Other games this weekend

[Blueforlife]

Great ending, Riders good 2nd half

[Blueforlife]

Wow deflection and picked off.  Riders got a gift.

[Pete]

Hamilton is the elks of the east..find a way to lose in the 4th qtr

[Blueforlife]

Hamilton is the elks of the east..find a way to lose in the 4th qtr

True

[Blueforlife]

Very good ball game
I wanted OT

[Blue In BC]

Riders 2 - 0 at the top of the west. Got a lucky break but might have won in OT in any case. Both teams had nearly 400 yards passing. Don't see that often either.

Riders did lose an OL and he was on crutches so that's not good. Didn't see the injury to Bane so he might be ok. Ditto for Sterns. Hamilton lost a DL that might be long term.

Injuries have been brutal across the league.

[TecnoGenius]

Interesting play Hamilton touches ball on a deep kick to avoid the single and took no yards.  Might be a reasonable idea.  Not sure how I feel about it.

Yes, this is totally new to my eyes in terms of CFL.  This needs major studying and contemplation!!

At first I thought the guy was an ex-NFL rookie thinking he needs to or is allowed to down the ball.  The second guy doing the same, though, hinted that there was method to this madness.

Then, ya, the ploy coalesced in my mind, and I was like, "hey why didn't we think of that?".

So the ball was clearly going to roll into the EZ, either by design or by accident.  Here are the (new) choices:

1. Let it roll in, HAM gets 1 point, SSK starts at 40. (normal action)
2. Gunner can down the ball as close to GL as possible, HAM gets 0 point, SSK starts somewhere around the 15 (the 18 in this case) after the no yards penalty.

So what does this buy the team implementing it?  They give up 1 point to gain 25 yards on D.  We all know teams will almost always give up the 1 point to gain the 40 yards on D.  That's why we have the coffin corner kick.

In fact this play gives the same result as the old within-the-20 coffin corner rule if the ball went out between the 15 and 20.  So if a team was happy a few years ago with an 18YL coffin kick, then they should be very happy to implement this tactic!!

I love it, and it's a great thing to add to the arsenal!  You may not want to do it every time, but it may come in handy.

There's also very little downside in terms of "what if you fail".  If you botch it and touch it in the EZ, doesn't it still come out to the 15 (or 16?), or at worst the 25??  If you stop it and the returner picks it up, I guess you're down 1 gunner in contain, so maybe the returner could get a bigger return.

Lastly, if the league doesn't like this, as it is very much against the spirit of the halo, they could simply say that a deliberate touch by kicking team no-yards is a 25 or 35 or whatever penalty.  But until then, definitely need to study this play!

Hey!  Drat!  Guess who came up with this plan.... This is HAM... they have Boudreau as STC now!!  Either he's suddenly a genius or MOS poo-pood this idea all these years... Interesting.

[TecnoGenius]

Harris looks bad

Sask taking bad penalties

Harris does seem to be remarkably dialed-out.  In week 1 he was far and away the most accurate passer.  He's not only throwing too hard/soft in this one (so far), but he's being inaccurate laterally!  I don't remember T.Harris being one of those "good Harris, bad Harris" type QBs... but if he is now, I'll be much happier when we face him.

I also noticed SSK is totally back to their old, infamous, hold-always plan on ST.  Have to watch for that when we play them: by far the dirtiest ST cheaters.  I'm very pleased the refs this game are noticing and punishing SSK on nearly every return.  I hope this is a new direction by the CFL (like the clearly amped up UR/punching penalties).  I really really hate the ST cheating by SSK.  Block honestly.

[TecnoGenius]

Oulette not living up to hype so far

Oullette sucking badly in green so far.  Love to see it.  I dislike green, I dislike Oullette: it's a win/win for me!  What's his avg thru 2 weeks, 1Y?

Sask forum must be blowing up with big Oullette doubts.

I hate to offer the Greenies some advice to help them, but here's a hint: have Yoshi come around to the A or opposite B gap and be the road grader for the RB.  Or use him as the sealer.  But make sure the running play always swishes past Yoshi's butt.

As much grief as I now give our OL, might the massively-upgraded SSK OL still be worse?!  Manna from heaven.

[TecnoGenius]

Wow, HAM taking the taunting by the returner before halftime.  Dumb penalty.  BUT, there's something new, taunting counts as a misconduct!  That makes it much more dangerous, as 2 misconducts by the same player equals a DQ.

It would be really embarrassing to get ejected from a game simply for chirping at other players!

[Road Griller]

Harris for Sask, under pressure all game taking multiple sacks, loosing  key receivers and oline but still has a whale of a game and gets it done.

Imagine that, mixing in a sort passing game opens up the longer throws when needed.

It can be done, the right play calling with the right QB and it works.

No more excuses, that train has left the station.  Leave the happy feet at home, stop the triple clutching and move the sticks, 5 six yard passes are as good as one 30 yarder.

Sustained drives keeps Big Play VA off the field and give the D a rest.

[theaardvark]

Yes, this is totally new to my eyes in terms of CFL.  This needs major studying and contemplation!!

At first I thought the guy was an ex-NFL rookie thinking he needs to or is allowed to down the ball.  The second guy doing the same, though, hinted that there was method to this madness.

Then, ya, the ploy coalesced in my mind, and I was like, "hey why didn't we think of that?".

So the ball was clearly going to roll into the EZ, either by design or by accident.  Here are the (new) choices:

1. Let it roll in, HAM gets 1 point, SSK starts at 40. (normal action)
2. Gunner can down the ball as close to GL as possible, HAM gets 0 point, SSK starts somewhere around the 15 (the 18 in this case) after the no yards penalty.

So what does this buy the team implementing it?  They give up 1 point to gain 25 yards on D.  We all know teams will almost always give up the 1 point to gain the 40 yards on D.  That's why we have the coffin corner kick.

In fact this play gives the same result as the old within-the-20 coffin corner rule if the ball went out between the 15 and 20.  So if a team was happy a few years ago with an 18YL coffin kick, then they should be very happy to implement this tactic!!

I love it, and it's a great thing to add to the arsenal!  You may not want to do it every time, but it may come in handy.

There's also very little downside in terms of "what if you fail".  If you botch it and touch it in the EZ, doesn't it still come out to the 15 (or 16?), or at worst the 25??  If you stop it and the returner picks it up, I guess you're down 1 gunner in contain, so maybe the returner could get a bigger return.

Lastly, if the league doesn't like this, as it is very much against the spirit of the halo, they could simply say that a deliberate touch by kicking team no-yards is a 25 or 35 or whatever penalty.  But until then, definitely need to study this play!

Hey!  Drat!  Guess who came up with this plan.... This is HAM... they have Boudreau as STC now!!  Either he's suddenly a genius or MOS poo-pood this idea all these years... Interesting.

I don't think this was a "genius plan" come up with by Boudreau, I really think it was a mistake.  IF the desire is to put it in play as close to the endzone as possible without taking the single, coffin corner.  To get a ball to stop before the endzone to be touched is a tough kick to start with.  Much easier to put it out at the corner.

Gained 22 yards at the cost of a point, not sure that is optimal.  That point would have had Ham in the lead at the end and they run out the clock... rather than trying to get into FG range and throwing a pick.

If he had that idea here and MOS poo-poo'd it, good on MOS.

As far as "genius plays" I hope Boudreau comes up with more that yield results like that.  Especially when they play us.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Riders 2 - 0 at the top of the west. Got a lucky break but might have won in OT in any case. Both teams had nearly 400 yards passing. Don't see that often either.

Riders did lose an OL and he was on crutches so that's not good. Didn't see the injury to Bane so he might be ok. Ditto for Sterns. Hamilton lost a DL that might be long term.

Injuries have been brutal across the league.

Ti-Cats may have won the game if BLM could have moved the ball on their last possession instead of going 2 and out and giving it right back to Sask. to try again.  Same with Zach in last years GC, whatever happened to ball controlling drives that run down the clock? It used to be a commonly used method day to starve opponents of opportunities and notch victories, used often by the Stamps and the Bombers.

[Pigskin]

Ottawa picks up McFadden. Looks like Rose is a FA again.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Ottawa picks up McFadden. Looks like Rose is a FA again.

Heard he got injured, probably wasn't expecting to play and maybe wasn't in the best shape when he signed with Ottawa.