CFL Players of the Week, Week 6, 2011, No Ticats

Not a big surprise with no Ticats winning player of the week after losing to Calgary. Anthony Calvillo wins offensive player of the week. Going 30 for 36 is pretty sweet. BC's linebacker Elimimian won defensive player with 12 tackles and a sack. Calgary's Larry Taylor won the special teams award with some decent punt and kick returns against the Cats. Edmonton's Jerome Messam won best Canadian player with 50 yards rushing and 31 receiving in a losing effort. Weird no Bombers won an award.

Keeping track of the number of awards won by each team, Winnipeg leads with six, Edmonton and Montreal both have five each, BC three, despite only having one win, Calgary and Hamilton have two. Toronto has one and the Riders still have none.

CFL Power Rankings, Week 7, 2011

1. Winnipeg Blue Bombers
The Bombers beat the only previously unbeaten team the Eskimos at home and Buck Pierce manages to get through the game uninjured. Things are looking good in Swaggerville.
2. Montreal Alouettes
Things are looking good for the Alouettes again, even if was just against the Argonauts. Calvillo looks to be back on track. Questions remain about the defence. Good or just good against Cleo "the Party" Lemon?
3. Calgary Stampeders
Looked mediocre in the first half, came back strong in the second half and blanked the Ticat offense. Burris is still a good quarterback, just not a great one.
4. Edmonton Eskimos
How do the Eskimos tumble all the way down to four? Lose and have arguably the best receiver in the CFL out for a while with internal bleeding. Ricky Ray will be considerably worse without Stamps.
5. Hamilton Ticats
Great first half, couldn't manage a rouge in the second half, despite going into it up ten points. Hallmarks of an average team. Vaunted young receivers not looking so hot now.
6. BC Lions
Lions win! Lions win! Win another and you'll get some respect.
7. Toronto Argonauts
Still terrible, still trotting out Cleo Lemon as quarterback. We're in Bart Andrus territory here.
8. Saskatchewan RoughRiders
Honk city, that's where this team is headed. Not good for the league, as the Rider fans will stay home around the league. Still in a race for the playoffs though.

Ticats Win First Half Against Stampeders, Get Crushed in Second Half, Lose 32 to 20

The game last night was fun to watch as a Cat fan for the first half. After a slow start, the Cats took control both offensively and defensively and every penalty, challenge and ball caught near the sidelines went out way. Then the Cats didn't score a point in the second half, which is pretty hard, considering kicker Justin Medlock's field goal range.

What happened in the second half? I'm not really sure. The much praised young receiving core didn't do anything. They didn't really seem to be getting open and Glenn didn't do much either. Arland Bruce is probably laughing a bit in Vancouver. Statwise, Aaron Kelly had a good game with five catches for 92 yards and Williams had six for 48 yards. You have to wonder if Marquay McDaniel will be back in the lineup next week. Unless Maurice Mann is finally over his freak locker room injury.

Calgary's defence showed me something the second half so kudos to them. Hamilton's defence was a bit disappointing, but when the offense hangs you out to dry and can't even manage a field goal, there's not a lot you can do.

Hamilton is a decent team this year, but missed a chance this week to show they're a great team.

Buck Pierce Finishes Game Uninjured! Also Winnipeg Beats Edmonton 28 to 16

I watched the second half of the Bomber Eskimo game and was amazed that Buck Pierce finished the game. The Bombers defensive line was impressive. Eskimos are suddenly not looking that great. Barely beat Toronto last week and basically needed some bizarre timekeeping at half-time to stay in the game. Basically this year looks like East is way better than the West, which historically has been pretty rare.

Argos Offense Sucks, Defensive Co-ordinator Chip Garber Fired

Doesn't really make sense, but when you're 1 and 5 someone has to go. Firing your offensive co-ordinator mid-season strikes me as more difficult since it's tough to put in all new schemes. Doesn't really seem fair though, considering the Argos offence has been relatively good, when not hung out to dry on the field by their inept offence.

Ticats Pan Am Stadium Plans

There's a city PDF document noting some zoning changes for the new stadium (hat tip to Hamilton Skyscraper Forumer Steeltown for pointing it out). There seems to be some interesting information in it, but I've only had a quick glance.

On page 28 there's a map of the site. I was surprised to see that the former (or soon to be former) Brian Timmis stadium ends up being only 220 parking spots. I thought it would have been more than that.

There's some mention of some retail, but I haven't looked into it too much. Some retail would be certainly good for the area. A Ticat themed sports bar incorporated into the stadium would be good too and the logical place to watch away games.

I'll go through it more on the weekend and will make another post if warranted.

CFL Predictions 2011, Week 6

It's Thursday and there's a game. Time to make my predictions and here's hoping they're better than Rob Ford's.

Montreal at Toronto
Montreal is favoured on the road, but only by 4 points, which is kind of sad considering the Argos are 1 and 4. I would guess the oddsmakers have lost some confidence in Montreal and especially Anthony Calvillo, who has looked pedestrian for the past two games. The Argos do have a good defence, but their passing offense is so weak that I can't see them getting by Montreal even at home. Lemon looks like he's back, but between him and Bell it's pretty much a wash. Close and the Argos cover the spread.
Montreal 26, Toronto 24

Edmonton at Winnipeg
Game of the year so far. That feels weird saying and if you told me before the season that this would be a critical game I wouldn't be able to process it. Edmonton looked pretty ordinary against Toronto last week and are on the road. The Eskimos are favoured by a single point, but I like the Bombers at home. I have no idea on Buck Pierce's status, but the Bombers are 4 and 1 with Pierce rarely finishing a game so I don't think it matters.
Winnipeg 29, Edmonton 27

Saskatchewan at BC
Battle of the sucky teams! From what I've read online, the Lions won't have Arland Bruce which might have helped a bit. BC is favoured by 3.5 points at home and to be honest, I don't think the Lions are that terrible a team. Lulay is becoming a decent quarterback. If he had some decent receivers, the Lions offense could be mediocre. I'm not exactly sure what's happened to the Riders this year. I would say probably the main factor is going from awesome Canadian receivers to that being a weakness over the off-season and not being able to compensate for it. I'll take the Lions at home, and they'll cover too.
BC 33, Saskatchewan 24

Hamilton at Calgary
Being a Hamilton fan, this one's not an easy one to call. Both teams are 3 and 2, although most power rankings have the Ticats ahead. Burris has looked crap all year, while Glenn has looked good for the last three games. The Cats defence is also looking good recently, the Stamps D, not so much. After the trade this week, the Cats don't have Arland Bruce to not play for them. With the emergence of some young import receivers that's not really a problem. Normally in this situation, I'd pick the Stamps to win but not cover, but here I'll take the Cats to win in a squeaker.
Ticats 30, Stamps 28