August 7, 2018

Cauz: Plenty of good football lost in Manziel whirlwind

Walter Tychnowicz/CFL.ca

I would not blame you if you missed what Derel Walker did against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. For all of Walker’s heroics, he kind of got lost in the shuffle.

There was no way the Edmonton/Saskatchewan game was going to live up to the crazy comeback by the Toronto Argonauts against Ottawa. Seriously, how does a team that commits four turnovers, gives up two special teams touchdowns, is trailing by 24 points with less than five minutes to go in the third quarter with a quarterback making his first ever start win? That last sentence sounds like a football riddle without an answer. Then you had the Johnny Manziel debut on Friday night. Sandwiched in between, hiding in plain sight was Derel Walker.

I’m guessing most of you who are east of Winnipeg missed the game entirely. Those 10 p.m. ET starts can be tough on a work night. It’s easy for Walker to get lost in the shuffle. Maybe you were focused on Jason Maas losing his battle against a Gatorade bucket that wasn’t looking for trouble and sadly had only three days left till retirement. Maybe you were relieved to see Duron Carter doing Duron Carter things as a receiver, beating Aaron Grymes for a 41-yard touchdown in the third quarter.


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So in the middle of an impossible-to-believe Toronto comeback, the inglorious beginning for Johnny Manziel, a late night start, a coach going crazy and Carter back to where he belongs was Derel Walker going off for 154 yards and an unforgettable touchdown grab in the middle of a forgettable game. But it needs to be said that Walker was the main reason Edmonton was able to beat Saskatchewan 26-19 despite an off night for Mike Reilly.

I want to focus on Walker because he deserves the attention. It’s easy to see how Walker has been overshadowed this season. It’s odd to think that someone as talented and productive as Walker can be overlooked but there have been plenty of factors to explain how it’s possible. His teammate D’haquille Williams is the CFL leader in receiving yards and had a red hot stretch of five games where he exceeded the century mark. Walker has been kind of quiet statistically this year after going nuts in Week 1 against Winnipeg putting up more yards (176) in that game than he has in his previous three (164) leading up to Thursday night’s contest against the Roughriders.

Even going into this game our own Fantasy page told you to be wary of spending big bucks on Walker as Saskatchewan’s pass defence had been playing at a high level. After going nuts in 2016 with nearly 1,600 yards, Derel spent half of last season in the NFL with Tampa Bay before rejoining Edmonton for the stretch drive.

Walker made his presence known on the Eskimos’ second possession, getting wide open on the far sideline and pulling a Houdini on DB Crezdon Butler for extra yardage; all told it was a 61-yard play that soon led to a C.J. Gable touchdown. Speaking of touchdowns, you know you did something pretty spectacular on the field when the announcer yells out “How did he do that”? That question by Chris Cuthbert must have gone through the heads of Ed Gainey and Samuel Eguavoen as well. Walker out-muscled and out-leapt Gainey on one of the those high 50/50 balls, justifying the faith Mike Reilly has that Derel will win those one-on-two battles going after that deep rainbow pass. Eguavoen was a step slow trying to catch up to the play and was left shaking his head at that display of athleticism.

 

Re-watching the game, what I appreciate about Walker is the work that he puts into his route running, the crisp double moves and the other receiver tricks. A casual observer would think that the Roughriders’ defence was constantly blowing their assignments, but in reality the gap between receiver and defender is more about what Walker does from the moment the ball is snapped to the reception.

Sticking with the theme of things you may have missed, I watched Walker’s post-game interview, and I need to say this man is far too nice/humble. His breakdown of his touchdown catch was “All I did was catch it and fall in the end zone.” Are you kidding me? That’s like Tom Cruise explaining his success in the latest Mission Impossible movie by saying “All I do is run and some guy edits it.” Listen, Walker, I love you praising Reilly for throwing a “beautiful ball” but really you should have said you “saved your quarterback’s ass beating a double team and gravity” on that score.

All right, that concludes my PSA on Walker. Again, I’m not gonna shame you for missing what Walker did, it was a busy week.

Before I finish, please allow me a quick aside on Johnny Manziel. I was having just as much fun as anyone else watching the disaster that was Manziel. My Twitter account was at max snark on Friday night. Sports schadenfreude was in full effect with every passing interception. But after it was all done, I couldn’t help but feel both sorry for Johnny and disappointment for the final result. With Friday being a light night in sports, all eyes were on Manziel and he took more than his fair share of blame considering he was in an no-win situation with the lack of practice time as the starter and a lack of playmakers.

As for the feeling of disappointment, let me ask you this: How much more fun would this week be if the Alouettes had won as a result of Manziel and the offence lighting up the scoreboard? Suddenly the ceiling of the Alouettes would hit new levels and the entire eco-system of the East would be transformed. Yes, giggling at mistakes is amusing, but it’s kind of like eating a pizza late after a night at the bar. It’s tasty but it’s also just an empty calorie experience that you may not even remember eating. Here’s hoping Johnny and the entire Alouettes offence grows from that debacle.