OUTSTANDING ONCE MORE
Stamps QB wins top award
It’s Sunday’s Grey Cup ring that he wants, but on Thursday night, Bo Levi Mitchell collected the CFL’s biggest individual award.
For the second time in three years, the Calgary Stampeders quarterback was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player, capturing 47 of 60 first-place votes. Mitchell beat out Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli for the honour.
Masoli finished the year with more passing yards than Mitchell, but what pushed the Stamps star above the rest of the field couldn’t necessarily be captured on the stats sheet.
Yes, Mitchell ended the season with the third most passing yards in the league with 5,214.
And yes, no one else in the CFL threw for as many touchdowns as Mitchell’s 35.
But the real number that matters is 13. That’s the 13 wins the Stampeders earned en route to winning the West Division, further cementing Mitchell’s reputation as the league’s premier quarterback when it comes to winning football games.
“It’s a blessing for people to say all I do is win, but at the same time, I have people telling me that I can’t win a big game when we won the Grey Cup the first year I started,” Mitchell said.
“I’m proud of what we’ve done and I’m proud of the work guys have put in to get to this point.”
Part of what made Mitchell’s year so impressive in 2018 was the circumstances he had to deal with as the Stampeders QB.
The team’s receiving corps was decimated by injuries, and the reliable likes of Kamar Jorden, Eric Rogers, DaVaris Daniels, Marken Michel and Reggie Begelton all missed considerable amounts of time.
And yet the Stampeders still managed to win more games than any team in the league.
The team didn’t finish the year with a single receiver who had more than 1,000 yards through the air, meaning Mitchell ended the season as the only quarterback to throw for 5,000 yards in a season without a single 1,000yard receiver.
It’s a remarkable stat, although Mitchell deferred credit and instead gave props to the players who stepped in late in the season.
“With what everybody has said about the receivers this year, all we talk about is the plague of injuries instead of the body of work those guys put together,” Mitchell said. “It’s just devastating, for one, but I want to raise those guys up and tell them they’re the best receiver group in the league and nobody else can tell me differently.
“This goes to them for the body of work I’ve put in.”
A free agent this off-season, Mitchell will inevitably face questions about whether he intends on testing the NFL market once Sunday’s Grey Cup is done.
That wasn’t the focus on Thursday night in Edmonton, though.
Instead, the questions focused mostly on legacy.
Mitchell has led his team to three of the last four Grey Cup games, and has the chance to win his second ring on Sunday when the Stamps take on the Redblacks.
He’s also won two of the last three MOP Awards, and has been nominated for three of the last four.
He’s solidified himself as one of the CFL’s greats, although a win Sunday would go even further. The Stampeders’ opponents in the Grey Cup, the Ottawa Redblacks, captured three awards.
Two of them went to kicker Lewis Ward (rookie, special teams). Slotback Brad Sinopoli was named the top Canadian.
Ward made 51 of 52 field goals (a league record 98.1 per cent), including a pro football record 48 straight that will carry over into 2019.
Sinopoli earned his second top Canadian award, first winning in 2015.
I want to raise those guys up and tell them they’re the best receiver group in the league and nobody else can tell me differently.
Linebacker Adam Bighill of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers was named the top defensive player. The 5-foot-10, 230-pound Bighill received 57 first-place votes for his second honour after winning the award in 2015 with the B.C. Lions.
Bombers tackle Stanley Bryant captured the top lineman award for the second consecutive year, while Chris Jones of the Saskatchewan Roughriders was named the CFL’s coach of the year.
Pierre Vercheval, a former CFL top lineman and Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee who’s now a football broadcaster, received the Commissioner’s Award for outstanding contribution to Canadian football.
Wally Buono, who retired as B.C. Lions head coach at season’s end, was awarded the Hugh Campbell Distinguished Leadership award.