December 22, 2019

Cauz: ‘The details’ on the 2019 season, FT. Derek Taylor

Larry MacDougal/CFL.ca

Time now for the most informative column I do all year that also happens to be the laziest piece of work I produce! That’s right, it’s another edition of mining all the crazy knowledge from the brain of Derek Taylor and then transcribing it for all you good folks out there.

For people who don’t know, Derek used to be an anchor on SportsCentre and he created ‘The Details’, a weekly video where he dug into some of the more unusual or prominent CFL statistics and put them in proper context. It was an entertaining bite-sized video that was crudely animated but you always left knowing more by the end.

Derek has since moved on to Regina, where he is the radio voice for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Though his job has changed, this column hasn’t. Don’t worry, this piece won’t be a mountain of random numbers. Think of it as a different sort of year in review through the mind/eyes of someone who takes all the numbers and transforms them into interesting narratives.

RELATED
» Off-Season Outlook: Saskatchewan Roughriders
» Cauz: The man behind the Riders’ new radio voice
» Ferguson: Theorizing free agent landing spots

 

There is a whole host of statistics you could use to explain the importance of Micah Johnson for the Roughriders defence. My favourite is the fact that the CFL sacks leader Charleston Hughes failed to register a single quarterback takedown in the three games that Micah missed. This is not to say that Johnson deserves all the credit for the magnificent season Hughes had, but it is a reminder that Johnson’s impact goes beyond the obvious numbers. Derek’s favourite play of Johnson’s was tackling human bulldozer William Stanback for a four yard loss on a second-and-one play. What should have been an automatic first down turned into a Boris Bede punt. Bonus Micah fact: he once made a tackle 55 yards downfield, taking down Winnipeg’s Johnny Augustine in the Labour Day Classic. The next best mark for a DT was just 23 yards. Micah went the extra mile on that one.

Don’t give up on James Wilder Jr. just yet. Yes, his production has gone down the past two years after his excellent 2017 season, but that has a lot to do with the linemen blocking for him. In 2018 Wilder ran for 2.1 yards before contact and this past year that number was 1.3; both those numbers were a CFL-worst. In other words, he was getting hit moments after getting the ball. It’s hard to produce when you are under duress constantly at the line of scrimmage. He has still been a weapon as a receiver out of the backfield.

The most baffling part of Willie Jefferson’s season was the six weeks BEFORE the Grey Cup. Jefferson, who had four QB pressures in the Grey Cup according to Taylor, had just eight over that six-game span. Derek has no real answer for it and simply calls it “baffling” considering  he tabs Jefferson as the runaway leader with 62 pressures during the regular season. I asked if Willie was the best player in the league and while Derek was hesitant to say that the Bombers defensive end was unequivocally the best, he did say there is no better player at seeking and making more high impact plays than Jefferson. No defensive player made more plays at, or behind the line of scrimmage, than Jefferson, who contributed 41 such plays. The next best was 30.

Willie was just one of the reasons why Winnipeg dominated Hamilton in the Grey Cup. The moment looked too big for first year starter Dane Evans, who was sacked on just over 50 per cent of the pressures applied by the Bomber defence, the highest sack conversion rate against Hamilton all year. It wasn’t just the linemen as Adam Bighill finished second in the league for QB pressures among all linebackers and he was a factor as well.

 

One line of thinking that I have always believed was partially debunked during my interview. I believe that bringing in Stanley Bryant would be a massive boost to help Mike Reilly in 2020. Derek doesn’t disagree about the greatness of Bryant (the best offensive lineman in the league according to DT) but he did open my eyes that all those sacks should not just be attributed to the Lions offensive line. After the first couple of games, the tackles improved and Reilly still finished the year with the second best passing accuracy when facing pressure, so it’s not like Reilly was completely hamstrung by average pass blocking. Taylor believes an issue that has not been brought up was the lack of underneath passing options within the Lions offensive attack. Whether it was as a result of scheme or Reilly wanting to go deep it is a factor that should be considered.

The only thing hindering Shaq Evans from hooking up with an NFL team may be his age: Shaq will be 29 by the time the next NFL season starts and if you look at the majority of high profile CFL receivers that spent any time south of the border, most were around 25 years old. Derek wonders if NFL teams will be turned off by the age. As for the skills, Evans displayed some of the best ball skills on deep balls and plenty of strength on the slants and digs. The number that stood out was Evans’ yards per reception were five yards better than the league average and despite only finishing 15th in targets, Shaq was fourth in receiving yardage.

Beyond the obvious prime time free agents, the one player that excited Derek is Ottawa’s Jonathan Rose. Rose was dominant in 2018 but was limited to three games this year. Rose is a high end defender who plays one of the most important positions on defence, boundary corner.

Moving on to the “concerns for quarterback X” section. Nick Arbuckle had a really nice season but how much of that was Calgary implementing a more conservative offence to protect the young passer? Arbuckle’s pass depth was just over eight yards an attempt compared to 11 yards for Bo Levi Mitchell. Nick only attempted 28 deep pass attempts and suffered through very few drops from his intended targets. Yes, the completion percentage looks great, but much of that was the result of a safe short passing game.

Dane Evans was a revelation for Hamilton but so much of his individual success had to do with the team around him. Consider these numbers: Dane had the highest interception rate despite having the second shortest depth of targets. He had the lowest percentage of yards lost due to dropped passes and he benefited from the most yards after the catch. This is not to say Dane can’t continue to develop, but we need to acknowledge the incredible talent base the Tabbies had this past year and how much Evans benefited from it.

 

My biggest issue with the passing numbers put up by McLeod Bethel-Thompson was how much of his production came late in games with the Argonauts trailing by a significant margin. It’s always easier to produce when you’re down by 20 and facing a soft zone defence. Derek threw out all the yardage when Toronto trailed by three scores or more and found that Thompson’s numbers were similar to Matt Nichols. In the fourth quarter when his team was down by two scores or fewer, McLeod completed 71 per cent of his passes with four touchdowns and one interception. Yes, the sample size is small, but it made me realize I may have to reconsider how I view the Toronto passer.

Finally, Derek is high on Cody Fajardo and believes he can be a 5,000-yard passer and 800-yard rusher. Eight of his 10 rushing touchdowns were on designed runs and not cheapie one-yard QB sneaks. His big concern is whether or not he can replicate his deep ball prowess as Cody led the league in deep ball passer rating. For such a young quarterback it is reasonable to wonder if he can have similar success in 2020.

Let’s do some rapid fire numbers!

Tre Roberson had 20 deep passes thrown at him in the regular season. Six were completed while four of those passes were picked off. That is a hell of a ratio for Roberson.

Yes, William Stanback led the league in yards after contact at 3.4 yards, but Derek gives Andrew Harris the award for the best after contact player. Harris’ numbers were a hair behind Stanback’s but the Grey Cup MVP has far more ways to make defenders miss.

Despite having a wealth of talent in the secondary with Tommie Campbell, Ciante Evans and Greg Reid, Montreal was still afraid to blitz. Only Calgary blitzed less than the Alouettes and when Montreal did, the results were disastrous. Montreal conceded 13 touchdowns and only recorded two interceptions on blitzes. Yes, it is easy to point at the front seven of Montreal defence as the problem in 2019 (Only 25 sacks on passing plays, fewest in the CFL) but the secondary should not escape blame.

Finally, Ottawa, you should be super excited for your new head coach. Beyond Willie Jefferson , the one individual that Derek raved the most about was the REDBLACKS’ new coach Paul LaPolice. Taylor has always been impressed with the work he did for Winnipeg’s offence.

As always, thanks for reading and thanks to Derek for letting me be a sponge to his endless amount of stats, facts and fascinating information.