Hello, Ottawa REDBLACKS. You sat on the couch, eating cheesies and watching everybody else pound it out. Ya did nothin’. And yet you emerge in the week running up to your first game all alone in first place. Good job. Just exactly as planned, eh? THAT’S what you call execution, men.

Here are this week’s takeaways.

1. THE KAMAR JORDEN VINDICATION TOUR IS UNDERWAY

“It’s going to be a play I’m known for — I’m willing to accept that,” Kamar Jorden had said just after last November’s Grey Cup was over. His late-game fumble, returned the length of the field by Toronto’s Cassius Vaughn for a touchdown, was a big reason the Stampeders’ seemingly assured championship went the other way.

The narrative of that play, heard over and over, is that Jorden’s butter fingers lost the title for the Stamps, who were knocking on the Argos’ door and ready to take a two touchdown lead. That narrative, by the way, is at least partially unfair to both Jorden and Toronto’s Jermaine Gabriel, the free safety who got up after letting Jorden slip away the first time, only to make a terrific play in helping to jar the ball loose from the Calgary receiver’s mitts inside the Toronto five-yard line. Gabriel’s work on that play should be at least as famous as Jorden’s.

Nevertheless, Jorden has redemption on his mind and if last November’s disappointment fires him up for this entire season, the Stamps’ opener gives us a glimpse what we could be in for; The Summer of Kamar.

With four catches for 77 yards and a touchdown (all of those numbers would be higher, most certainly, had a Bo Levi Mitchell pass intended for an open Jorden not been knocked down by a goalpost upright during the first quarter), the Calgary veteran has shown that he’s not about to let the opportunity slip through – or be taken from – his hands.

BONUS TAKEAWAY: Replays of Juwan Brescacin’s one-handed snag should never, ever be shown again without being accompanied by the 1987 hit “Take My Breath Away.”

2. THE DREW WILLY VINDICATION TOUR: WE ONLY HAVE TENTATIVE DATES SET RIGHT NOW

It is kind of hard to know if Drew Willy – once the golden-armed, anointed “next one” a few years back – can reclaim a spot in the quarterback conversation in 2018. The Montreal Alouettes need him to be that guy and the outset of the Als’ game in Vancouver was cause for great optimism, as Willy stood in the pocket, occasionally shifting that pocket when necessary, and launching three deep missile strikes against the BC defence.

Things didn’t continue in that vein as the night progressed, and some of that is on Willy, for sure, including a Garry Peters interception that was made to order for the Lions’ DB. However, on this night, Montreal pass protections drained a lot of pasta and Willy was under siege constantly. The jury is still out, at least until we can see Willy afforded some backfield comfort.

BONUS TAKEAWAY: Yet another vindication tour – this one headlined by B.C. quarterback Jonathon Jennings – got rave reviews for its opening night.

3. JEREMIAH MASOLI. HE’S THAT CLOSE

Hamilton quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has it all; arm strength, creativity, vision, scrambling abilities galore. Most of his first game of the season was spent illustrating all of that. But another thing emerged that is a little too familiar and that was his late-game interception against Calgary, with the Ticats driving for what could have been the winning touchdown.

It’s the curse, maybe, of having so much ability. Masoli makes so many great throws while on the run, maybe it’s only natural for a guy to think he can – and will – make EVERY throw out there. But when you’re running not only to your right but also away from the line of scrimmage, looking to fire one twenty-five yards or so downfield, well, that’s a cheque pretty well no quarterback’s bank account can cover. Throw that ball into the stands and you live to fight another down.

BONUS TAKEAWAY: Brandon Smith ain’t havin’ it, man. He ain’t havin’ it.

4. RICKY RAY IS HUMAN, YOU KNOW

One of the takeaways from Friday night’s Saskatchewan win over the Toronto Argonauts might be that pre-season matters to veterans too.

Toronto head coach Marc Trestman decided to sit pretty well all of his starters for both pre-season games and could that lack of game action have led to a less than stellar first half for Toronto?

That did have nothing to do with the key play of the night, though, when Ricky Ray let an ugly duckling escape from his throwing hand, resulting in a pick-six for Saskatchewan first-year corner Nick Marshall.

Ray, one of the most gifted and accurate quarterbacks to ever grace the CFL with his presence, has not, I’ll bet, thrown a pass like that since he was about three years old. Probably won’t throw another like that until he’s 93.

BONUS TAKEAWAY: That Saskatchewan defence will steal your lunch everyday. And they won’t even try to hide it. They’ll reach into the break room fridge, grab your lunch bag and then just cram the whole tuna sandwich into their mouth as they look right at the security camera.

5. THE REKLAWS HAVE SOME KIND OF SUPERNATURAL POWERS

“Long Live The Night,” indeed. The Canadian country duo’s Thursday Night Football anthem proved magical in its powers to conjure and what we ended up with was the longest night at a CFL stadium ever, a topsy-turvy, rain-pelted, lightning-powered, down to the last second odyssey between the Bombers and the visiting Edmonton Eskimos.

How long was that game? It was sooooo long…

That Mike Reilly wrote a Tolstoy-length memoir about it, entitled “QUAR and Peace.” Ha! That’s a joke just for Steve Daniel and the rest of the stats crew.

It was so long that if it were a Eugene O’Neill play, it would have been called “Long Night’s Journey Into Day.”

It was so long that this fun fact emerged: Twenty-two players on the field at the end of the game had just graduated from elementary school when it began.

It was so long that scientists gave up trying to compare it to the value if Pi.

BONUS TAKEAWAY: I would like The Reklaws to write and record a song about me winning a giant lottery jackpot.

AND FINALLY…

Hey, Charleston Hughes. You’re taking sack dance requests on Twitter, I see. Well, how is it that we’ve never ever seen you dance the actual “Charleston”? I mean, it’s your name and everything. 102 career sacks, not one Charleston. You want Odell Willis to beat you to it?