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The Official CFL Thread


jetsniper

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Man, unless I post in here, this most definitely is not the 'CFL Thread', just the Alouettes thread.

I'll be at the Riders playoff game on Sunday vs. BC. Riders lost their chance at 1st in the West when they lost to Calgary a few weeks back and then just slumped out the season, waking up in time to knock Edmonton out in the last week and making Andy Fatnuz the top receiver in the CFL late in the 4th quarter. The special teams have never been worse: we have a hell of a punter in Johnson, but no placekicking with Congi out, we're terrible on coverage and we haven't had a kick return TD in something like four years. Durant throws more picks than TD's, and Cates can't run with any consistency (still think Hugh Charles should've won the job out of camp), and was only finally used as a receiving option in the last game.

Still, this team has the ability to do something rather unique: knock out all the Western opponents on route to their third Grey Cup appearance in four years. Edmonton last week, B.C. in the semis and Calgary in the West Final. The good thing is that they're fully capable of doing so... this is a Jeckyll and Hyde team that can run very hot at times.

I fully expect the Ti-Cats to dispose of the Argos, but I can't honestly say with the same authority that the Roughies can take down the Lions. They should be able to, of all the potential suitors for the playoffs I liked the Lions matchup the best (the game they won two weeks ago was just awful football all around), but I'm unfortunately used to seeing 100th anniversary catastrophes so I'm quite guarded.

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I foresee the opposite of you, saskhab. I think the Riders should win handily, I wasn't overly impressed with the Lions in their win over Hamilton, who, despite having their regulars dressed, didn't seem to be running anything aside a basic offence/defence scheme. I am, however, intrigued by the Argo-Ti-Cat matchup, I think it'll be a close game. With McNeal and Copeland both healthy, Toronto finally has a legit 1/2 punch at receiver, while Owens has a shot to turn the tides at any time with a special teams return. I think Hamilton is the better team, but something deep down tells me it'll be the Argos taking on the now-president-less Alouettes (I had to get them mentioned in here...).

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Didn't see the TiCats/Argos game at all, was doing pre-game festivities at Taylor Field.

Crazy game. Terrible first half of football in general, the Leos put something together in the 2nd but it was still quite ugly. Then the Riders woke up, blew past the Leos, had a chance to go up by 11 but settled for 7, gave up a TD on the last play by not just sending 3 rushers and dropping 9 back for some reason... and then the OT back and forth. And then Claremont.

Just your typical Riders victory. They can't blow anyone out.

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I don't like playing Saskatchewan again. Not that I don't believe in our chances, but more because the Riders are big time cheaters. They use too many men on the field HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

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Als will be down their starting safety for the GC as Proulx suffered a torn ACL. Considering he was considering retiring before this season, I think he's likely played his last game.

Yep. Right after the game, in an interview on RDS, he said something like "It's all about the evaluation that I'll make during the post season, but you might have seen the last game of Mathieux Proulx in the CFL."

How's Mark Estelle ??

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Yep. Right after the game, in an interview on RDS, he said something like "It's all about the evaluation that I'll make during the post season, but you might have seen the last game of Mathieux Proulx in the CFL."

How's Mark Estelle ??

The report I heard yesterday said Proulx was the only player who played Sunday that will not play this week. Should be good to go then.

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Barrin Simpson says he'll play. That's good, because he IS the Roughriders' run defence.

They won't need him - Cobourne at best shows up every second week and he played great last week. :)

The Als are accusing the CFL of favourtism - this is a strange strategy... http://www.ckac.com/football/nouvelles/les...-pri-46401.html

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They won't need him - Cobourne at best shows up every second week and he played great last week. :)

The Als are accusing the CFL of favourtism - this is a strange strategy... http://www.ckac.com/football/nouvelles/les...-pri-46401.html

I must admit that according to what they say, the Riders seems to own a certain advantage over the Als in terms of installations (pool, ice batch, meeting rooms, etc) and hotel comfort.

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They won't need him - Cobourne at best shows up every second week and he played great last week. :)

The Als are accusing the CFL of favourtism - this is a strange strategy... http://www.ckac.com/football/nouvelles/les...-pri-46401.html

The Riders have the worst run defence in the CFL. I'd put good money on the Als trying the run game early and often.

The Riders were going to get the home dressing room as the Western rep. The hotels... I have no idea. I'd be surprised if the Als actually know what the Riders rooms are like, too. :)

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Cohon's response: http://www.cyberpresse.ca/sports/football/...03_section_POS1

Basically, the Als got the lousy hotel because there weren't 2 same high calibre hotels that weren't already booked. I suppose that makes some sense but then why not bump the Riders down to a lesser quality to be fair? I like Cohon a lot as commish, but that excuse sounds just a little fishy. He did note that the Als' comments will force him to review their hotel booking policies though so it didn't fall completely on deaf ears.

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Cohon's response: http://www.cyberpresse.ca/sports/football/...03_section_POS1

Basically, the Als got the lousy hotel because there weren't 2 same high calibre hotels that weren't already booked. I suppose that makes some sense but then why not bump the Riders down to a lesser quality to be fair? I like Cohon a lot as commish, but that excuse sounds just a little fishy. He did note that the Als' comments will force him to review their hotel booking policies though so it didn't fall completely on deaf ears.

Indeed, Cohon's answered is really stupid. He basically said that the fans booked before the league. Comon', You are the league, you should be able to book hotels before the info leaks to the fans.

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Duval strikes again (and again) with bad kicks...the best news that Smith is out as Team President is that finally the Als will be able to get rid of Duval too. At least Colt David is dressed, I'd be thrilled if they went to him for the 2nd half.

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13 players can become free agents from the Alouettes (excluding options):

Anthony Calvillo, Chris Leak, Avon Cobourne, Danny Desriveaux, S.J. Green, Andrew Hawkins, J.P. Bekasiak, Shawn Mayne, Anwar Stewart, Chip Cox, Jerald Brown, Martin Bedard, and Damon Duval.

Of those, I think Green/Cox will once again head south to try their hand at NFL camps, but if cut, I think Cox will come back, not Green though. For Calvillo, he'll either come back or retire, I suspect the same for Stewart. Desriveaux and Hawkins are as good as gone, hopefully Duval as well. Personally speaking, this'd be the best time to cut ties with Cobourne too, I think he'll command much too high of a salary for a team who doesn't run the ball a whole lot.

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