The Canadian Press
Hello, Week 4.
Slimmer than the previous three weeks in game quantity, but super-sized in intrigue. A top of the charts battle between BC and the Argos in Toronto. An alluring one in Montreal, between a Winnipeg team eager to sort things out fast and the Alouettes, out to show you should be lumping them in with the contenders. And perhaps the most magnetic, oddly enough, comes in Ottawa, where two winless teams, the REDBLACKS and the Elks, desperately try to pull themselves up off the cliff face where they each find themselves currently dangling over a pit of boiling lava. Week 4 is gonna be your favourite movie of all-time, on a giant screen, in thunderous surround sound. Director’s cut.
Here are the Week 3 takeaways.
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PLEASE ADJUST YOUR POWER RANKINGS ACCORDINGLY
Well, now. There can be little argument as to which team ought to be on top of everyone’s power rankings this week after the BC Lions dropped into Winnipeg to do something that no one’s been able to do over the last few seasons and that is dominate the Bombers on home field.
Do not wonder about the BC Lions any longer, if you were, in fact, wondering about how seriously you should take them after wins against Calgary and Edmonton. For now, the Lions get the glory of being the CFL’s numero uno outfit.
“I’ve never been part of something like that,” said BC defensive lineman Mathieu Betts after his team’s 30-6 triumph, referring mostly to the defence’s sack-a-palooza on Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros. Seven sacks in all, with the Laval grad netting a hat trick. “Everybody gets to eat,” said Betts, probably with his mouth full and a napkin tucked into his shirt collar.
BONUS TAKEAWAY: No silver linings in those clouds. When asked if such a thumping might be good for his veteran Blue Bombers team, serving as some sort of antidote to overconfidence, head coach Mike O’Shea replied flatly: “I don’t know that anybody looks at losing like that as being good.”
LIFE MOVES PRETTY FAST. IF YOU DON’T STOP AND LOOK AROUND ONCE IN A WHILE, YOU COULD MISS THE RISE OF JARRET DOEGE
And you thought things unfolded in Russia quickly over the weekend. They did but not with the speed at which Edmonton’s fourth-string quarterback became their first-string quarterback (probably).
Jarret Doege was dressed in place of the Elks’ third-stringer, Tre Ford, for Sunday’s game against the Toronto Argonauts. The starter, Taylor Cornelius – who had a decent but not particularly spectacular first half, gets pulled after two plays in the second, giving way to the second-string pivot, Kai Locksley, who gets all of one play to show what he can do and then gets benched after an exchange fumble on that play.
And here comes Jarret Doege. And while he entered the game against a relaxed Argos team that had already built a big lead, the 25-year-old native of Lubbock, Texas (shout out all you Buddy Holly fans) showed off a strong, accurate arm, lots of toughness, and escapability too.
“He did some real nice things,” Edmonton General Manager and Head Coach Chris Jones told CHED radio after the game, stopping short of proclaiming Doege to be Edmonton’s starter in Week 4. “He certainly throws the ball extremely well.”
Wowsers. From not dressing to odds-on QB1 for this Friday night’s game in Ottawa, to (I’m assuming) finding a parade float somewhere in Edmonton where he sang a kick arse version of ‘Twist and Shout’ all in a few hours.
BONUS TAKEAWAY: I wonder if CJ Sims has learned how to do an end zone front flip, yet. Looks like he’s gonna need it sooner rather than later.
THEY REALLY NEED THE BYE
Hello darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again.
In 2021, the Hamilton Ticats started the season oh and two. Last year they hit the ground stumbling at oh and four. Now, in 2023, oh and three. The good news is that two years ago they recovered to come within a hair of winning a Grey Cup. Last season they rallied to score what had
seemed an unlikely playoff spot.
“The bye couldn’t come at a better time,” Ticats head coach Orlondo Steinauer told the Ticats Audio Network on Friday night, shortly after his team got dusted pretty good by Montreal, 38 -12. This is a team in desperate need of a re-set, but it’ll have to be of the rest is as good as a change kind, at least according to the coach.
“It’s gonna be a lot of work,” said Steinauer, who then added: “We’ve got the right people to make it happen.”
Two other teams get byes this week as well, and they need them badly, too, but for other reasons. Both Calgary and Saskatchewan have significant injury lists to try to navigate. “We’re beat up, said Stampeders coach Dave Dickenson, referring to his receivers group and defensive backs. “We definitely need to bring some people in.”
BONUS TAKEAWAY: No, Chris Edwards. Just… no.
TO MORROW AND TO MORROW AND TO MORROW
I’d been feeling a little like Laura Dern limping out of the maintenance shed in Jurassic Park, lately. What I mean is I’ve felt like sending a team or two a one-word memo that reads, simply: “Run!”
Calgary had come to mind when thinking about that. So had Saskatchewan, despite having Trevor Harris and his 400 yards against Winnipeg to consider.
It’s just that Jamal Morrow is such a lethal ground game weapon, something he illustrated greatly in 2022 before having his season chopped down by injury.
Against the Stampeders on Saturday, Morrow rushed 22 times for 133 yards, showing off his agility, his straight ahead speed and his ability to slip the surly bonds of defenders with both deftness and with brute force.
Magnificent stuff. Morrow’s game is full of sound and fury, signifying plenty.
I don’t mind the Riders going for it on third and one late in the fourth, in an attempt to kill the clock. I mind them not handing the ball to Morrow for carry number 23. Or at least pretending they would.
Run Jamal ‘More-oh’ I say. And throw him a few shorties in space, too.
BONUS TAKEAWAY: Rolan Milligan drops the ball while in full flight after an interception and it jumps right back into his arms without him breaking stride. C.J. Reavis breaks up a pass and the ball goes off his leg and is plucked out of the air by teammate Larry Dean. Trevor Harris fumbles and after the Stamps push the ball about 15 yards into their defensive backfield, Jake Wieneke falls on it for a Saskatchewan first down. If this keeps up we may have to rename the “Argo Bounce.”
HE DOES APPEAR TO HAVE SOME GOLDFISH IN HIM
Chad Kelly is a slinger, we know. After a terrific season opener in Week 2, the Toronto quarterback started a smooth sail in Edmonton with a touchdown drive to answer the Elks’ opening volley.
But early in quarter number two, with the game still tied, Kelly misjudged the jump that an undercutting Loucheiz Purifoy can get on a ball, surrendering an own-zone pick-six that gave the Elks juice and
Kelly doubters some ammo.
However, Kelly seemed to easily park that one, leading a short field goal drive immediately after and then following up with an impressive pocket escape act and 44-yard touchdown pass to David Ungerer III, to give Toronto the lead.
Goldfish, we’ve learned from Ted Lasso, have short, short memories. Be a goldfish, Ted says. He’d be proud of Kelly. Then again, Ted seems to always be proud of everyone. All the time.
BONUS TAKEAWAY: Corey Mace scheming and Ryan Phillips scheming in the same game, in Week 4. Giddy. Up.
AND FINALLY… Some games are like slow cooker roast beef. That Calgary/Saskatchewan game was just like slow cooker roast beef.
You know how, at about the half way mark, a slow cooker roast looks almost completely unappealing and kind of gross, actually? That’s what the Stamps and Riders looked like at halftime, if I’m being honest.
However, by the three quarters mark, that roast starts to look the part of something delectable, and it begins to give off a delicious aroma. When it’s done, what was gross and unappealing is now fall-off-the-bone delicious.
And that’s what that game was. Complete with an overtime that was akin to pulling the beef apart and mixing in the barbecue sauce.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the butcher shop.
