CFL.ca
We stepped off of the plane last night, very briefly into the unmistakable chill that prairie air in early November brings and it really hit home.
The playoffs are here.
Sure, that snippet of cold air was just that, whatever could leak into that tiny little gap that you walk past as you step from the plane into the tunnel that brings you into your gate at Edmonton’s airport, but for me it signaled one thing. Well, two.
First, that early November chill in Edmonton is synonymous with CFL playoff football. Second, two years into living in Toronto after a lifetime in Alberta, I’m already a total weather wimp. The me of two years ago would scoff at the me of today, bundling up my CFL-issued jacket as we got outside and as we checked into our hotel.
Anyway, the playoffs. This week marks my favourite time of the CFL season. Twenty weeks of regular-season play have brought us here. This is where you find out what your team is made of, what players are made of. Where surprises and drama abound, no matter who wins in the end.
We got a taste of that in that Esks-Riders game on Saturday. It started with Esks DT Almondo Sewell boldly predicting that his defensive teammates would get a pick-six on Brandon Bridge. If you didn’t see the interview, I can tell you this: Sewell is not a fan of Bridge’s body of work thus far in the CFL.
“Brandon Bridge is not a thrower. He’s just going to scramble around and try to make up backyard plays down the field,” he told TSN. “Hopefully he throws one of those wild passes he’s throwing down the field, hopefully one of our DB’s pick it off and run it to the house. It’s going to happen before this game is over.”
It didn’t happen, but that interview was a molotov cocktail of drama rolled into what could potentially be a Grey Cup match up at the end of the month.
I don’t want to wait eight-plus months for more of this. Get. These. Teams. On. The. Field. Again.
Will we actually see this rematch in Ottawa at the end of the month? I don’t think it’s entirely out of the realm of possibilities. We can get to that later. Like in Wednesday’s blog, since the Esks aren’t practicing today.
On Another Note
Good read alert: This is from last week, but I really enjoyed it. Ottawa beat guy extraordinaire Tim Baines has a beautiful story on REDBLACKS receiver/special teams god Diontae Spencer, who lost his father far too soon seven years ago.
