CFL Versus NFL Kicking Stats and Paul McCallum

Comparing CFL and NFL kicking stats, especially completion percentage isn't an apples to apples comparison. The shortest distance an NFL kick can apparently be is around seventeen yards and one inch (the ball is at one inch from the goal line, the goal posts are ten yards behind the goal line and the ball is usually snapped back seven yards). Conversely for the CFL, the ball has to start at the one and be hiked back seven yards so an eight yard field goal is possible. Thus CFL kickers have a bunch of easy kicks possible that NFL kickers never have a chance at, boosting their completion percentage.

Of course one can always look at percentage over thirty or forty yards to get a more apt comparison. In the NFL this year the highest field goal completion percentage was Atlanta with 93.1, while Buffalo and Pittsburgh were tied for last with 74.2, which makes BC's Paul McCallum look pretty impressive, with a 94.3% with a longest of 53 yards.

CFL 2011 Attendance Analysis, League and Team Averages

A bit late, but here's the average attendances for each CFL team in 2011:

1. Edmonton 34625 (35035)

2. Calgary 30601 (30795)

3. Saskatchewan 30021 (30048)

4. BC 29725 (24327)

5. Winnipeg 29559 (26083)

6. Montreal 24058 (25012)

7. Hamilton 23676 (23890)

8. Toronto 20018 (22069)

Note stats on best road drawing teams are in this post.

The 2010 attendances are in parentheses. Only BC and Winnipeg showed increases with every other team having lower attendance. The order was pretty similar to, but BC was able to move ahead of Winnipeg and Montreal. Montreal had some games that did not sellout for once.

Overall, the average CFL attendance for a game was 24,698 a minor increase compared to the 24,140 of 2010. Maybe the league can get over 25,000 average attendance next year.

BC had a bit of a weird year for attendance. Still playing at Empire Field earlier in the season, the Lions reopened BC Place with 50,213 attendees against the Eskimos, the highest attended game of the CFL regular season.

Saskatchewan being the worst team this year didn't make a big difference in their own attendance, but hurt other teams (especially Calgary and Edmonton) when the Riders were their opponents. Hear's hoping for at least a 500 team for the Riders next year, as it's good for the CFL. The Riders should also consider trying to boost the capacity of Moasaic Field a bit more. I know it's already been juiced a bit, but if you have the worst record in the league and it doesn't do anything to your attendance, you can afford a couple of extra thousand seats.

Hamilton was slightly lower, but that included their home game in Moncton which dragged down the average attendance. However the Cats only had to sell tickets for eight home games in their own market. The Cats were also hurt by not having the Argos as an opponent on Labour Day as the Alouettes only drew 26,964. Hopefully in the last year in the old Ivor Wynne, the Cats can get a good number for attendance, including a game with the Argos back for Labour Day. Maybe they can pass the Alouettes in 2012 for average attendance.

Toronto was hurt by their sucky performance. With them hosting the Grey Cup next year, there's nowhere for the Argos to go but up.

Here's some analysis for last year's CFL attendance (2010).

2011 Grey Cup Prediction, Bombers at Lions

Well the game's about to start and I haven't got my prediction out so here it is. The Lions are favoured by seven at home (and with a real home field advantage). Certainly the Lions have been hot since they started 0 and 5 and have a very good offense and a good defence. The Bombers are obviously excellent on defence, an okay offense with excellent running.

Normally I would go with the Lions, but I've got a feeling that the Bombers will do better than people give them credit for. As long as Bomber quarterback Buck Pierce doesn't explode in the first quarter, I'll pick the Bombers in a close one.

Bombers 29, Lions 27

BC Place Half Time Reopening Show

What was that? Electric guitarist, tenor sax, bongos? I don't know who co-ordinated that, but I hope that most of the people in the stadium went for a beer. Where's the tried and true half time events like mascot soccer (who doesn't love Smiley the No Frills banana?)? Stadium does look nice though.

CFL Players of the Week, Week 8, 2011, Finally a Rider!

When there's only two games in a week, that kind of perverts the Players of the Week Awards. What would normally not be recognized is feted. Cats lie with dogs. The Saskatchewan Rough Riders actually win an award.

Former Cat Arland Bruce, the third iteration, won offensive player of the week with a nine catch, 129 yard, 2 TD effort. The question for BC's Bruce is whether he can still hit 1,000 yards this year. I say it is likely. Fellow Lion Aaron Hunt won the defensive player award with five tackles and three sacks. I know people like to disparage sacks as a stat, but if you're getting sacked all the time, things are not going well. A cornerback can register a tackle by tackling a receiver on the 1 yard line after a 108 yard reception. A sack is bad news no matter how you slice it.

The Argo's Noel Prefontaine won best special teams player with three field goals, including a 47 yarder. Over 50 yards and I would be more impressed, but that's what you get with only two games played.

And finally, the Riders snapped the shutout with receiver Chris Getzlaf grabbing four passes for 123 yards plus a TD. Of course the Riders still lost, partly because Getzlaf couldn't come down with the winning touchdown pass in the dying seconds. They don't include that part in the description on cfl.ca.

Unsurprisingly, no Eskimos won an award.

Keeping track of the awards on the year, the Alouettes have seven, the Bombers six, BC and Edmonton have five, Calgary and Toronto have three, the Ticats have only two despite four wins and the Riders have one award to go with their one victory.

Points For and Against Bizarreness, Greg Marshall Firing

After last night's game, the 5 and 3 Edmonton Eskimos have 173 points for and 190 points against, a little odd. Odder still, the BC Lions with a 2 and 6 record have 203 points for and 203 points against. Personally I think point differential should be the first tie breaker (even ahead of head to head record) so we'd be treated to crazy games where teams tried to score no matter what the current score.

After writing this post about the importance of Andy Fantuz to the Riders and the fact that not having him this year is the main reason for Saskatchewan sucking, the Rider braintrust has canned the former Ticat defensive co-ordinator. Sad, but something that had to be done, just to placate the fans and the general manager wasn't going to fire himself. The fact that the Riders are still inexplicably in the hunt for a playoff spot is an argument for keeping Marshall (who was fired before the BC victory), but the trigger was pulled. I'd be curious to see how many years Marshall signed for. The Riders are the most profitable team in the league, so if they signed Marshall to a three year deal, they can eat the next two and a half year's salary easily. No matter how much the Argos suck, I don't see Barker getting canned this year.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers Beat BC Lions 25 to 20, Buck Pierce Injured

I only tuned in with a little bit more than five minutes to go. Unsurprisingly Buck Pierce had already been knocked out of the game, but they didn't mention why the rest of the game. Backup Alex Brink looked good for the Bombers getting the winning TD late.

Ticats Beat BC 39 to 31

Most satisfying victory for the Cats last night in Vancouver. The Cats jumped out to various early leads, twice by 14 points, but I have to give credit to the Lions for coming back and making a game of it. I think of the winless teams in the CFL right now,, they're clearly the best. At the end of the game, I was saying this is where good teams like Montreal pour it on and win the game and the Cats did just that last night at the end of the fourth quarter.

Amazing game by Chris Williams last night. Eight catches for 189 yards and a TD, a veritable festival of YAC yards and broken tackles. Williams now leads the team with 250 yards receiving and you have to think he's a got an excellent shot at offensive player of the week with the most receiving yards in a single game this year. Will he be the only Cat to get 1000 yards receiving this year? Unless Bruce and Mann step up, maybe.

Speaking of Bruce, he didn't have a bad game, with four catches for 56 yards, including a critical catch late in the game.

Stala only caught three passes for 37 yards but two were TDs. The unsportsman like conduct penalty for punting the ball into the stands after the first TD was a bit unfortunate. Hopefully the Cats can get way ahead in a game and Stala can get a TD and do something crazy.

Glenn played well, going 21 for 31 for 334 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions. He ran for 16 yards on 3 carries as well. Did what needed to be done at the end.

Cobourne gained 100 yards on 14 carries, plus 2 TDs, including the monster one at the end of the game. I'm not sure if that's his first 100 yard game as a Tigercat, but it may well be.

The defence generally played well, especially late in the fourth to lock things down. Geroy Simon was kept to 78 yards on 5 catches. Only one sack, a pretty one by Jamal Johnson, but Lulay had a lot of pressure all game.

Special teams was good, apart from Medlock missing his first fieldgoal, a surprisingly short one. Excellent punt coverage too, with the Lions only getting 34 yards on seven points. Ouch.

All in all, a great game on the road by the Ticats.

BC Lions Finally Release Yonus Davis

Looks like the Lions have finally released running back and special teams player Yonus Davis. Obviously being arrested after getting delivered 40,000 pills of ecstasy isn't a good strategy to stay with the team (also how many rookies own a BMW 745i?). Too bad as Davis was one of the relatively few bright spots for the Lions last year. However, one credo of Tigercatatonia is that import running backs are a fungible commodity in the CFL, so I'm sure someone else will emerge.

BC Stadium Holding Up the 2011 CFL Schedule?

Apparently September 30th is now the scheduled date for BC Place to reopen and the wait for this may be a factor in holding up schedule, at least according to this Globe article. I suppose BC could want different dates and times (OK, maybe not times since BC loves night games to fuck with Eastern teams circadian rhythms) if BC Place was available. Anyways the schedule is still not here and I haven't even heard any rumours on possible games like last year. Just doesn't feel right not to be debating the merits of back to back Bomber games in early February

CFL Schedule Out Next Week?

There's an article in the Globe about when exactly BC Place will reopen and allow the Lions play again. The Grey Cup will be there this year, but regular season Lions games beyond a couple at the end seem in doubt.

However, was is interesting is that the article mentions the 2011 CFL schedule could be out next week. The big question for Hamilton is who has the home game this year in Moncton? My guess is still Toronto, because let's face it, they will probably still be weak this year ticket-wise and Hamilton could really use a Moncton game during the seasons that Ivor Wynne is rebuilt (assuming that happens). Having a Moncton game during a non-rebuild year would probably be a good thing for profits. The Cats get rid of their weakest draw of the year (BC?) and cram their group sales into the other eight home games (or more likely seven, because the Labour Day game has few group sales). Merchandise sales might be lost, although maybe the league compensates them as part of the overall package.