Tuesday Morning QB (Week 8)
The CFL is a league that centres around the QB more than any other football league in the world. The NFL may be turning into a passing league where the QBs are becoming more essential but the CFL has been a passing league for decades. With only three downs to work with and a bigger field teams need to get the ball out to the edges and extend the field. There is no room to waste a play on a 2 yard run and although the running game has its place the passing game is the one thing that needs to work. The centre of the passing game is the QB and teams struggle to find that one game changer for their team. Despite having only 8 teams and 8 starting QBs the QB position is still a mystery to many including the Toronto Argonauts who even with Ricky Ray cannot seem to work out their offence. For some teams the QB position is solid like in Vancouver where Travis Lulay has emerged as a legitimate starting QB after an MOP award and a Grey Cup ring from his first year starting with the BC lions. Then there are teams like the Winnipeg Blue Bombers who have seemed to figure the QB position out but have zero luck when they try to move past it. Buck Pierce was the savior for the Bombers as he represented a legitimate veteran QB and a veteran presence behind centre. Then came the downside of Buck Pierce as his ability to run was great but led to a number of big injuries. Pierce has rarely finished a year without missing a chunk of games due to an injury and 2012 has been no different. In week 3 Pierce went down with a knee injury that has kept him out of the lineup for five weeks now with no signs of returning. So the Bombers had to go to their backup QB Alex Brink who was considered a solid back-up option. The Bombers received some hop under Brink as they won their first game of the season in week 5 for their home opener. The losing continued though as Brink went 1-2 after his first three starts. So the Bombers looked to their third option at QB in Joey Elliott as they hoped to get another win under their belt. Elliott produced as he led his team to the second win of the Bombers season as they seemed to find their QB. It was all too early to crown Elliott as saviour though as he had a lot of help from his teammates to win that second game. What did happen in week 8 for the Bombers though was the beginning of a true QB battle between Elliott and Alex Brink. This battle gets even more complicated with the potential return of Buck Pierce. His return will likely be after Labour Day but the question still remains as to which QB will allow the Bombers to win. Will it be the yung and inexperienced yet possibly hot Joey Elliott that can begin a streak? Will it be the slightly more experienced yet struggling Alex Brink? Or will any QB just be a stop-gap until Buck Pierce can return to lead the Bombers in a playoff run? Any leader the Bombers choose is under a lot of pressure as they continue to fight to get into the east division race. With a little more than half the season to go, the Bombers are already in a dire situation as they need to win all but three games for the rest of the year just to get to a 10 win record. It is a tough challenge for the Bombers and their decision at QB could make the difference as they continue to try to find the QB that can consistently lead them.
Four Quarters
(Four Quick Thoughts on Week 8)
Are the Tabies Lazy?
The Ti-Cats at times look like the best team in the CFL but then it looks like they think it themselves as they have let teams back into games and blown leads with a team that generally looks like they don’t care before it’s too late
Als prove they are not done
The Alouettes have been struggling this year but their game against the Eskies this past week proved everyone wrong as the Als were dominant once again and showed the rest of the league that their reign at the top of the East is not over
The Argos are More Lucky than Good
The Argos have pulled off a number of wins this year but after their last game against the Stampeders it was clear that the Argos were more lucky that the Stamps hurt themselves with penalties than the Argos actually being good with an offence that struggles to score
Lions Showing What Defence can do
The CFL is ruled by the offences but this week proved that defence still wins games and championships as the B.C. Lions defence shutdown the Roughriders in a dominant showing by the best team in the CFL
CFL Players of the Week
Offensive POW:
Joey Elliott, QB (Winnipeg Blue Bombers)
33/43
406 yds
1 TD
0 INT
Defensive POW:
Alex Hall, DE (Winnipeg Blue Bombers)
1 tkl
1 sck
0 INT
2 FF
Special Teams POW:
Chris Williams, PR (Hamilton Tiger-Cats)
5 PR
146 yds
1 TD
Canadian POW:
Cauchy Muamba, DB (B.C. Lions)
1 tkl
0 sck
2 INT
0 FF
CFL Standings:
East Division:
1. Toronto Argonauts (8)
2. Montreal Alouettes (8)
3. Hamilton Tiger-Cats (6)
4. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (4)
West Division:
1. B.C. Lions (10)
2. Edmonton Eskimos (8)
3. Calgary Stampeders (6)
4. Saskatchewan Roughriders (6)
Scores:
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 32 – 25 Hamilton Tiger-Cats
– The struggling Bombers went with a new QB in Joey Elliot and that decision paid off for them as they won their second game in a comeback win after Winnipeg went down early and fought back against the Ti-Cats who allowed a comeback for the second time in as many weeks
Montreal Alouettes 38 – 25 Edmonton Eskimos
– The Montreal Alouettes ended any speculation of slowing down as they took on one of the best defences in the league and completely ripping it apart for 38 points showing that the beasts of the east are back
Toronto Argonauts 22 – 14 Calgary Stampeders
– The Argonauts were holding a long scoreless streak going into the game and the trend continued with Swayze Waters taking over the game until Andre Durie scored Toronto’s first TD in 6 quarters of football to help grab the win for the boatmen
B.C. Lions 24 – 5 Saskatchewan Roughriders
– The Saskatchewan Roughriders started their season off great ripping apart revery defence in the league but lately they have slowed down and Sunday was the lowest they went as they were shut down by the BC defence and sent home with only 5 points
Next Week:
Hamilton Tiger-Cats vs. Montreal Alouettes (August 23rd; 7:30 pm EDT)
– The Ti-Cats are enjoying a mini-winning streak against their longtime rivals from Quebec but the Als look to be refocused after a dominant win in Week 8 while the Ti-Cats are looking to just finish a game properly in this East division battle
B.C. Lions vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (August 24th; 8:00 pm EDT)
– The Lions are looking strong again this year and the charge is being led by the defence once again as the Lions look to continue their winning ways against the Bombers who are just looking to string together two wins before it is too late
Calgary Stampeders vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders (August 25th; 5:00 pm EDT)
– Saskatchewan has been an up and down team this year with a great start that has turned into a period of downturn while the Stamps are looking to get back on track after a rough and chippy game against Toronto
Edmonton Eskimos vs. Toronto Argonauts (August 27th; 7:30 pm EDT)
– Not only will this be the first CFL game ever shown on NBC Sports Network in the USA but it will also mark the return of Cory Boyd to Toronto after he was cut two weeks ago by the Boatmen as he has all the motivation he will need to have a great game
The Sport Addiction 