Prediction time: Riders, Als in Grey Cup
By Bruce Penton
Since narrow back-to-back losses to Winnipeg in the Labour Day Classic and Banjo Bowl, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have been the Canadian Football League’s hottest team. And it couldn’t be happening at a better time.
Playoffs in the CFL are on the agenda this weekend and the Riders may or may not be playing, depending on their final placing in the West Division. Four straight wins after the losses to Winnipeg in September have left the Riders and Bombers battling it out for first place in the West, with the top finisher earning a bye into the Western final.
Defending Grey Cup champion Montreal Alouettes, meanwhile, have locked up top spot in the East, losing only four games in 2024 and even coasting to victory over Ottawa in mid-October without starting quarterback Cody Fajardo, who left the team for a few days to attend to his wife giving birth a baby boy in Nevada.
Check out the individual statistics in the East Division and one would be hard-pressed to believe that the Alouettes are anywhere near the top of the standings. Farjardo ranks seventh in passing yards and is only sixth in passing touchdowns. Their top rusher, Walter Fletcher, is seventh in the league and their top player in the rushing TD category, Caleb Evans, is 11th. Tyson Philpot, the Als’ top receiver, is 15th in receiving yards (but sixth in receiving touchdowns). In the receptions’ category, Fletcher leads the team, but is only ninth in the league.
Obviously, it’s a team game in Montreal, because the offensive stats are not great. Defensively, the Alouettes are among the leaders in tackles, forced fumbles and sacks and have given up the second-fewest points in the CFL. That’s winning football
The way things are shaping up, everything is pointing to a Montreal-Saskatchewan Grey Cup game in Vancouver Nov. 17. After a slow start, Winnipeg went on a tear and took over top spot, but the Bombers’ play has been so-so down the stretch while Saskatchewan has romped to a number of impressive victories. Guaranteed a home playoff game for the first time since 2021 (either the Western semi-final or the final), the Riders have been riding the hot play of quarterback Trevor Harris and the reliability of kicker Brett Lauther to establish themselves as the CFL’s hottest team. Impressively, Saskatchewan pasted B.C. Lions and quarterback Nathan Rourke to the tune of 39-8 for their fourth win in a row in mid-October.
Perhaps Harris was right when in a Sports Illustrated story following the 2023 Grey Cup, the QB said: “I absolutely know that we can win a championship in Saskatchewan … three-hundred, sixty-five days from now we’re going to be looking at green-and-white confetti coming down on us and we’re going to be celebrating.”
Maybe that was just off-season optimism, or maybe Harris knew something.
Riders’ fans are hoping the latter is true.
Sports.yahoo.com: “After beating nearly every opponent in his path over the past two decades, Rafael Nadal has finally admitted defeat to the only one who's never lost: Father Time.”
Mets TV play-by-play voice Gary Cohen, on local broadcasters being bumped from the playoffs by national network broadcasters: “It’s kind of like taking a transatlantic voyage on a ship, and then getting thrown overboard a mile from shore.”
Vancouver comedy guy Torben Rolfsen, on the start of the NHL season: “The NHL really knows how to make a splash with its opening game — Blues at Kraken on a Tuesday afternoon.”
Rolfsen again, on the arena-record $120,000 in beer sales at Utah Hockey Club’s opening game against Chicago: “I didn’t think they drank in Utah. Must have been those 500 Blackhawk fans.”
Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “You know the WNBA has become big time in the USA when the headlines complain about officiating.”
Hough again, after Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase uncharacteristically blew a save against the Yankees in Game 3 of the A.L. championship series: “Ouch, well Clase and Choke are both five letter Wordle words.”
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel, on Cowboys’ 81-year-old owner Jerry Jones threatening the jobs of two radio hosts following Dallas’s blowout loss to the Lions: “Too bad the Cowboys can’t put him out to pasture like the Democrats did with Joe Biden.”
Jack Finarelli on his sportscurmudgeon.com site, annually declares the Brothel Defence of the Year award for college football — “so named because it is easy to score on that defence.”
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “Eleven years ago, NASCAR's Danica Patrick co-hosted the American Country Music Awards. And why not? Her marriage had broken up, she owned a dog, drove a Chevy and all her chases were ending in heartache.”
Headline at fark.com: “Titans release Jamal Adams; veteran safety said to be looking forward to his next opportunity to join another team’s injured reserve list.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca