Columnist image

TSN Football Insider

| Archive

There’s plenty of debate flying around the Canadian Football League about what did or didn’t happen at Saskatchewan Roughriders practice Monday – everything from staged fighting organized by coaches to a run-of-the-mill scrap like any other.

The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

It’s evident that the confrontation between Duron Carter and Sam Williams was no ordinary scrap between a wide receiver and a defensive back. We know from several sources that, in some way, shape or form, a coach or coaches encouraged the two players to go at it.

How much the players were actually encouraged to fight may depend on one’s interpretation of what went on.

But apparently there was disciplinary action of some kind being considered by the coaching staff Monday night before cooler heads prevailed on Tuesday. By then, when the questions started flying, all of the staff and players were on message as the Roughriders looked to put the whole affair behind them.

The incident drew the attention of the league, which said it was satisfied that nothing had occurred that the Riders couldn’t handle internally. The league had no comment beyond that.

The interest level of this story was fuelled in part because it involved Carter, one of the league’s most outspoken, colourful and talented players, and Roughriders head coach and vice-president of football operations Chris Jones, who is one of the league’s most intriguing characters.

Ever since he led Edmonton to a Grey Cup win and then immediately picked up his staff and moved to Saskatchewan, there’s been a sense that Jones is a renegade. That was backed up a year ago when the Roughriders were subject to league discipline for running afoul of some league rules.

Carter is the classic case of a player whose talent on the field makes him worth the occasional headaches off it. In Montreal, Carter was loud, brash and opinionated, to the extent that some teammates and coaches couldn’t stand him.

Among those was Jacques Chapdelaine, the team’s former coach, who had Carter released late last season, allowing him to head to Saskatchewan via free agency during the off-season.

But there’s no doubting his talent and versatility, based on the fact he’ll start at cornerback for Saskatchewan Friday night due to injuries to Kacy Rodgers and Chris Lyles.

That decision was made before all the controversy, since Carter practised with both the defensive backs and receivers on Monday before the fight occurred.

But seeing his name on the defensive depth chart, coming off a game in which he had 11 catches for 231 yards as a receiver, only added more intrigue to a player who has owned the CFL news cycle for an entire week.

Bomber Injuries

One part of the story behind Winnipeg’s 11-4 record this season is the fact the Blue Bombers have been the CFL’s healthiest team over the course of the season. At one point, while the Edmonton Eskimos had more than 20 players on the injured list, the Bombers had three.

But the tide has turned against the Bombers of late, with Winnipeg losing its best receiver, Darvin Adams, and top defensive player, Maurice Leggett, in the same game – the latter while he was recovering an onside kick.

Consider that the Bombers lost Canadian defensive lineman Jamaal Westerman earlier this season and the injury bug has taken out a trio of the Bombers most impactful players.

“We lived a pretty charmed 15 weeks,” said Blue Bomber general manager Kyle Walters. “We haven’t had the quantity of other teams but the severity on our roster…”

The Bombers have several players with experience playing the strong-side linebacker spot that’s been vacated by Leggett’s injury and will shuffle things accordingly.

“The bigger challenge is on offence where Darvin was [Matt Nichols’] favourite guy and was having a hell of a year,” said Walters. “We need some of our young guys to step up. Some of those guys are practice roster expansion, so let’s fast track them and see can they have the quarterback and the coach’s trust. Until that happens they aren’t getting on the field, regardless of pedigree.”

Tiger-Cats Future

It was a tough ending to their playoff hopes for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last week. The Cats lost to Calgary on the final play of the game, and a few hours later Ottawa eliminated them with a late-game victory.

Had the results been flipped, Hamilton would have had a realistic shot at the playoffs, given that their remaining three games included two against Montreal, which hasn’t won since early August, and one against Ottawa.

Since going 0-8 to start the season, Hamilton is 4-3, with all three losses coming in close contests.

Unlike a lot of CFL teams that miss the playoffs, the Ticats don’t have a roster that needs blown this off-season. Hamilton has one of the league’s youngest rosters, having already traded away veterans John Chick and C.J. Gable, who didn’t figure into their future.

Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has been impressive since taking over the starting job from Zach Collaros on Labour Day, and Hamilton would be wise to re-sign the pending free agent.

Collaros, who started Hamilton’s first eight games before giving way to Masoli, would seem to be done in Hamilton, especially since his contract pays him in excess of $500,000 per season. (One rival executive speculated the Cats may not play Collaros again this season for fear that he suffers a serious injury, which would force them to pay a large off-season bonus.)

And of course there’s the potential of Johnny Manziel waiting in the wings for 2018.

The real intrigue for Hamilton is off the field.

Kent Austin, who stepped down as head coach in August but still has the top decision-making role as VP of football operations, has two years left on his contract. Austin is a career coach whom many suspect will find his way back on the field somewhere next season – if not elsewhere in the CFL then south of the border in college football.

That option might also exist for current head coach June Jones, who had no designs on coaching in the CFL when this season began but has done a superb job amid trying circumstances and a lack of familiarity with the CFL.

Jones was brought to Hamilton by general manager Eric Tillman, who would presumably assume the top football job if Austin departs.

Bridge, Ambrosie to meet

Saskatchewan quarterback Brandon Bridge apparently doesn’t want to just blaze a trail for Canadian quarterbacks, he’d like to be the catalyst for a rule change.

After his start a few weeks ago, Bridge used a post-game interview to highlight the fact that quarterbacks are not part of the CFL’s American/Canadian ratio, and thus there is no ratio benefit to a team that employs or even starts a Canadian quarterback.

Bridge took to Twitter this week to further his case, addressing commissioner Randy Ambrosie directly.

The next day he followed-up by saying that Ambrosie had responded to his request and the two had agreed to meet and discuss the issue during the off-season.

The issue of giving teams credit for putting having a Canadian quarterback on the roster remains mired in debate, as many believe the spirit would be abused by teams dressing backup Canadian quarterbacks who never play, simply to gain an advantage in the ratio to play an extra American.

But there seems to be no disagreement that the league needs to address the fact that a Canadian quarterback who is on the field taking snaps does not count as a Canadian.

And since Ambrosie has proven unafraid to weigh into football issues and make decisive moves, there seems to be a real possibility that there could be some movement on this issue.

Braley’s Lions in limbo

It feels as if David Braley has been talking about selling the B.C. Lions for a very long time.

We learned this week that period is going to stretch even further. Braley revealed recently that a potential transfer of ownership into local hands is being held up by a pair of concussion lawsuits.

It’s a position that’s receiving some skepticism around the league amid doubts that Braley is really prepared to part with the Lions. Whether he sells or not, this is a franchise badly in need of a shot of adrenaline.

Buono: No need to make roster changes, just need to be better

Coach Wally Buono joined the guys live on 3 Down Radio on the Voice of Vancouver Sports, TSN 1040.

The current state of Braley’s Lions is starting to remind people of what happened during his final few years owning the Toronto Argonauts, where the investment in the team seemed to take a hit, resulting in the Argos fading further in the market.

While Braley has been a great benefactor to the CFL in desperate times, he’s never been known as a visionary when it comes to operating teams.

The Lions haven’t had a president since last January, and Braley saying he is currently interviewing presidential candidates only fuels speculation that a sale remains a long way off.

Instant replay challenge

One of the hottest topics of this off-season is sure to be instant replay. Earlier this season, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie reduced the number of challenges per team, per game, from as many as three, to one.

The reviews in terms of flow of game have been overwhelmingly positive, but there are those who suggest there needs to be a middle ground, where a team that successfully challenges a call be allowed another.

A great example of why occurred early during last week’s game between Calgary and Hamilton when Ticat receiver Jalen Saunders was ruled in bounds when he was clearly out. Calgary head coach Dave Dickenson won his challenge of the call, but was then left without a challenge for the rest of the game.

This raises the question of whether a poor call by an official early in a game should leave a team with no challenge for a more crucial stage of the game.

Should the league’s eye in the sky be allowed to rule on incorrect in or out-of-bounds calls, so teams don’t have to burn a challenge?

Those are questions that will be hotly debated this off-season.

Grey Cup in Canton

They call it the Pro Football Hall of Fame, although ordinarily there is precious little acknowledgement of the Canadian Football League at the Canton, Ohio, shrine. (Consider that Warren Moon’s plaque mentions that he played at West Los Angeles Junior College but not the Edmonton Eskimos and that the exhibit to “other leagues” has nothing about the CFL.)

But this week the Grey Cup was on display next to the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The reason? Officials from the Canadian Football Hall of Fame were in Canton to share best practices with their counterparts, who asked that they bring Lord Grey’s mug with them.