THROWIN’ ELBOWS WITH BRENDAN MCGUIRE

1. CHRIS JONES EFFECT ON THE RIDERS: I noticed one of the commenters on this site has suggested the pressure on the Saskatchewan Roughriders to win has been cranked up ‘exponentially’ with the hiring of Chris Jones to run the Edmonton Elks. I couldn’t agree more. Jones’ fingerprints can still be found all over the foundation of the Riders defence today. The duo of general manager Jeremy O’Day and head coach Craig Dickenson have had the keys to the Cadillac which Jones built to ‘win now’ for two full seasons. Success against an Elks crew in re-build mode, led by Jones, in 2022 will be a must. Winnipeg is always the Riders’ biggest rival, especially with the Blue Bombers in the west division. Calgary was always seen as their #2 but somehow it feels like that all changed with last week’s reunion of Jones going back to Edmonton.  

2. JONES COULD BE THE NICK SABAN OF CANADA: I’ve made the comparisons of Chris Jones to Don Matthews ad nauseam and will continue to do so. However, another comparison has jumped in my head. Chris Jones’ odyssey through the CFL and NFL seems eerily similar to that of Nick Saban’s path through U.S. college football and the NFL. Saban bounced around many different organizations, including the Cleveland Browns like Chris Jones did recently, until promising to settle down with the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. Chris Jones has pinballed around through six different organizations, some of them twice, since 2007. Now he is saying a lot of the same things Saban did when he went to Alabama, where Saban has now been setting records for 15 years. They are both defensive gurus. Nick Saban settled down at Alabama at age 55. Today, Chris Jones is 54. The similarities are indeed striking.     

3. ANOTHER NEW CHALLENGE FOR CFL: The NFL is still racist toward black coaching candidates but, thankfully, not as racist as it used to be toward black quarterbacks. The No Fun League also doesn’t discriminate against athletic undersized quarterbacks in the way it used to, either. These are good changes but as was recently pointed out on the Bob McCown podcast, has made it harder for the CFL to access some great talent that it used to land all the time. For example: Chuck Ealey, Warren Moon, Doug Flutie, Damon Allen and Tracy Ham all probably would’ve found homes in the NFL if they played today. On the flip side: Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson and Drew Brees might’ve ended up in the CFL if the National Football League hadn’t started to embrace those guys. I still choose to believe there is a ton of great quarterbacking talent that never gets unearthed in any league. It’s up to the CFL to find those guys as they are out there beneath our noses.    

4. BUONO WASTING ELKS MONEY: They contracted him out to help find the next GM. Wally’s head coaching credentials are impeccable. His head coach HIRING credentials are underwhelming to say the least. His two head coaching hires, Mike Benevides and Jeff Tedford, combined to send the BC Lions into decline. Did the Elks really need Wally’s help to realize the only obvious choice was to bring back Chris Jones?

5. ANOTHER RULE CHANGE CFL SHOULD CONSIDER: Allow blocking from the side on kick returns. There were some pretty serious injuries but they were few and far between. Would make the game so much more entertaining and create far more kick return touchdowns. Just because the NFL is eliminating kick returns doesn’t make it the right thing to do and doesn’t make their game any safer.  

6. THIS WEEK I’M JEALOUS OF: Chris Jones. Guy has bet on himself on multiple occasions and proved he really had nothing to lose and can go home again. He’s also proven that if you pour your heart and soul into your job then you are not replaceable.

7. DID YOU KNOW: Not including Walt Posadowski, who mopped up for Jim Eddy late in the 1978 season, the Saskatchewan Roughriders oldest living head coach is Ray Jauch. The now-83-year-old ran the Rider sideline during the 1994 and 1995 seasons. Being 11 and 12 years old at the time with a mom living in the city and not much else to do during my summer/fall visits, I would frequent Rider practice with some of the other railbirds and coach Jauch would come over to visit with the fans regularly. His son, and then-Roughrider receiver, Joey Jauch recently posted online that his old man is doing fine and not living scared about the “chrome-virus”. Ray Jauch was a class act when he coached the Roughriders and led them through some exciting moments such as their over-achieving 11-7 finish in 1994 and then an under-achieving but thrilling 6-12 season in 1995 which included a win over Jeff Garcia’s Calgary Stampeders in front of more than 55 thousand fans, the biggest crowd ever at Taylor Field. The 90’s really had some magical moments and I’m glad to hear the old coach is on our side in this fight against the coronavirus.      

8. ESTEVAN CENTENNIAL CUP TIMING COULD BE JUST RIGHT: I truly believe this OMICRON thing will be the end of the worst part of this pandemic. By the spring, people will be eager to get out and watch some hockey. I’ve been wrong about this before, but I do think Estevan’s timing to host the national championship tournament will work out. Fingers crossed. 

9. PEG’S KITCHEN OWNER: Found a video on CBC interviewing Peg Leippi, from two years ago, telling us all how she founded PEG’S KITCHEN. It was very heart-warming and heart-breaking to watch at the same time in knowing how Peg’s journey recently ended following a suicide attempt brought on by mental health struggles brought on by financial issues brought on by COVID-19. Peg was an absolute treasure and a brilliant person gone far too soon. The best gift we can all give to Peg is to remember her bubbly spirit but also to keep reminding ourselves that nothing, not even our finances, are more important than our family, happiness or health. The best gift you can give to anyone is to look after yourself, first. If you’re not right then you’re not much good to anyone else, either.   

10. FLUTIE FLAKES PODCAST: Doug Flutie has some terrific guests on his podcast and still loves the CFL. He recently said he flips through NFL games to watch a series or two but when he finds a CFL game on TV, he watches the entire game. Says CFL games mean that much more to him. Whether Canada likes Doug or not or he likes Canada or not, the CFL and Doug Flutie mean the world to each other. Check out his podcast wherever you find your podcasts.