CFL Power Rankings: Trio of receivers has Eskimos flying high
Week 6 had the good (Duron Carter), the bad (Alouettes) and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Here's how I rank the Canadian Football League teams heading into Week 7:
1. Edmonton Eskimos (unchanged)
- Record: 5-0
- Streak: Won 5
- Next: Hamilton
You can always count on Edmonton to feature talented receivers, and this season is no exception. In the victory over B.C., one that wasn't as close as it seemed, three of them went over 100 yards. Brandon Zylstra (seven catches, 107 yards) is now at 516 yards for the season in just five games. Duke Williams, who has the vertical leap of an Olympic volleyball strong-side attacker, had 104 yards of his own, while Vidal Hazelton grabbed eight for 159 from QB Mike Reilly. Remember, this is an offence with Adarius Bowman, the league's best catcher, on the six-game injured list. Great game. NOTE: Coach's challenges at 13:37, 12:48, 12:17 and 10:38 of the fourth quarter this week slowed a fine football game to a crawl. This has to stop. Automatic replay on all scoring plays and one challenge a game per coach. Period. (Update: on Wednesday, the league announced that coaches will now be limited to one challenge each per game.)
2. Calgary Stampeders (up from 3)
- Record: 4-1-1
- Streak: Won 2
- Next: At Toronto
While everyone was counting points in a record 60-1 victory vs. Hamilton, we were counting the passage of years since a Canadian quarterback has shown he might one day be a starter in this league. Coaches have said since Russ Jackson retired in 1969 that not having a Canuck at the controls was simply because ours weren't good enough. Enter Calgary-born Andrew Buckley, who played the entire second half as coach Dave Dickenson emptied his bench in the destruction of the Cats. Buckley went 10 for 10, 106 yards, a touchdown, no picks, and 10 yards running. He showed poise, a power arm, good legs. In other news, QB Bo Mitchell and his attack are ready to match anyone in the tough West, and the defence seems pretty good. Get your tickets now.
3. B.C. Lions (down from 2)
- Record: 4-2
- Streak: Lost 1
- Next: Saskatchewan
The Travis Lulay story has been a good one since he came in for injured Jonathon Jennings three games ago. However, six interceptions vs. seven touchdowns is a worry. Take this week at Edmonton when a flutter ball in the direction of Bryan Burnham in the first half was picked. Two plays later, Edmonton hit for a 108-yard pass and run that featured two key missed tackles. Not long after, the Lions down 17-3, Lulay threw another pick before settling in and tying the game up in the third. But a long kickoff return followed by a big touchdown drive on the next series put Lulay and the Lions right back down nine. So there are things to fix for Wally Buono.
4. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (unchanged)
- Record: 3-2
- Streak: Won 1
- Next: At Ottawa
Note to all those Winnipeg fans who gave up when any reasonable person might have done the same: That'll teach you. Big Blue was on its way to Big Bust before this year's version of The Comeback appeared. As much of the 25,931 listened on their car radios, or watched on their phones, QB Matt Nichols completed two long drives in 2:18, including a recovered on-side kick, for a marvelous victory. Nichols also fooled the referee by ducking his head into a sack that resulted in a key roughing call. That's literally putting your life on the line for the win. Much credit to RB Andrew Harris, who piled up 41 yards on the ground and 93 in the air, before driving into the end zone on the final play for two big points in the standings.
5. Toronto Argonauts (unchanged)
- Record: 3-3
- Streak: Lost 1
- Next: Calgary
Argos did not lose this game in Regina because defender Johnny Sears lost his mind for a moment. It was, however, a bone-headed decision to let an untouched receiver up and try to strip the ball when merely touching him would have meant a punt. (Second week in a row they've let a guy get up.) This led to a Rider touchdown that put the contest away. Toronto had already made enough mistakes to deserve losing the two-points, however. Ricky Ray (Look out! Sack!) was over 300 yards (Sack!) for the sixth straight game (Sack!), the best in his career (Sack!), despite being pounded (Sack!) all night. He's gone down 17 times this season, tied with B.C. for worst. Cannot continue. Defensively, the front seven allowed too much on the ground and the secondary was porous.
6. Saskatchewan Roughriders (up from 8)
- Record: 2-3
- Streak: Won 1
- Next: At B.C.
Duron Carter likes to talk a big game because it seems important to his psyche. This time he played a really huge one vs. Toronto. Carter surpassed everyone on a night of great receiver play with nine catches for 131 yards and an awesome back-handed catch in the end zone that is up there with the famous Ben Cahoon effort.
A lack of consistency across the schedule has been the knock on Carter and you always look at this type of game as a harbinger for things to come. However, in his defence, there aren't many across the league who have put in 909-1,030-938 total yards over the last three years. Riders seem to be coming along and they can show how far this week on the coast.
7. Ottawa Redblacks (unchanged — bye)
- Record: 1-4-1
- Streak: Lost 1
- Next: Winnipeg
When you look back at the end of the season and see a team has lost a ton of games by a field goal or less, that's the sign of a bad football club. When you can say after six games the club has lost four times by a total of 10 points, you might be pointing at one that's about to break out. A change may be as good as a rest, but this time a rest was better than everything, given how tight the schedule had been lately. What's helpful is the rest of the East is hanging around, so some good play in the next month could topsy-turvy the standings. The Cup champs are giving up too many passing yards (more than 350 a game), despite getting some good rush up front. That points either to the secondary, or the scheme. Offence is doing okay. Now, more discipline, less mistakes.
8. Montreal Alouettes (down from 6)
- Record: 2-4
- Streak: Lost 2
- Next: Bye
That was absolutely unacceptable in Winnipeg. You do not give up 13 points in 2:18 when you have a team put away. Soft defence, poor tackling, loss of concentration, poor discipline. A waste of an excellent outing by QB Darian Durant's offence, one that piled up 495 yards net, including an impressive balance of 183 on the ground and 348 in the air. It looked by the fourth quarter as though Winnipeg had wilted in the heat. Montreal melted. This would not have been a perfect win, by any means, as the Larks failed to score from the one and had to settle for a field goal, and there were a couple of bad penalties. But the fans would have forgiven it for a big victory on the road. Type of loss that can affect a team for weeks to come.
9. Hamilton Tiger-Cats (unchanged)
- Record: 0-5
- Streak: Lost 5
- Next: At Edmonton
There was a moment in the first half against Calgary that seemed to encapsulate where the Tiger-Cats are right now. Play 55 found the Cats down 24-0, third and five on their own 53. Punter Sergio Castillo faked, looked down at the ball to find the laces, then launched a wounded duck in the general direction of a receiver who dove and missed it. Nothing said "We're out of ideas" more than that choice. A week after giving Edmonton a good battle, Kent Austin's team suffered the second-worst loss in team history, and third worst in CFL archives. The defence was awful, even after the home side emptied its bench for the second half. The offence, under both QBs, was distressed. It's officially broken in Steeltown, but we're against drastic moves such as firing the coach.