SCRUFFY’S THIS ‘N THAT

1 – THE FINAL FOUR:  The CFL is down to the division finals and Rider fans have to notice that three former quarterbacks of the green-and-white will be in action as Cody Fajardo, Vernon Adams Junior and Zach Collaros will all be looking to advance to the Grey Cup on Sunday. In a CFL where quarterbacks move around as often as pre-snap motion, that maybe isn’t the dagger it could be but it hasn’t gone unnoticed. The Collaros story has been well-documented as has the Fajardo story. When it comes to VA, he has bounced around the CFL so much and probably would have kept bouncing had Nathan Rourke returned from the NFL.  Adams likely deserves some of the Grey Cup spotlight and what a story it will be if he can get there, but I don’t see it.  I also don’t see Fajardo and the Alouettes beating the Argos but on the penultimate weekend of the CFL anything can happen.

2 – BOO HOO BO!:  Bo Levi Mitchell was not a happy camper at the end of Hamilton’s loss to Montreal in the Eastern semi-final saying he doesn’t know if Hamilton is the spot for him after he hardly played. I understand the frustration, but I also have seen this “me” act before. Don’t start saying you no longer want to be in Hamilton. The truth is you would have been the guy had you not had a season where you were injured twice and hardly played. The truth is also your team likely would have been better had you been healthy all year and the truth is also that Matthew Shiltz got you to where you were so you had to start him. However, it was obvious Shiltz was not getting the job done and putting Mitchell in with 6 minutes left hoping for a miracle was a stretch. He should have been in much sooner and that falls on Head Coach Orlando Steinauer. If Bo is done in Hamilton, he is done. The next step is to TSN where he has done a great job the last two years during Grey Cup week. I hope he is a part of the coverage this time as well.

3 – MORE TABBIE TALK: I can’t help but think the Riders aren’t going to be the only team looking for a head coach.  Let’s face it, Orlando Steinauer was terrible this year and the decision not to put Mitchell in earlier last Saturday was proof of that. With Hamilton hosting the Grey Cup, expectations were high and those expectations weren’t met. I would expect Steinauer will be told his services are no longer needed and I would think Scott Milanovich would be the favourite to take over. That would bring mixed emotions in Riderville as many would like to see Milanovich come here.  I am not one of those for what it’s worth as I think he would bolt the moment an opportunity to go south of the border came up.

4 – THE GREATEST EVER? Some are starting to wonder if the 2023 Argos will be declared the greatest CFL team ever if they win the Grey Cup. Ummmmm……no! I would argue they aren’t even the greatest Argonauts team. Let’s think about that 1997 squad that beat the Riders in the Grey Cup at a frozen Commonwealth Stadium. Doug Flutie, Pinball Clemons, Mookie Mitchell, Robert Drummond, Mike O’Shea, Adrion (Peewee) Smith. The list goes on and on. That team was 15-3 in the regular season. The best ever team might have been the 89 Eskimos, but the Riders squashed that in the Western Final in what arguably is one of the top five wins in Riders history.

5 – CHRIS EDWARDS:  Chris Edwards certainly has people forgetting about the antics of Simoni Lawrence.  Let’s just save the sugarcoating here, the guy is a complete jerk and shouldn’t be on the field. Go back to his stupidity where he got into it with fans at the Eastern Final in Toronto a couple of years ago to his actions this year and we see that he is the winner of the Garrett Marino award this season. The league handed him a three-game suspension which he hopefully never serves as he can just go away because there are many who can take his place. It’s also good to see that Montreal’s Jeshwun Antwi isn’t being suspended for leaving the bench.  That is something you just can’t do no matter the circumstances and it would have sucked had he gotten one. The league understood the reasoning as to why and let Antwi off. You can debate as to whether that is the right move or not.

6 – THE STATE OF THE OILERS:  Didn’t I just bring this up a while ago? Are we sure that is the same team that has been beaten by the eventual Stanley Cup champions the past two years? To say they stink would be kind. The goaltending—abysmal! The play of Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse—-horrible. The play of the bottom six forwards—questionable and even Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl aren’t even close to the top of their game. Do I think they still make the playoffs? Yeah I do, but the time to get their collective s##t together is here.  This is being written as they battle the Sharks in San Jose. If they lose to the Sharks, look out! While a lot of talk about a trade has surfaced involving Carter Hart, I wonder if a call should be made to see about the availability of Jordan Binnington.

7 – THE STATE OF THE LEAFS:  They have more wins than Edmonton, but are they that much better? Like Edmonton, their goaltending has been less than stellar and like Edmonton, they are a disaster on the blueline.  If Morgan Rielly gets hurt, Toronto has a whole lot of problems. If Jay Woodcroft’s seat is hot, Sheldon Keefe’s seat must be toasty as well. How’s that Ryan Reaves signing working?

8 – BEDARD’S PROGRESS:  Connor Bedard’s NHL career is one month old. He capped that first month off with a four-point night in a win over Tampa Thursday night. In that game, Bedard became the third-youngest player in NHL history to have a four-point game. His first month ends up with him registering 11 points in 12 games. People have taken time to try and pick apart his game and that is expected, but I think it is safe to say he is doing exactly what we thought he would after one month and it is only going to get better,

9 – NFL WEEK 10: Here are some things to know as you sit down to watch Week 10 of the NFL.

• Houston’s C.J. STROUD became the second rookie in NFL history with 400 passing yards and five touchdown passes in a game last week over Tampa. He joins Matthew Stafford who had 422 yards and five TD passes in 2009 game. What’s more, among all players, he became only the sixth ever to reach 450 passing yards and five touchdown passes with no interceptions in a game, joining Jared Goff, Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb, Ben Roethlisberger and Y.A Tittle. Houston (4-4), which squares off with Cincinnati (5-3) on Sunday has an NFL-low five giveaways this year – and Stroud has an NFL-low one interception, two fewer than any other qualifying passer. Earlier this season, Stroud recorded 191 pass attempts prior to his first interception, the most to begin a career in NFL history.
• Sunday’s AFC North clash between Cleveland(5-3) and Baltimore (7-2) features the NFL’s top two defenses. The Browns are allowing a league-best 234.8 yards per game, while the Ravens are giving up 262.6 per contest, second in the league. Baltimore (13.8 points allowed per game) also leads the NFL in scoring defense while Cleveland (17.4) is third. Cleveland (145.0 passing yards allowed per game) is first in passing defense while Baltimore (170.7) is second. The Ravens pace the league with 35 sacks.
• Denver, fresh off its bye week after a win over Kansas City in Week 8, has won two straight games and three of its last five. Broncos quarterback Russell Wilsonhas not thrown an interception in four of those five games. Overall this season, Wilson ranks fifth in the NFL with a 101.7 passer rating, the best mark through eight games by a Denver quarterback since Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning opened 2014 with a 112.0 rating.

10 – GOODBYE GORMLEY:  The man who has made the province talk for 25 years certainly had people talking this week as John Gormley said he would be stepping away from the mic later this month. He will be replaced by a Gormley doppelganger (which I didn’t really realize until it was brought up) and a damn good man in former Regina police chief Evan Bray. The new “Voice of Saskatchewan” will bring a different sound to the show which he should and it will be a great sound. A tip of the hat to the people at Rawlco for finding a great replacement. I know I will be listening when I get the chance. I know John has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way over the years, but in my 10 plus years at CJME, I learned a lot from him and it was a thrill for this grizzled vet to appear on his show. He provided me with some solid advice while hosting the show now known as “The Green Zone”—-I am actually the one that came up with that FWIW and  I also took that advice during my Sportscage days as to how engage the listener.  Thanks John and may the next chapter be as successful as the one you are closing!

That’s all I got.  Have a great weekend!