CFL Week 3 2012 Power Rankings

1. BC Lions
Sure they lost to the Riders, but it was on the road and it was close. I'm not willing to cede the top spot to the Riders quite yet.
2. Saskatchewan Rough Riders
Can't argue with three straight wins. Durant is back and the defence is solid.
3. Montreal Alouettes
The Alouettes only beat Calgary because of Kevin Glenn's stupidity, but good teams find ways to exploit other teams' fuckups. Calvillo is starting to look his age, but he still has a lot of weapons available and quarterbacks are starting to drop like flies in the CFL.
4. Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The Ticats are back, baby! Sure Toronto may have outplayed them apart from special teams, but multiple special team TDs in a single game is impressive. Chris Williams is a weapon the Cats need to exploit if they want to move up.
5. Toronto Argonauts
Have looked reasonable the past couple games and the offence is satisfactory now. Ray is looking good amongst some of the wankier CFL quarterbacks. Toronto has the added bonus this week of facing the Blue Bombers at home.
6. Calgary Stampeders
Well Drew Tate is done for the year and making an attempt to be Buck Pierce 2, Electric Boogaloo. Kevin Glenn can be an effective quarterback at times and as he demonstrated last week can really pooch things with a ridiculous pick. Does the team rally around Glenn, or give up after week three?
7. Edmonton Eskimos
Smashed Winnipeg, but that doesn't say much. Steven Jyles still hasn't proved he can be a consistent quarterback and GM Eric Tillman is ruing the day he traded Ricky Ray.
8. Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Pierce is in, then out, then in again, then out again, almost like he's doing the hokey-pokey. Was last season's performance an aberration and the team is reverted to the sulkiness they had in previous seasons? Looks like it right now.

Where Does the Drew Tate Money Go?

With word that Drew Tate is out for the season to fix his shoulder for the year one issue is where his salary cap hit gets deployed. Players going on the nine game injury list don't have their salary during that time apply to the CFL's salary cap. With Tate gone for 15 games, 83.3% of his salary is likely available to the Stamps. According to this helpful article about CFL quarterback salaries from the Winnipeg Free Press, Tate's base was $200,000 (obviously he won't be making his bonuses this year) so that's $166,666.66 of extra salary cap room available this year. One caveat, backup Kevin Glenn might have some incentives in his contract that could now be met and take away from that number.

Still that's a good amount of money for a non-quarterback. Calgary would be in the lead spot for grabbing any noteworthy NFL cuts. The Stamps could front load a contract as well with a signing bonus leaving more salary camp room for next year.

The one winner in the Tate injury is now third stringer non-import quarterback Brad Sinopoli. With Tate gone the entire season, Sinopoli probably stays on the roster the entire season.

Thoughts on Ticats Victory over the Argos

George Cortez gets his first win and the Cats are off the schneid. I thought the Cats if they were going to lose would lose on special teams. I didn't expect the Cats to torch the Argos with two special teams TDs, but Chris Williams has continued his the success that made him the CFL's Rookie of the Year winner. I'm wondering what Williams' contract duration is. If he signed a standard two years plus an option, we will have him next year because the old NFL option year escape route is gone.

Stats wise the Cats weren't as impressive. Burris had a completion rate under 50% (Michael Bishop like numbers) going 12 for 27 for 181 yards, but at least he had three TDs versus one pick. That said Burris had better numbers the previous two games and lost them both. Burris did run 5 times for 48 yards, including some crucial first downs. If the opposing team is going to open up the middle of the field, I have no problem with Burris taking the yards with his legs.

Ray completion percentage just OK at 60.% , going 23 for 38, but for only 232 yards with no TDs and a pick. Ray ran once for three yards.

Chevon Walker ran 17 times for 66 yards. The Cats lived up to their reputation of having a porous run defence, as Cory Boyd ran 19 times for 168 yards and a TD. Boudreaux did managed to get the Cats first sack by the front four of the season. Johnson had the most tackles for the Cats with eight.

Attendance was 24,264 which is OK, although the Argos are usually a draw. I'm still wondering about the claim by the Cats that there are 3,000 more season tickets holders this year. However last year's second home game attendance was only 22,245, although that was against the Riders, another strong draw. Traditionally the Ticats don't do well in attendance when a home game is a week after another home game, but next week's is against the Alouettes, the team is coming off a win and this game is the one where the team gives free tickets to season ticket holders.

Argos at Ticats Quick Preview

A few differences on the lineup chart from the Lions game. Hage is out at centre with O'Neill in. Does that make a big difference? Hard to tell unless you spend the entire game watching the centre, but Hage is usually highly praised around the league.

Darcy Brown is back at the fullback starting position, although the Cats use a lot of five and six receiver sets. It looks like Stala is back as a starting slotback again this week. Walker is back at running back over Cobourne. Walker has a gaudy 9.1 yard average per run and three TDs through the first two games Walker is also the second leading receiver on the team behind Chris Williams.

The defensive front four stays the same, with McElveen and Crable at the ends. Only one sack for the Cats in the first two games and that's by the middle linebacker Rey Williams.

Knowlton is back with Williams and Johnson as the starting linebackers with Eiben backing up.

One changed to the starting secondary. Marcell Young is out at halfback and Carlos Thomas is in. Impressive non-import undrafter rookie Bucknor is back at one of the corners, but last season's non-import starter Ryan Hinds is now listed as a backup. Is corner now becoming a sometimes Canadian position? With teams increasingly using two imports on the offensive line, like the Ticats, the ratio changes somewhere else.

CFL Predictions 2012, Week 3, Part B

BC at Saskatchewan
Battle of the undefeated teams. I didn't expect the Riders to be undefeated, but that's the CFL for you. Both teams have quarterbacks that can scramble for yards. Both have decent Canadian receiving talent plus awesome imports in Geroy Simon and Weston Drexler. Lions are favoured by 3.5 on the road. I'm going to go with the home field advantage and pick the riders.
Riders 32 Lions 29

Toronto at Hamilton
Hamilton's now favoured by 3.5 at home against the Argos. The Argos looked good against the Stamps last week and the Ticats looked good against the Lions apart from a short period at the end of the half. If the Argos are going to win, they'll probably win with special teams. I think the Cats have the better offense right now, although that's based off of last week not the week before. Since the Ticats are hungry for their first win, I'll go with Hamilton.
Ticats 28 Suck People 22

CFL Week 3, Predictions, Part A

Calgary at Montreal
The Stamps are Tateless and the Alouettes are favoured by seven at home. I guess the oddsmakers aren't Kevin Glenn fans. Montreal appeared to be back on track last game, especially on offence. Calgary lost a close one to Toronto with Glenn at the controls for most of the game. Glenn can still be effective, but I never thought Calgary was that great a team going into the season.
Alouettes 30 Stampeders 24

Winnipeg at Edmonton
Edmonton is favoured by a mere 1.5 points at home, which isn't very good, especially considering their opponent has yet to win a game. Provided Pierce doesn't get hurt (which is entirely possible), I'll pick him and the Bombers over Jyles and the Eskimos.
Blue Bombers 20 Eskimos 16

Ticats Cheerleaders, Saskatchewan at Hamilton, 2012

Ticats Cheerleaders, a photo by philinator on Flickr.

Here's a photo of the cheerleaders doing their routine at the home opener against the Riders