Other games this weekend

[TecnoGenius]

Leggs money today

Ya, but Milanovitch hella mad at Boudreau for once again having to waste a timeout on a mundane ST play.  In 2 weeks that's 3 TOs wasted on ST (or maybe one was a too many men?).  In any event, Boo needs to vastly improve his management of the personnel.  I'm starting to see why MOS was fine with dropping him.

[TecnoGenius]

Marcus Sayles sure screwing up and sucking bad for SSK in this game.  How many huge gains has he given up so far?  Maybe he is washed up, I wonder if SSK cuts him...

[theaardvark]

Marcus Sayles sure screwing up and sucking bad for SSK in this game.  How many huge gains has he given up so far?  Maybe he is washed up, I wonder if SSK cuts him...

First game in a new system with new teammates.  I'd cut him some slack.  I saw a few of those plays, and it wasn't like he was standing around, lost.  It looked like he was he was covering, and ended up chasing a player that wasn't his man. That player getting open might have been on him, missed assignments and such, but I don't remember seeing any play where the man he was covering undressed him.

[TecnoGenius]

Very good ball game
I wanted OT

As someone who picked HAM, who massively out-played SSK, I feel robbed.  At least I had BLM in fantasy, I bet he went over 400 on the night with maybe 3 TD in the air?

Strange that neither team got a run game going, and both have very strong RBs.  RBs having trouble league-wide (except Fletcher in MTL).  What is going on?  Is there a dearth of OL talent in the CFL?  Even worse than recent years?

[TecnoGenius]

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 2-0 is really bad news for us.  They kind of lucked into this win, and they had a ton of luck in week 1 too.  They've looked good, but also vulnerable.  It's more that the other teams have botched it worse than them.

However, for us to have any hope of finishing high in the W we need parity and suckage across the west.  HAM really screwed this up for us.  Thanks a lot Scott M.

[TecnoGenius]

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.

Watch again, and read what I wrote.  One guy batting it back from the GL is a mistake, 2nd guy coming in to continue the "plan" is clearly a plan.  If it was an accident, the 2nd guy likely panics and leaves it for the returner: we have seen that before.

Gained 22 yards at the cost of a point, not sure that is optimal. 

SSK started at the 18 after a punt from around midfield.  Think back 5 years ago when you could coffin within the 20.  Every ST would consider a coffin kick to the 18 a total win.  If it was a win then, then it must be a win now.

Look at it from a percent-to-TD standpoint.  From the 40 the % is X.  From the 18 it is X-25% probably.  Most HCs would take that trade-off, as they used to when they could coffin it at the 18.

I still think this is something that should be examined and copied.  Now that we've seen it, other teams will start thinking about it.

[TecnoGenius]

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.

Except that that kick is done in the NFL on like 50%+ of the punts.  The P arcs it mega-high and the speedster gunners get to the ball before it hits the ground.  The returner signals fair catch and the gunners down it before it goes EZ.

Not only is it very doable, a proven down south, but every IMP player already has practice with it!!

And since the rule change making the coffin in the 15 rather than the 20 punters have had a much harder time hitting it.  In fact, many don't try much anymore.  How many within-15 have we seen this week?  Heck, I don't think there was a single one!!  That's a massive change from the old 20 rule where you'd see it a couple/few times a game.

[TecnoGenius]

First game in a new system with new teammates.  I'd cut him some slack.  I saw a few of those plays, and it wasn't like he was standing around, lost.  It looked like he was he was covering, and ended up chasing a player that wasn't his man. That player getting open might have been on him, missed assignments and such, but I don't remember seeing any play where the man he was covering undressed him.

Is that any better?  In my book I might consider brain failure to be worse than being out-athleted.  The former usually leads to a 60+ yarder and TD.  The latter you can usually still get there for the tackle.

Neither is good.  Sayles was only doing so-so in BC, and that's why they let him go.  The longevity of a DB is very short.

[TecnoGenius]

White does his little tantrum in FA saying HAM has to pay him his outrageous ask.  Makes a big stink around the whole league.

HAM gives him pretty much his ask, so that HAM will have a game-breaker play-maker to win games for them.

So what does he do?  Not only whiffs on a catchable ball at a critical time, but does the cardinal sin of knocking it up in the air.  Simply horrendous, rookie level stuff, and should make everyone question his huge salary.

Kind of like Kenny in the EZ in week 1... except at least Kenny didn't tip it for an INT, so it's not nearly as bad.

Bottom line, the $300k receivers need to look like NFL receivers out there, not middling talents.  White cost them a 50/50 chance, or better, of winning.  Period.  I wonder what that locker room was like post-game... not much happy chat going his way, I bet.  It's bad enough if you're low-paid Leggs blowing the game... but the $300k receiver doing it??  Yikes.

[Blueforlife]

As someone who picked HAM, who massively out-played SSK, I feel robbed.  At least I had BLM in fantasy, I bet he went over 400 on the night with maybe 3 TD in the air?

Strange that neither team got a run game going, and both have very strong RBs.  RBs having trouble league-wide (except Fletcher in MTL).  What is going on?  Is there a dearth of OL talent in the CFL?  Even worse than recent years?

I picked Hammy too

[TecnoGenius]

I picked Hammy too

After my GC visit to HAM and chatting and getting chummy with a lot of different HAM fans, I feel for them.  Here they have BLM actually doing a really good job, and they're still losing games.  All they hoped for was that BLM could actually not be washed up.  So now the rest of the team is letting them down.

Gotta stop SSK's streak or they're going to be like us in 2023 "lucking" into so many early wins -- they'll start expecting to win and thinking they are invincible, which is dangerous.  Better they think they suck.

[TecnoGenius]

https://www.riderfans.com/forum/forum/main-forum/1123026-no-yards-downing-the-ball

Rider fans see the 3YL punt-downing as a deliberate move and are already discussing rule changes to stop it.

This isn't a dig on any one poster here, and I mean no disrespect, but sometimes the Rider forum seems to be more cerebral, or willing to explore things in a deeper way.  Which is really saying something since most of their posters can't type more than 2 sentences in a post, nor have good grammar/spelling.  Come on guys/gals, we're so much better than the Greenies!!  Debate the new CFL wrinkles!

(I gave a long diatribe on this play earlier in the thread)

[bomb squad]

https://www.riderfans.com/forum/forum/main-forum/1123026-no-yards-downing-the-ball

Rider fans see the 3YL punt-downing as a deliberate move and are already discussing rule changes to stop it.

This isn't a dig on any one poster here, and I mean no disrespect, but sometimes the Rider forum seems to be more cerebral, or willing to explore things in a deeper way.  Which is really saying something since most of their posters can't type more than 2 sentences in a post, nor have good grammar/spelling.  Come on guys/gals, we're so much better than the Greenies!!  Debate the new CFL wrinkles!

(I gave a long diatribe on this play earlier in the thread)

It was definitely an intentional downing of the ball by the kicking team. I understood quickly why they did it (as did many others I'm sure). Of note is that the announcers did not. Rod Smith: "More of an NFL decision there to touch it before it went into the end zone". Then they went to commercial and never discussed it again.
I never saw it before and thought it was a brilliant strategy. It comes into play because of the rule change in 2022 changing the ball placement to the 40 yard line from the 35. The now 20-25 yard deep zone change in field position in exchange for a point is worth it. I kind of like it and it forces the receiving teams to now start thinking about fielding the ball instead of letting it roll into the endzone.
Now, do I think there should be any rule changes around it? I get the argument there shouldn't be an advantage to taking a penalty. And they could also run into the returner going after the ball. But I think there would be an additional rouging penalty to deal with that. I don't know, I have to mull it over some more and read what others think about it.

[theaardvark]

I have no problem with downing the ball inside the 5 on a punt if you can.  If you want to pin them, that's one way, but no matter how good you do it, you'll never get them inside the 16.  Coffin corner, you can put them to the 1. 

Getting a punt to stop short of the goal line vs. kicking it out of bounds inside the 15, well, one is a lot safer, If you have a good directional punter.

The far better play is to drop it short of goal, and let the returner pick it up, yielding the 5 yards, and then dropping him.  Then you can get them inside the 5...  if your punter is good enough to make the ball trickle into the endzone slow enough for the cover team to down it, he can get it to stop short...

[ichabod_crane]

Leggs looks good

Leggs might be the new Robo Kicker!! Bombers maybe gave up on him too early. We shall see, only 2 games into the season....long way to go yet.