Pass-interference reviews go unused
It appears that CFL head coaches are finding it a real challenge to challenge pass interference calls or non-calls.
A rule change made by the league during the off-season gave coaches an opportunity to ask for an in-game review of defensive pass interference, seeking either to have a penalty overturned or to have P.I. called if it wasn’t.
Through the first four weeks of the regular season, coaches have attempted only seven such challenges.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea has been right twice — the ruling of an incomplete pass was changed to pass interference — while the Montreal Alouettes’ Tom Higgins has had three challenges looking for a P.I. call dismissed.
The Edmonton Eskimos’ Chris Jones and Scott Milanovich of the Toronto Argonauts each has had one review looking for a call turned down.
Glen Johnson, the league’s vicepresident of officiating, says he expected to see two challenges a week through the season. So far, the total is just below his prediction.
“(The coaches) are still trying to figure it out,” Johnson says. “I’m working with them. I was on the phone with a coach a couple of minutes ago. He was asking me about two plays and asking me if I think he should have challenged them.
“I think everyone’s working to understand it.”
The league didn’t add to the number of challenges a team has in a game, so coaches still have to be prudent in how they use their orange flags. That’s no doubt affecting their willingness to review pass interference.
“The coaches are working hard to figure it out because they realize the potential impact it could have for them as a strategy,” Johnson says.
There seems to be a jinx associated with finishing among the CFL’s top 10 rushers in 2013.
Of the top 10 ground-gainers last season, only three have played in all of their team’s games this season.
B.C. Lions tailback Andrew Harris (who finished third in the rushing derby last season), the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ C.J. Gable (fourth) and Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly (fifth) have been regular contributors in 2014.
Calgary Stampeders tailback Jon Cornish, who led the league in rushing last season, has been sidelined with a concussion.
Hugh Charles (who finished sixth) has been cut by both the Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders this season, Will Ford (seventh) and Chad Simpson (eighth) both were released by Winnipeg, Jerome Messam (ninth) was cut by Montreal and signed with Saskatchewan, and Chad Kackert (10th) retired from the Argonauts.
Kory Sheets, who finished second in 2013 while playing with Saskatchewan, now is with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders.
Kudos to the Lions’ Jason Arakgi, who set a franchise record Saturday that few will have noticed.
Arakgi made two special-teams tackles in B.C.’s game against Montreal, giving him a club-record 142 special-teams stops in his career.