What were your biggest surprises in week one?
For me it was how rapidly Sask rounded into form considering how they looked last year and in preseason. Very quick changeover in demeanour and style. Really shows the affect coaching can have on a squad. Moving Durant around in the pocket certainly paid dividends amongst other things.
The crash of Montreal was not a surprise. The slowing of Calvillo the second half of last year was evident. They will be in real trouble this year. Teams have gotten faster. They have slowed. Defensively anytime you have to rely on Dwight Anderson to be a leader tells you you are in trouble. And picking up an ego driven nomad like Reinbold to be a team builder is very questionable decision making.
Glad to see Jyles perform decently. His energy and mobility is a welcome addition compared to the lethargic Ray.
And I’d say we’ve seen the change to Brink in Winnipeg to be permanent. Although it may end up to be Elliot. But Pierce is done I’m afraid. Just too much uncertainty there.
IMO, the biggest surprise was Hamilton getting absolutely destroyed at Home. I didn’t see that coming. Number 2 would have to be Calgary spanking Montreal.
My Ticats of offence being a dud, biggest surprise to me followed closely by how good the Riders offence looked, albeit again'st a very mediocre defence. Agree, Calvillo won't be as good this year I don't think unless the o-line protects him hugely which won't be the case.
I guess on further reflection another major surprise to me was the tenacity of Calgary’s defense. Given the change over of DC to Campbell, who has never garnered respect, that surprised me. They were awesome.
And further, hearing that Campbell became a Canadian citizen this past week was also a surprise. Given he has spent his life in Edmonton while his Dad coached and ran the Esks I assumed he already was.
I was surprised by the huge holes that were created by Calgary's O-Line; Cornish was thru on his way for first downs. Been Quite some time since Montreal's D-Line were overpowered as such.
Two rookies plus Mullinder in place of Bowman will do that to you. Big mistake by the coaching staff to cut Anwar. Put Anwar in Mulinder’s spot and the line would have looked better. Aaron Hunt was pushed around like a rag doll. That surprised me the most.
Was that really a shocker? It’s not as if Prefontaine never missed any chip shot FGs or never had any brutal punts last year. And when you skip out of training camp every day to go golfing instead of practicing with the rest of the team, it’s going to take a few games of lousy kicking before he’s got his technique down.
I guess the Argos futile offense could be a surprise but knowing how Edmonton had spent so much time scheming for this one, in retrospect it was just what you’d expect. The Argo offensive line looking like a bunch of turnstiles isn’t really a surprise either, considering the failed backups and rejects they have starting.