The Canadian Press
Hello, Bryan Burnham. What would your key life advice be for anyone who’s asking? My guess is it would be “always get a game day pedicure.”
You never know when even a sliver of a toenail might cost you.
Here are this week’s takeaways.
1. DO THE MATH. ALWAYS DO THE MATH
I do not ever second guess a decision purely in hindsight. A personal rule of mine is that unless I legitimately question a decision in the moment before a play happens, I don’t then retroactively assign a negative grade to that decision based on outcome. That’s fair, I figure.
Having stated that, I did immediately wrinkle my nose and scratch my head when Hamilton Ticats’ Head Coach June Jones opted to have kicker Lirim Hajrullahu punt the ball away and into the end zone, late in regulation time against the BC Lions.
Connect on a 44-yard try there and you put the game out of reach, in all mathematical probability. A seven point lead becomes a ten point lead with less than a minute remaining.
“But there’s no guarantee he makes that kick,” you might argue and that’s valid enough, although the evidence of statistical probability suggests that Hajrullahu would more likely have made it than not. And even if he didn’t, the basic math needed for a Lions’ comeback would have been altered only slightly.
The point the Ticats got on the punt single gave them an eight point cushion, meaning a touchdown and a two-point convert was necessary for the Lions to tie. So, a score and a convert to turn the trick. Even if two-point conversions are generally harder to accomplish, they aren’t what you would call rare (heading into the week, teams had a combined success rate of 51% on two point converts) and so that extra point bought only a little breathing space and not enough, turns out. The Lions scored, converted (hello, again, Bryan Burnham) and sent the game into overtime.
Let’s say Hajrullahu missed that field goal attempt and Lions’ returner Chris Rainey was able to take advantage of lesser downfield coverage, hiking it all the way back for a score, with kicker Ty Long pushing the tying point through from 32 yards (those get missed sometimes too, by the way). The Cats would be no worse off than they were with the other decision. They’d have been heading for overtime.
The possibility of Hajrullahu splitting the uprights and ending things right then and there was worth it, I’d say, considering the mathematical permutations.
Not to say that June Jones should be run out on a rail for his decision as there’s some decent enough math involved on his side of the ledger, too, to be fair. All in all, though? Attempt the field goal.
2. HEY, Y’ALL, A PLACEKICKER’S GONNA BE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
A placekicker has never won the Outstanding Rookie Award in the CFL. Never.
I am getting ahead of myself (something a successful placekicker would never do, by the way. Tempo, tempo, tempo) just a tad, but the season Ottawa REDBLACKS’ tiny field goal machine Lewis Ward has had means he has to be the front-runner in 2018.
What a story. He wasn’t even gonna make the team when training camp started, an undrafted leg brought in because you need extra legs for training camp, is all.
Lo and behold, Ward has become the star of stars of first year players, knocking through three-pointers the way the rest of us casually toss used coffee filters into the garbage.
Twice now, he has tallied a seven field goal game, including Saturday’s clutch performance against Edmonton. He’s now hit 37 straight field goal attempts and has done what I never dreamed possible: Ticked me off because a kicker’s team has a bye, robbing me of the drama of what he might do next.
No REDBLACKS in Week 16 means we have to wait until Week 17 to see if Ward gets his chance to tie and maybe beat the league’s record of consecutive field goals made (39, held by Calgary’s Rene Paredes).
A kicker for rookie of the year? A bunch can change down the stretch and men like Winnipeg’s Marcus Sayles and Calgary’s Tre Roberson will have their say. But right now, Lewis Ward is poised to make league history in more ways than one.
3. THE BEST DECISION YOU MAKE MIGHT BE THE ONE YOU AVOID FOR THE TIME BEING
The Saskatchewan Roughriders won the coin toss on Saturday, ahead of their game in Toronto.
Riders’ Head Coach Chris Jones (the magic is back in your green tee, Chris) drawled “ummmmm… I’m gonna defer that decision.”
The wind was blowing pretty briskly off Lake Ontario at the game’s outset, boring its way through the field from the south end zone to the north.
It was still doing that at the beginning of the second half and Jones decided to give up the ball in order to have choice of ends to defend.
He decided to take the wind in the fourth.
So, late in the game when quarterback Zach Collaros was flagged for intentional grounding on second down and the ball was placed at the Toronto 49-yard line, Jones and the Riders had the accomplice they needed when their fine placekicker Brett Lauther pounded the winning field goal through from 56 yards, and when Toronto kicker Zack Medeiros was called upon to attempt to blast one through the swirl from 51 yards out on the game’s second to last play.
Riders win. Partly because Chris Jones said “I’ll get to that later.” A victory for the procrastinators!
BONUS TAKEAWAY: It’s not really the missed 51-yarder on the second-to-last-play that’s the real killer. It’s the missed 36-yarder a few minutes prior to that.
4. HEY, WE MAY HAVE FOUND THE LEAGUE’S LATEST CLUTCH CATCHER
It’s a bit early to elevate him into the elite club of go-to guys but on Friday night, a newish guy emerged, wearing blue and gold.
Winnipeg’s Kenbrell Thompkins has a way to go before he can be placed in the category of money receivers (again, Bryan Burnham, I say hello to you, you ridiculous beast, you) but his performance down the stretch of the Bombers’ crucial victory over Montreal might be a tease of some great situational sticky-handed efforts to come.
Thompkins had five catches for 94 yards on the night, three of those receptions and 62 of those yards coming after the midway point of the fourth quarter and with the Bombers’ fate in doubt.
With Winnipeg clinging to a 21-14 lead, Thompkins made two nifty grabs, each of them moving the sticks on second down, gluing together a drive that led to a field goal and a ten point lead (I saw that one-hander, Darvin Adams, but you’re already in the club).
Then, Thompkins broke the Als’ spirit with a marvellous, falling, 42-yarder with less than two minutes to play, keying a touchdown drive that put things away.
Clutchity-clutch.
5. YOU CAN HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EXTRA ICING TOO
That’s Davon Coleman over there, the guy with the big grin on his face, chocolate cake stuck all over his teeth. He’s got crumbs up and down his front side, and icing all over his chin and cheeks.
He had his cake. And ate it too. All of it. Nom, nom, nom.
Traded by the Hamilton Ticats during training camp (along with a sixth round pick in return for a 4th round pick), the BC defensive lineman got to meet his old mates, finally, on Saturday night. He was a furious force, piling up eight tackles (one for a loss) and three sacks (for a total of 17 yards). Oh, he had a pass knockdown too.
In the locker room afterward, Coleman was given the game ball for defence by none other than Solomon Elimimian.
A game like that the first time you face your old team? And you win? In that fashion?
Davon Coleman ate the whole cake before the caterer could even return from the kitchen with a fork. And then chugged a giant bag of sprinkles.
AND FINALLY…
The REDBLACKS’ touchdown celebration from Saturday stands as the best of the year, I say. Brilliantly simple. A touchstone for my childhood. A salute to a cultural icon. Trevor Harris plays Lucy, Greg Ellingson plays Charlie Brown and a re-enactment of the famous football pull happens before our eyes. Bravo. Bra. Vo.
I’d love to see it again but I wonder if Head Coach Rick Campbell feels the same way. It won’t be quite so fun if a future Charlie Brown bruises a tailbone trying to pull that off.
