Matt Cauz
CFL.ca
It’s on! “Roughriders vs. Montreal, Part II: The Revenge of the 13th Man”. And this time it’s personal! I’ll touch on Montreal’s beat down of Toronto later on but if you really want to know what it was all about, well just click here on this YouTube Video.
And yes I Tweeted that joke during last year’s Eastern Conference Final when the Alouettes were up 540-0 on the Lions. It worked then and it certainly works now.
This was yet another typical big game won by the Saskatchewan Roughriders. They were down by double digits, they were out gained statistically – so naturally they won.
I promise not to drop another 2000 word column on you all so I’ll focus on just a couple points and players.
First, if there’s any room left I would like to hop on board the Jerrell Freeman bandwagon. Of course we all saw his hustle all over the field from his nine tackles, his fourth quarter sack and most notably his game saving fumble recovery in the end zone. But how about playing the entire game sleeveless! Yes, I know there were a number of players (especially on the offensive line) that followed suit, but how many of them grew up in Waco Texas? Did you know that the average temperature in Waco in November is 20 Celsius? According to The Weather Network the temperature in Calgary was -18 Celsius but that it felt like -27 with wind-chill. That’s a 40-degree swing, and that my friends is tough! It’s one thing to see the usual array of lunatic Stampeder and Roughrider fans topless but for a guy who was born deep in the heart of Texas, well that was something special.
There were several keys to Saskatchewan’s win over Calgary. Notice I didn’t say “upset win”, I don’t think anyone was surprised to see the Riders advance to their second Grey Cup in a row. They won the penalty battle (so many hidden yards given up by Calgary), Darian Durant only had one turnover and Chris Getzlaf once again torched Calgary’s secondary. For me though it was all about the Rider defence. They gave Durant & Co. time to figure things out offensively. Calgary held an 11-point lead late in the first quarter following Arjei Franklin’s 22-yard touchdown catch. However from that point on Henry Burris and the Stamps would gain only 66 total yards and two first downs for the remainder of the first half. Another touchdown could have forced Saskatchewan to get away from their game plan. Instead they weathered the early storm and managed to hang two touchdowns in two minutes to close out the first half.
As for Calgary, it’s hard to say what went wrong. Beyond Tom Johnson, no member of the defensive line seemed to shine. In fact, as a whole, it looked like Calgary’s D was playing tentatively. How many times did we see them rushing only three with the linemen barely trying to get to Durant, instead looking rather content to hang back and make sure Darian didn’t beat them with his feet? Yes Johnson had three deflections, but as whole they were unable to apply much heat or force Durant into a multiple turnover game. The one theory I’m playing with is that the field made it difficult for the linemen to get any traction and push the pocket into Durant.
Speaking of lines, Saskatchewan offensive line did an excellent job keeping Durant upright against Calgary’s rush and they paved the way for Cates during so many critical points of the game. The best drive on the day, the 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter was all about the big men up front. Watching that drive you would never have believed that Calgary’s D was as dominant as it had been in the regular season.
Before we move on I’m not sure how I should feel about the lack of production from Andy Fantuz. Zero catches against Calgary and just 11 yards in two playoff games. Good on the rest of the receivers for stepping up the past two weeks but against Montreal they’re going to need his big play ability.
As for that earlier game, well how about I start by congratulating the Toronto Argonauts and coach Barker for having the kind of season that made just about everyone covering this sport look stupid. You surprised everyone, here’s hoping the team can build on 2010 and carry the momentum of their playoff win into 2011.
Momentum by the way is something clearly on the side of the Montreal Alouettes. Their 48-17 win was an old fashioned smack down. It was what I like to call a ‘reminder game’, as in remember just how good Montreal is? So much of the talk this week was centered on the fact that Toronto had played Montreal very well this year and not enough focus was placed on just how freakin’ good the Alouettes are. The last time they weren’t in the Grey Cup was 2007 and they have represented the East Conference six of the last eight years. Beyond being vulnerable to the deep pass there is nothing this team can’t do. I felt Toronto had the best overall defence in 2010 and Montreal ripped them up for 570 yards!
Really there is little I can say after a blowout of this degree.
I’m just hoping that the Grey Cup sequel feels more like ‘Godfather II’ and less like ‘Caddyshack II’.
