Lions win crazy game that sees a little bit of everything!

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The recap from TSN.ca

The turning point: It’s easily the craziest play you’ll see all season and it’s a play that can only happen in the CFL…  With the Riders up 14-12 with 52 seconds left in the first half and about to get the ball back after a Lions two and out.  Lions kicker Sean Whyte punts the ball from his own 25 yard line but kicks it out of bounds causing a penalty and a re-kick situation.  On the re-kick Saskatchewan kick returner Gerran Walker attempts to field the ball but it hits him in the knee and bounces away.  In the scramble for the ball, Lions linebacker James Yurichuk alertly kicks the ball further down field and keeps it in-bounds.  O’Niel Wilson then sprints ahead of the pack to scoop up the loose ball on a hop and runs into the endzone.  Kicking the ball forward like that is a completely legal play in the CFL and instead of a two point (or more) lead at the half, the Riders are down by seven.

The game ball goes to: Quite a few Lions had great games, but my game ball in this game goes to Barron Miles who made one of the most amazingly athletic plays with perfect timing I’ve ever seen.  The Riders had just scored a touchdown on a Chris Szarka one yard run to bring the Riders within eight points of the Lions.  The Riders were most likely thinking ahead to attempting an onside kick to get the ball back with just less than a minute left on the clock, but on the extra point attempt Miles timed the snap perfectly, leapt over the center and had an easy block to keep the Lions lead at eight.   It was Miles record setting 13th career blocked EP/FG kick.  Granted the Riders failed to recover the following onside kick and the Lions quickly put the game away with yet another TD shortly after, but Miles block turned what would have been an unlikely but still doable situation for the Riders into a near impossible situation.  QB Buck Pierce had a great game, as did running back Martell Mallett with 99 yards rushing and a TD.  Sean Whyte was a perfect four for four on field goal attempts and defensive end Brent Johnson had three sacks and a forced fumble.  For my money though, Miles athletic play on special teams gets the nod from me for game ball.

Random game thoughts: The Riders again played both QBs, although Steven Jyles didn’t see action until about the ten minute mark of the 4th quarter.  Darian Durant went 10 of 19 passing with 189 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs.  Jyles was 7 for 13, 96 yards and 1 INT  …  The game started off as a disaster for the Lions as three of their first four possessions ended in turnovers (two interceptions and a lost fumble)  …  Their play on special teams didn’t start much better either as four of the first five special teams play saw the Lions taking a penalty  …  After a 2 TD and 100+ yard receiving game last week, Riders wideout Chris Getzlaf had only one catch for 13 yards – a catch that came with 13 seconds left in the game  …  Canadian Rob Bagg had a great game for the Riders getting 120 yards receiving off of 5 catches, 2 of them for TDs  …  Jason Clermont in his return to BC as a member of the visiting team caught his first pass early in the 2nd half, a catch that put him over 6000 yards receiving in his career.  The Lions fans gave him a very warm reception with that catch.

Final grades
Riders Offense: C+
Riders Defense: C-
Riders Special Teams: C

Lions Offense: B+
Lions Defense: A
Lions Special Teams: A

Week #6 picks

(I’m gonna continue the weekly CFL picks that I started on my other blog starsscene.com.  To recap my picks from last week, click here.)

Am I not supposed to be getting better at these picks instead of worse?  After a few weeks of 2 and 2 efforts, I spent last week going 1 and 3!  I’m now exactly .500 on the season at 10 right and 10 wrong.

Ouch.

Just a reminder, I’m just picking straight up winners and losers here…  Now that I’ve reminded myself of who I am supposed to pick, lets get to it:

Friday August 7th

Toronto @ Montreal (Montreal -14)
My pick: Montreal – I have a hard time believing that Calgary (as you’ll see in a moment) has a slightly bigger spread against a more difficult opponent than the Als do against Toronto.  Montreal is at home (only unbeaten team at home by the way) and should be focused and ready to amke amends for last weeks loss on the road.  The last time the Als were dialed and and wanting to get a bit of revenge was back in week one where they stomped out the Stamps on their own turf.  I can’t see the Argos having a chance at all in this one.

Saskatchewan @ BC (BC -1 1/2)
My pick: BC - I refuse to believe that the Lions are as bad as their 1 and 4 record indicates.  Honestly I see a lot of good for the Lions and the additions they’ve made this week make them that much better.  Meanwhile the Riders have been consistently inconsistent.  Will coach Ken Miller keep running the QB rotation that seemed to work decently enough against Calgary?  Andy Fantuz should be back for this game for the Riders (UPDATE 3:05 pm MST: Or maybe not…  Chris Getzlaf will be starting in his place again on Friday), but still I just can’t see the Lions falling to 1 and 5 with a loss at home.

 

Saturday August 8th

Edmonton @ Hamilton (Hamilton -1)
My pick: Edmonton - I’ve done pretty well picking Hamilton most of the time this season and I truly do believe they are for real, but I also think the Eskimos have gotten it back together somewhat as well and I think they’ll go into Hamilton very focused and prepared.  Of the four games this week, this is the one where I could flip a coin to figure out who I’d pick and either way I’d be ok with it.  I like that the Esks offense is starting to click again, I like that they are using RB Calvin McCarty more and there defense looked very good keeping Montreal unbalanced last week..

Winnipeg @ Calgary (Calgary -14 1/2)
My pick: Calgary - I can’t believe the Stamps are this heavily favored against the Bombers who granted didn’t have the greatest of games in Toronto, but at least still won and showed some promise with Mike Bishop at QB.  The Bombers O-Line has been pretty good as well this season only allowing 9 sacks in the first 5 games (Only Montreal has fewer sacks allowed with 3) so it can’t be the fact that Calgary’s defensive line may run roughshod over them.  I still think the Stamps will win this game, but it won’t be by anything more than a seven point margin at best.

Riders strike late and hang on for last minute win

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The recap from TSN.ca

The turning point: The Stampeders had a six point lead and the ball at about midfield with a little over two minutes to go and could have easily locked up the game with a first down to either kill more time or get kicker Sandro DeAngelis closer for a field goal that would have given the Stamps a nine point lead.  Coach John Hufnagel though called two very conservative running plays that gained all of four yards.  Sandro – who was a perfect nine for nine on the season in FG attempts up to that point – then lined up on the right hash mark for a 49 yard field goal attempt that was somewhat wind aided, but pushed it wide left.  The Riders Weston Dressler ran it out of the endzone and to the Stamps 45 yard line giving them excellent field position.  Two plays later Sask QB Darrian Durant hit Chris Getzlaf with a 65 yard TD pass and run to put the Riders up by one with a little over a minute left in the game.  Calgary couldn’t muster a first down in the next two drives they were given and it was game over.

The game ball goes to: Before the game Roughriders coach Ken Miller said that unless it was obvious that QB Durant had a hot hand, he was going to put in backup QB Steven Jyles in after four or five series and despite an early TD pass from Durant he did just that, but Jyles was mostly ineffective in the second quarter and Durant was put back in at the start of the second half. Good call by Miller as Durant went 17 of 28 passing for three touchdowns and one INT.

Random game thoughts: Stamps linebacker Odell Willis picked up another sack for his league leading 7th of the season. Amazing when you consider he wasn’t even in the lineup for week one  …  Riders WR Andy Fantuz was a late scratch forcing Chris Getzlaf into the starting lineup, obviously Chris stepped up big time with five catches for a total of 101 yards and 2 TDs  …  Joffrey Reynolds ran for 112 yards off of 14 rushing attempts.

Final grades
Riders Offense: B-
Riders Defense: B
Riders Special Teams: C

Stamps Offense: B-
Stamps Defense: B-
Stamps Special Teams: C+