July 16, 2018

Landry’s 5 takeaways from Week 5

Johany Jutras/CFL.ca

Hello, CFL field goal kickers. What was with all the doinking of balls off uprights in Week 5? You know you don’t get extra points for that, right? Though maybe you should. Call an upright shot before the kick and get five points if you do it. But zero if you miss, even if the ball goes through. Put me on the rules committee, Commish. I got a million of these things.

Here are this week’s takeaways:

1. YOU CAN GO SLINGIN’ IN THE RAIN

 

Friday night’s game in Edmonton was not the first one – not nearly the first one – where observers figured the steady rain would mean the passing game would have to take a backseat to the running variety. It’s also not the first one where that trusted old nugget was proven wrong.

In a soaked affair, the quarterbacks paired up for a total of 554 passing yards, Toronto’s James Franklin firing for 296, Edmonton’s Mike Reilly for 258. Those are healthy enough numbers, even in a dry weather game. Reilly did say, afterward, that gripping the ball at times was akin to trying to hang on to a greased pig, which amused me to no end.
Whenever someone says that (it seems to be the go-to comment for slipperiness comparisons), I always wonder; You’ve had a greased pig in your arms before? Why?

Also, if Reilly really thinks a wet football is like a greased pig, I would ask that Eskimos’ centre Justin Sorensen actually fire a greased pig back at him from shotgun formation during practice this week. I’m betting on there being a big difference. No, we don’t actually need that experiment in order to draw our conclusions but I REALLY want to see it.

No doubt that it is not as easy to throw a wet football as a dry one, but once again on Friday night, we saw that it is not actually a huge hindrance either.

It’s probably high time we put that old chestnut to bed for good.

2. BC PLACE IS WINNIPEG’S HOUSE OF HORRORS

 

For the second straight year, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers coughed one up in dramatic, fun-house mirror fashion in Vancouver. Last year – coincidentally also in Week 5 – the Bombers saw a 42-27, fourth quarter surplus, turn into a 45-42 deficit when the game was done. That one came complete with an ill-advised fake punt from deep in their own zone, a turnover that led to the tying score.

This year, their Week 5 horror show consisted of being blanked in the second half and watching a 17-nothing lead become a 20-17 loss, while Winnipeg was stopped twice on third and short, one of those denials coming from the Lions’ two-yard line.

BC Place is becoming the woods at Burkittsville, Maryland, for the Blue Bombers. Send in the documentary crew now.

BONUS TAKEAWAY: Solomon Elimimian doesn’t care how bleak it looks. He doesn’t care if he’s down 17-nothing, midway through the third quarter. He’s filling that hole and insisting that your offence cease all operations at once. If the BC Lions go on to do anything of note this season, you’ll be able to trace it all back to that Elimimian stop at the goal line, with an assist to lineman Michael Klassen. That’s where Saturday night’s comeback was brought to life. It might well be where a team’s season was saved.

3. WHAT’S THAT WAY UP THERE ON THE DISTANT HORIZON?

 

Umm… not sure… but when I squint my eyes… it looks like…. it might be the Calgary Stampeders.

(Grabs binoculars, focuses)

Yup, that’s them. That’s the Stamps.

A 27-3 thumping of the Ottawa REDBLACKS wasn’t, by itself, proof that the Calgarians are once again miles ahead of the rest of the pack. But it was an early season exclamation point on a four and oh start, complete with two wins over Ottawa, a mollywhop job on Toronto, and a comfortable handling of the East’s best team, the Hamilton Ticats, in the opener.

Their offence can sputter a bit at times during games but it always seems to get in gear at some point and start ripping. And even if it didn’t, who cares? The Stampeders’ defence might just be the utter strength of this team, even considering the star power they have on offence.

Good news for the rest of the CFL is that we’ve seen this show before and, previously, somebody has closed the gap enough to make the early season juggernaut sweat it out in the late stages of the year. Only time will tell if that happens again. But right now, the Calgary Stampeders are cruising at an altitude that makes them almost invisible on the radar screens of the other eight teams.

BONUS TAKEAWAY: If the bet was Micah Johnson vs The World, well, I guess I’d take The World. But only after agonizing over it and only if you gave me odds.

4. MARC TRESTMAN PREFERS THE RIGHT HASH MARK

We heard him ask for the ball to placed there at least twice during the Live Mic game. So, yeah.

What?

That’s not a substantive enough takeaway for you? All these takeaways have to be so thought-provoking and comprehensive all the time? I can’t have a two-foot putt once in a while?

It’s a legitimate takeaway. Marc Trestman prefers the right hash mark.

Take it or leave it. (NOTE: Two occasions does not nearly constitute a sample size large enough to actually, conclusively, prove that Marc Trestman does, in fact, prefer the right hash mark. Let’s continue to monitor the situation)

BONUS TAKEAWAY: Travis Lulay is really good, eh?

5. THERE’S ALWAYS CHRIS RAINEY

I’ve heard a few people openly opine that Chris Rainey has lost a step.

Upon further review, that gets an official “nuh-uh.”

Rainey was pressed into more action than he ought to have been, on Saturday night, after BC’s feature back, Jeremiah Johnson, left very early with a foot injury. Rainey got stuffed on a short yardage gamble, part of BC’s god-awful first half of play, but other than that, he delivered a splendid outing, piling up 246 all-purpose yards, including
71 catch and run yards on six receptions.

Rainey runs very differently than Johnson (and differently than the Lions’ other battering ram, Brandon Rutley) but Saturday night’s game showed that BC can make a go of it with him in the backfield, with a few adjustments here and there.

Chris Rainey hasn’t lost a step. He just needs to be asked to make more of them in order to really get warmed up.

AND FINALLY…

Now THAT’S the S.J. Green we know.