Quarterback talent, star power pivotal to success of CFL
“I talked to some ex-quarterbacks who played even in the 1990s, and they said this game is completely different from the quarterback’s point of view, because back then there were three defences, and you knew it as soon as the ball was snapped,” says B.C.’s Travis Lulay. “Now, there’s a lot of creativity in defensive football.”
And over the last 10 years, it overwhelmed the league. Banning contact with receivers for the first five yards was significant — as Edmonton’s Mike Reilly put it, “In years past, as a quarterback you would drop back and you would see a guy getting towards a window that you knew should be open, and rather than being able to anticipate that, you had to wait and make sure that he got through clean, without getting grabbed.”
But that alone wasn’t enough to produce the fireworks of old. Maybe, with healthy quarterbacks, it will be.
“I still think the defence is ahead,” says Calvillo, the league’s all-time leading passer who is moving up Montreal’s coaching tree. “(But) I think it was a year of opportunity. When I first came into the league it was really hard to get your foot in the door because there were so many established veterans. You don’t know what you’ve got until you put them in a live situation.
“That’s the rarity, right? They have all these adulations coming from the university level, and they look great playing at big colleges, playing at small colleges, but until they’re thrown into the atmosphere of the professional level, you don’t know what you’ve got until they get on the field. So that’s why I think the fact that these guys are getting actual, live experience, you can’t overemphasize how important that could be.”
Could be, and hopefully will be. Collaros is 27, and a star already; the Stampeders’ Bo Levi Mitchell is 25. People in the league love what Jonathan Jennings showed in B.C., and the flash of James Franklin in Edmonton. Drew Willy, in Winnipeg, has a chance. There are offence-friendly coaches who are former quarterbacks: Kent Austin, Scott Milanovich, Dave Dickenson, Jason Maas, Jarious Jackson and Marcus Brady to counter the Chris Jones defensive revolution. Philosophically, that is the tug-of-war over the soul of the CFL game.
“The product’s got to be the deal, no question,” says Jackson, Edmonton’s passing coach. “It’s coming to a point of more accurate passers, which I think is awesome.”
Seasoned observers, of course, preach caution: Once you have film on a quarterback, you can find his weaknesses. Potential can vanish fast.
All that’s riding on quarterbacks, of course, is the league. This season attendance was flat, TV ratings dropped 15 per cent — helped, at least partly, of the Pan Ams, the women’s World Cup, and the Jays becoming a runaway train — and the hope is that the TV was a blip. But for the CFL to grow, or even hold onto its audience in the face of an aging fan base, it’s going to need the product to be more than good, and that will require offence.
“Scoring is good for the league,” says Reilly. “It’s good for any league. People are complaining about the NHL, because scoring’s down. People like scoring. It’s 2015.”
And that will require . . . well, same as it ever was. New commissioner Orridge was talking up his league on Friday when, towards the end, he got a little carried away.
“People will have a preference for the NFL or they’ll have a preference for the CFL, but I’ve got to tell you, I think the CFL is the most exciting football that I’ve experienced,” said Orridge. “I mean, we’ve got people in motion all the time, the parity in the league, the unpredictability of the outcomes, I’d stack that up against any entertainment product in the world right now.”
He can do that. But without a return to a game that make you yelp at your TV, that will light up the summer night skies, he won’t win.
“The product’s got to be the deal, no question. It’s coming to a point of more accurate passers.” JARIOUS JACKSON EDMONTON PASSING COACH