OUT OF THE TUNNEL: AN AWESOME WEEK 1!

BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF

Finally! The brain and the heart feel whole but after 12-plus hours of glorious CFL football since Thursday, the body now needs a little TLC. But it was totally worth it.

From the opening kick-off in Winnipeg to the final gun in Edmonton, fans across Canada are still smiling.

It was a very interesting opening week with a lot of surprises and much that wasn’t surprising at all. There were new players to watch and old faces that continue to be great. 

Without pre-season games to work out the kinks it would be easy to crap all over some of the ugly play in week one but we are just so happy to have football back this is going to be the all-positive week one look back at the CFL season, and there is a lot to be happy about.

Football Is Back!!

The 19-month wait ended Thursday in Winnipeg and after that it didn’t matter how the football looked (more on that later) it was incredible to see football on TV and in person. Just thinking about it now still brings a smile to our face. It’s a good start to a 14-week sprint to the Grey Cup let’s continue to build on this.

Canadians

Brady Oliveira was the Canadian we all forgot about. The former UND running back broke his leg early in 2019 and wasn’t really talked about heading into the 2021 season. The injury to Andrew Harris gave Oliveira the start and he didn’t disappoint with 136 yards rushing and added another 21 yards receiving.

Kwaku Boateng was incredible again for Edmonton with a pair of sacks, as was Henoc Muamba for the Toronto Argonauts. 

The other surprise was how well quarterback Nathan Rourke played for the B.C. Lions. Sure, it was a rough start but after settling down he led the Lions to nine points before the first half ended. Michael Reilly came in to start the second half but was too hurt to finish the game. Rourke almost led the Lions all the way to the comeback victory but he needed a little help from the kicking game.

So two newer faces and two vets paved the way to what could be a great season for Canadian players.

Saskatchewan’s First Half

The top offence in week one was the Green and White’s in the first half of their 33-29 victory over the Lions — 32 of those points came in the first half.

The offence led by Cody Fajardo scored in three straight drives but after that was just like almost every other offence in week one, very pedestrian. The first half gave us 160 of Fajardo’s 230 yards passing. This might be more of having a big lead and taking the foot off the gas but either way the Saskatchewan first half was the best offence showing of week one.

TSN Broadcast

Admittedly we have been incredibly hard on the TSN broadcasts of the CFL but the changes they have made for the 2021 season were noticeable.

Glenn Suitor is a workhorse hammering out three games as the game analyst; Rod Smith is great doing play-by-play; Kate Beirness was good in week one and will only get better; they were a little more nimble in their in-game storytelling and most importantly they got rid of the predominantly red and textured graphics package and went with the flat multi-coloured package we have seen (and love) in American football broadcasts.

As the CFL broadcaster, TSN took some big steps in the launch of the 2021 season and like the league itself they now have solid building blocks for a great broadcast year.

RedBlacks Defence 

We know it’s only week one but if the Ottawa Redblacks continue to play defence like this and get the time to work through their woeful quarterbacking they will make every CFL pundit eat their words, us included.

Abdul Kanneh’s two interceptions and a touchdown, along with Avery Williams and his 14 tackles and a sack were the defensive leaders for Ottawa. Yes, they bent but in the end they were able to confuse Trevor Harris and the Elks offence into a loss on their own turf.

The Under

This was something we got right. Other than the Saskatchewan Roughriders and B.C. Lions combining for 61 points, the other three games in week one were unders with the opener in Winnipeg and closer in Edmonton being significant unders.

It might be a trend we see for the first few weeks of the season as the offences get their act together so head to your gambling site of choice and plop a few bucks on the under.

McLeod Bethel-Thompson

The much travelled quarterback had by far the best week of passing in week one of the season. If Bethel-Thompson can continue to complete 70% of his passes and continue to limit the turnovers the Toronto Argonauts may really push for the top spot in the CFL East Division.

It is only week one in a season that didn’t have pre-season games, and a limited training camp but to have this good of a performance is incredible. It helped the Argos knock off the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium 23-20. This gives the Double-Blue a big road win and a whole boat-load of confidence to start the season.

The Fans

It’s an incredible start to the season and let’s hope we will continue to have fans in the stands for the duration of the season. And here’s hoping the fans in Vancouver and eastern cities catch the love for CFL and pack the park in the latter parts of the season.