More Musings

Sadly, Tigercatatonia whipping boy and mediocre tackle Jonta (he may have an apostrophe in his name, but I'm not using it) Woodard was released after the Labour Day game, due to general overall suck. Apparently, as a five year vet, if had played in his next game, the tenth of the season, he would have been guaranteed his salary for the rest of the year. Ouch. That's what I love about football, the lack of sentimentality, the knowledge that some players will soon be filling out applications at their hometown Denny's. Incidently, Woodard also had two holding calls and a procedure called against him in the last game.

In his place returns the recently cut Marko Cavka. So I guess his release was somewhat BS after all. Welcome back Marko. I'm sure in about two years people will be calling for your head as well.

In other offensive line news, import tackle Charles Thomas is injured for the next tilt and will be replaced by year long practice squad import denizen Gerald Davis. Not sure if this is a good development or not. We'll have to wait for the next third and one and see how it pans out.

A lot of focus was on the stuffed third and one opportunity the Cats had at the end of the game. I'd rather talk about another third and one in the first half. At 6:35 in the second quarter, the Cats had a third and about a foot from what I saw on their own 22 yard line. There's probably some conventional wisdom that you should punt in such a situation. However, punting with the ball being hiked at the 22 is likely going to result in some good field position for the other team, unless there's a real monster punt. With only about a foot to go, there's probably an excellent chance of making it and continuing the drive. Sure in rare instances, you might turn it over. However on the punt itself in rare instances, you might get a big return too and leave you where you started, minus an attempt at making the first down. In hindsight, we know what happened, Dorsey returned a decent Setta punt to the 25, leading to an eventual Argo TD. Unfortunately, with more hindsight, we know also about the third and one at the end of the game that failed. There's been numerous other third and ones that have cost the Cats recently, including two in the Winnipeg game. The Cats have to make these plays and the coaches have to make sure third and one conversion opportunties are made at a high rate. For a running team, this is doubly important, as third and ones occur far more often than for a passing team. On passes, especially after second down, you are far more likely to be either short a number of yards (incompletion) or make the first down by a decent margin. Winning teams make their third and ones. Unfortunately the Cats haven't, so it is no surprise they are two and six.