Nov 6, 2015
The players have spoken
There's nothing quite like acknowledgement from your peers. Which is why, as TSN's Dave Naylor writes, our CFL on TSN Player Poll is such an intriguing exercise in that it reveals the truth about what the players believe about each other.
By Dave Naylor
There's nothing quite like acknowledgement from your peers.
Which is why our CFL on TSN Player Poll is such an intriguing exercise in that it reveals the truth about what the players believe about each other.
Now fans are entitled to their opinions, but they're always judging from a distance. Members of the media try to see the game from the perspective of players or coaches, but they can't ever match that authenticity.
When the players speak, there's no court of appeal, no other opinion that matters.
So when the players say that Edmonton Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly is the toughest player in the league, you can believe it.
Or that B.C. linebacker Adam Bighill is the league's hardest hitter? Same thing.
Or how about Winnipeg offensive lineman Dominic Pacard, who not only was named the league's nastiest player, but earned that distinction from each and every opposing team?
In a game like football with 24 players on the field at once and various degrees of chaos taking place on the field on every play, the players know what's what.
Besides the winners of each category, there are always a few trends we can see involving certain players.
For instance:
- Ninety-two players received votes as the league's most underrated.
- Montreal receiver Nick Lewis was the only offensive player to receive votes for hardest hitter.
- Lewis was also the only player to receive votes in eight different categories, while Ottawa's Henry Burris received votes in 6 of the 12.
- Trevor Harris, a back-up pressed into starting duty for the Toronto Argonauts this season, received more votes as the league's most accurate passer than Bo Levi Mitchell, who led his team to a Grey Cup victory last season.
- Hamilton's Brandon Banks got the most votes of any player in any category and he did it in two of them – fastest player and most electrifying – and received the most overall votes in this year's survey.