Calling all CFL Fans

[Spade]

On Roughiders, On Roughriders

Plunge right through that Line

March the ball on down the field

A Touchdown everytime

Go Roughriders, Go Roughriders

Fight on for your fame

Fight fellas fight

And we will win this game! YA !

 

[Mowich]

You have not offended me at all, this isn't about me, it's about the possibilities
of this up and coming football game. I will be cheering for lions as you will be
cheering for your team, getting excited, just like all fans. My comments are
aimed at any fans who automatically think lions haven't got a chance.
I will be surprised if lions win the game, but they have a chance to do so.
If they lose I will be happy that they have gained back a good quarter back,
in casey printers, and will know that next season they will have a good
training camp, and hopefully buck pierce will not be on the team, I have
not liked his style at all, and find it painfull to watch him play.

Mentioning Buck Pierce made me think about a program I watched on the Fifth Estate last night. A segment of the program was devoted to coverage of the serious repercusssions facing football players who suffered repeated head injuries, especially concussions. Apparently, the CFL is finally taking a closer look at how these injuries occur and what can be done to prevent them.

When the BC Lions put Buck Pierce back in the game, especially for that short and inches call where he ended up being slammed to the ground, I couldn't help but wonder what they were thinking??? After all, they already had a special helmet designed to protect his head so they knew a problem existed.

Injuries are the one part of any game when it is the individual player that matters to me, not the team they play for.

 

[Mowich]

If The Lions started the year with Printers having a training camp, they would be playing at BC Place this Sunday. They almost beat the Riders in Sask with him full of rust late in the season.

Yes, Montreal should win. It is possible that Printers has the flu (or a cold) and if so that won't help BC. But if he's feeling good, Calvillo better score a ton of points because Casey and his receivers will make mincemeat out of Al's mediocre pass defense.

Printers might have the flu? Aaaaah.... that's too bad. :smile: Sask lost one of their games against Montreal because many of the players had the flu but we didn't find that out until the team was home again and practicing for a game against Calgary.

Not too worry, Kreskin, Printers will suck it up and be in there for the team. :smile:

 

[Mowich]

On Roughiders, On Roughriders

Plunge right through that Line

March the ball on down the field

A Touchdown everytime

Go Roughriders, Go Roughriders

Fight on for your fame

Fight fellas fight

And we will win this game! YA !

And that we will. Thanks for this, Spade. Good to know we have yet another Rider fan on the forum. GO RIDERS.

 

[pgs]

And that we will. Thanks for this, Spade. Good to know we have yet another Rider fan on the forum. GO RIDERS.

I will be watching the colts beat up on the ravens.

 

[Mowich]

Eastern Final

Alouettes put perfect 9-0 home record on the line in East final against Lions

By Dan Ralph (CP) – 2 hours ago

There really was no place like home this year for the Montreal Alouettes.

Montreal was the CFL's top team this season, posting a league-best 15-3 record that included a perfect 9-0 mark at Molson Stadium. But the Alouettes won't be outdoors Sunday when they face the B.C. Lions in the East Division final (TSN, 1 p.m., ET). That game will be played at Olympic Stadium, a larger domed facility that's expected to attract more than 45,000 screaming Als fans.

Montreal was dominant at home, outscoring its opponents by more than a 2-to-1 margin (312 points for, 149 against). And the Alouettes sported a 6-2 record against its West Division rivals.

Despite finishing fourth in the West Division standings with an 8-10 record, the Lions were 4-5 on the road in 2009 and 4-4 versus East Division teams. B.C. and Montreal split their season series 1-1, with each team winning at home.

But their last meeting was Sept. 13 when Montreal took a 28-24 victory. The week before, the Lions earned a 19-12 home win over the Als.
B.C. versus Montreal

At Montreal, the Alouettes defence will get its first look of the season at Lions starter Casey Printers. The CFL's outstanding player in 2004 had been unemployed since being released by Hamilton in February before returning to B.C. last month.

On Sunday against Hamilton, Printers was 24-of-35 passing for 360 yards and a TD in leading the Lions to a thrilling 34-27 overtime win in the East Division semifinal. He also ran for a TD and was generally effective in using his feet to escape the Ticats' rush and buy his receivers time to get open downfield.

But B.C.'s offence isn't all about Printers. Rooking running back Martell Mallett finished fourth in CFL rushing with 1,240 yards while veteran slotback Geroy Simon (79 catches, 1,239 yards, six TDs) was the Lions' go-to receiver this season.

Simon was definitely a factor in Sunday's win, registering five catches for 111 yards. However, it was Emmanuel Arceneaux who was the Lions' leading receiver with six catches for 120 yards.

Montreal counters with a stout defence that was clearly the CFL's best this year, leading in 21 of the league's 25 defensive categories, including fewest points allowed (18 per game), passing yards (245.7 per game), yards rushing (75.1 per game) and combined yards (296 per game). The Alouettes also know what to do when they get their hands on the football, returning 24 interceptions (second-most in the CFL) a league-high 455 yards.

The Alouettes' offence is no slouch, either. With Anthony Calvillo, the East Division's nominee for most outstanding player, leading the way, Montreal finished first in points scored (33.3 per game), total yards (390.3 per game) and passing yards (288.4 per game) and second overall in rushing yards (119.9 per game).

B.C. did a great job pressuring the quarterback this year with a CFL-high 45 sacks and added five more in the win over Hamilton. End Ricky Foley led the way with 12 sacks while fellow end Brent Johnson had three against the Ticats.

Montreal did allow 35 sacks this year, but that's a solid effort up front considering the club threw 633 passes.

Printers makes this game interesting and will present Montreal with a solid challenge. But the Alouettes' defence has the quickness and versatility to capably handle the Lions.

Prediction: Montreal.

 

[Mowich]

Western Final

West final
By Dan Ralph (CP) – 2 hours ago

Calgary versus Saskatchewan


At Regina, the Roughriders will host their first West Division final since 1976. And they'll face a Calgary squad that they've enjoyed success against this year.

The Riders won the season series 2-0-1, including a 30-14 home win in the regular-season finale for both teams that clinched them top spot in the West. Once again, the Stampeders will have to face a hostile environment as Sunday's contest is a sell-out with over 30,000 rabid Saskatchewan football fans taking it in.

Both teams have motivation to win. Saskatchewan is chasing its second Grey Cup title in three years while Calgary is the defending CFL champion and attempting to not only become the first team to register consecutive titles since the '96-'97 Toronto Argonauts, but the first franchise to win the Grey Cup at home since the '94 Lions.

Calgary advanced to the final with a 24-21 home victory over Edmonton in the West semi-final. Stampeders quarterback Henry Burris was 19-of-32 passing for 264 yards and two TDs after finishing second overall in CFL passing with 4,831 yards.

But the Stampeders were more than just a passing team, leading the CFL in rushing (129.7 yards per game) thanks in large part to tailback Joffrey Reynolds, the West Division's nominee for the league's outstanding player award. He finished atop the rushing race with 1,504 yards.

The Riders were vulnerable against the run this year, allowing 123.8 yards per game. The their defence did feature five West Division all-star, including ends John Chick and Stevie Baggs, who both had 11 sacks apiece. Chick was also nominated as the conference representative for the league's outstanding defensive player award.

Another factor for Saskatchewan will be the return of veteran defensive back Eddie Davis, who missed the final two regular-season game to injury.

There's a lot to like about the Riders in this game, most notably they're at home and facing a team they've had a lot of success against. Calgary is the defending league champion and knows what it takes to win in big games, but the expectation is Saskatchewan will be jacked playing in front of its wild fans.

Prediction: Saskatchewan.

 

[Mowich]

Riders not focusing on the past

Riders not focusing on the past

By Kevin Mitchell, Saskatchewan News Network November 21, 2009

Mosaic Stadium hasn't worked this hard since they called it Taylor Field and grew grass on its surface.

Traditionally speaking, Saskatchewan's football temple sits idle once the frigid winds and snows of mid-November start flying. Oh, once in a blue moon, the Saskatchewan Roughriders practise there during a particularly impressive road playoff run. And twice, the place hosted the Grey Cup game involving outside teams.

But Sunday, for the first time in 33 years, the Roughriders will play a real, live mid-November game on home turf, in front of green-clad fans.

That it's taken this long to host a West final is a remarkable story of patience, frustration and statistical freak-shows.

Let history show that the last West final played in Regina was a 23-13 Saskatchewan victory over Edmonton in November, 1976. That meeting was the fourth consecutive time those two teams met for the conference championship, and the 11th straight year Saskatchewan played in the West final dating back to 1966.

Then, a week later, Tony Gabriel made a Grey Cup catch Roughriders' fans never forgot, and the team went on to miss the playoffs for 11 straight seasons.

Roughriders' receiver Chris Getzlaf grew up in Regina -- he was born in 1983, the same year Saskatchewan went 5-11, released starting quarterback Joe (747) Adams in mid-season and canned head coach Joe Faragalli.

There were many, many years since where things weren't much better.

"Being from here, seeing how the team struggled and what it took to get to this game ... yeah, you can appreciate this," Getzlaf said following Friday's practice.

The temptation is to draw parallels between this year's Roughriders' team and the star-crossed crew from 1976 -- a team including such luminaries as Ron Lancaster, Rhett Dawson, Ralph Galloway, Lorne Richardson, Paul Williams and Roger Goree.

But quarterback Darian Durant was having none of that.

"We try to forget about that, really," said the 27-year-old Durant. "This is a new era. We have a new nucleus here. We're trying to build something here and make history on our own. We want to leave '76 where it is and make sure this is a place teams have to come through for years to get to the Grey Cup."

Durant's approach is admirable. He had nothing to do with 1976, or 1977, or 1983. To him, that's a different time, and a different reality. He controls now; not then.
But his long-term goal -- to "make sure this is a place teams have to come through for years to get to the Grey Cup" -- echoes what those 11 Roughriders teams did between 1966 and 1976.

Sometimes they travelled and sometimes they hosted, but the Roughriders of yore burned their cattle brand into the West final.

That brand faded away into nothing during the years that followed. Age erased it.

But now, Mosaic Stadium is back in play, and Roughriders' fans get a chance to release the energy they've stored up for a third of a century.

From what we can tell, not many people are laying bets on a 33-year wait to the next one.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/football/calgary-stampeders/Riders+focusing+past/2249751/story.html

 

[Avro]

Als all the way baby!

 

[Mowich]

Als all the way baby!

Well, at least through this weekends game, Avro. ;-);-)