Scruffy’s This N That

1 – DOES GOD HATE THE RIDERS? It’s a question some have to be asking after what happened in the final minute of the Bombers-Alouettes game (a last-second 28-27 Winnipeg win). I am guessing some had already started the smoking the celebratory cigar after Sergio Castillo was short on a 61 yard field goal. It looked like Montreal had done what the Riders needed them to, but nope!

In all my years of watching football, I have never seen the weather turn nasty at the most inopportune time for the Alouettes. It wasn’t even home-field advantage. A mini windstorm blows through, giving Winnipeg much better field position and a second chance to win the game and get first place which they did.

It was crazy. Why didn’t Montreal take a time-count penalty? Why didn’t they call a timeout? The windstorm left as quickly as it blew through. Crazy doesn’t even start to describe it. The biggest loser ends up being the Riders. Their collective jaws must have hit the floor as they watched the story play itself out.  Milt Stegall said after the game he would love to see what it was like in the Riders dressing room. No kidding!

2 – ENDING WITH A THUD: Once the Bombers had beaten Montreal, the Riders made expected changes to their lineup and it showed. The Stampeders came in and delivered a 27-12 thumping to the Obsidian Green & White in a game that basically meant zero. Yes, you want to go into the playoffs with a win but this was a glorified pre-season game thanks to what happened in Montreal. The Riders took a huge gut punch before they took the field and they couldn’t recover. No one knows what the Western semi-final will look like, but the Riders will come out with a little more intensity and emotion than they did in this one.

3 – WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: During Grey Cup week last year, CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie was quoted as saying he wants to stay on the job for as long as the board of governors want him to.  This just in: the board no longer wants him on the job.

The news broke late in the first half of the Bombers-Alouettes game that he was stepping down. It soon became clear that he didn’t have the backing of the board anymore. They have their reasons as to why they no longer want Ambrosie as commissioner and I am guessing at the end of the day, they will look at things like the cancellation of the 2020 season, the failure on his promise to get a 10^th team to Atlantic Canada on his watch and other things.

He had the job for seven years. Does he leave the league in a better spot than where it was when he took over? That’s for you to decide.

Who’s next? Two names that come to mind right off the bat.  CEBL (and former CFL’er) boss Mike Morreale and Jim Mullin.  I would have to think Morreale would show some interest. I would also think Jim is quite content staying where he is with the International Federation of American Football after some great years with Football Canada where he did a great job in growing the game as that organization’s president.

4 – QB PROBLEM OR NOT: Awards season in the CFL is underway as the teams gave their nominees for year-end awards this week. In Riderville, I have no zero problems with who was nominated. I’m not in that Rolan Milligan for MOP camp, but he has to be the defensive player of the year.  What surprised me was that only one quarterback was named as a team nominee for MOP.  Bo Levi Mitchell, who at one time was benched, was the only signal-caller and some believe he should realistically be the MOP this season.  I can’t buy into that because Hamilton is not a playoff team which sparks another debate.

I can’t remember the last time the CFL had a season where only one quarterback was nominated for the most outstanding player. There is no doubt this league has been a quarterback league for many, many years but this might be a sign as to how the game’s marquee position is in need of an overhaul.

Yes, Nathan Rourke and Tre Ford are very good players and so is Chad Kelly who is the defending MOP and likely would have been nominated again by the Argos if he didn’t miss the first half of the season. The argument could be made Vernon Adams would have been BC’s nominee had Rourke not returned, but to me youth needs to be served at quarterback.

Taulia Tagovailoa is waiting in Hamilton, PJ Walker will get a chance in Calgary, Kurtis Rourke will likely end up in the CFL even though like Nathan he deserves to have full time NFL employment and Shea Patterson and Jack Coan appear to be guys that the Riders want to develop so perhaps the problem isn’t as big as I think it is, but it is strange to see.

5 – PLAYOFFS MY WAY: The CFL told me when they instituted the crossover years ago that they didn’t have the desire for an East-West Grey Cup the way fans want. We haven’t had an all-East or an all-West Grey Cup since the crossover started but that day will come until the league expands to 10 or beyond. Because of that, I have trumpeted that the CFL be a one nine-team league with the top two getting first round byes with 3-6 and 4-5 in the first round.  As it stands now, the playoffs see Ottawa in Toronto and the Riders hosting BC in Round 1 with the Alouettes and Bombers getting first-round byes.

In my scenario, you would have Montreal and Winnipeg getting first round byes with the 3-6 game having Toronto home to BC and the REDBLACKS visiting Saskatchewan.

6 – NFL WEEK 8: Here are some tidbits of information as you sit down to watch the NFL this weekend.

• There have been 58 games decided by seven-or-fewer points this season, the most through Week 7 of a season in NFL history. Seven teams have had five-or-more games decided by seven-or-fewer points: Indianapolis (seven), Baltimore (five), Cincinnati (five), Cleveland (five), Green Bay (five), Houston (five) and the Los Angeles Rams (five). The Colts are one of four teams to have each of their first seven games of a season decided by seven-or-fewer points since 2000, along with the 2019 Indianapolis Colts, 2016 Detroit Lions and 2008 Jacksonville Jaguars.
• Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love is tied for second in the league with 15 touchdown passes this season and has recorded at least two touchdown passes in each of his five games in 2024. Since Week 15 of the 2023 season, Love has recorded multiple touchdown passes in nine consecutive games. With two touchdown passes at Jacksonville on Sunday, Love – who will be 25 years and 360 days old – will be the fourth quarterback under the age of 26 with at least two touchdown passes in 10-or-more consecutive games, joining Patrick Mahomes (14 consecutive games from Week 6, 2018 – Week 3, 2019), as well as Pro Football Hall of Famers Brett Favre (12 games from Week 10, 1994 – Week 4, 1995) and Dan Marino (10 games from Weeks 1-10, 1984).
• The Baltimore Ravens (5-2) visit the Cleveland Browns (1-6) and enter Week 8 with the league’s top offense, averaging 31.1 points and 461.4 yards per game. The Ravens, who had 41 points at Cincinnati in Week 5 and 41 points at Tampa Bay in Week 7, can become the first team in the Super Bowl era and the second team in NFL history to score 40-or-more points in three consecutive road games, joining the 1961 Houston Oilers.

7 – RAMS/THUNDER:  Congrats to Mark McConkey and the University of Regina Rams as they had a strong second half to come back and beat Alberta to advance to the Canada West playoffs. It probably isn’t the regular season the Rams were hoping for, but the slate is wiped clean now as they head into a playoff game at Manitoba next weekend.  The Bisons will obviously be a tough foe, but with the Vanier Cup at Mosaic next year, it would be great to see Regina take a step forward and play for the Hardy Cup.

Good luck to the Regina Thunder who meet Okanagan in a CJFL semi-final Sunday at Leibel. What a battle it was in Saskatoon last weekend as the Thunder-Hilltops rivalry had another exciting chapter written to it.

While Regina head coach Scott MacAulay is bothered by losses to the Hilltops, I think he is more angered at the team losing the Canadian Bowl at home a couple of seasons ago.  He and the team are two wins away from what would be the organization’s 2^nd Canadian championship.  Go get it!

By the way, how bad has it been for football in Alberta this year?  The Elks and Stampeders didn’t make the CFL playoffs while the University of Calgary and University of Alberta did not make the Canada West playoffs.  Oops!

8 – THE UNBEATEN JETS: Who had the Winnipeg Jets as the last team in the NHL to taste defeat? The Jets are a perfect 8-0 and if you go back to the end of last season, they are riding a 16-game regular-season winning streak. They haven’t lost a regular-season game since March 30. Connor Hellebuyck might be the best goaltender in the league and while their forwards don’t have the “it” factor that teams like Edmonton, Toronto, Florida and the Rangers have, they are just as good and maybe deeper than the teams mentioned.  If Hellebuyck hadn’t been un-Hellebuyck like against Colorado in the first round last year, who knows where they end up.

We are still a long ways away from the playoffs, but when talking about Western Conference teams that can go to and win the Stanley Cup, don’t forget about Winnipeg—at least not right now.

9 – WORLD SERIES: I am not a Dodgers fan and I am not a Yankees fan, but when these two franchises are in the World Series, you watch if you are a baseball fan because of the tradition. If Game 1 is any indication, strap up! That was fun to watch and as I have said a time or two, there is NOTHING like playoff baseball.  It could be a short series though after LA took the first two.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• Is there anyone out there who feels bad for Deshaun Watson? Is he the most hated athlete out there? If he’s not, who is?
• I don’t care which side of the political spectrum you are on. You need to find time to cast a ballot on Monday and have your say in the provincial election if you haven’t already done so. The same can be said for the civic one in a few weeks.
• I don’t really understand why Brad Gushue decided to partner up with Brendan Bottcher. I don’t think that will end well for him.
• Upper Deck has CFL cards which is great. Wouldn’t it be great if next June, you could get Upper Deck CFL cards at Tim Hortons the way you get NHL cards now. It would be a great move for the league.

Have a great weekend everyone!