August 21, 2018

Cauz: Six emerging storylines I never would have predicted

Matt Smith/CFL.ca

I would like to thank Arielle Zerr, a beat reporter for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, for the motivation behind this column. The last couple weeks have been kinda crazy with the amount of “what the hell is going on?” news and unexpected results.

I knew I wanted to write something about the recent chaos around Canada, but I wasn’t inspired until I read this tweet from on Sunday:

Duron Carter doesn’t have a job, Winnipeg gets blown out, Johnny Manziel’s status is up in the air and some guy I’ve nicknamed “scrabble” is giving Toronto an unexpected boost. But none of that can top the fact that the three-down version of Johnny Cash is actually wearing a colour other than the “absence of colour” black.

Yes, I know it was all a part of the “Diversity is Strength” initiative going on throughout the league, but damn was it jarring to see Jones in a different colour. It’s like having that friend who has insisted on still rocking the goatee despite the fact that it’s not 1997 anymore and then they surprise you by suddenly shaving it off. They’re the same person, it just takes a while to adjust.

So without further ado, here are some of the other stories from around the league that have been contributing to this state of glorious chaos we find ourselves in.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are the greatest 3-5 team in the history of the league

Before the Ottawa REDBLACKS’ 44-21 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Tiger-Cats had the best scoring differential in the East at plus-24. They have outgained their opponent by 89 yards per game; only Calgary and Edmonton own a greater margin. Offensively they’re tied with Edmonton for average yards per play and no team has fewer two-and-out drives.

So many of their statistics point to a team that should be far better than 3-5. Instead, dumb mistakes, turnovers, penalties and a league-worst average starting position for their offence has led to a losing record. This has to turn around. Right?

Duron Carter’s employment status

How does a player who was Saskatchewan’s MOP nominee in 2017 still not have a team? How is Carter approaching the two-week mark without a job? He was the ranked 8th on TSN’s list of Top 50 players! One of the cynical (and more often true) clichés in sports is that if you have enough talent, eventually some team will pick you up. I don’t think some “cookies” and whatever diva-like behaviour that so many receivers have should be enough to keep him off of a CFL roster. I need answers to this one!

Duron Carter’s release came as a shock, yet the Riders’ receiver still hasn’t found a new team (Matt Smith/CFL.ca)

Johnny Manziel

Like him or not Johnny has consistently found his way into the news. He is such a force of personality he is often a part of local Toronto sports conversations. This past week was filled with speculation about why he wasn’t at practice, to him being placed in concussion protocol. We still have no idea if he is any good despite a better performance against Ottawa. No one has a clue just what his ceiling is or what is going to happen next. As someone who hosts radio shows in Toronto and Hamilton, I have to thank Manziel for being a content machine this summer

The McLeod Bethel-Thompson era is upon us!

Thompson went from a little-known third stringer to authoring the second-biggest comeback in Argonauts history to a tidy performance in the team’s 24-23 win over the Lions. The rise of McLeod Bethel-Thompson certainly has come out of nowhere. I understand that everything may be different in a month but considering how many of us in the media were applauding the acquisition of James Franklin, this turn of events is fairly stunning. I tried to give him the nickname “scrabble” last week as his jersey is filled with letters but I don’t think it’s going to stick. His name is worth 37 points in case you wanted to know.

30 is the new 20!

I felt fairly confident that Andrew Harris would have another strong year but I did not expect at the age of 31 that he would be leading the league in rushing. Considering his usage over the past two years — 556 total touches and all the times he was asked to pass block for Matt Nichols — I expected there to be a drop off in 2018. Not even close on this prediction.

I’ve written in the past how much I enjoy Charleston Hughes but not in my wildest dreams would I have thought that at the age of 34 Hughes would have more than double the number of sacks than his next closest challenger. But that is exactly the case as Hughes has 11 sacks while the 33-year-old Odell Willis is tied for second with five.

Shout out to Brad Sinopoli, who turned 30 in April for his 63 receptions which tops all players.

Finally an odd stat for a player over 30. Trevor Harris is somehow currently leading the CFL in fumble recoveries with four. Can’t say I remember a time where a quarterback led in this DEFENSIVE statistics. I’m now openly rooting for Harris to fumble the ball a couple times a game just to become the first quarterback to dominate this category. Hey, I told you we’re watching an odd season.

Week 10: A blood bath for prognosticators.

All of us at CFL.ca were convinced that Winnipeg and Calgary were going to win; wow were we wrong as both Ottawa and Saskatchewan won by double digits. It was a week for the underdogs as all four underdogs either won or at least covered the spread (Good for you Montreal, only losing by 16 to the 16.5-point favourite Edmonton Eskimos).

Winnipeg seemed like a great bet as they were at home taking on an Ottawa squad that had blown that massive lead to Toronto two weeks earlier. If McLeod Bethel-Thompson could hang four touchdowns on the REDBLACKS’ secondary just imagine what Matt Nichols can do! On the defensive side of the ball Winnipeg has seen some great improvements. They had always been that ball hawking defence and this year was no different as they’re tops in the league in generating turnovers and points off of turnovers. Their issue had always been in yards given up. Well, with the addition of Adam Bighill, Richie Hall’s crew has greatly improved in this category. Winnipeg wins, right? Instead Ottawa puts up 500 total yards and only commits one turnover in a 44-21 route.

Even more bizarre was Saskatchewan dominating Calgary 40-27 with the Roughriders generating just one offensive touchdown, which, sticking to the theme of this piece, was naturally scored by a defensive back in Nick Marshall on a three-yard run, giving the Green and White a bizarre 31-6 lead over Calgary. When was the last time you saw the Stampeders trailing by 25 points?

I’m looking forward to Week 11 where I expect Edmonton to win while being badly outplayed/outgained by Hamilton and Johnny Manziel to do something incredible in a Montreal win over Toronto — yet there will still be controversy. All bets are off now that Calgary finally lost a game and I would say look for Chris Jones to be wearing a techni-colour dream coat but that would be going just a little bit too far.