The parity is still very much there, but the smoke is starting to clear in the CFL. All four of the Eastern teams seem to be very good, while the West is kind of top-heavy. That being said, BC's defeat of the Edmonton Eskimos reassures that anybody can beat anybody in this league, so we'll see how things shake out in the upcoming weeks. Here's 10 thoughts I had in week seven.
1. Automatic video review: what's the point?
Whether it's a touchdown pass or an extra point attempt, every scoring play is automatically reviewed by the command centre. There, the replay officials can review the play as many times as needed with numerous camera angles to ensure the ruling on the field was indeed correct. For those reasons, I simply don't understand how the replay officials have blown so many blatant calls this year when the ball-carrier was either down-by-contact or never even crossed the plain. First, it was Brian Brohm's touchdown run in week two. Then it was Tyrell Sutton stepping out of bounds before the ball crossed the plain in week three. Last week, Brandon Stewart clearly touched AJ Jefferson's knee after recovering an onside punt and in week seven, Manny Arceneaux stepped out of bounds at least once while tight-roping the sidelines on route to the end-zone. This is simply unacceptable and has to stop.
2. Andrew Harris for Most Outstanding Player
If the Edmonton Eskimos can't stop Andrew Harris, can anyone? The Canadian running back had his best game of the season on Thursday night, recording 175 total yards with two touchdowns, including the 31-yard game-winning catch-and-score. Harris now has a league-leading 807 yards-from-scrimmage and 6 touchdowns, with 519 of those yards coming on the ground. With or without the majority of the league's superstars being injured, Harris would likely still be the front runner for Most Outstanding Player after seven weeks of action.
3. Jones should've attempted the field goal
It was Edmonton's offence that ultimately cost them the game against the Lions, but they still had a chance to tie the game with under a minute to go on third-down with the ball on BC's 48 yard line. HC Chris Jones' decision to opt against the field goal and go for it, which resulted in another Matt Nichols interception, was absolutely the wrong one. Jones had the hottest kicker in the CFL, Grant Shaw, at his disposal, who is yet to miss a single field goal on the season and was 3/3 on the day. Meanwhile, Nichols and the offence hadn't scored a point in the half and were struggling to convert in medium passing situations. CFL kickers have made 60% of their attempts from the 48 and 68% from that distance in BC Place, so the numbers certainly don't support Jones either. I understand the ball was placed on the right hash, however Jones should've trusted Shaw to send the game to overtime.
4. Smith shows promise in second start
Brett Smith was impressive in his second career start against the Argonauts, completing 23/35 of his passes for 298 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, which was returned by Akwasi Owusu-Ansha for six points. Despite the loss, Smith should keep his head up. The rookie pivot from Wyoming carried the Riders with little assistance from his teammates, who continuously took stupid penalties that resulted in two touchdown passes being called back. And while Smith has played very good for a rookie, I think we should wait a little longer before anointing him as the next big thing. After witnessing Joey Elliott throw for 400 yards in his third career start only to get released at the end of season, I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic with Brett Smith. There's no Rakeem Cato effect here.
5. Bellefeuille does it again
Last time I wrote about Winnipeg's OC, I was both sad and disappointed with his offence. But this time around, after getting shellacked by the Tiger-Cats by 30 points in a game that saw Drew Willy take a beating and leave to injury, this paragraph is filled with much more anger. Bellefeuille's inability to put together basic protection schemes against Hamilton's blitz-heavy defence has come at the expense of Drew Willy, who's out for at least 6-8 weeks with a knee injury. It was the third time Willy had been knocked out of a ball game this season, and the second time against Hamilton. This isn't a personnel issue, either, as Winnipeg's offensive line is filled with enough individual talents. This is Bellefeuilles' fault for not solving Orlando Steinauer's defence in four tries and developing a serviceable pass protection. There's no changes, no improvement and no signs of hope.
6. Michael Sam makes debut
You'd think Michael Sam had notched a hat-trick of sacks and a big-man pick-six with how much the media focused on a rookie defensive end trying to cut his teeth in the CFL. Sam recorded zero tackles, however Sportscentre's highlight package of the Montreal-Ottawa game was still mostly filled with the Missouri alum chasing down the backside of plays. The only impact Sam had on the game was when he bit hard on Burris' play-fake leading to a touchdown pass, but I'll reserve final judgement on the rookie pass-rusher until I see more than a dozen snaps. He'll have to start making more of an impact soon, as teams almost never pay an international six figures to not contribute or be scratched.
7. The big guys get their due
Everybody loves seeing a 'Big Guy Touchdown', and we were fortunate to witness two this weekend. Hamilton guard Ryan Bomben caught a beautiful over-the-shoulder pass from Zach Collaros for six, while Argos' left tackle Wayne Smith got his due on a two-point convert. Even the fullbacks got into the fun, as Edmonton's Calvin McCarty made a highlight-reel one-handed catch and Ottawa's Patrick Lavoie caught an eleven yard touchdown. Fullbacks certainly see the football more than offensive lineman, but they don't get enough glory either. Until this week, of course.
8. Harris keeps on rolling
Everyone seems convinced that the Argos will be Ricky Ray's team the instant he returns from injury, but I'm not sure how they can bench Trevor Harris at point. He's been the league's top signal-caller this season and is on pace for 5,457 yards and 42 touchdowns. Harris just keeps on rolling, and his latest 316-yard, two touchdown performance against Saskatchewan assures us he's not sit slowing down anytime soon. He's the future of the Argonauts, so why bench him in favour of a 36-year old who might not be as effective as Harris? If anything, I think the Argos will handle the situation similarly to how BC gave Travis Lulay spot duty when Kevin Glenn was red-hot for the Lions. They'll run with Harris until he starts to slide, then they'll declare Ray good-to-go and give him a start.
9. The 'Cats are going to miss Gable
They didn't need him this week, but I have a feeling the Tiger-Cats are really going to miss having CJ Gable in their lineup sooner than later. Gable, who's on the six-game injured list, rushed for 135 yards in his debut in week five, but was hurt once again last week versus Toronto and will be out 2-3 months. In Sunday's game, the Ti-Cats' run-game was once again no where to be found with Ray Holley only picking up 25 yards on eight carries. The offence stalled in the second half, scoring no points and throwing two interceptions, but the damage was already done in the first half, where they capitalized on Winnipeg's mistakes and put up points. Not having a threat in the backfield might hurt Hamilton in the upcoming weeks.
10. Players of the week
Andrew Harris takes both Offensive and Canadian Player of the Week for his phenomenal game against the league's top defence. Harris rushed for 118 yards, gained 57 more through the air and had two touchdowns.
I was really tempted to give it to Keith Shologan, but Emmanuel Davis earned Defensive Player of the Week for contributing 12 points as a defensive player. Though his interceptions were nothing spectacular, it's extremely rare to see a player record two pick-sixes in the same game. Davis has three in total against the Bombers in 2015.
No one really stood out this week on special-teams. Dexter McCoil made some big plays and had three tackles, so he grabs this one.
Showing posts with label Weekly recap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weekly recap. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
10 Thoughts I Have From Week Six
Another week is in the books and it was filled with some decent football games. Week five set the bar quite high with overtime games and fourth quarter fireworks, so as expected, the four games this week didn't really live up to that precedent. Nonetheless, here are ten thoughts I had in week six.
1. Home teams dominate
Having trouble setting your CFL Pick 'em for week seven? I'd recommend simply going with the home team, as their season record, excluding games played at Mosaic Stadium, is 16-4 on the season. With the Bombers topping the Lions, Eskimos taking care of Saskatchewan, Stamps edging the Alouettes and the Tiger-Cats defeating their rival Argonauts, the home teams engineered a clean sweep in week six.
2. Lulay's holding back his offence
Travis Lulay had his worst game of the season in Winnipeg, completing 22/33 passes for 255 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Throughout most of the game, Lulay was given time in the pocket to progress through his reads, but instead often stared down his receivers or threw into double-coverage. His deep ball accuracy left much to be desired, and similarly to all the other flaws displayed versus the Blue Bombers, that's been the case all season. Lulay's play has declined as the season has gone on, and good quarterbacking is the missing piece of an otherwise explosive offence that features Andrew Harris, an up-and-coming receiving corps and surprisingly-dominant offensive line. At this time, the 2011 M.O.P. isn't playing on their level.
3. Bombers' defence is drastically improved
Winnipeg's defence has been steadily improving since their multi-interception outing against Rakeem Cato's Alouettes in week three, but they had their best performance to date against BC, holding the Lions' offence to a mere 13 points. The Bombers gave up 117 yards on the ground to Andrew Harris, which is concerning, but it took him 24 attempts to reach that total. Richie Hall's unit recorded three interceptions and forced four total turnovers, giving Drew Willy and the offence plenty of opportunities to put points on the board. The next step for this defence is to perform at this level on a more consistent basis.
4. Johnny Adams does it again
Winnipeg rookie Johnny Adams continues to make his case as the league's top shutdown cornerback. Adams locked-up Emmanuel Arceneaux this week, keeping the All-Star receiver off the stat-sheet until the final play of the game, where the Lions should've been kneeling down and ending the game. Adams notched his third interception of the season while also contributing six tackles to the Bombers' victory as well. I don't know of any other boundary cornerback that's been as good as the Michigan State product this season.
5. Nichols silences his critics
It's a well-known fact that Matt Nichols is nothing more than a backup quarterback, but he still has many critics out there and certainly silenced them with a great game against Saskatchewan. The Eskimos clearly made the right choice starting the six-year veteran over rookie pivot James Franklin. Nichols threw for 300 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, improving his undefeated season record to 4-0 in the process. He's no Mike Reilly, but Nichols has proven to be a serviceable backup signal-caller in this league.
6. Disastrous play-calling by Chapdelaine
Bad coaching has hurt Saskatchewan plenty in 2015, and while the Riders only ever had an extremely marginal chance at beating Edmonton to begin with, they wound up having absolutely no chance with Jacques Chapdelaine's play-calling. With a rookie quarterback making his first career start and the number one rushing attack at his fingertips, Saskatchewan's offensive coordinator completely abandoned his fearsome run-game, giving Jerome Messam and Anthony Allen a combined five carries all game. It should've been a no-brainer for the Riders to feature their two-headed monster early and often, but Chapdelaine opted not to challenge Edmonton's stout run defence and instead put all the pressure on Brett Smith. Go figure, the Riders only managed to put five points on the board. Five.
7. No love for Calgary's offence
With five offensive lineman on the shelf, the Stampeders have no business competing in football games. Edwin Harrison, Garry Williams, Brander Craighead, Karl Lavoie and Dan Federkeil have all missed time, yet the Stamps have still won three of their last four games and share a hold of first place with a 4-2 record. This week, they beat the Montreal Alouettes and their fearsome front four with only Pierre Lavertu as their regular starter on the offensive line, miraculously rushing for 94 yards without star running back Jon Cornish, and only allowing two sacks despite playing the second half without back-up left tackle Garry Williams, who left with an upper-body injury. The Stamps aren't getting enough credit for running an effective offence with a make-shift offensive line, something only John Hufnagel's team could do. It's quite difficult for me to wrap my head around what Bo Levi Mitchell, Dave Dickenson and this offence have done while missing so many key pieces up front.
8. There are no free yards against Hamilton
Conversions on third-and-one are supposed to be automatic in the CFL, but nothing is guaranteed against Hamilton's defence. The 'Cats have remarkably forced five turnovers on third-and-short this season, prohibiting the offence from advancing a single yard required for a fresh set of downs, or worse, a touchdown. Largely thanks to Ted Laurent penetrating and plugging gaps, Hamilton stuffed the Argonauts twice on route to a 34-18 victory at Tim Hortons Field. Opposing coaches should think twice before testing Hamilton in short-yardage, as nothing's a 'gimme' against this defensive line.
9. Chad Owens is invisible
Has anybody seen Chad Owens recently? He's struggled mightily this season, recording only 10 catches for 97 yards in Toronto's last three games. The 32-year old's worst game came Monday against the Ti-Cats, where he finished with three receptions for 21 yards. With the emergence of Toronto's trio of rookie pass-catches in Vidal Hazelton, Tori Gurley and Kevin Elliott, it's becoming apparent that Owens is no longer the go-to receiver in the Argos' aerial attack.
10. Players of the Week:
Winnipeg QB Drew Willy takes Offensive Player of the Week for singlehandedly guiding the Bombers' offence to victory on an injured knee. Willy completed 17/25 passes for 269 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and also rushed for a career-high 72 yards.
Eskimos CB Pat Watkins snags Defensive Player of the Week for his big game against Saskatchewan. Watkins had a pair of interceptions- albeit one in garbage time on an errant throw- with five tackles and a sack. The All-Star corner did it all on Friday evening.
Canadian Player of Week goes to Andrew Harris for his 117-yard rushing game against Winnipeg, while Special Teams Player of the Week once again goes to Edmonton's Grant Shaw, who nailed all three of his field goal attempts and averaged nearly 45 yards-per-punt.
I thought Jovon Olafioye played a good game against Winnipeg, supplying his quarterback with plenty of time while often dealing with star pass-rusher Jamaal Westerman. BC's right tackle earned Offensive Lineman of the week.
1. Home teams dominate
Having trouble setting your CFL Pick 'em for week seven? I'd recommend simply going with the home team, as their season record, excluding games played at Mosaic Stadium, is 16-4 on the season. With the Bombers topping the Lions, Eskimos taking care of Saskatchewan, Stamps edging the Alouettes and the Tiger-Cats defeating their rival Argonauts, the home teams engineered a clean sweep in week six.
2. Lulay's holding back his offence
Travis Lulay had his worst game of the season in Winnipeg, completing 22/33 passes for 255 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Throughout most of the game, Lulay was given time in the pocket to progress through his reads, but instead often stared down his receivers or threw into double-coverage. His deep ball accuracy left much to be desired, and similarly to all the other flaws displayed versus the Blue Bombers, that's been the case all season. Lulay's play has declined as the season has gone on, and good quarterbacking is the missing piece of an otherwise explosive offence that features Andrew Harris, an up-and-coming receiving corps and surprisingly-dominant offensive line. At this time, the 2011 M.O.P. isn't playing on their level.
3. Bombers' defence is drastically improved
Winnipeg's defence has been steadily improving since their multi-interception outing against Rakeem Cato's Alouettes in week three, but they had their best performance to date against BC, holding the Lions' offence to a mere 13 points. The Bombers gave up 117 yards on the ground to Andrew Harris, which is concerning, but it took him 24 attempts to reach that total. Richie Hall's unit recorded three interceptions and forced four total turnovers, giving Drew Willy and the offence plenty of opportunities to put points on the board. The next step for this defence is to perform at this level on a more consistent basis.
4. Johnny Adams does it again
Winnipeg rookie Johnny Adams continues to make his case as the league's top shutdown cornerback. Adams locked-up Emmanuel Arceneaux this week, keeping the All-Star receiver off the stat-sheet until the final play of the game, where the Lions should've been kneeling down and ending the game. Adams notched his third interception of the season while also contributing six tackles to the Bombers' victory as well. I don't know of any other boundary cornerback that's been as good as the Michigan State product this season.
5. Nichols silences his critics
It's a well-known fact that Matt Nichols is nothing more than a backup quarterback, but he still has many critics out there and certainly silenced them with a great game against Saskatchewan. The Eskimos clearly made the right choice starting the six-year veteran over rookie pivot James Franklin. Nichols threw for 300 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, improving his undefeated season record to 4-0 in the process. He's no Mike Reilly, but Nichols has proven to be a serviceable backup signal-caller in this league.
6. Disastrous play-calling by Chapdelaine
Bad coaching has hurt Saskatchewan plenty in 2015, and while the Riders only ever had an extremely marginal chance at beating Edmonton to begin with, they wound up having absolutely no chance with Jacques Chapdelaine's play-calling. With a rookie quarterback making his first career start and the number one rushing attack at his fingertips, Saskatchewan's offensive coordinator completely abandoned his fearsome run-game, giving Jerome Messam and Anthony Allen a combined five carries all game. It should've been a no-brainer for the Riders to feature their two-headed monster early and often, but Chapdelaine opted not to challenge Edmonton's stout run defence and instead put all the pressure on Brett Smith. Go figure, the Riders only managed to put five points on the board. Five.
7. No love for Calgary's offence
With five offensive lineman on the shelf, the Stampeders have no business competing in football games. Edwin Harrison, Garry Williams, Brander Craighead, Karl Lavoie and Dan Federkeil have all missed time, yet the Stamps have still won three of their last four games and share a hold of first place with a 4-2 record. This week, they beat the Montreal Alouettes and their fearsome front four with only Pierre Lavertu as their regular starter on the offensive line, miraculously rushing for 94 yards without star running back Jon Cornish, and only allowing two sacks despite playing the second half without back-up left tackle Garry Williams, who left with an upper-body injury. The Stamps aren't getting enough credit for running an effective offence with a make-shift offensive line, something only John Hufnagel's team could do. It's quite difficult for me to wrap my head around what Bo Levi Mitchell, Dave Dickenson and this offence have done while missing so many key pieces up front.
8. There are no free yards against Hamilton
Conversions on third-and-one are supposed to be automatic in the CFL, but nothing is guaranteed against Hamilton's defence. The 'Cats have remarkably forced five turnovers on third-and-short this season, prohibiting the offence from advancing a single yard required for a fresh set of downs, or worse, a touchdown. Largely thanks to Ted Laurent penetrating and plugging gaps, Hamilton stuffed the Argonauts twice on route to a 34-18 victory at Tim Hortons Field. Opposing coaches should think twice before testing Hamilton in short-yardage, as nothing's a 'gimme' against this defensive line.
9. Chad Owens is invisible
Has anybody seen Chad Owens recently? He's struggled mightily this season, recording only 10 catches for 97 yards in Toronto's last three games. The 32-year old's worst game came Monday against the Ti-Cats, where he finished with three receptions for 21 yards. With the emergence of Toronto's trio of rookie pass-catches in Vidal Hazelton, Tori Gurley and Kevin Elliott, it's becoming apparent that Owens is no longer the go-to receiver in the Argos' aerial attack.
10. Players of the Week:
Winnipeg QB Drew Willy takes Offensive Player of the Week for singlehandedly guiding the Bombers' offence to victory on an injured knee. Willy completed 17/25 passes for 269 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and also rushed for a career-high 72 yards.
Eskimos CB Pat Watkins snags Defensive Player of the Week for his big game against Saskatchewan. Watkins had a pair of interceptions- albeit one in garbage time on an errant throw- with five tackles and a sack. The All-Star corner did it all on Friday evening.
Canadian Player of Week goes to Andrew Harris for his 117-yard rushing game against Winnipeg, while Special Teams Player of the Week once again goes to Edmonton's Grant Shaw, who nailed all three of his field goal attempts and averaged nearly 45 yards-per-punt.
I thought Jovon Olafioye played a good game against Winnipeg, supplying his quarterback with plenty of time while often dealing with star pass-rusher Jamaal Westerman. BC's right tackle earned Offensive Lineman of the week.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
10 Thoughts I Have From Week Five
We're five weeks into the 2015 CFL season and it's still almost impossible to seperate each team from another. Four teams have three wins while another four have two wins, and we've learned that everyone is capable of beating everyone. Parity- or mediocrity- was the story of the week once again.
1. How can you hate the 'New CFL'?
2. DBlock is the league's top secondary
Before the season started, I claimed Ottawa's defensive backs could really breakout in 2015. They proved to be a serviceable unit in the team's inaugural season despite having every starter but Jovon Johnson play as a CFL rookie and have since taken a giant step of progression in year two. After three impressive performances against three rather lacklustre passing offences, 'Dblock' made me look smart against one of the league's best receiving corps in Calgary's, holding Bo Levi Mitchell to a mere 56% completion rate, one passing touchdown and several coverage sacks.
3. Chris Williams is back
After his performance Friday night, I think we can officially say Chris Williams is still the same exciting player he was back in his Tiger-Cats days. Up until week five, Williams was having a rather quiet season despite being in the top-5 for receiving yards and on-pace to equal his career-best single-season receiving total. But he exploded against Calgary, catching seven passes for 162 yards, with a large chunk coming on a huge 84-yard catch-and-score after toasting cornerback Buddy Jackson. This was the type of game I was used to seeing from Chris Williams in 2012 and it's good to see him finally proving to be worth every penny the Redblacks are paying him.
4. Adam Bighill is the early season MODP favourite
It's still early, but Adam Bighill has been the league's top defensive player thus far, in my opinion. Bighill has a league-leading 36 tackles in four games (on pace for 162 tackles) and has been extremely versatile in an unconventional role in BC's defence, lining up all over the field and occasionally even playing defensive back as a 230-pound linebacker. Bighill is having a monster season and has impressed me more than any other defensive player this year.
5. Mike O'Shea can learn from Chris Jones
Chris Jones will pull his backup quarterback, Matt Nichols, for a lack of production despite him completing 68% of his passes and the Eskimos winning. Mike O'Shea, meanwhile, will continue to play his back-up quarterback, Brian Brohm, despite him only completing 47% of his passes with two interceptions. Brohm, who has never thrown a touchdown pass at the professional level, has done nothing in his career for his coach to display such faith and confidence in him. O'Shea is either extremely stubborn or delusional, as the Bombers will never win a game with Brohm at the helm.
6. Marcel Bellefeuille is the league's worst OC
Marcel Bellefeuille has taken over the title as the league's worst offensive coordinator, which was previously held by former Redblacks' OC Mike Gibson. Bellefeuille's Blue Bomber offence has scored just fifteen points in twelve quarters against the Edmonton Eskimos' aggressive defence, which is beyond unacceptable. Bellefeuille's inability to assemble any sort of a game plan for a blitz-heavy defence like Edmonton's or Hamilton's is both sad and embarrassing, however his biggest issue is as simple as his general scheme itself, which is both vanilla and predictable. It seriously seems as though the Bombers' offence rotates through five different formations with five pass plays and five run plays each and every week. I understand why GM Kyle Walters kept Bellefeuille after his poor season last year, but he'll have no reason not to can the former head coach after 2015.
7. The Eskimos can beat any team with that defence
Even with an average offence, the Eskimos are still legitimate Grey Cup contenders with the league's best defence that's allowed a league-low 58 points and 313.8 yards per game. The Eskimos can beat any team with Chris Jones' blitz-happy defence, and they'll be unstoppable if the offence gains some more traction. This is a defence that hasn't allowed a regular season offensive touchdown at home since week 12 last year, which, in case you didn't know, is simply unbelievable. And while they are full of talent, all credit should go to Chris Jones and his scheme, whom very few teams have solved before.
8. Gable completely changes Ti-Cats' offence
Hamilton's offence was unrecognizable on Sunday, and that can be attributed to the play of CJ Gable and his skill-set. Hamilton ran the ball a season-high 24 times- 20 carries for Gable- and the former USC Trojan finally supplied this team with production on the ground in his season debut, rushing for 135 yards. Gable made Saskatchewan respect Hamilton's run-game and was also effective in the passing-attack, gaining 29 yards on three receptions. Gable was back in his 2013 form and proved tonight that he's the x-factor in this offence.
9. Saskatchewan's season is over
With that 31-21 loss to Hamilton, the Roughriders' season is over. While, mathematically, they're not done, I can't see this 0-5 team even coming close to making the playoffs now. The Riders were granted four of their first five games at home to start the season and did not take advantage, while they're also decimated by injuries and may have lost Kevin Glenn for a week or two in Sunday's tilt. And what about that terrible defence, which has given Riders' fans zero reasons to believe they'll ever figure it out, especially if Corey Chamblin keeps calling the shots? Is it May yet? The Riders are on the clock.
10. Players of the week
I only had nine thoughts this week, so instead I'll use the tenth spot to award my players of the week.
The CFL went away with their traditional Player of the Week awards to the dismay of many. As someone who favorited the old way more, I'll be continuing to do things old-fashioned and name my own Players of the Week- plus the top offensive lineman- at the end of each weekly recap.
Offensive Player of the Week goes to Henry Burris, who completed 28 of 43 passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns. He led the Redblacks to a huge upset win over the Stampeders and did a great job finding his targets after a shaky start.
There were plenty of candidates for Defensive Player of the Week, but Stampeders' defensive end Charleston Hughes takes it after his hat-trick sack-game against Ottawa. Hughes also had five tackles and a forced fumble, which is more than enough to best Adam Bighill, Jovon Johnson, Rico Murray and Jamaal Westerman for the title.
It was hard to not award Andrew Harris for the third time this season, but Winnipeg defensive end Jamaal Westerman did just enough to edge Harris' three-touchdown performance and earn my vote for Canadian Player of the Week. Westerman had his finest game with the Blue 'n Gold, recording nine tackles and a sack. The Eskimos had no answer for the former NFLer, who played a huge role in the Bombers stopping Edmonton's run-game.
Eskimos kicker/punter Grant Shaw had a great game in terrible conditions, punting 10 times with an average of 41 yards, pinning the Bombers deep numerous times. Shaw also hit his lone field goal attempt of the night from 35 yards out and was perfect on extra-points. Shaw's perfect game sees him earn Special Team's Player of the Week.
Centre Mike Filer and Hamilton's offensive line finally got an opportunity this week to flex their muscles in the run-game and did not disappoint. I like to signal out one great performance from an offensive lineman each week, and Filer, who had to communicate the signals in front of a rowdy crowd at Mosaic Stadium, did an excellent job. This week's top hog was Mike Filer.
Offensive Player of the Week goes to Henry Burris, who completed 28 of 43 passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns. He led the Redblacks to a huge upset win over the Stampeders and did a great job finding his targets after a shaky start.
There were plenty of candidates for Defensive Player of the Week, but Stampeders' defensive end Charleston Hughes takes it after his hat-trick sack-game against Ottawa. Hughes also had five tackles and a forced fumble, which is more than enough to best Adam Bighill, Jovon Johnson, Rico Murray and Jamaal Westerman for the title.
It was hard to not award Andrew Harris for the third time this season, but Winnipeg defensive end Jamaal Westerman did just enough to edge Harris' three-touchdown performance and earn my vote for Canadian Player of the Week. Westerman had his finest game with the Blue 'n Gold, recording nine tackles and a sack. The Eskimos had no answer for the former NFLer, who played a huge role in the Bombers stopping Edmonton's run-game.
Eskimos kicker/punter Grant Shaw had a great game in terrible conditions, punting 10 times with an average of 41 yards, pinning the Bombers deep numerous times. Shaw also hit his lone field goal attempt of the night from 35 yards out and was perfect on extra-points. Shaw's perfect game sees him earn Special Team's Player of the Week.
Centre Mike Filer and Hamilton's offensive line finally got an opportunity this week to flex their muscles in the run-game and did not disappoint. I like to signal out one great performance from an offensive lineman each week, and Filer, who had to communicate the signals in front of a rowdy crowd at Mosaic Stadium, did an excellent job. This week's top hog was Mike Filer.
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