Hello, Winnipeg. The Jets setting an NHL record with 14 wins in their first 15 games?
And the Bombers heading out for a fifth straight appearance in the Grey Cup? Spoiled.
Drinks are on you, in Vancouver, right?
Here are the Eastern and Western Final takeaways.
2024 CFL PLAYOFFS
» Argos outlast Alouettes to advance to 111th Grey Cup
» Argos’ QB Chad Kelly injures leg; leaves game on stretcher
» Five In A Row: Bombers punch ticket to 111th Grey Cup
» West Coast Clash: 111th Grey Cup matchups set
» Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally
REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED WITH TURNOVERS
For the Toronto Argonauts, revenge is sweet, even if it did come at a cost.
A year after a humbling 38-17 Eastern Final loss to the – at the time – underdog Alouettes, Toronto’s 30-28 victory over the defending champs comes with some big plays made by them. But it also came with big time mistakes by the Alouettes, giving us a turn of the tables moment a year later. Recall that, last year, the Argos turned the ball over nine times in that loss to Montreal. This time around, the Alouettes were the gifty ones, with five turnovers.
Four fumbles by the Alouettes while they were in field goal range, coupled with an interception hiked back for a touchdown by Toronto defensive back Benjie Franklin, turned out to be the Als’ undoing. Even if you’re not good at math, you can do that math.
Not to take anything at all away from Toronto. They showed that haymakers remain in style for them, after delivering a number of them last week to the Ottawa REDBLACKS. This time, it was Franklin’s pick-six, Janarion Grant’s 71-yard punt return major and Damonte Coxie’s ridiculous touchdown catch on the final play of the first half.
The Argos earned what they got. And, also, the Alouettes couldn’t get out of their own way.
FULLY COMPLETELY
In the Western Final, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers served up a thoroughly thorough batch of thoroughness just like the thoroughbreds they are.
I mean that was thorough.
If a team aims to play its best football in November, mission accomplished for the Bombers in the Western Final. In a 38-22 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg’s offence, defence and special teams all hit all the right notes time and time again.
Oh and four to start? 2 and 6 approaching the halfway mark?
Whatever.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are doing it a bit differently this season is all. The previous two, they dominated the CFL from stem to stern only to fall short on the biggest day of the year. Okay, that’d be stem to almost stern, actually.
Maybe they saw what both the Toronto Argonauts (2022) and Montreal Alouettes (2023) did in catching fire late on the way to a championship and thought “that looks like a pretty good plan. Let’s give it a go.”
If so, the plan is going rather well, presently.
A NICE GUY WILL GET A CHANCE TO FINISH FIRST
“We trust in Nick,” said Argos’ head coach Ryan Dinwiddie in the moments after his team’s win in the Eastern Final.
He was referring to quarterback Nick Arbuckle, who came on in relief of the injured Chad Kelly, and went 5/8 for 73 yards, many of those completions and much of that yardage crucial. Heck, probably all of it.
At one time, Arbuckle was the CFL’s ‘next one,’ thought to be a rising star who would be a key part of any franchise going forward.
Instead, he’s been a journeyman, and it even seemed likely that the journey was over for him in 2024, with no off-season contract offered to the 31-year-old. The Argos finally signed him during training camp, looking to add his veteran presence to a quarterbacks room that was absent a suspended Kelly.
What was it looking like? One final go-around and maybe, just maybe, a Grey Cup ring as a back-up, just like 2018 when Arbuckle was with Calgary. That’s what it was looking like.
Now, and all of a sudden, Arbuckle – who’s gotten a rep as one of the really good guys on the CFL landscape – gets a chance to lead a team to a Grey Cup championship.
After going town to town, to town and then back to a couple of those towns for a second time each, the journeyman gets a chance to drop the ‘journey’ part and just be the man.
That’s a heck of a story. Will it write itself on Grey Cup Sunday?
KENNY LAWLER. THAT IS ALL.
Seriously. That’s it. I have nothing more to say.
You saw it.
Kenny Lawler.
Some takeaways are self-evident.
You’re still here? It’s over. Go home.
BONUS TAKEAWAY: Evan Holm. That is all.
HE REALLY, REALLY LIKES THAT SPOT
Who says lightning never strikes the same place twice?
I’d love to make a crack about how I’m referring to Benjie Franklin’s two interceptions against Montreal but when I ran that line by my wife she told me to go fly a kite. (Pause for delighted laughter and applause)
I’m talking about the aforementioned Damonte Coxie touchdown catch, an immensely impressive bit of athletic artistry painted along the same sideline of the very same end zone where he made one of the best catches of the 2023 season as well. That one was a diving, one handed grab. In the Eastern Final, Coxie pulled off another one-hander, though he leapt straight up on this one.
Home is where you make it, they say. For Damonte Coxie, home is along the right hand sideline of the north end zone at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium.
AND FINALLY… I think you maybe should be ready for some work, Ka’Deem Carey.