Labour Day lines up horse race for second half of CFL season

By Graham Kelly - INSIDE THE CFL on September 1, 2022.

The first half of the 2022 CFL season was dominated by the 24 year old B.C. quarterback Nathan Rourke who made only his fourth professional start June 11, eviscerating Edmonton 59-15. Could the big story of the second half be written by the 25 year old Stampeder Jake Meir who also made the fourth start of his pro career, losing to Winnipeg 31-29 last Friday?

Labour Day traditionally marks the mid-point of the CFL season. This year the teams will be two thirds of the way to the finish line next week. Back in June, I picked Winnipeg to finish first, Edmonton and B.C. out of the playoffs and Saskatchewan and Calgary fighting to host the semi-final. Did I ever miss the boat with B.C.!

But now the Lions have quarterback problems. And what was looking like a Bomber/B.C. runaway is now a horse race.

Winnipeg has certainly lived up to their advance billing, going 10-1, including a win in Vancouver and pulling off a three game sweep over Calgary for the first time since Louis Riel did the ceremonial kickoff at Fort Garry.

With Nathan Rourke gone, Zach Collaros will once again be the All-Canadian quarterback. Although Greg Ellingson is on the Six-Game Injury List, their twin towers of power, Drew Wolitarsky and Nic Demski make the big plays when needed. My son Rob who knows his football says their offensive line looks like an NFL unit. Surprisingly, though, Winnipeg ranks only in passing and is just fourth in total offence. Defensively they’ve surrendered the fewest points but rank in the middle in most categories including sacks. But they are deadly at exploiting enemy mistakes and they dominate the fourth quarter. Winnipeg’s weakness? Their special teams, including field-goal kicking, are mediocre. From here on, the Bombers play Saskatchewan three time, the Lions twice, Edmonton and Hamilton. They might just win them all.

Until the injury to Rourke, the Lions had been living a charmed life. Last Friday his replacement Michael O’Connor left with a leg injury. DB TJ lee and receiver Lucky Whitehead hurt their hamstrings. Still, they were in it to the end because of their defence. They are on their bye week so O’Connor should likely be ready to go next week in Montreal. If he’s out for a few games, next up is Antonio Pipkin, a five year veteran who hasn’t shown substantial improvement since he arrived in the league, or Vernon Adams, Jr.

When a successful QB gets the ball, he looks for the primary receiver. Not finding him, he then looks for the secondary and third man and so forth. Someone is always open. A Pipkin/Adams pivot bails out when his primary receiver is covered. The fans love to see him run but it’s no way to run an offence. Following Montreal, the Lions play Calgary and Winnipeg twice, as well as Ottawa, Toronto and Edmonton. I see them finishing third.

After Calgary’s two-point loss in Winnipeg, coach Dave Dickenson said, “Our players worked extremely hard, we coached extremely hard. When you don’t get rewarded after all that effort, it hurts”

They won’t be hurting long.

They’ve come through the heavy part of their schedule with their Labour Day week games with Edmonton up next. Quarterback Jake Meier sparked an offence bolstered by the return of their best receiver, Malik Henry and running back Ka’deem Carey. They continue to be hampered by injuries on defence. Especially hard hit is a secondary that hasn’t featured the same five guys two games in a row. But the team has surrendered the fewest sacks, is the second least penalized and boasts the best takeaway/turnover ratio. They also have the superb place-kicker Rene Parades. They play Edmonton, B.C. and Saskatchewan twice along with Toronto and Hamilton. Five games are at home. They should finish second.

That leaves the 6-5 Roughriders finishing 9-9, taking the crossover spot in the East. The Riders wasted early chances against the weak East and now face the Bombers three times, Calgary twice. They will have an excellent receiving corps improved by the return of Brayden Lenius from the NFL. The defence is superb but the offensive line is so bad QB Cody Fajardo is usually running for his life. B.C. sacked him seven times last week.

The Edmonton Bambis have lost 13 straight games at home. Enough said.