There were other CFL games this week besides Johnny Manziel’s debut.
Since the entire league was overshadowed by Manziel’s first CFL start we’ll try and highlight some of the other action in this space and give you a sampling of what the players felt about Manziel’s predicament in Montreal. For a breakdown of Manziel’s game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats take a look at this. Here are my takeaways for the rest of the action in Week 8.
Must read – Murray McCormick of the Regina Leader Post profiles Eddie Steele and the many positions the former Manitoba Bison is currently playing with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Off the field – Well, there is this. Terrell Owens worked out for Chris Jones of the Roughriders. Stephen Hargis of the Times Free Press live tweeted the workout on Sunday, a day after Owens was inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Maybe an Owens football comeback happening in the CFL might take place after all.
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Social
Calgary Stampeders receiver Kamar Jorden didn’t just have a big night on the field he had a big night on Twitter. His shout-out to Calgary Stampeder alumnus, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with his pre-game attire was noticed by the former WWE star himself.
Haha thanks for the luv KJ. My career in the @CFL was very short lived but a lifetime of defining lessons. Just take the word from Captain Short Shorts over here https://t.co/ux3CsWpl9E
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) August 5, 2018
Bye week – Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Toronto 42 – Ottawa 41
Toronto QB line – Bethel-Thompson – 25-37, 302 yards, 4 TD, 1 interception
Ottawa QB line – Trevor Harris 27-35, 381 yards, 2 TD, 1 interception
ATTENDANCE: 11,857
Money Mcleod
Mcleod Bethel-Thompson went from looking like the reason why the Toronto Argonauts were going to lose the game to the reason why the Argonauts won the game. In the first half he was 7-of-12 for 69 yards with interception. He was a new man after the break going 18-of-25 for 233 yards, four TDs and no interceptions in the second half. The smartest thing he did was get S.J. Green back involved on the offence as his No. 1 receiver had his best game of the year putting up nine catches, 134 yards and two touchdowns. In his first start Bethel-Thompson led the second-biggest comeback in Argos history. The Argos scored 16 points in final 6:03 of the fourth quarter. He saved his best throw of the night to win the game. On the last play from scrimmage with Toronto needing to score, Bethel-Thompson climbed up in the pocket with pressure, kept his eyes down field, threw a back-shoulder pass to Armanti Edwards for a score to win the game. The last five QBs making their CFL debuts lost their first start. The Argos now have a bye week but there is no doubt who their starter will be in two weeks.
Saskatchewan – 19 Edmonton 26
Saskatchewan QB line – Zach Collaros – 22-34, 261 yards, 1 TD
Edmonton QB line – Mike Reilly – 13-27, 257 yards, 1 TD, 1 rushing TD
ATTENDANCE: 35,623
Reilly running and winning
Mike Reilly is quietly putting up another MOP season and his well-rounded and clutch game was on display once again against one of the CFL’s best defences. Reilly punched in his league-high-tying sixth rushing TD to win the game. Also this week Reilly threw his 127th TD pass which has him just two behind Hall of Famer Tom Wilkerson for fourth on the Eskimos all-time list. Reilly is now 8-2 in his last 10 starts versus the Riders. The Eskimos have now won three straight and are surging in the competitive CFL West.
Montreal 11 – Hamilton 50
Montreal QB line – Johnny Manziel – 11-20, 104 yards, 4 interceptions
Calgary QB line – Jeremiah Masoli – 17-26, 300 yards, 2 TDs, 2 interceptions
ATTENDANCE: 18,576
Manziel social media reaction
Manziel continued a trend of having bad debuts. When you combine his first starts in the NCAA, NFL and CFL he has thrown for a combined zero TDs and six interceptions and has lost all three games by a combined 72 points. The announcement of him starting also didn’t drastically improve ticket sales which was widely speculated.
What was more interesting is how other CFL players reacted to his rough start.
Montreal Alouettes running back Tyrell Sutton voiced his opinion on the fairness of Manziel’s situation “he’s been up here for what, four weeks, five-six weeks? He’s been over here a week and we throw him in there. I don’t know what people expect.”
Other players from around the league voiced their opinion throughout the night:
Calgary 27 – BC 18
BC QB line – Travis Lulay – 25-39, 281 yards, TD, interception
Calgary QB line – Bo Levi Mitchell – 19-31, 370 yards, TD
ATTENDANCE: 25,075
Bo is at his best
The Calgary Stampeders receiving corps is banged up but that didn’t impact Bo Levi Mitchell who put up 240 passing yards in the first half. Kamar Jorden became his go-to target catching five receptions for a career-high 185 yards and a TD. Levi Mitchell threw for over 350 yards for the first time this year and with the win over Travis Lulay has now beaten 23 starting quarterbacks in his career, 13 of which are still active. The Stampeders are rolling and now are the third team in history to lead by at least 14 points in seven consecutive games. They are 7-0 in those games. The way they are dominating and their QB is performing, the undefeated season conversation will start to get louder pretty soon.