(If this man is not coach of the year, something is seriously wrong.)If you are currently living in a cave, you might not be aware that the first round of the 2010 CFL playoffs are complete. Fans were treated to two compelling games on the weekend, each decided by the slimmest of margins. In the East, the Toronto Argonauts went into Steeltown and beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, something they had not done in three previous attempts this year. Hats off to Jim Barker (pictured above) and his Boatmen. You guys proved all of us haters wrong. Barker deserves not just coach of the year, but maybe coach of the decade. This is a franchise that Bart Andrus tried to run into the ground last year. This was a team that was in total disarray. They had traded their only good player (Arland Bruce III) to a division rival. Can anyone count them out versus the Alouettes? Don't forget the Argos beat the Als twice this year!
Onto the much more important West Division! The Saskatchewan Roughriders were playing host to the streaking BC Lions. These were teams heading in opposite directions going into Sunday's game. The Lions finished the season on a 7-3 clip, edging out the Eskimos for the last playoff spot. The Roughriders on the other hand limped into the playoffs, losing 4 of their last 5 games. This pessimism, combined with the foul weather ensured that greenisthecolour.ca would miss several updates over the final few weeks of the season, and that the HOME PLAYOFF GAME WOULD NOT SELL OUT! Seriously, Rider fans? No sellout? Yeesh. A few years ago we would have killed for a home playoff game and now it's old hat? A sense of entitlement sure doesn't take long to set in.
The first half of the game the Riders played some pretty mediocre football. Darian Durant was way off target on his throws, Warren Kean missed a 40-yard field goal, and the secondary blew a few coverages. This led to a 16-7 halftime deficit. The first few minutes of the second half were much the same. Durant missed a wide-open Andy Fantuz with a deep ball and BC tacked on a field goal to make it 19-7. The stadium fell silent. Then someone flicked that switch again and it was go time for the offence. Durant calmed down and started hitting his targets, mostly Weston Dressler who had 8 catches for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns. Dressler was absent from last year's playoffs with an injury and his performance in this game must have fans wistfully wondering what might have been. The defence was a little blitz-happy, but played okay. Mike McCullough played well in Barrin Simpson's absence, and halfback Lance Frazier played by far his best game of the year. The play call I didn't like was on the game's final play when BC had the ball down 7 on our 29 yard-line. If you have the league's best safety who has 9 interceptions what do you do with him on a hail-Mary play? Blitz him of course. Good grief.
But I guess if the Lions did not tie the game we would not have been able to witness the poetic perfection of Jason Clermont's historic touchdown. So that was good. Let's not forget that the Riders had a Fantuz fumble wiped out by a roughing the passer penalty, and that Geroy Simon dropped a touchdown pass. That was one of several drops by BC receivers. Travis Lulay played extremely well for the Lions, who easily could have won the game. The Riders played 25+ minutes of football and escaped with a win. A terrifically exciting, extremely narrow win. The Riders will not win if they do not show up for the first half against Calgary next week. I know you guys like doing things the hard way, but please. This is the freakin' Stamps we're talking about. Get it together boys and give us 60 minutes next time.
Onto the much more important West Division! The Saskatchewan Roughriders were playing host to the streaking BC Lions. These were teams heading in opposite directions going into Sunday's game. The Lions finished the season on a 7-3 clip, edging out the Eskimos for the last playoff spot. The Roughriders on the other hand limped into the playoffs, losing 4 of their last 5 games. This pessimism, combined with the foul weather ensured that greenisthecolour.ca would miss several updates over the final few weeks of the season, and that the HOME PLAYOFF GAME WOULD NOT SELL OUT! Seriously, Rider fans? No sellout? Yeesh. A few years ago we would have killed for a home playoff game and now it's old hat? A sense of entitlement sure doesn't take long to set in.
The first half of the game the Riders played some pretty mediocre football. Darian Durant was way off target on his throws, Warren Kean missed a 40-yard field goal, and the secondary blew a few coverages. This led to a 16-7 halftime deficit. The first few minutes of the second half were much the same. Durant missed a wide-open Andy Fantuz with a deep ball and BC tacked on a field goal to make it 19-7. The stadium fell silent. Then someone flicked that switch again and it was go time for the offence. Durant calmed down and started hitting his targets, mostly Weston Dressler who had 8 catches for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns. Dressler was absent from last year's playoffs with an injury and his performance in this game must have fans wistfully wondering what might have been. The defence was a little blitz-happy, but played okay. Mike McCullough played well in Barrin Simpson's absence, and halfback Lance Frazier played by far his best game of the year. The play call I didn't like was on the game's final play when BC had the ball down 7 on our 29 yard-line. If you have the league's best safety who has 9 interceptions what do you do with him on a hail-Mary play? Blitz him of course. Good grief.
But I guess if the Lions did not tie the game we would not have been able to witness the poetic perfection of Jason Clermont's historic touchdown. So that was good. Let's not forget that the Riders had a Fantuz fumble wiped out by a roughing the passer penalty, and that Geroy Simon dropped a touchdown pass. That was one of several drops by BC receivers. Travis Lulay played extremely well for the Lions, who easily could have won the game. The Riders played 25+ minutes of football and escaped with a win. A terrifically exciting, extremely narrow win. The Riders will not win if they do not show up for the first half against Calgary next week. I know you guys like doing things the hard way, but please. This is the freakin' Stamps we're talking about. Get it together boys and give us 60 minutes next time.
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