Scruffy’s This N That

1 – WHAT NOW CALLER: Only one team can clean out their locker room and call themselves a champion. Last year that team was your Saskatchewan Roughriders, but this year it won’t be. 

The ink is slowly drying on the 2026 season — one that, like the playoff loss to the Lions, started well and ended terribly. It is tough to win when guys are on one-year contracts, and you are living in a salary cap world. A Rider defense that was their bread and butter in 2025 was their Achilles heel in 2026. It probably wouldn’t have been that way had Malik Carney and CJ Reavis stayed at what obviously would have been a much lower salary than they got and had Micah Johnson not retired but that is where we are.   Injuries didn’t help as several stars like Rolan Milligan, Tevaughn Campbell, Samuel Emilus and Kian Schaeffer-Baker spent a significant amount of time on the injury list. I don’t know how many man-games the Riders lost to injury in 2025, but I am guessing that was eclipsed and then some in 2026. Some don’t realize it takes everything to go right, which includes staying out of the doctor’s office.  

At the end of the day, whether it be the reality of the Jayden Dalke tragedy, or something else this football team was not the same after  Labour Day. They struggled tremendously on both sides of the ball. So now what? 

Once again, the team has many free agents they need to deal with. The biggest one is Trevor Harris. There is no doubt in my mind that if the Riders want him back that he will be. If the Riders don’t want him back, one can ask why and who the replacement is in a year when you are hosting the Grey Cup. It doesn’t matter if he comes back or not, the replacement plan needs to start and perhaps be accelerated. Is Jack Coan, who is also going to be a free agent, the guy? Have you seen enough from Brayden Schager to let Coan walk and elevate him to number 2. Sorry, but Tommy Stevens isn’t close to being a quarterback from what I’ve seen (did he throw a pass this year?) so his role won’t change. Kurtis Rourke’s name will be mentioned again and with the salary cap going up maybe the money is now there for him to be like his brother and abandon the NFL and become a full-time CFL’er.  The Riders wouldn’t have drafted him if they didn’t think that day would come. 

2 – CFL FINAL NOTES: Down to 4. We will know the Grey Cup combatants later tonight. I’ve got Montreal and B.C winning as do many others. I do admit that I am surprised that there are very few who are taking Edmonton.  Here are some notes going into the penultimate weekend of the three-down game. 

• Six cross-over teams have advanced to the Eastern Final after winning in the semi-final, but none have ever gone on to represent the East in the Grey Cup. The last team to try was Edmonton in 2019.
• The Alouettes led the CFL in big plays with 59 and 30= yard completions with 38
• Home teams have won 10 of the last 11 Western Finals
• Since 2008, Edmonton has been in a division final seven times. They have a record of 1-6 including three crossovers. 
• Since 2022, the Lions have played in the most playoff games out of any team. In the eight games they have played, they are 4-4.

3 – DAVIS DESERVES IT:  There is nothing more amusing than some of those who follow the CFL who just have to bitch, moan and complain in an effort to feel relevant.  First, it was the league scrapping the East/West format for year-end awards with the move being made to have three finalists. It doesn’t matter that other leagues do it, you can’t do that with the CFL because it’s been that way for years. 

Then, it’s the scrapping of the CFL awards show even though other leagues have scrapped theirs as well because at the end of the day it’s a waste of time especially for those who aren’t getting recognized.  People once again say you can’t do that because it’s been that way for years. 

Now, it’s Davis Alexander who beat Tyson Philpot for the Most Outstanding Player award. The complaint now being that this is just a quarterback award.  To the uninformed, Davis Alexander threw for 5,257 yards in 16 starts. He completed over 72 percent of his passes and his touchdown to interception ratio was 35/4.  Take nothing away from Philpot’s season, but you can’t deny Alexander’s season.  Would Philpot have the numbers he had if he had Dustin Crum throwing to him all year?  We all know the answer to that. 

No one makes this complaint in the NFL where the MOP has been a quarterback since 2013.  Have we forgotten that in 2024, Brady Oliveira was named the top player in the CFL. Is he a quarterback? What about Brandon Banks in 2019 with Hamilton? Alexander is the most outstanding player in the CFL this year. Take nothing away from what Philpot did, but Alexander is the Most Outstanding Player. For those that follow Chris Streveler on Twitter, take a look at his take on it.  He is 100 percent correct!

4 – EPIC FAIL: What is the city of Regina doing? Going once again with stitched turf instead of having turf that can be painted. The City says it can’t afford the cost to constantly paint the lines. What a load of crap! Other cities can do it and have done it so why can’t Regina?  Perhaps those cities have better administration than what Regina has. Did I say “perhaps”? 

What this means is the Rams and Thunder are now probably moving to Leibel Field permanently, which at the end of the day is good for both teams as it is a much better atmosphere. It also just once again means that something has to be done to improve the U of R practice field and turn it into a facility that can host the Rams/Thunder, RMF and other events as well. As I have said before, that was supposed to happen when the plan for the field was first announced but somehow those plans got put into a filing cabinet where they are collecting dust. 

5 – ONE STEP LEFT:  Can the Regina Thunder bring the organization’s second Canadian championship home this weekend? Make no doubt about it, the Thunder will probably play their toughest game of the year against the Westshore Rebels when the two collide Sunday in Victoria.  The Thunder will be looking for their 2^nd Canadian title in what is their 3^rd appearance in the Canadian Bowl. 

The Thunder are stacked on both sides of the ball, but I think it is safe to say that if Peter Boersch has a good day on the ground that Regina will come home with the title.  There really hasn’t been enough said about Boersch who goes into Sunday’s game having gained almost 2000 yards this year in 11 games.  Boersch is one of many from the Thunder who have practiced with the Riders and who’s kidding who, if he can somehow find himself in a Riders uniform and do what alumni Chris Getzlaf, Dan Clark and Logan Ferland have done, the team may have its answer at running back in the next few years.  A tip of the hat also goes to both Regina Birmingham’s for picking up the game and showing it in their establishments on Sunday afternoon.  I think there are a couple of other ones doing it as well, which is great to see as those places are going local on a day where the NFL is king. 

Meanwhile, the Rams and Huskies will do battle in a Canada West semi-final Saturday afternoon (oops I mean Saturday night) in Saskatoon because it will be too windy to play at the scheduled 2 o’clock kickoff. A football game in Saskatchewan being delayed because of wind? Do we remember the first Grey Cup at Taylor Field? 

6 – NFL WEEK 9: The year of the backup quarterback continues in the NFL as a bunch of them will be starting this weekend. They can’t be any worse than Joe Fagnano on Thursday right? Did you know he was on the Riders neg list at one point this year?

Here are some things to know going into Sunday’s play, 

• 72 games decided by one score (eight points or less), the most such games through Week 8 in NFL history. There have been 38 games to feature a game-winning score in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or in overtime this season, tied with 2021 for the most such games through Week 8 in NFL history.
• Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow can become the fourth quarterback in NFL history with at least four touchdown passes in four consecutive games, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Peyton Manning (five consecutive games in 2004 with Indianapolis) and Dan Marino (four in 19). Burrow will try and do it as the NFL plays its 2^nd ever game in Spain when Cincinnati plays Atlanta in Madrid.
• Jordan Love leads the NFL in passing yards (2,246) entering Week 9 and is one of two quarterbacks, along with Las Vegas’ Kirk Cousins, with multiple touchdown passes in seven games this season. With his next touchdown pass, he will become the fifth quarterback in Green Bay Packers franchise history with at least 100 regular-season touchdown passes, joining Aaron Rodgers (475 touchdown passes) and Lynn Dickey (133) as well as Pro Football Hall of Famers Brett Favre (442) and Bart Starr (152).
• The Chiefs are 0-10 against the spread in November games since 2024. They are nine-and-a-half points to beat the Jets at home. 

7 – SORRY CONNOR: Connor McDavid was upset Thursday night after he was checked hard into the net while driving for a possible goal against Anaheim. When Drew Helleson did that and he laid behind the net on his back, the hockey world held its breath and then Vasili Podkolzin came in and fed Helleson lunch in a move that should surprise no one since we see that happen for far less across the league. 

McDavid knows that when he drives to the net that he is going to get challenged, but he said post-game that that’s a play he is sensitive too because he has been hurt badly before. One remembers him suffering a broken collarbone in his rookie season on a similar play and a bad injury at the end of a season when he crashed into the net after having his legs taken out by Mark Giordano in a controversial play, 

Mark Spector had a good article on the play in question on Sportsnet’s website. I can understand McDavid not wanting to get hammered late. No player wants to, but what is a defenseman supposed to do? McDavid isn’t changing his game — nor should he and I can’t see defensemen changing their game either even if they are beaten. If he wants more attention paid on players hitting other players into the net the way they are into the back wall that’s fine as I think most players would agree, but most would also agree that if McDavid doesn’t want to get hit whether it be clean or not as he drives the net that he stop the practice. We know that isn’t happening. It would be nice though if the guys in the striped shirts would call some of the stickwork against McDavid and the game’s top players because those guys do take more abuse than they should which results in the mess we saw after the original play. 

8 – BIZ BLASTS THE HAWKS: The Chicago Blackhawks are a disaster — again! TNT’s Paul Bissonette had enough on Wednesday night as they were getting beat by Florida. Biz, who holds nothing back most nights, blasted the Hawks saying “I don’t see a lot of identity. I see a soft team. They don’t check well. They don’t forecheck well. They don’t really do anything well.” 

After the game, head coach Jeff Blashill denied those allegations but what else is he supposed to do? He will get roasted and be unemployed before he gets on the bus if he says Biz is right. It was a big-time slap in the face to an organization that is just spinning its wheels with Connor Bedard. Bedard was brought into the fire and had to stand up for Blashill saying he loves him and he has helped turn Bedard into a better player.  That might be true, but the record doesn’t lie.  Blashill has to be close to walking the plank. The same with Scott Arniel in Winnipeg who may have bought some time after that miraculous comeback in Montreal, but one has to know Bruce Cassidy will be behind an NHL bench again very soon. The only question is will it be in Chicago, Winnipeg or Philadelphia? It’s coming!

9 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: 

• Kaz Okamoto hit 33 homers and drove in 92 for the Jays in his first year as a major leaguer and he isn’t an American League finalist for rookie of the year? 
• Some CFL fans are whining about three players now being nominated for year-end awards. Do those same fans whine about the NHL and MLB doing their awards the same way or is this just them continuing their agenda to hate anything the league does when it comes to change?
• Nikita Kucherov won’t be changing addresses until July 1. 
• If I go to Esso and get 30 litres of gas, do I get a Canada or US jersey that each team is wearing at the World Women’s Hockey Championship.  This whole snafu better be figured out by the World Juniors. 

That’s all I got.  Have a great week!