Tuesday, September 24, 2013

2013 CFL Power Rankings Week 13

1. Toronto Argonauts
One team to rule them all. The Argos went in and beat the Riders and now the Stamps on the road with their backup quarterback Zach Collaros and without star receiver Chad Owens. You can't really argue with them being number one. The Argos have an excellent defence that generates a lot of turnovers. Scott Milanovich has emerged as a great head coach who I'm sure the Alouettes wish they had. Now after two hard games the Argos get the Eskimos.

2. Calgary Stampeders
Lost a hard fought game to the Argos with Kevin Glenn as the quarterback. Losing at home isn't a good thing, but the wheels haven't totally fallen off the Stampeder bus. The Stamps still have three capable quarterbacks, a great running back in Jon Cornish and a good defence. Just not good enough to beat the double blue apparently.

3. BC Lions
The Lions are back and managed to win in Saskatchewan with backup DeMarco (yet another win by a backup quarterback in the CFL in 2013). Apart from Harris the Lions don't have a lot of offensive stars that dominate, but they get the job done. Having both Bighill and Elimimian on defence makes a big difference to the Lions.

4. Saskatchewan Roughriders
After three losses in a row, including several at home, the wheels are starting to come off the Rider bus. There's no backup quarterbacks to blame, just losing close games. The Riders still have a lot of talent and seem to have no trouble with the bad teams in the CFL, but against the best teams in the CFL they aren't getting it done. At least they have Montreal next week to try and get things going again.

5. Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The Cats won a game against the Alouettes that was a lot closer than is should be, considering the Als were playing their third best quarterback. Still they won and that's what good teams sometimes do, win games where they didn't play particularly great. In the Cats defence, it wasn't really a home game and the fans seemed evenly split between the Als and Cats. Burris had a poor game stat-wise yet the Cats still won. However the Cats haven't beaten a good team yet and can't move up without doing that. They'll get a chance against Calgary at home next week.

6. Montreal Alouettes
The Als came close in Moncton, but the team is hampered without Anthony Calvillo as quarterback. The defence is great, but mistakes and two and outs on offense will eventually wear down any team. Without Calvillo coming back, the Als will have trouble with all but the weakest teams in the CFL.

7. Edmonton Eskimos
Didn't look like they were going to get it done in the Peg, but the Eskimos have won back to back games against Winnipeg. That's something I guess. It did take a bizarre play where a player tipped a pass into Fred Stamps hands ten yards down field at the end of the game, but as they say, luck is the residue of skill. Don't expect the Eskimos to do much against better teams.

8. Winnipeg Blue Bombers
What to say? The Bombers had their game at home against Edmonton won, but proceeded to cough it up in spectacular and amusing fashion (if you're not a Bomber fan). If the Bombers can't beat the Eskimos who can they beat? OK the Roughriders that one time.   

No comments: