GDT Mtl at Ott, Sat Oct 18, 2:00PM

[Stats Junkie]

Ottawa made it a lot closer in the end than it really was.

The Ottawa defence finally broke late in the third quarter and that was it.

[Tecno]

Davis Alexander is getting beat up early in this game.

Ya, I just started the game and have seen 2 Alexander arm hits so far.  Did HAM pay OTT to maim him? 

I'm not sure losing Alexander is worth it to get these wins when HAM almost certainly will win the E anyhow.  MBT can beat OTT (probably), rest Alexander until the ESF.  MTL can do absolutely nothing and still win 2nd.

[Tecno]

Zema with a pass out of punt formation. Great tackle by Adeboboye to stop it short.

That was an amazing stop.  Looked like the fake punt was going to be unstoppable, then he sheds the block and makes a tough stop.  That's the extra-effort you want to see this time of year.  The faker may have made a mistake though, he may have had it if he kept going north, instead of the little dance he started right when the hit arrived.

[Tecno]

4Q4:16 refs & command missed a clear H2H onto Adams.  How does command miss this?  The last replay they showed made it totally clear.  And in live time you can see his helmet snap: that's usually a hint at H2H.

And they took forever to get the next play going so command had plenty of time.

That dude took a pounding all night, least they could have done was give him this extra 15Y!

[Tecno]

CFL should just strike the tandem block penalty from the rule book.  It occurs often and yet is NEVER called, since Proulx did one like 5+ years ago.

There was a real egregious one in this game where the hoggies were both pushing and pulling the carrier directly.  So obvious, but no one cares.  So get rid of the rule.  Otherwise you just know there will be ref who will screw a team one day in some huge game like a GC by suddenly calling it.

[dd]

CFL should just strike the tandem block penalty from the rule book.  It occurs often and yet is NEVER called, since Proulx did one like 5+ years ago.

There was a real egregious one in this game where the hoggies were both pushing and pulling the carrier directly.  So obvious, but no one cares.  So get rid of the rule.  Otherwise you just know there will be ref who will screw a team one day in some huge game like a GC by suddenly calling it.

I really don't like this aspect of the game. Ball carrier gets pushed from behind is supposed to be a player safety issue hence the call for a tandem buck block. The play is supposed to be whistle dead when the ball carrier is wrapped up by the defense and his forward progress has been stopped. Teams have adapted to the rules and once the runningback is wrapped up and his forward progress is slowing, in come the Higgins to push the pile whereby they push the defender and pile and you get these 6-8 player piles slogging down the field. So push the player, flag, push the pile, go ahead. It's slug football, and it slows the game down. I'd like to see them change the rule to pushing the pile vs player and it would stop, as really the defense was going to stop the ball carrier until the hoggies come in and start bulldozing. When a pile happens, Kill the play, period.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Ya, I just started the game and have seen 2 Alexander arm hits so far.  Did HAM pay OTT to maim him? 

I'm not sure losing Alexander is worth it to get these wins when HAM almost certainly will win the E anyhow.  MBT can beat OTT (probably), rest Alexander until the ESF.  MTL can do absolutely nothing and still win 2nd.

It would certainly be in the Bombers favour if they faced the Ti-Cats in the ESF rather than the Als, one playoff win is better than 0.

[Tecno]

It would certainly be in the Bombers favour if they faced the Ti-Cats in the ESF rather than the Als, one playoff win is better than 0.

Agreed, but it's out of MTL's hands.  They need BLM to have a bad-BLM day against a complete garbage team.  Even an off BLM might win that one.

If HAM is going to "get hot" going into the post-season, they need to do it pronto.

[Tecno]

I really don't like this aspect of the game. Ball carrier gets pushed from behind is supposed to be a player safety issue hence the call for a tandem buck block. The play is supposed to be whistle dead when the ball carrier is wrapped up by the defense and his forward progress has been stopped.

Agreed on all.  I think Proulx got heck for actually flagging it that one time years ago.  No one flags it now.

Many times, like in this game, the hoggie was PULLING the carrier from in front, which is even more obvious and egregious.  Still, no flag.

I think the rule should be changed to differentiate between pushing/pulling the carrier directly and pushing a pile.  If there is a team B player in between the carrier and the hoggie, I'm ok with that push.  And the way I read the rule it sounds like that would be ok.

Of course, when there's a huge pile, half the time you can't tell what's going on.  But the other half there's clearly direct tandem blocking going on, and if they want to ignore it then just eliminate the rule.

[dd]

Whether it's a push or a pull it's a foul, it's for player safety in that the ball carrier doesn't lose control over where he's going or what he's going to collide with, why they don't call it is beyond me, I call it every time I see it in amateur ball and it is becoming more frequent with the nfl making the 'tush push' famous. I hate the play. Requires zero skill