IT’S BOMBS AWAY IN THE CFL
Winnipeg ended 29-year Grey Cup drought in wild, wacky 2019 season
In a Canadian Football League season where the Ottawa Redblacks went from first to worst, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers ended a 29-year Grey Cup drought and — with celebratory confetti raining down on them — stood clutching the league’s chalice Nov. 24 in Calgary.
It was a rollercoaster ride that ended with three head coaches — B.C.’S Devone Claybrooks, Toronto’s Corey Chamblin and Edmonton’s Jason Maas — getting fired following the season and another, Ottawa’s Rick Campbell, quitting with a year left on his contract.
One coach, Montreal’s Mike Sherman, didn’t even make it to the regular season, fired a week before the team’s first game. The Alouettes’ GM, Kavis Reed, was fired a month later. Yet somehow, the Als, coached by Khari Jones and quarterbacked by Vernon Adams Jr., managed to do magical things.
Here’s our look back at the
2019 CFL season, with hints of what’s ahead.
GLOBAL WARMING: In January, the CFL held a draft of players from Mexico’s Liga de Futbol Americano Professional, part of commissioner Randy Ambrosie’s CFL 2.0 vision. Several players from Europe were invited to the CFL Combine in March and there was a European draft a couple of weeks later. One “global” player was on each team’s game day roster in 2019, and that will expand to two next season.
FREE AGENCY FRENZY: Several big names found new homes during free agency. The Redblacks were hurt by the losses of QB Trevor Harris, OL Sirvincent Rogers and WR Greg Ellingson to Edmonton and RB William Powell to Saskatchewan. Among the other defections: Edmonton lost QB Mike Reilly to B.C., Hamilton lost DB Don Unamba and LB Larry Dean to Edmonton, Calgary lost DL Micah Johnson to Saskatchewan and DL Ja’gared Davis to Hamilton, Edmonton lost WR Derrel Walker to Toronto and Saskatchewan lost DL Willie Jefferson to Winnipeg. Look for more big names to pack their suitcases and wear new uniforms in 2020.
THE ART OF A DEAL: The CFL and CFLPA avoided what could have been a disastrous walkout/lockout with a three-year collective bargaining agreement in mid-may. Among the highlights, the league’s minimum player salary will rise 20 per cent to $65,000 beginning next season.
PACK YOUR BAGS: As if getting his headset tangled up in his shirt in 2018 wasn’t enough of a problem for Sherman, a former Green Bay Packers head coach, getting fired by the Alouettes early in June came as a surprise. The Alouettes said Sherman, whose record the previous year was 5-13, was having trouble adjusting to the CFL game.
PACK YOUR BAGS PART II: The Als, 2-2 at the time, surprised again in early July when Reed was fired. Reports suggested that “salary cap mismanagement” was one of the reasons Montreal made the move. “It has nothing to do with performance,” said Als Ceo/president Patrick Boivin. “We could have been 4-0 and the decision would have still been made.”
STAMPING GROUNDS: The Redblacks did something they had never done — win in Calgary — in Week 1, beating the Stampeders 32-28. No Ottawa CFL team had won in Cowtown since Sept. 17, 2004. Ottawa QB Dominique Davis threw four interceptions (three of them to breakout star DB Tre Roberson), but also rushed for three touchdowns.
In a post-game comment that turned out to be accurate — in a bad way — Redblacks DB Jonathan Rose said: “That’s going to be us all season. It’s never going to be pretty the whole game.”
THE ARGO BOUNCE: The Argos dumped head coach Marc Trestman before the season, got rid of GM Jim Popp in early October, then fired Chamblin (replacing him with Calgary QB coach Ryan Dinwiddie) in December. The Argos won just four games — three of them against last-place Ottawa, the other shockingly against the Bombers (coming back from a 20-point deficit). One of their losses was an embarrassing 64-14 butt-kicking by the Ticats. The hurt wasn’t only felt on the field — for one home game, the Argos drew just 10,000 fans to BMO Field.
THE ZACH ATTACK: Zach Collaros, who began the season as Saskatchewan’s No. 1 QB, got injured (concussion) on a hit by Hamilton’s Simoni Lawrence three plays into Week 1. He sat and sat and sat and, while he sat, his replacement, Cody Fajardo, was terrific. So Collaros was dealt to the Argos, where he sat and sat and sat. Until he was dealt to Winnipeg in early October, where he stepped in and led his team to a Grey Cup. “It’s unbelievable,” said Winnipeg head coach Mike O’shea of Collaros’ journey from observer to champion. “That story should be written and told over and over again for a lot of years.”
BOMBS AWAY: If you ain’t first, you’re last, right? And when the dust settled, the Blue Bombers are champs. But there was plenty of drama to get there — a lot of good, a bit of bad and some ugly. There was the suspension of superstar running back Andrew Harris, who sat out two games for violating the CFL’S drug policy. Receiver Chris Matthews was stabbed at a downtown bar in July. There was what could have been a devastating 38-37 loss in September in Montreal. The Bombers led 37-17 after three quarters, but the Als engineered a stunning fourth-quarter comeback with 21 unanswered points. They sure looked good in the Grey Cup, though.
V IS FOR VICTORY (AND VERNON): The Alouettes finally found a QB (Vernon Adams Jr.) and a way to win consistently under Jones, who began training camp as the team’s offensive co-ordinator. As Adams matured, so did the team. Excitement began to build within a fan base that had become too accustomed to disappointment the past few years.
NOT-SO-CLEAR SALE-ING: Both the Alouettes and Lions were put up for sale. While David Braley may decide to hang onto the Lions,
the Montreal team — owned by the league, which took it off the hands of Bob and Andrew Wetenhall before the season began — is still for sale. There was plenty of false hope, with potential ownership groups coming and going, but nothing ... yet. The For Sale sign remains.
THE LIFE OF REILLY: QB Mike Reilly, after six seasons in Edmonton, took the money (about $725,000 per season) and signed with the Lions. One problem: when you’ve got one player making that much money in a salary cup world, it can be difficult to surround him with equally talented teammates. The Lions won just five games, two of them against Ottawa, but looked much better late in the season. It still wasn’t good enough for the decision-makers. Claybrooks was fired and his good buddy, Rick Campbell, was brought in to try to right the ship in 2020.
RIDERS ON THE STORM: It didn’t look good at the start of the season — the Riders lost Game 1 to Hamilton, then lost a 44-41 shootout in Ottawa (it was still early for the Redblacks and people were thinking then that, yes, maybe Dominique Davis was a good replacement for Trevor Harris). But with a rookie head coach (following the departure of Chris Jones to the NFL) in former special teams co-ordinator Craig Dickenson, a solid defence and an offence that blossomed with Fajardo taking the snaps, the Riders were the class of the West, finishing with a 13-5 regular season record.
OSKEE WEE WEE: Coming off a disappointing 8-10 season in 2018, the Ticats decided to go with Orlondo Steinauer as their head coach, with June Jones stepping into the offensive co-ordinator role. There was a change of plans in mid-may when Jones left for the XFL. Tommy Condell became the offensive co-ordinator. The team also had a new defensive co-ordinator (Mark Washington) when Jerry Glanville stepped aside. With a 15-3 record during the regular season, the Ticats were the best team in the league. They overcame a season-ending knee injury to starting QB Jeremiah Masoli in late July with Dane Evans stepping into the starting role. Statistically, the Ticats scored the most points (551) and gave up the fewest (334) in the league.
BO KNOWS: Bo Levi Mitchell, the 2018 CFL Most Outstanding Player, couldn’t repeat — he missed seven games with an injury. But in his place, Nick Arbuckle stepped up and probably earned himself a nice contract in the 2020 free agency period. The Stampeders, who finished with 12 wins, were really good at times.
ANOTHER QB INJURED: The Eskimos lost one excellent QB, Reilly, through free agency, but found another in Harris, the former Redblack. Limited to just 13 games because of injury — Logan Kilgore stepped in — Harris still passed for 4,027 yards. The Eskimos did struggle in the red zone, too often unable to convert scoring opportunities into touchdowns. With an 8-10 record, they made the playoffs as the
East crossover team (thanks to the ineptitude of both the Argos and Redblacks). After Maas was fired, the team hired Jacksonville Jaguars quarterbacks coach Scott Milanovich to be their next head coach.
The Blue Bombers are champs. But there was plenty of drama to get there — a lot of good, a bit of bad and some ugly.
HOW BAD IS BAD?: How bad were the Redblacks? After starting the season with two wins, they lost 15 of their next 16. They lost five games at TD Place by 14 points or more (15, 17, 14, 29 and 33). There were injuries, their offensive co-ordinator (Jaime Elizondo) quit a month and a half before the start of training camp, but the bottom line is this: the team, coming off three Grey Cup appearances, just didn’t have enough talent. Davis, Jonathon Jennings and Will Arndt all had a chance to be the starting QB.
OH YEAH, THERE’S MORE: We saw the emergence of receivers Shaq Evans (Saskatchewan, 1,334 yards receiving) and Bralon Addison (Hamilton, 1,236 yards), Montreal running back William Stanback (1,048 yards rushing in just 14 games) and Calgary linebacker Nate Holley (Most Outstanding Rookie). We saw Winnipeg’s superb defensive end Willie Jefferson taking it to a new level (12 sacks, six forced fumbles and 16 pass knock-downs) on his way to winning the Most Outstanding Defensive Player award. We saw Winnipeg defensive back Winston Rose lead the league with nine interceptions and Saskatchewan defensive lineman Charleston Hughes lead with 16 sacks. We saw Hamilton’s Brandon Banks, the Most Outstanding Player, score 13 touchdowns, with 1,550 yards in receptions. We saw the debut of a Canadian QB (Ottawa-born Michael O’connor) with the Argos and wonder whether he will one day be a starter.
So much went down, so much to look forward to. Bring on 2020.