CFL season off to slumbering start
REGINA — The Saskatchewan Roughriders are on a bye week. The other eight CFL teams have just completed a lullaby week.
Week 4 of the regular season consisted of a weak four — a quartet of games that doubled as sedatives.
Consider Saturday’s eye-glazer between the Montreal Alouettes and the host B.C. Lions. It was late in the first quarter … and then it was midway through the second quarter. I fell asleep on the recliner. By halftime, the Alouettes had nine (9) yards passing.
The Troy Smith-led offence carried the momentum into the second half, waiting only 11 minutes 58 seconds to erupt for its initial first down of the third quarter.
Smith was mercifully, belatedly pulled after hitting Ryan Phillips in stride early in the obligatory fourth quarter. Phillips happens to play defensive back for the Lions.
Phillips’ 41-yard interception return left Smith, who completed five of 17 passes for 45 yards, with a net plus-4 in the passing-yardage department.
Smith and Tanner Marsh combined for eight completions in 26 attempts while guiding Montreal to a not-so-grand total of seven first downs. (That used to be a drive for legendary Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo.)
En route to losing 41-5, the Alouettes managed to once again ignore former NFL star receiver Chad Johnson, who was held without a reception. He has but three catches to show for his first four games of three-down football.
Don’t blame Johnson. The Alouettes’ offence, devoid of direction, is utterly unwatchable — like Week 4, basically.
In each game, one team failed to score a touchdown. In one case, the winning team was unable to reach the end zone.
The expansion Ottawa Redblacks registered their first victory Friday, edging the visiting Toronto Argonauts 18-17.
Brett Maher accounted for all of the Redblacks’ scoring, kicking six field goals — including the gamewinner, from 23 yards away, in the final minute.
Although the Redblacks’ final drive was exciting, the game was generally an ordeal. Good luck selling football in the nation’s capital if the CFL keeps serving up sludge like the Redblacks versus Argonauts.
Not even the presence of two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks — Toronto’s Ricky Ray and Ottawa’s Henry Burris — could save that game.
Mind you, it was easier on the eyes than the finale of Friday’s doubleheader.
Calgary Stampeders 10, Hamilton Tiger-Cats 7. The score says it all.
Will things change for the better in the months ahead?
One would hope so, but it is dif- ficult to be optimistic after Week 4, which began Thursday when the Edmonton Eskimos defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 26-3 in a collision of undefeated teams.
Alas, Week 4 was merely a reminder of what has ailed the CFL in 2014.
The games, with few exceptions, have been a waste of time.
In half of the 16 games to date, at least one team has scored 13 or fewer points. There were only three such games at this point in 2013.
In 10 of the 16 games this season, there has been a double-digit disparity in points. That is on par with 2013.
However, this year’s average margin of victory is 15.3 points, compared to 12.3 at the four-week mark in 2013.
Four weeks into the 2014 season, the average total points per game is 45.2 — compared to 51.9 at this juncture last year, and 52.4 over the entirety of the 2013 campaign.
Although the games are lower-scoring, with the difference being a converted touchdown, the average disparity has increased by a field goal.
Additionally, the penalty totals have been off the charts, extracting even more life from the games.
Ultimately, it is fans who are being penalized.
They deserve better. They have seen better. They have embraced the CFL because it traditionally provides first-rate entertainment.
But not this year — not yet, anyway.
Granted, it is early, but it is also troubling for anyone who loves the great Canadian game. Can you remember such a somniferous start to a season?
In all likelihood, questions are being asked at TSN headquarters, being that a lucrative new broadcast agreement takes effect this year.
You couldn’t blame a TSN executive for watching an early-season stinker and wailing: “We’re paying more than $40 million per year for this?”
It seems that the teams are cashing in — except when they approach the goal-line.