Annual CFL Playoffs Thread

[FrozenGator]

Last year I did this and people seemed to enjoy it. Since I didn't take a poll, I'm going to assume people don't object this year. So, without further ado: SEC (or state of Florida) people playing in this year's CFL playoffs.

Eastern Final: Montreal Alouettes VS Toronto Argonauts
Toronto could have a home-field advantage if they can make it past the Als this year, with the 100th Grey Cup being played in Toronto. Toronto's come on well recently, but needs their defense to help them out. Montreal will likely be playing for one last GC for their QB, who is 40, and holds the pro football record for passing yards (some ridiculous number like 40,000).
Alouettes:
Green, SJ (WR) - U South Florida
Ingram, Kenny (LB) - Florida State
Lockley, Mike (DE) - Florida Atlantic
MacPherson, Adrian (QB) - Florida State

Argonauts:
Carroll, Ahmad (DB) - Arkansas
Flemons, Ronald (DE) - Texas A&M
Isaac, Branond (LB) - South Carolina
Riggs Jr., Gerald (RB) - Tennessee
Watkins, Patrick (CB) - Florida State

Western Final: British Columbia Lions VS Calgary Stampeders
Calgary heated up at the right time, showing a complete game effort in a comeback win last week to get here. But, BC has been the powerhouse all season, looking to repeat as Grey Cup champs. My money's on BC, but you just never know what Stamps team is going to come out.
Lions:
Reddick, Anthony (LB) - Miami

Stampeders:
Bennett, Fred (DB) - South Carolina
Simpson, Juwan (LB) - Alabama
Armstead, Jason (WR) - Mississippi
Bolden, Demonte (Disabled) - Tennessee

So, that's that! Ignore, respond, reminisce - I'm good either way. Thanks for indulging me!

 

[Escambia94]

I only recognize one or two names. Also since I moved to Los Angeles, I no longer get CFL games. Sad.

 

[Leakfan12]

Still sore at Montreal also how come the NFL network stop playing CFL games?

 

[DRU2012]

Still sore at Montreal also how come the NFL network stop playing CFL games?

I THINK it's on "VERSUS" now...anyway, I'll pass it along as soon as I know...once the Gator game is over, I'll be watching whichever CFL Playoff games ARE being shown, which I BELIEVE is all if them IF you have the right provider (which I BETTER, or I TOO will be PISSED!)...and Thanx for the info, as usual, FrozenGator

 

[Escambia94]

Los Angeles cable providers must still be sore that they do not have a football team, because there are no CFL games on any station out here.

 

[DRU2012]

Los Angeles cable providers must still be sore that they do not have a football team, because there are no CFL games on any station out here.

Just plain stupid, really: I mean, this is the time a football-starved population will watch ANYTHING that might satisfy them with a "fix"...Hell, we'd never even HEARD of "Australian Rules Football", essentially "rugby-plus-drop-kick-fieldgoals-on-the-run", before ESPN came along and needed programming to fill out its 24-hr-a-day existence. SOMEONE could be drawing viewers and advertising dollars with the CFL playoffs out there...What ever happened to good old "market-capitalism"?

 

[FrozenGator]

Still sore at Montreal also how come the NFL network stop playing CFL games?

They're only on the NFL network to fill time until the NFL season starts. Once the NFL pre-season starts, there's so much "coverage" that nothing else can get airtime.

 

[FrozenGator]

Just plain stupid, really: I mean, this is the time a football-starved population will watch ANYTHING that might satisfy them with a "fix"...Hell, we'd never even HEARD of "Australian Rules Football", essentially "rugby-plus-drop-kick-fieldgoals-on-the-run", before ESPN came along and needed programming to fill out its 24-hr-a-day existence. SOMEONE could be drawing viewers and advertising dollars with the CFL playoffs out there...What ever happened to good old "market-capitalism"?

Yikes! Don't say that to any of us fans... We know there's a big difference. Like saying hockey is essentially, "lacrosse with sticks, no ball, and on ice with skates."

 

[DRU2012]

Yikes! Don't say that to any of us fans... We know there's a big difference. Like saying hockey is essentially, "lacrosse with sticks, no ball, and on ice with skates."

You misunderstand, I think, FG--My only point was that US fans are football CRAZY, that they watched and got INTO "Australian Rules" back then even tho' it was not "football-the-way-WE-know-it" at ALL, just because it was springtime, and out in NFL-football-deprived LA they'd EASILY draw good ratings with the CFL-brand--which in fact is and WAS a high-flying, movement-and-PASS-happy game long before the AMERICAN Pro-game started legislating things in that direction.

 

[Escambia94]

Yikes! Don't say that to any of us fans... We know there's a big difference. Like saying hockey is essentially, "lacrosse with sticks, no ball, and on ice with skates."

I think what DRU2012 is trying to say is that Americans compare everything to what is popular here. When ESPN started showing Aussie rules football, Americans probably described it as American football crossed with rugby, assuming they even knew much about rugby. Americans would never describe hockey as "lacrosse with sticks on ice", because Americans know lacrosse even less than hockey. As a matter of fact, most Americans probably do not even notice that NHL is on strike right now. The only thing that keeps hockey relevant is that it is popular in the most populous states of the Northeast. Once you get past Washington, DC and Chicago, IL, few Americans know of hockey, lacrosse, or rugby.

 

[DRU2012]

FrozenGator, Escambia94
Thankyou, E-...don't know why I had so much trouble communicating that idea myself, but here's hoping you better understand where I was going there, FG--The LAST thing I meant to do was sound like some Yankee-"rube", like those people from the "Lower 48" who show up in Toronto in July with down-jackets and skis in the rack on their cars...
I myself was a BIG viewer of CFL-Football when I lived in Hollywood all those years: we had a Sat.-dish--which meant I used to have to study these complex charts in the monthly "World Satellite TV" magazine we subscribed to in order to locate and record my then-favorite teams' games ('cause they'd often be on workday evenings), but before that I watched "The CFL Game of the Week" on our cable hook-up, where it was indeed available then--which makes it even more difficult to understand why something LIKE it ISN'T there NOW.

 

[Escambia94]

FrozenGator, Escambia94
Thankyou, E-...don't know why I had so much trouble communicating that idea myself, but here's hoping you better understand where I was going there, FG--The LAST thing I meant to do was sound like some Yankee-"rube", like those people from the "Lower 48" who show up in Toronto in July with down-jackets and skis in the rack on their cars...
I myself was a BIG viewer of CFL-Football when I lived in Hollywood all those years: we had a Sat.-dish--which meant I used to have to study these complex charts in the monthly "World Satellite TV" magazine we subscribed to in order to locate and record my then-favorite teams' games ('cause they'd often be on workday evenings), but before that I watched "The CFL Game of the Week" on our cable hook-up, where it was indeed available then--which makes it even more difficult to understand why something LIKE it ISN'T there NOW.

I *think* I could watch CFL via dish TV, but I know that with cable I cannot. It's a Los Angeles thing.

 

[FrozenGator]

Oh man, I was just messing with you. I completely understood what you were trying to say. Sorry, I forgot to use my [sarcastica] font.

 

[DRU2012]

Oh man, I was just messing with you. I completely understood what you were trying to say. Sorry, I forgot to use my [sarcastica] font.

(laughing) No prob, man ("sarcastica"-font? I NEED that option!) ...I never thought TWICE about it 'til E- stepped in, and I figured "Am I not making myself clear?"...Never mind all that, though: I'm watching the Eastern Final from Montreal here, it's halftime and they're introducing the latest Rolling Stones' release as the background music to the "Halftime Highlights"?!! I LOVE it! NOT exactly how the NFL does things...I mean, I just don't think the Stones are EVER gonna play the Super Bowl Halftime Show--I HOPE not, anyway, for THEIR sakes...even if it IS their 50th anniversary...
This game is another frustrating-thing-to-watch entirely, though--with the Argos doing a passable impersonation of the 2012 GATOR offense (and with all their turnovers, the Gators in the "Cocktail Party")...I know, I know, got nothin' to DO with the Gators, but I was settling in, hoping for a BUTT-load of offense, just for a change ya know? And here's a team that can't even put it in from the 1-yard line--with a running start at the LINE! On the OTHER side of the ball, this Montreal team has been handed everything BUT "the game", and hasn't been able to get more than a TD ahead? I like this T.O. QB Ray, though: I've worked in both cities, I speak French (my mom was from France) and love Montreal, but I've spent a LOT more time in Toronto, and went to several Argo games over the years: all-in-all, I hope the Argos stick it down the Allouettes THROAT in the 2nd half...
The Western Final is on later, so this will be a late night of CFL football for me. (Notice your Blue Bombers are out of this, FG...you gotta team you're still rooting for in all of this? In the west, I guess I'm a Lions fan--I've been to 1/2 a dozen of their games in that domed stadium of theirs, BC Place, when I used to work on movies and TV shows up there...and frankly, the Calgary fans remind me FAR too much of Dallas Cowboys fans; I may live in Texas, but I live in AUSTIN: We're, like, the "anti-Dallas" (City Motto: "Keep Austin Weird"--I kid you not).

 

[DRU2012]

Just a follow up note" This Argo team is literally "running WILD" here in the 3rd quarter...pretty entertaining, and MUCH more the kind of movement-oriented, free-flowing-all-over-the-FIELD type play I remember of CFL-football.
This may sound strange, but as an old Army-guy it always reminds me of how "Desert Tank Warfare"-strategy and tactics is drawn up.

 

[FrozenGator]

Actually, both games wind up to be pretty good to watch. Ray is a veteran - like Peyton Manning - and knows how to win with whoever he has on the field. His trade to Toronto is still the cause of some suspicion of a fix being in (Toronto hosting the Grey Cup, and needing success to draw fans away from - ugh - soccer), but I don't think he was in on it, himself. I'd choose him as my #1 pick if I were doing an expansion draft (#2 would be Travis Lulay from BC, because you care to know).

I guess if I have to choose two teams to cheer for (and I will state them now, knowing the outcomes of the games, but not revealing the results), I would probably cheer for the Alouettes and the Stampeders. For both those teams, I respect the QBs a lot (Calvillo needs to retire, but he's such a competitor that he won't without another ring; Glenn was denied the chance to win with the Bombers in '07 because of injury and I've felt bad for him since), and I think the coaches are tremendous men.

CFL as blitzkrieg? Yeah, fair enough. Hit hard, don't wait to secure territory, keep going, push everyone out of your way and sort it out once you've dominated.

In the Western Final, pay close attention to the RBs on each time. They're outstanding to watch.

 

[DRU2012]

First--Let me apologize for the ongoing SPAMMING ATTACK we are under here at GE (ie. all these useless, obnoxious MED-ads inundating and overwhelming all the thread-lists--AVOID OPENING THESE THREADS!)--Escambia94 and I have been doing our best to stay ahead of it, but to no avail...we are trying to get this solved in a more direct and permanent way, but are so far limited and MAY have to do the whole "Shut down and START OVER"-routine to both end it AND clean the site...of all the weeks for this to happen (suspicious in itself?).
As for those games, the earlier (Eastern) one was really good--I really like the Argo QB, Ray, as I mentioned (You're right about the "No Quit" Allouette QB, Cavillo--he's been around since before I was regularly going to CFL games--and I SWEAR I've seen him on both sides of the country! And hasn't the Montreal team been like a kind of "Powerhouse" the last few years, repeatedly getting to the Grey Cup?) Time for a change--especially the fitting "Home Team"-faces-the-hated-"Western Rival" in the "100th Anniversary Game": Can it GET any more dramatic a set-up?!!
I really was disappointed with the Lions' performance, though...talk about "coming in flat"....We've seen this before, though (hell, you could say that in the NFL, the Giants have made this sort of thing work for THEM in TWO of the last three seasons): The Stampeders were the hot team, having to STAY "hot" through the last few games of the season to GET in the playoffs, THEN playing the extra GAME to get there last night...Meanwhile, the Lions cruised in, clinched some weeks back, and even though they won 7 of their last 9 games before last night, they were basically just "laying about" the last couple of weeks, while Calgary was staying on its regular, very successful routine--and hitting that "Game-Ready Hyped-Up"-emotional state, ready-to-play at a certain time and place each week. On top of THAT, according to the pregame discussion there was ALREADY concern that BC tended to "start slow" ANYWAY, and that their QB, for a number of reasons (including a late-season injury, I think they were saying, that kept him on the sidelines the last few weeks of the season?), might need to "play his way back" to his "usual efficiency". It sure LOOKED like all of this was in play for most of the first half--but when they managed to eke out just a one-point deficit by the end of the half, I really thought they might just take OVER in the 3rd quarter. What was REALLY a let down--probably NOT for those cheering for Calgary, though, obviously--was how the Lions' "D", supposedly "the best in the CFL regular season" this year, just caved IN in the 2nd half: Again and again, they missed the proper coverage on the "bomb".
The long pass is so much a part of the 3-down game that makes the CFL a "Move! Move! Move!"-offensive display, after all, and always HAS been, that letting the other team's top receiver slip loose repeatedly is UNCONSCIONABLE, just poor game-planning, and an inferior job of halftime adjustment (there'd been signs of the Lions' weakness literally "from the START" on that, what, second-play-from-scrimmage for Calgary's first TD?!!...and they moved to exploit that after the break, whereas BC apparently made NO move to shore that up).
In addition to a complete breakdown in defensive tactics, the special teams coach for the Lions just looked BAFFLED, his squad beaten, out-guessed and out-played repeatedly: How can you let the other team pull off a fake punt on 3rd-and-long (same as "4th-and-long" in our game, for the CFL-uninitiated), when they're just past mid-field, at a crucial "turning point" where you are about to possibly take over the game's momentum when you get the ball? Between that, and repeated bad penalties taken both on the receiving/return AND coverage-teams, minimizing your own field-position while MAXimizing theirs, well, that "bewildered look" at every turn just isn't an acceptable reaction.
Fans of and IN Calgary are thrilled, though--and that gives me a CLEAR preference in the Grey Cup: I'll be rooting for T.O. to pull off the sentimental "HOME-win", and SHOULD have some natural Stampeder-fans here this weekend, a bunch of Cowboy fans around for Thanksgiving.