8 CFL things you (and Manziel) might not know
Johnny Manziel is navigating his first Canadian Football League training camp as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ newest quarterback. With that backdrop, here are eight things you might not know about the CFL, lessons Johnny Football might also be receiving.
1. CFL in existence 60 years
Yep, the top Canadian league took shape about four decades after the NFL but does predate the AFL and its stillfamiliar teams (Bills, Jets, Patriots, Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders and Broncos among them) that merged into the NFL.
2. Grey Cup awarded 105 times
Canadian football’s Holy Grail has far more history than the NFL’s Lombardi Trophy. The Grey Cup was first earned by the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in 1909 as Canada’s amateur rugby football champions. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers took the Cup in the CFL’s inaugural season (1958). The Toronto Argonauts have won it a record 17 times, though only seven times since the CFL existed. The Edmonton Eskimos have notched a record 11 Cups (14 overall) during the CFL era.
3. CFL has had seven U.S. homes
For a while, the Canadian league expanded south of the border. Between 1993 and 1995, the Baltimore Stallions, Birmingham Barracudas, Las Vegas Posse, Memphis Mad Dogs, Sacramento Gold Miners, San Antonio Texans and Shreveport Pirates were league members, though none existed throughout that whole three-season stretch. Baltimore was the only American team to play for the Grey Cup, losing in 1994 but winning it the following year. The Stallions left Baltimore in 1996, knowing they couldn’t compete with the newly christened Ravens.
4. Rough Riders and Roughriders
For nearly four decades, the CFL had two teams that basically had the same name: the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Ottawa Rough Riders. Ottawa’s team folded after the 1996 season. The nation’s capital has had two teams in the intervening years, but neither — the defunct Renegades or current Redblacks — adopted the old nickname.
5. Quirky CFL differences
Canadian fields are longer (110 yards) and wider (65 yards) than their NFL counterparts, and the end zones are typically twice as deep, though goalposts rest on the goal line. There are 12 men to a side, which only provides three downs to gain a first down. Multiple offensive players can be in motion before the snap and can move forward as long as they don’t cross the line until the snap. Also, Canadian teams play 18 regular-season games but get three bye weeks during a schedule that runs from June to November. Six of the nine teams reach postseason.
6. North America’s most prolific passers played in CFL
Think Peyton Manning (record
71,940 NFL passing yards) is the king of fling? Not so fast. Anthony Calvillo, who spent 16 of his 20 CFL seasons (ending in 2013) with the Montreal Alouettes, has thrown for a pro football record
79,816 yards. He’s followed by Damon Allen, brother of Marcus Allen, who held the record with 72,381. Warren Moon amassed 70,553 total yards when combining his CFL and NFL stats. The New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees (70,445 in the NFL) will almost surely surpass Manning early in the 2018 season and might overtake Calvillo in 2019 if he maintains his prolific pace.
Five times a CFL quarterback has surpassed 6,000 yards in a season — Doug Flutie holds the record with 6,619 in 1991 — and two have more than 600 yards in a game (Matt Dunigan had 713). No NFL passer has reached these thresholds.
7. NFL stars have played in CFL
Flutie and Moon were superstars in Canada before returning to the USA, where Moon built a Hall of Fame career. Ricky Williams played for Toronto in 2006 while in temporary NFL exile. Before becoming a Pro Bowler with the Dolphins, Cameron Wake had 39 sacks in two seasons for the British Columbia Lions. Jeff Garcia, Chad Johnson and Brandon Browner are part of an extensive list of players who appeared in both leagues.
8. Manziel should take field soon
Assuming he adapts to the Canadian game quickly, stays out of trouble and earns playing time, Manziel might be about to embark on a path that could lead him back to the NFL, though he maintains that’s not his immediate objective. The Tiger-Cats (or “Ticats”) play their first preseason game June 1. They open the regular season in Calgary on June 16.