The Canadian Press
The calendar has officially turned to October, which means we have eight weeks left of CFL football in 2018. Before you have a single tear roll softly down your suddenly wind-dried cheek, let’s take a look back at some of my favourite moments from the week that was.
Week 16 began in Calgary where – to the surprise of a man living in Hamilton, Ontario – the first visual shown by the CFL on TSN was hail bouncing off the McMahon Stadium turf as Argos kicker Zach Medieros lined up the opening kick.
Alberta weather, man. It could make for another classic in this year’s Grey Cup.
Early on the Argos got what appeared to be a very scripted touch to Dexter McCluster who I’ve been excitedly waiting to see in a CFL jersey since his signing was announced.
Dexter showed some nice burst throughout the game, I wish I could watch more of him in 2018 but I guess that just means we’ll all have to enjoy the final quarter of the season watching him closely.
Our meaningless yet beautiful play design of the week is a toss-up between this bunch misdirection underhand flip by the Argos…
And Edmonton adding a really nice wrinkle to their shovel package by sneaking a backside screen to Bryant Mitchell. ’Tis the season to add some variety to the playbook and ramp things up for the playoffs!
Love both of these looks but neither has a chance of being as consistently effective as Winnipeg sneaking Weston Dressler down the line of scrimmage in motion before flipping the jet toss to him.
I always love watching S.J. Green play. It’s amazing seeing his career evolve since Montreal, to becoming a bit of a positive emotional firework for an Argos team that consistently seemed to come out flat this year. Oh and he can still make ridiculous catches.
Unfortunately for Argos fans, Calgary QB Bo Levi Mitchell was allowed to do what he does best Friday night. Break the pocket and buy time while softly rolling to his right before drawing three defenders and dumping off the ball to a receiver for the touchdown.
No DaVaris Daniels? Reggie Begelton? Kamar Jorden? No problem when you still have Bo working his eyes to make people open like that.
In Edmonton, the Bombers game was never in doubt. We all saw how this one would shake out after an early punt block which might have cost now former Eskimos special teams coordinator Cory McDiarmid his role with the green and gold.
Package that with a Mike Reilly interception or two, and you find Edmonton looking for answers as we head down the backstretch.
This next one hurt my soul. The sidearm release of Zach Collaros is a beautiful thing. Even more so when it occurs in slow motion with a veteran defensive end bearing down. I love me some Marcus Thigpen as much as anybody who watches the CFL but this clip has a pretty sour ending.
When Collaros’ arm was launching the rock from a more conventional angle he was – somehow – finding rookie standout Kyran Moore between TJ Heath getting lost in space and Chip Cox randomly tackling a receiver.
In Steeltown, the man who took Collaros’ job in Hamilton had one of the best throws of the weekend. Nothing other than seeing this ball live does it justice, but here’s the footage.
35 yards on a rope to the only place Luke Tasker could have caught it after drifting to his non-throwing arm side. The degree of difficulty on that is through the roof and it’s why I continue to believe Jeremiah Masoli – stats and wins or not – is one of the most talented quarterbacks in the CFL.
When Masoli wasn’t making my eyes fall out of my head he was handing the ball off to John Whyte who had 83 yards on his first 5 carries. In the CFL, that is almost UNHEARD OF.
The real story in the Ticats 40-10 thumping of the BC Lions was the defence though thanks to two interceptions returned to the house. The first by linebacker Don Unamba on the first BC play of the game
And the second the Mike Daly who scored his first career touchdown only to throw the ball away. Daly asked on twitter if anyone could help him find the valuable piece of personal memorabilia. Somehow twitter got Daly the ball back. The CFL community is amazing.
That does it for week 16 in the Canadian football Lea.. oh wait.
You thought I could do one of these without mentioning Manziel didn’t you?
“JOHNNY NO!”
Literally what I yelled at my TV as Manziel put his head down and dove for the end zone. I saw the week 21 Hamilton-Montreal Manziel bowl 2.0 flash before my eyes. Thankfully he was okay and stayed in the game trying to lead a Montreal comeback which failed on this deep pass that I was sure a seagull was ready to intercept.
THAT does it for week 16. Here come all the divisional games to sort out seedings! 30 of the final 32 CFL games feature divisional matchups. No better way to end the season and look towards playoff football.
