Nye: Expect the unexpected after a wild 2019

Jamie Nye

CFL.ca

@jamienye

What do you want out of football season if you’re a fan, or an analyst or anybody who follows the Canadian Football League with an eye for drama?

Unpredictability!

And 2019 had plenty of it.

Let’s review.

Chris Jones signs an extension in January and not two weeks later was in the NFL, coaching for the Cleveland Browns which led to more coaching drama after plenty of it at the end of the 2018 season.

We saw the quarterback carousel take over free agency with Mike Reilly going to the West Coast, Trevor Harris heading to Edmonton, Jonathon Jennings going east.

To start the season we saw the Alouettes change a coach after training camp with Mike Sherman leaving and Khari Jones given a day or two to set a new wave in Montreal.

Witnessing a new age in Montreal was special and how they did it was even better, which was one of my favourite storylines of the year.

They didn’t do it by dominance, they did it with grit and determination. Khari Jones established a belief system and it was Vernon Adams Jr. who had the rest of the team the feeling they were being led at quarterback by a guy who wouldn’t quit.

The Alouettes also gave us one of the best finishes to a game we’ve seen since the 2010 Canada Day Classic between Montreal and Saskatchewan. The comeback in Calgary was the best game of the year as well.

We’ll wait to see if Montreal can do it again or better in 2020.

Then came night one of the regular season when Zach Collaros took a shot that gave us an incredible comeback story to cap off the year.

Another special moment was watching Collaros and his family celebrate after the Grey Cup with him in blue and gold after starting the year in green and white with a stop in double blue along the way.

Collaros wasn’t suppose to be there among the confetti and celebration. Zach’s comeback is number one for my favourite storylines of 2019.

What Zach’s injury did give us is a new potential star for the CFL in Cody Fajardo. The third stop of his career gave the ‘short yardage specialist’ a chance to throw the ball and he took the No. 1 job and didn’t let go.

The Roughriders have found their new franchise guy and I guess there was more than one silver lining from that Simoni Lawrence hit to the head to start the season.

But it wasn’t only Fajardo but an Arbuckle and a Dane who took control of their teams and proved that the QB depth in the CFL is just fine. The future at the position looks to be in good hands as well.

Who would have guessed Mike Reilly‘s move to B.C. was going to go as badly as 2019 did?

The toughest quarterback in the CFL was every ounce of tough, surviving hit after hit, but we all saw that one great quarterback doesn’t mean a heck of a lot if there isn’t a solid game plan and solid talent around him.

We had the unquestioned MOP given a PED suspension in Andrew Harris. What a wild ride that was with debates going nation wide about Harris’ award eligibility, about his story, about his stats, and it carried through from August all the way to Grey Cup week with questions for the Commissioner and the CFLPA.

Then the voters gave him the first ever dual MVP/MVC award for the Grey Cup.

Keep in mind we almost had a delay to the season with the CFL and the CFLPA negotiations going right to the wire with some members of the CFLPA missing training camp travel Canada to explain the new deal to their fellow players.

It was a bit stressful for players and league execs on what could have been an ugly start to the 2019 schedule.

Speaking of delays, we had weather delays across the CFL. An over two-hour delay in Saskatchewan and then in Montreal an hour delay that gave us a look at a new rule. That’s right, the game was called final with time left in the third quarter with a seven point difference.

No, we’ve never seen that before either.

Part of the 2019 storylines as well was this new CFL 2.0 initiative. We seemed to learn more and more of it throughout the season, with it all culminating with an alliance of international football leagues being signed during Grey Cup week to try and take the Canadian game to more and more countries.

Players from Germany, France, Mexico, Italy etc. were on CFL rosters. I wasn’t thinking this would be a reality this quickly. And we’ll see if a new star is born in 2020.

Finally, we witnessed the Bombers looking dead and done, dropping out of the West Division race and fading toward the playoffs until Zach Collaros took the ball and ran the efficient offence with Chris Streveler being a fabulous change of pace.

Another unpredictable finish would be the Bombers winning on the road in Calgary and Saskatchewan to get to the Grey Cup? C’mon. No chance.

But how else would you end a 29-year Grey Cup drought than the toughest road to the championship? Not to mention the Bombers had to over come a 15-win team in the final.

Here’s some other quick hitters to reflect on from the 2019 season;

Pilsner plunge: Riders hit a game winning field goal in Labour Day Classic and Brett Lauther and punter Jon Ryan storm Pil Country in the south end zone.

Good, no, great Simoni! Lawrence breaks the record for most tackles in a game.

Burnham’s catch/no catch: It may be the catch of the year that wasn’t complete when Bryan Burnham hauled in a pass but by a toenail was ruled out of bounds.

Collaros’ scramble: The moment you knew the Bombers weren’t done was their home win against Calgary when Collaros scrambled away from pressure and then hit Darvin Adams in the back of the end zone.

New game breakers: Bralon Addison, Shaq Evans, Quan Bray, Kenny Lawler, Rodney Smith all started to make name for themselves as the next generation of big play receivers.

Great Scott! The fact Milanovich is back in the CFL after it appeared he was solidifying a strong NFL resume comes as another unpredictable surprise to cap an interesting 2019.

After 2019, I don’t think we should be surprised by much in 2020 because to steal from a popular reality television show, maybe ‘no lead is safe’ should turn into ‘expect the unexpected’.

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