CFL Recap Week One: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Reffing in the Saskatchewan-BC Game—Witnessing the Riders-Lions game first hand, I was very disappointed with the reffing in the game. Now I am a Riders fan, but even I believe that there were some questionable calls on both sides. There were calls that shouldn’t have been made and calls that should have been made but weren’t. It was definitely an off night for the referees.

Hamilton’s First Half Defense—It was disappointing that Hamilton allowed 30 points at home. If Hamilton wouldn’t have gotten off to such a bad start, they would have had a chance against Argonauts.

Calgary’s Playmakers—Calgary’s prime-time players failed to produce in their loss to the Alouettes. Henry Burris completed just above 50 percent of his passes, Joffrey Reynolds only had 19 yards rushing and Mike Labinjo was invisible with one tackle.

Stefan Lefors—Though it was cool to see a left-handed quarterback throw the ball, Lefors didn’t produce for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He completed less than 50 percent of his passes and only threw for 174 yards. Back to the drawing board in the Peg.

Missed Opportunities—BC, Winnipeg and Calgary all had chances to tie or win their games near the end of regulation. BC’s Ryan Grice-Mullen got behind the Riders db’s and dropped a sure touchdown pass that would have won the game for the Lions in the dying seconds of the game.

Calgary had marched the ball into Montreal’s end of the field in the fourth quarter when Chip Cox picked up a fumble and took it back for a touchdown, sealing the victory for the Als.

Winnipeg lined up for a field goal that would tie the game against the Edmonton Eskimos, but Alexis Serna missed the field goal.

The Ugly

Turnovers—It was a bad week for turnovers. Almost every starting quarterback threw at least one interception and there were a number of punt blocks. This was especially true in the BC-Saskatchewan contest, where there were a combined 15 turnovers in the game.

Injuries—Not only were there a number of players sitting out due to injuries, but a number of players fell to injury. Riders offensive lineman Belton Johnson fell to an injury, Lions running back Ian Smart was carted off the field, Jesse Lumsden re-aggravated his shoulder injury against the Blue Bombers and even Toronto’s kicker was injured in their game against the Tiger Cats.

The Edmonton-Winnipeg Game—The Thursday night tilt simply stank! Both teams struggled to a 0-0 tie at halftime and never really generated a lot off offense in a defensive struggle.

Power Rankings: Week One

1) Montreal Alouettes 1-0 (LW:0)

• The Als looked impressive in their victory over the defending Grey Cup champions. Montreal looks to be contenders once again early on.

2) Toronto Argonauts 1-0 (LW:0)

• Sure, their victory came against Hamilton, but Toronto looks to have improved under head coach Bart Andrus. Kerry Joseph is making less mistakes and the team has found a running game.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?