CFL: Western Final Live Blog

Come join us below for the live blog of the CFL Western Final, between the Calgary Stampeders and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Friday Night Football live blog: Stamps and Leos!

It's Friday, and the Stamps are going be hard to tame. Their clash against the B.C. Lions in the second game of tonight's CFL doubleheader should be a great one, though. 5-6 B.C. is coming off an emotional win over Toronto that gave Wally Buono sole possession of the CFL coaching victories record, while 6-5 Calgary enters this one looking to bounce back from a dismal loss to Hamilton. Calgary's in a three-way tie for first in the West Division, while B.C. is just one game back but in last place in the division, so this could have huge playoff implications.

B.C. hasn't beaten Calgary at all in the John Hufnagel era, and they'll have a tough task pulling that one off at McMahon Stadium, but you know middle linebacker JoJuan Armour will be motivated against the team that cut him, and plenty of his teammates are fired up too. It should be a great one; I picked it as my Game of the Week in my latest column, so I'm hoping it won't disappoint. I'll be live-blogging it here and at Sporting Madness, starting at 10 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Pacific. Come join me then!

CFL: Lions-Stampeders preview and live blog

It's getting close to the end of the work week as we know it, and that means it's time for one of my favourite moments each week in the summer; a B.C. Lions game. The Leos are hosting the Calgary Stampeders tonight in the second game of TSN's Friday Night Football doubleheader (the early game is Toronto against Winnipeg). I'll be live-blogging the B.C. - Calgary game here and at Sporting Madness. Kickoff is at 10:30 Eastern/7:30 Pacific. Read on for my game preview!

This should be a good one. Both the Lions and the Stampeders got off to poor starts, and they both sit at 1-2 after three games. That's not what many had expected, as the Stampeders are the defending Grey Cup champions and the Lions went to the West Final last season. Still, they've both struggled early on, so both sides will be eager to get back on track tonight.

Calgary may be in good shape to do that. After a 40-27 thumping by Montreal in Week
One and a 42-30 defeat against Winnipeg in Week Two, the Stampeders responded with an impressive 44-9 win over the Toronto Argonauts in Week Three. Now, Toronto's far from the league's best, but that's still the largest margin of victory in the CFL this year. Calgary looked back in Grey Cup form, and that should help them tonight. There's a good reason five of the six writers at The Score's The Red Zone blog picked the Stampeders in this one (the lone exception was D.J. Bennett).

B.C. was not as impressive last week, but they did get it done. After losing an error-filled season opener in Regina 28-24, they were embarrassed 31-28 at home by the traditional CFL doormat, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and fell to 0-2. This past week, they didn't get off to a great start in Edmonton, but an injury to quarterback Buck Pierce sent in Jarious Jackson and he got it done in fine style, completing 19 of 28 passes for 362 yards and four touchdowns without a single interception and leading the Lions to a 40-22 victory. He was unanimously selected as the CFL's offensive player of the week for his efforts, joining teammate and frequent target Paris Jackson (outstanding Canadian) on the week's list of awards.

Jackson may have won the unanimous approval of the voting committee, but he wasn't able to win the starting job. Despite Jackson's almost-flawless performance in relief, head coach Wally Buono has elected to go back to Pierce tonight [Lowell Ulrich, The Province]. Still, Pierce is notoriously fragile and sometimes ineffective, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Buono make a change mid-game if the offence isn't running smoothly.

In my mind, though, Jackson should be the starter tonight. It doesn't even have to be a slam at Pierce; he suffered "concussion-like" symptoms last week and has a long history of concussions, so why not let him rest a bit more? If Jackson started and failed, Pierce could come in in relief. If Jackson succeeded mildly, the old order could be restored in the Lions' next game. If Jackson played well, then he could have been anointed as the starter.

To me, this is a dangerous move from a health perspective as well as a football one. I've written pretty extensively on concussions over the past few years, and putting a player back in this soon seems like something that would be frowned upon by many medical experts given Pierce's concussion history. The Lions' offensive line hasn't been great this year either, so expect Pierce to get hit at least once tonight. The problem with multiple concussions is each tends to make you more susceptible to future concussions, and they often get more damaging as you go along. That's another reason why starting Pierce tonight is concernihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifng, in my view.


In any case, it will be a fascinating game to watch. There are plenty of storylines to follow, from RB/KR Ian Smart's return to the Lions' QB situation to the Stampeders' attempts to get back into form. Come join me here for the live blog at 7:30 P.M. PST!

Related coverage:
- Ullrich has a nice piece on the Lions' motivation [The Province]
- Matt Sekeres has a good pre-game story on the rivalry between the teams [The Globe and Mail]
- Another good preview piece from The Canadian Press [CFL.ca]
- Check out Brian Wawryshyn's post on his Alberta road trip [BC Lions Den]
- Ullrich and Province sports editor Jonathan McDonald hosted an excellent game-day conversation on the Lions this morning [The Fifth Quarter]

CFL: No all-West Grey Cup for you!

Well, the Montreal Alouettes came up with a 36-26 victory [Sean Gordon, The Globe and Mail over the Edmonton Eskimos in this afternoon's East final, shattering not only my perfect streak of playoff predictions but also the dream of an all-Western CFL final. That probably keeps the league executives happy: as Gordon pointed out in his pre-game piece this morning, it's easier to sell a final with Montreal nationally than a battle of Alberta or a B.C.-Edmonton clash. It also means that there should be a lot of excitement in Montreal leading up to the final, which might have been more muted if the home team wasn't playing (particularly considering that the Canadiens are retiring Patrick Roy's number on the night before the big game). Thus, the Alouettes' win is probably good for the league, but it's somewhat disappointing to miss out on a never-before seen all-Western matchup.

In any case, this was a great football game, but it wasn't the offensive shootout many were anticipating; much of the fireworks came on special teams, which saw Edmonton pick up two touchdowns on a blocked punt (blocked and recovered by former Manitoba Bison Justin Cooper [CIS] and a 78-yard punt return by Tristan Jackson and Montreal add two more on 97 and 64-yard punt returns by Larry Taylor. Ricky Ray and Anthony Calvillo were similarly effective (339 and 295 yards respectively) and both threw one touchdown against zero picks, but Calvillo was more efficient, completing 20 of 32 passes against Ray's 26 of 49.

The run game also favoured Montreal. Avon Cobourne, who still seemed a little banged-up, ran 16 times for a decent 52 yards, while Edmonton only tried to rush three times with A.J. Harris and only picked up three yards doing so. Curiously enough, Edmonton didn't throw many short passes to their running backs either, which is usually a staple of their offence. Harris didn't have a catch all day, while Calvin McCarty (a Surrey guy who went to Western Washington) only had four catches for 14 yards. By contrast, Cobourne added another 61 yards on his four catches.

Early on, things were looking good for Edmonton. Their offence was moving the ball, even if they only got a few points out of it, while Calvillo struggled early on. Two field goals and the early blocked punt gave the Eskimos a 13-3 lead early in the second quarter. As the game went on, though, the Montreal line gave Calvillo more protection, and he started to pick apart Edmonton's defence with quick, short passes. Taylor's first punt return for a touchdown (64 yards) with less than two minutes to go before halftime gave Montreal a 19-13 lead and got their fans back into the game, and the Alouettes never trailed after that. As Montreal head coach Marc Trestman told TSN's Sara Orlesky after the game, "We took Edmonton's best shot today and we withstood the test."

The Eskimos made the end game interesting, though. Ray threw a bomb to Kelly Campbell early in the fourth quarter, and he took it in for a touchdown to bring Edmonton within 16. The Eskimos' defence held Montreal, but their offence couldn't keep the momentum going; Ray forced too many deep throws and the Alouettes dd well in pass coverage. Jackson re-energized Edmonton with a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown inside the last two minutes, but the two-point conversion failed. Maurice Mann did well to recover the ensuing onside kick, but Ray fumbled on the next drive, driving the final nail into Edmonton's coffin.

It wasn't a lights-out performance by Montreal, though, and some questions will hang over their heads as they prepare for the Grey Cup. Early on, while Edmonton's pass rush was getting past their offensive line, Calvillo looked decidedly vulnerable and was noticeably ineffective. Both Calgary and B.C. bring great pressure up front; Montreal will have to improve their pass protection and be more consistent with it if they want to win the big game.

Cobourne's health is also an issue. As Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette points out, he missed the final three games of the season with an ankle injury and hadn't played since Oct. 13. He looked somewhat sluggish today, and wasn't able to make as many of the quick cuts CFL fans have come to expect from him. That might be rust, or it might be a still-sore ankle, but the Alouettes may need more from him in the final. Both Calgary and B.C. boast powerful ground games; a Montreal team without one will be at a considerable disadvantage.

CFL: West final preview

Today's Western final should also be a great one to watch, as the B.C. Lions take on the Calgary Stampeders (4:30 p.m. ET, TSN). There's plenty of storylines here, as demonstrated by the various previews floating around the interwebs. Some of the best include Wally Buono's return to face his old team [Matthew Sekeres, The Globe and Mail], the parallels to the 2000 West final between the teams [Lowell Ullrich, The Vancouver Province], Calgary all-star receiver Ken-Yon Rambo versus B.C.'s all-star corner Dante Marsh [Allan Maki, The Globe and Mail], the battle of quarterbacks Buck Pierce and Henry Burris [Ed Willes, The Vancouver Province] or B.C.'s league-leading pass rush against Burris, a quarterback searching for playoff success [Bruce Dowbiggin, The Calgary Herald]. There's probably enough different stories on this one for it to be a Friday Night Lights episode. None of these previews deliver the complete stats breakdown, though, so it's after the jump.


The records:

B.C.: 11-7 (third in West)

Calgary: 13-5 (first in West)

Passing leaders:

B.C.: Buck Pierce, 232 completions on 362 attempts (64.1 per cent) for 3018 yards (8.33 yards per attempt, 13.00 yards per completion), 19 touchdowns versus 9 interceptions, 97.3 QB rating in 15 games, five 300-yard games

Calgary: Henry Burris, 381 completions on 591 attempts (64.5 per cent) for 5094 yards (8.61 yards per attempt, 13.37 yards per completion), 39 touchdowns versus 14 interceptions, 103.8 QB rating in 18 games, ten 300-yard games

Advantage: Calgary. Burris has struggled in playoff games throughout his career, but his numbers are still tremendous. If he can survive the pressure from B.C.'s defensive line, he gives Calgary an edge here. However, Pierce comes in with only minimal expectations on his shoulders, and he won't be running for his life the way Burris might have to, so the quarterback edge could be closer than the pure numbers would suggest.

Receiving leaders:

B.C.: Slotback Geroy Simon, 82 receptions for 1418 yards (second in CFL, 17.3 yards per catch average) in 16 games (88.6 yards per game average), 10 touchdowns, eight 100-yard games

Calgary: Wide receiver Ken-Yon Rambo, 100 receptions for 1473 yards (14.7 yards per catch average) in 18 games (81.8 yards per game average), eight touchdowns, five 100-yard games

(Note: B.C. wide receiver Paris Jackson is ahead of Calgary's second receiver, wide out Nik Lewis in passing yardage with 76 receptions for 1180 yards (15.5 yards per catch average) in 17 games (69.4 yards per game average), eight touchdowns and four 100-yard games. Lewis has 1109 yards on 87 catches (12.7 yards per catch average) in 18 games (61.6 yards per game) with 10 TDs and three 100-yard games. B.C. slotback Jason Clermont has 50 receptions for 640 yards in 14 games as well.)

Advantage: B.C. Rambo's had a great year and led the league in yards, but that's on an awful lot of catches: his yards-per-catch are lower than both Simon and Jackson. I'd put Rambo up there with Simon, but B.C. has better depth in the receiving corps than Calgary.

Rushing leaders:

B.C.: Running back Stefan Logan, 889 yards on 122 carries (7.3 yards per carry) in 12 games (74.1 yards per game), zero touchdowns, three 100-yard games

Calgary: Running back Joffrey Reynolds, 1310 yards on 227 carries (5.8 yards per carry) in 18 games (72.8 yards per game), 10 touchdowns, five 100-yard games

Advantage: Calgary This one is close, as both teams have excellent ground games. Logan picks up more yards per carry, but Reynolds is a consistently dangerous running back and one of the CFL's best. Slight edge to Calgary here, but there isn't that much of a gap between the two. A key battle to watch will be Reynolds versus the Lions' run defence, which has been good all year.

Sack leaders:

B.C.: Defensive lineman Cameron Wake leads the team with an incredible 23 sacks (only three less than the entire Hamilton Tiger-Cats team).

Calgary: Lineman Miguel Robede (a Laval product) and linebackers Mike Labingo and Charleston Hughes are tied for the team lead with five sacks.

(Note: B.C. has three other players with more sacks then anyone on Calgary's roster: linemen Aaron Hunt (11) and Brent Johnson (10) and linebacker Jamall Johnson (six).)

Advantage: B.C. Huge advantage to the Lions here. Their defensive front is the best I've ever seen in the CFL, and really doesn't get nearly enough coverage. What makes it so great is that it's not just Wake: the threat from Hunt and Johnson (a Kingston native, by the way) makes it almost impossible to double-team anyone. Burris' mobility will help him a bit against the rush, but the Lions did a tremendous job of knocking Michael Bishop off his game last week, and he's pretty mobile as well.

Interception leaders:

B.C.: Safety Barron Miles, who has nine picks (tied for the league lead) in 16 games and a total of 113 resulting yards off them.

Calgary: Safety Wes Lysack, who has four picks in 15 games and 101 resulting yards with one return for a touchdown.

(Note: B.C. defensive back Korey Banks also has more interceptions than Lysack, with six in 18 games (third in the league).)

Advantage: B.C. This is another area the Lions win handily. The pressure their defensive front brings forces opposing quarterbacks into poor decisions, and the talented secondary is often able to take advantage.

Overall notes:

This should be an excellent matchup, with some of the best talent in the CFL on display. Burris, Reynolds, Logan, Rambo and Simon are near the top of the league offensively, while Wake, Hunt, both Johnsons and Miles are some of the elite defenders in the game. There's a good rivalry between the teams and between their cities, so expect some fireworks.

Prediction: B.C. victory
For me, the key battle of the game is the Lions' pass rush against the Stamps' O-line and Burris: if they can pull off a few sacks and force Burris into bad throws, the Lions should take this game. B.C. has just too many incredible individual talents. In fact, Stampeders' head coach John Hufnagel called the Lions an "all-star team" heading into this week's game [Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press via Yahoo! Sports]. That wasn't just flattery either: B.C. had 13 players named to the West all-star team, while Calgary had six despite winning the division. It took the Lions a while to pull it together this year, but they looked in fine form with that 33-12 stomping of Saskatchewan on the road last week. If they put out another performance like that one, they should win this game.