Week 11 has come and gone across the CFL.
We have plenty to talk about with a few stunning results and one game where the door felt wide open for the biggest upset of the week, but it never came to fruition.
Here are five things we learned from the weekend that was.
ARE THE LIONS THAT TEAM?
Each year, in my opinion, one, maybe two teams get hot at the right time and find a way to start rolling off win after win.
The BC Lions look most likely to do just that after pulling off a four-point win on the road in Calgary last Thursday. Despite the obvious injury headlines for the Stampeders affecting the game’s outcome, BC feels so much better than their record currently states. Saskatchewan and Montreal pose large challenges before we reach September, as BC meets the Riders this weekend and the Als in Week 14.
I think the Lions are ready to start stealing games they would’ve lost earlier in the year.
THE REDBLACKS HAD A REAL CHANCE
It might not have felt all that close, but man, did it ever feel like Ottawa was going to have a chance in the fourth quarter to get a huge win in Winnipeg and end their winless streak.
The real takeaway here is that Ottawa hasn’t lost their fight despite the clear dismay at the way their season has played out. They continue to battle and give themselves a chance to keep it close into the final three minutes.
GOOD TEAMS BOUNCE BACK, GREAT TEAMS DO IT IN A BLOWOUT
As Ottawa continues to look for ways to improve and alter their trajectory, their former basement-dwelling buddies from Edmonton have already done the deal and climbed through the standings.
A difficult loss on the road at Montreal in Week 10 meant the Elks returned home in search of the sweet taste of victory they’ve savoured for a large part of the last three months.
A dominant victory over Toronto in front of another solid Commonwealth crowd has me thinking the Elks are more than ready to continue learning from their mistakes and improving into what appears ready to be a very real 113th Grey Cup threat.
TRE..TRE..TRE..
Man oh man, sometimes Tre Ford just does things that make your jaw drop and never has that been more true than this week at home against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. In relief of the injured Harrison Frost, we saw Ford roll to his right after climbing the pocket, lean back and throw it to an open piece of turf at Hamilton Stadium.
Waiting underneath the mind-bending delivery was Keric Wheatfall, who made an excellent play falling underneath the untraditional delivery from his never-say-die quarterback. It’s the type of play that makes me believe Tre still has plenty of juice left in his game and deserves the time to figure out how to clean up the little things that have dogged his performances through his time in Edmonton and earlier this year with the Tiger-Cats, as he was chosen to start over Frost and Jake Dolegala.
OK TIRE LABOUR DAY WEEKEND LINGERS LARGE
It’s almost that time, right? It snuck up on me this year, but a couple of cool-breeze days, quicker sunsets and starting to think about back-to-school all have me projecting forward as to what OK Tire Labour Day matchups will look like. Each performance this past week added more fuel to the question-driven fire.
If the Stamps have all bodies ready and accounted for, I think the Alberta classic is the one to watch as Edmonton’s resurgence has been fantastic to witness and call on TSN for much of this year.
In Hamilton, the quarterback conundrum continues and it feels as though a few more spins of the carousel are inevitable. Toronto could win a game after throwing four interceptions, as they recently did against Calgary, or lose a game they seem poised to win with turnover issues.
Winnipeg has an uphill battle against Saskatchewan but Labour Day is a time when magic happens and records often become irrelevant. We’re getting closer and I can feel that classic CFL fall energy starting to build.
