Justin Dunk breaks down the current state of the CFL

After no CFL games in 2020, it felt like fans were really getting excited for football to be back in Canada when the league announced they would return to play this year.

Now 14 weeks in, it seems like fans might be losing interest in the Canadian game, at least until playoffs roll around.

On Friday’s edition of the Rod Pedersen Show, Justin Dunk, a 3DownNation CFL insider joined us live in the studio to talk about the current state of the CFL. After a year off, the CFL has had much lower scoring games, and is something Dunk said is turning fans to other leagues. 

“Since 2017, the Average CFL score in a game is down nearly 10 points,” said Dunk. “Obviously, there was the year off there, but the NFL is going the complete opposite way.

“Another thing that has been an issue is the coaching has turned way more conservative. We’re seeing Ryan Dinwiddie try and kneel the clock out with 60 plus seconds left. We would never see that in the old CFL. They would be throwing the rock around!”

Throwing the rock around has been a problem across the CFL this year, and with only three downs to play with, the ball is being thrown a lot. Just not very well.

“I like Cody Fajardo, but right now he is the third in the league in passing, and he’s averaging like 225 yards a game,” said Dunk. “In the 90’s and 2000’s, you had to be throwing for 300 or more just to be in the football game.”

Dunk said he feels the game is slowing down, and as analytics become more and more available for players and coaches, it is impacting the amount of scoring we are seeing in the CFL.

“It seems like we are going down the baseball road,” said Dunk. “We’re playing all these percentages in the CFL and it’s become all about field position and controlling the football, when CFL is known for that wide open scoring type of game.”

The lack of scoring is also affecting the league financially.

“It’s a gate driven league and the attendance is terrible,” said Rod Pedersen, who has been around football his entire life. “And the owners are being forced to dig deeper into their own pockets.”

The owners can’t be put in this position forever, and Dunk believes the NFL is one of the solutions. He said he remembers a few years ago when the CFL and NFL were in discussion to work together, and it is something Dunk believes should be revisited, especially after not playing a season in 2020.

“There were rumblings and talks between the NFL and the CFL about the CFL being a development league,” said Dunk. “I get that people put their hands up in the air and say ‘we don’t want to be thought of as a developmental league’ but you have to think of your future.

“If you are tied to the shield down there, you know you are going to be alive. The NFL is a multibillion-dollar business, and the CFL will easily lose tens of millions of dollars this year and that is going to impact the future,” said Dunk. 

With playoffs right around the corner, more fans will hopefully begin to fill stadiums across the league.

Until then, we have week 14 to look ahead to, and it should be a great one beginning with a double header Friday night between the BC Lions and Hamilton Tiger Cats, followed by the Saskatchewan Roughriders taking on the Edmonton Elks.