Scruffy’s This N That

1 – THE HONEYMOON IS OVER: The gnashing of teeth continues in the 306. As Brett Lauther’s potential game-winning FG came crashing to the earth about 6 yards short of its destination, the hopes of Rider Nation started to crash too. Some believe that the past is living itself out again. Six weeks ago, Corey Mace was the greatest thing to hit Saskatchewan since taco in a bag and now people are questioning whether the right decision was made to hire him as head coach? Marc Mueller is feeling the heat, Trevor Harris is feeling the heat, Samuel Emilus, Shawn Bane Junior and the defence is also under the microscope. Yes, it is safe to say the good feelings this team had created are gone going into Saturday’s Banjo Bowl which was been absolutely disastrous the past few years for the green-and-white.

Dumb decisions are being made with Mario Alford and Miles Brown being the targets of a frustrated fanbase which has seen this movie play out before.

I don’t know if the rematch is a must-win for Saskatchewan, but a victory is needed and if they can get it, they will have the season series against the Bombers albeit that may mean nothing because of the tie in Ottawa. That means the two teams likely won’t have the same amount of points.

2 – HOW MANY HEAD EAST: I had a great question posed to me last weekend when it comes to the Labour Day Classic. In my column last week, I said the game was sold out thanks to the many Bombers fans who come from Winnipeg but added the same will be said this weekend for the Banjo Bowl. There is no definitive way to get an answer to this, but I wonder how many from the 204 come to Saskatchewan and how many from the 306 head to Winnipeg? I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know the two most passionate fan bases in the CFL meet in the first two weekends of September and a lot of economic $$$$ go to both capital cities.

3 – ROUGHING THE PASSER SOLUTION: Roughing the passer can be such a subjective call and we see it every week with a 15-yard penalty being issued. The Bombers are upset over the Miles Brown hit on Zach Collaros which was dirty in my mind as he did deliver an intentional head shot.  Former Bombers play-by-play guy Bob Irving suggested on Twitter that a roughing the passer call when there is head contact or a player goes low should be an automatic ejection. I like the idea, but there is a lot of grey area that would have to be settled.

US College Football has the targeting rule where a player is ejected, but all calls are reviewed. That would have to be done in this instance for a variety of reasons.

4 – ROURKE SNUBS FARHAN: The B.C. Lions smoked Ottawa to win the first, and hopefully not the last, Touchdown Pacific. While Nathan Rourke showed us he has shaken off the rust since his return, it was his halftime “interview” with Farhan Lalji that had tongues wagging. Rourke doesn’t like doing in-game interviews and was extremely short with Farhan.

Lalji went on Twitter after the game to say he and Rourke are good and I have no doubt the two of them are.  However, Nathan Rourke is the face of the CFL. He simply can’t do that. Perhaps we should just stop with in-game interviews with coaches and players. I would be all for that. While it was done after the game, Rourke could maybe take a lesson from Bo Levi Mitchell who proudly trotted his way over to Kate Beirness and the TSN panel after Hamilton’s win over Toronto to talk about the victory.

5 – AND AWAAAAYYYYY WE GO: The battle for the Vince has started with the NFL season kicking off Thursday night. Here are some opening week tidbits for Week 1 as you settle into your couch for the weekly Sunday marathon of football US-style:

• The New Orleans Saints, who host Carolina in Week 1, have won their past five Week 1 contests, the longest active streak in the NFL.
• Six teams made the playoffs in 2023 after missing the year before. The six were Cleveland, Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Pittsburgh and the Los Angeles Rams. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, seven teams made the playoffs after missing the previous year.
• Since entering the league as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow has totaled 14,083 passing yards and 97 touchdown passes in 52 starts. With three touchdown passes against New England on Sunday, Burrow will tie Pro Football Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas (53 games) and Deshaun Watson(53) as the fifth-fastest player to reach 100 career touchdown passes in NFL history. KC’s Patrick Mahomes has the record at 40.

6 – NEW KICKOFF RULE: It’s only one game in, but the NFL’s new kickoff rule appears to be a bust. 9 of 11 kickoffs in the Thursday night game resulted in touchbacks which is what the NFL was looking to avoid. Teams are OK with the other team starting at their 30. It’s a rule that the NFL was hoping would increase returns and decrease injuries, but one game in it looks like an epic fail. Let’s see what the rest of Week 1 brings.

7 – BETTER CHALLENGE NEEDED: Scottie Scheffler had a two-stroke lead going into the Tour Championship last week and he won it all beating Colin Morikawa by four to take the $25-million first place prize and the secondary FedEx Cup. The way the final tournament is set up, Scheffler started hole 1 of 72 at 10 under and he finished at 30 under meaning he shot 20 under.

The final tournament of the year should not be a birdie-fest. East Lake in Atlanta has hosted for years, but a tougher challenge is needed for these guys.

8 – DRAISAITL SIGNS: No real surprise that Leon Draisaitl will continue his career as an Edmonton Oiler and no real surprise that the number is huge as he will get 14 million a year. What does that mean for Connor McDavid? It means that he will also be staying in Edmonton and that he will make a touch more than his teammate. Many things need to happen for a team to raise the Stanley Cup, but if you are one of those so concerned about a Canadian team winning the Cup, it shouldn’t be much longer perhaps as early as this year.

9 – BOO JAYS: The Jays took two of three at Target Field in Minnesota last weekend. As is the case when the team goes to Seattle, many Canadians head across the border to watch their favourite team play. For whatever reason manager John Schneider, who will be let go shortly after the final out is recorded this season, decided not to dress Daulton Varsho, Alejandro Kirk, George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Junior for Sunday’s finale.  Yes, a manager or coach or whoever can start whatever lineup he wants, but when you have hundreds of fans investing in their team by going on a road trip you need to read the room and play the guys they have come to see especially Guerrero who at worst could have been the DH.  Varsho and Kirk were dealing with a couple of nagging injuries so a debate could be have on playing them even though they had Monday off.  I think it was a bad look by the team to do that to the people who come from far away to cheer them.

10 – RAM TOUGH:  As a Reginan, there is nothing better than seeing a U of R team beat the U of S.  So obviously I was smiling as Mark McConkey’s University of Regina Rams moved to 2-0 with a win over the Huskies at Mosaic.  Noah Pelletier stepped in for the injured Owen Sieben and had a great night breaking Noah Picton’s record for completion percentage in a game as he was fantastic in the 33-28 victory.  I had a feeling this Rams team would be better than a lot of people thought.  There is a long ways to go, but so far so good. 

11 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• The NFL is considering starting Labour Day weekend. No!
• We are only two weeks away from opening weekend in the WHL. WHAT????
• If Kirk Herbstreit can bring his dog into the broadcast booth with him, does this mean Rob Vanstone will be bringing Candy into the Mosaic Stadium press box? Precedent has been set.
• The best sub in Regina isn’t found at Mr. Sub, Subway or Quizno’s. Its found at Sub Express on Park Street where the old JD’s was. If you have had one, you likely agree.

Have a great week all!