I have said this before...EVERY team should be mandated to go for it on 3rd and 1. It's the CFL...they line up a yard off the ball for heaven's sake. Even if you are on your own 10. If you can't get a yard in the CFL you don't deserve to win. Much confusion in the 2nd quarter and we ended up punting { giving the ball away } on 3rd and one. If you haven't been watching the past few games let me tell you that Masoli is now terrific at 3rd and one. ALWAYS get more than what is needed.
Great game to watch. Could have gone either way. Tasker and Fantuz were terrific over the middle.
The Safety....every team does it...gives away 2 points. Hate it. End of the 2nd quarter...punt it away and give them good field position...hope for a stop by the defence and surrender a field goal. The Safety...kick away, hope for a stop then surrender a field goal.....plus give up a 2 pointer to boot.
He was angry with Underwood but that was a normal rookie mistake (going out of bounds). We’ve seen made by many, many rookie receivers in the CFL over the years. The other part of that was that his kicker can’t punt. A big factor in that game was losing the kicking battle to Chris Milo of all guys !
Never did like giving points to a team. We lost momentum in the game. I cannot understand why our punters are so inept at punting. The NFL guys routinely punt long distances from their own end zone.
On punt returns we had two penalties in a row at the end of the first half,were these player mistakes or were these Officials miscalls?
If players making these mistakes ,get rid of them please or change them,this has happened all year.
Exciting game ,impressed with most everything else.
Should have played an experienced receiver instead of the rookie if there was a healthy one .
Hope Ottawa steals one from the Moes,tired of Alberta dominating the CFL.
You do have to remember that NFL fields are shorter, including the endzones themselves. If a punt in the NFL goes to centre and a CFL punt goes to centre, the CFL punt was longer. When comparing we need to use actual yards kicked and not just compare by looking at the hashmarks.
Also, Medlock isn’t a punter. He’s a kicker - and a very good one! His weakness has always been punting, and that’s why we signed national punter Hugh O’Neill (aka “The Beard”), who unfortunately, got injured. That’s why Medlock has been doing both for the last 5 games or so.
The third issue with the 3rd and 1 (which I think happened a few times this game) is that coaches are no longer allowed to ask for measurement - which is beyond stupid. Of all the rule changes, this is the worst because it has nothing to do with improving the onfield product. Everything else was meant to make the game more “exciting” (whether it achieved that is debatable), but this rule only adds confusion for the coaches and players.
It won't let me edit this into the previous post...
For the record, I thought the safety was an okay idea at the time. Ottawa has had a pretty lousy return game all season, especially Williams. That time, however, Williams actually managed to get a good chunk of return yards. If he was tackled where he caught it, or close to, it would've been a good decision. I think it was around Ottawa's 45 and he ran it to our 40. If we tackled him before midfield, they might not have given up a FG too. It was bad punt coverage and not bad punting.
As Ralph Sazio once said about giving up a safety "we give them nothing!". Too bad that wasn't in Austin's mantra, he gives up way too many of them even when his defense is dominating a game.
Underwood should have known better the same rule applies in the US. I love smart football player like Tasker, players that arn't smart will cost you games.
Ralph Sazio had North Americas best punter ,Joe Zuger, especially against the wind Zuger could punt an un believable low spiral often over the head of the return man.
We did not have that kind of against the wind spiral punter,that plus the *&%%$$### PENALTY that pushed us back on every kick cost us valuable points and eventually the game if you add up all the field position lost by dumb penalties .Discipline lacking or Officiating ?
No excuses .
Will our QB’s need to keep running and put themselves in harms way next year,or will they learn from getting banged up and out of the lineup,or will we get a running back next year?
If the armchair folks watching at home knew it was a mistake the guy that has played football his whole life sure as heck should have known. Simple, before the play tell yourself do not go OB. There, was that tough??
What's the deal? We lost by 7, not 3. Even if we don't concede the safety, and Underwood stays in bounds, we lose by 2. Ifs just don't count, do they? As the saying goes, if my aunt had balls, she would have been my uncle.
Even though it wasn’t a smart play, I can imagine even a player who knows better stil might instinctively step out in the heat of the moment.
What bugged me way more from both Underwood this week and Grant last week was the way they each were tempting fate with their “Leon Lett at the one yard line” impressions.
If teams were third-and-one on their own 10 with this rule, they’d take a time-count penalty to make it third-and-six so they could punt or give up a safety. If the rule prevented that, i.e. made you go for it even if third-and-one became third-and-six or third-and-11 or third-and-16 due to pre-snap penalty, it would make a mockery of the game. I don’t see this happening any time soon.
I’m not sure if Williams actually did much returning. They seemed to be using Smith more than CW. Regardless, I was a bit disappointed with our coverage team which often seemed to take much longer to get down the field than Ottawa’s coverage team did - and that was supposed to be more of a weakness for Ottawa.
The coach needs to instal some disipline with the hot dogging that goes on when Cats are about to score from long distances, aka we saw it with Chris Williams a few years back, yet our players continue to do it. Give them a serious fine.
I was referencing the return at the end of the half after we gave up the safety, which put them in FG range. I believe that was Williams? But yeah, I noticed they’ve been using him less and less for returns as the year went on - mostly because his production as a returner has slipped. That’s why I was surprised by that one return.
I looked it up and it was Williams:
“2ND QTR - 0.37 - Justin Medlock kicks off to the Ott28. Chris Williams return for 36 yards to Ham46. Tackled by Troy Davis.”
Anyway, if he was tackled before midfield, the safety wouldn’t have been such a bad option. The return on the kick was 36 yards, which was the longest of the game - and also Williams longest kick return of the year.
A seemingly small way to burn his old team, but it helped them get that FG that made the safety look so stupid.
