Tale of the Tape: Ferguson breaks down Week 14

You might think with only three games in a CFL weekend there would be less to talk about on a ‘Tale of the Tape’ Monday, however, nothing could be further from the truth.

We begin with the standout theme of the week for me. Last year we declared 2017 to be “the year of the catch”. In that same vein, I believe week 14 of the CFL season was the week of the returner. A trend I hope continues because damn these guys can fly. First, it was a defensive back Tevaughn Campbell, who has experience with Canada’s national rugby team, opening up the hips after a Chip Cox blocked field goal.

 

Then it was a Shakeir Ryan in his first-ever CFL game taking a kick to the house against the always well coached Calgary coverage unit.

 

As Calgary often does, anything you do they find a way to answer with their own explosive play. In this case, it was Terry Williams running past a wall of black and gold tacklers that closed down their rush lanes just a half-second too slow.

 

To end off the weekend, it was Marcus Thigpen – who I continue to campaign needs more touches because only good happens when he gets the ball in his hands – taking the opening kickoff through the sea of green in Regina to set off an already hyped up Roughriders crowd.

 

And if that wasn’t good enough Kyran Moore returned his second kick for a touchdown since joining the Riders roster. Pretty good.

 

While those returns all went for six, my favourite return of the weekend did not. It resulted in barely any yardage but damn if the slow-motion replay of Stefan Logan – the real Mr. 305 – didn’t make me jump off the couch.

 

The strangest return of the weekend came when Shakeir Ryan appeared to be hauled down by a violent horse collar tackle. I admit I got fooled while calling the game on radio for TSN 1150. Ryan got pulled down by the hair which was clarified by @CFLFootballOps on Twitter by saying “A players hair can be grabbed during the execution of a tackle without penalty. Hair is considered an extension of a players uniform.”

 

The black hair paired with his uniform hid this perfectly and everyone at Tim Hortons Field lost their mind, but it was a good call after seeing the replay.

When the returners weren’t scoring at will this weekend there were plenty of interesting moments that stood out, including this Larry Dean pick-six where the Ticats middle linebacker covered a ton of ground while following Bo Levi’s eyes.

 

Larry Dean can scoot. Perhaps no play better summarized the random and unexpected nature of that Calgary-Hamilton game Saturday afternoon than this Nick Arbuckle fumble that resulted in a Delvin Breaux scoop-and-score.

 

As a radio broadcaster, third and one is elementary. It’s free time to get in a commercial read or finish off a story you were just telling. I think I was debating the pros and cons of sitting in the sun or shaded side of Tim Horton’s Field with my colour guy Mike Morreale when this happened. Lesson learned: no plays off.

In that same game, Bo Levi Mitchell did what he does best: roll right and throw a laser between coverage. Classic.

 

He also wound up the cannon for a Ticats backbreaker to Reggie Begelton, who was forced into a promising opportunity due to the Stamps receiver injuries woes.

 

What a throw and catch.

Those Calgary receiver injuries keep getting weirder and weirder. This is the strangest injury I’ve ever seen live. Again, on the air, we thought it might have been a double move which the defender got beat on and threw a hand up into Daniels neck area to slow him down. However, that’s not at all what happened. Unfortunately, it sounds like Daniels will be down for a while.

 

A more traditional injury happened Friday in Montreal when Travis Lulay got banged up. I hate to see this, as does everyone across the CFL.

 

The NFL has recently adopted a rule against throwing your body weight on top of a quarterback after hitting them which has led to many roughing the passer calls and raised eyebrows to match them. I hate the NFL’s approach as I don’t think these plays are preventable when a man the size of John Bowman lands on you – it’s going to hurt. That’s football, but it’s not dirty and doesn’t need to be removed from the game.

The underrated part of this play was the way running back Jeremiah Johnson (#24) communicated on blitz pickup. Just before the snap he actually gives the blitzing Montreal defender the universal “come here” sign with a palm raised to the sky.

 

Former Argos defensive lineman Shawn Lemon, who now calls Vancouver home, wins my most influential pass rush of the week award.

 

Lemon forced Antonio Pipkin off his spot with a nasty inside spin move before Pipkin offered up the bad interception.

 

A very similar play to that of Jeremiah Masoli rolling right and locking onto Luke Tasker in Week 1 without seeing the downhill charging defender.

 

Unfortunately for Alouettes fans, Pipkin threw not one but two during Friday nights game. The first was a comedy of errors that I’m sure weren’t funny to watch for Pipkin or receiver Ernest Jackson.

 

Pipkin dropped the snap which set him behind on footwork and reading the defence. Jackson ran a nice little ‘stick and nod’ type route where he makes the outside linebacker think he’s running an out so the defender leaves him to someone else in another zone, but Jackson ‘nods’ back behind the window just opened by the linebackers movement.

The problem is the ball arrives late and Jackson doesn’t settle in the window leading to the turnover. A great example of how little things lead to big mistakes.

 

The Alouettes got an interception of their own on an errant toss by Jonathan Jennings. The play wasn’t great, the celebration was, I just think it was seasonally premature. Shoutout to the Alouettes game day ops who played thriller as the team went back to the sideline.

 

While it wasn’t an interception, I think Jonathan Rose’s pass knockdown in Regina was the most athletic play of the week by a defender.

 

It’s almost impossible to do that without drawing a flag with your off hand. Rose made no contact and showed off his ‘catch radius’ as they like to say about receivers.

So did R.J. Harris who somehow stayed focused on this ball after it was tipped for a highlight grab.

 

Harris’ teammate William Powell is my standout player of the week after driving the engine of the Redblacks forward for a road win in Regina. It’s worth noting that the Riders probably should have lost all four home games against East division opponents this year.

Week one in Regina the Argos had a chance. In week four the Ticats couldn’t get out of their own way as Chris Jones played musical quarterbacks. Montreal got a win there and now Ottawa has as well.

Anyways here is Powell showing off his patience and running ability.

 

I went 0-3 this weekend in CFL picks. I cheer for fun things. Montreal getting a good performance out of their quarterback and winning at home again would have been great. Hamilton finally beating Calgary would’ve been exciting, yet neither delivered.

The fun thing that did happen was Ottawa winning a game in the West. Should’ve taken a shot in the dark on that one. On to the next one!

P.S. – The real play of the week was Ticats owner Bob Young tapping in for the traditional “Oskee Wee Wee” cheer prior to kickoff. Good luck finding another owner in sports who would do this.