not give Jennings all the time he needs?
