OUT OF THE TUNNEL: TOP 10 CFL STORIES OF 2019
BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF
2019 is soon to be in the rear-view mirror and like every other year, there were some ups, and downs, a little weirdness and a dash of dumb. That’s the world of the CFL. It’s why we love it and embrace it so passionately.
As we get ready for the start of a new decade, here’s a look at the Out of the Tunnel top ten topics of 2019:
10. 6 OF 9 TEAMS CHANGE COACHES
If you cheat a little and go back a few weeks into December of 2018, you can make it seven. In a nine team league this isn’t a great stat.
It’s easier to tell you who didn’t move: 2019 Grey Cup champion Mike O’Shea of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and 2018 Grey Cup champion Dave Dickenson of the Calgary Stampeders.
As for who did move:
Saskatchewan – Chris Jones leaves for the Cleveland Browns and Craig Dickenson takes over.
B.C. – Devonn Claybrooks is fired and Rick Campbell is named head coach.
Ottawa – Rick Campbell steps down and the Redblacks hire Paul LaPolice.
Edmonton – Jason Maas is relieved of his duties and former Toronto Argonauts head coach Scott Milanovich takes over.
Montreal – Right before the season begins, Montreal fires Mike Sherman and Khari Jones guides the team through 2019.
Toronto – After one season Corey Chamblin is relieved of his head coaching duties and Calgary Stampeders quarterbacks coach Ryan Dinwiddie is named as the head coach.
And if you roll back to December 3, 2018 that’s when Orlondo Steinauer takes over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from June Jones.
9. OPEN SEASON ON QB’S
Not one team in the CFL went the full 18 games with a healthy quarterback. It hurt a lot of teams but it may have helped two others find their quarterback of the future.
Saskatchewan found a gem with Cody Fajardo and the same can be said for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with Dane Evans. I know you can say the Blue Bombers did as well with Zach Collaros, but that is to be seen after free agency.
The lesson, like in all of professional football, is to have a solid and competent back-up quarterback. If not, it will be a lost season.
8. ALMOST THE YEAR OF THE RETURN
The first half of the season was dominated by return teams across the CFL. By week nine in early August, there were 18 kicks returned for touchdowns including three that week.
The rest of the season saw just three more kick returns for touchdowns coming just one short of the 2004 record of 22 kick-return touchdowns in a season.
7. SASK & HAMILTON GRANTED 2020, 2021 GREY CUPS
It will be the first time that the two newest CFL facilities will host the Grey Cup. Both Grey Cups will be great shows hosted by two of the most passionate fan bases in the CFL
6. DEMISE OF AAF, RISE OF XFL
We will plead guilty on pumping up the possible affect the Alliance of American Football would have had on the CFL, but in the end it was just another American spring football league doomed to fail.
From not enough start-up money, poor attendance bolstered by outrageous ticket pricing and questionable TV deals, there wasn’t much of a chance for the AAF to survive. It was so bad they couldn’t finish the season.
Next up is wrestling mogul Vince McMahon’s second run at a spring football league with the XFL (2.0). The league will begin in February and it will more than likely last a season because McMahon is stubborn but after that, who knows.
5. VIVA LES ALOUETTES
If this was a scripted nine-part Netflix series, it would be awesome but because it actually affects real people in a passionate football province, it’s tough to watch from afar.
The league assumed control of the team from long-time owners Robert and Andrew Wetenhall.
They fired their head coach Mike Sherman just as the regular season began but found a gem of a person in Khari Jones to take over. He guided a team that won just five games a year before to a playoff berth. They found a handful of future stars led by quarterback Vernon Adams Jr.
General manager Kavis Reed was fired after a week five win over Ottawa. But even under all of this turmoil, things seemed to stay together on the field.
But any momentum gained has smashed into a wall because there still isn’t an owner of this franchise nor is there a general manager to guide them through a very important off-season.
4. CFL INTERNATIONAL
What is it? I don’t think anyone completely knows what the plan is. So far what we do know is there have been European and Mexican drafts with teams forced to place mediocre talent on their teams.
All with the hope that the CFL will have a chance to expand internationally and spread the gospel of the Canadian game. The problem is everywhere else in the world plays American rules with long standing teams and leagues.
We here at Out of the Tunnel are not fans of this plan in any way. There are easier and more cost-effective ways of bringing in international talent.
Instead of spending money and time on this proposition, how about developing another team in football-mad Quebec?
Which is an easy lead into our next headline.
3. CFL ATLANTIC IS A SUNKEN SHIP
There was a ton of fervor with the possibility of a tenth CFL team in Halifax. There was an ownership group in place (led by Anthony LeBlanc), season ticket initiatives and a possible stadium plan in place.
That’s where things began to whither on the vine. The proposed stadium project made the Province of Nova Scotia nervous as well as the City of Halifax. After multiple votes, Halifax agreed to only a small portion of funding to a new stadium all but ending the possibilities of a CFL team in the Maritimes.
2. BLUE BOMBERS WIN THE GREY CUP
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers ended the CFL’s longest Grey Cup drought by knocking off the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.
It was the first win for Winnipeg since 1990 and the eighth different league champion in the past ten seasons. The only team not to win, the Ticats.
1. LABOUR PEACE
The top story of 2019 in the CFL was the league and the players coming to a quick labour agreement well before training camps began in late-May.
There were a lot of rumours stirring that the players would ask for the world and stars and the league holding firm. In the end, both sides seem to come to an amicable agreement giving the CFL a solid base for the next few seasons.
(RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF)
