Common perception out there that the CFL is just gunslinger football with the idea the run isn't important and qb's just fire away. Damien Cox in an article in the Star today follows the trend and uses this word about the CFL. I find this weird, anyone who has followed the Patriots with Brady knows that is about as gunslinger as you can get. Also, anyone who watches both American and Canadian football knows that having a run game, or a threat of a run game, is important regardless if it's the NFL or CFL. I know Cox has been around as a writer for a long time but strange he would fall into this trap of looking ignorant about football. My take anyways.
"It's no wonder, really, that the Canadian Football League should be wondering who, or what, it is these days.
An identity crisis? That would be pushing it, for three-down gunslinger football is still the recognizable name of the game; watching the Eskimos and Blue Bombers slug it out with snow in the end zones last week provided the oh-so-familiar backdrop to the CFL playoffs, and dedicated connoisseurs of the northern brand of football have no trouble articulating what it is they believe in." ...
Unlike the NFL, the CFL is more pass-oriented because of 3 downs instead of 4 downs. Understandable that CFL may be considered "gunslinger" football. Sometimes, CFL is more high scoring than NFL but American arena football is even more high scoring.
true, but arena football is on a tiny field, so there are plenty of scores. because of rule changes over the past 20 years or so to increase scoring and make defences practically useless, the cfl is more like basketball than football now: last team to score wins. teams don't try to keep the other team off the field so they can't score. they just get to the 30yd line, then throw bombs to score tds. failing that, they take fgs, then hope the other team drops 2 passes in a row and punts. teams don't fail to score because the defence is tough. they fail because they drop passes or take penalties. i wish that one day they'd make some rules that help the defensive team. it's not a fair contest between offence and defence.
CFL more like baseketball? WTF? Often times NFL scores of games are more than CFL. And if the scores of the games are more in general, so what? In 3 downs, you can get the ball back quicker, I like that, field position is important and a constant battle and the flow for this field position even if you're punting a few times in a row is interesting.
Interesting article overall.
I'm not sure gunslinger football is a bad thing and from reading the article I get the impression Cox enjoys it as well.
But while the focus in this thread is on the gunslinger aspects of the article, It contained something even more important.
Specifically the discussion on whether the CFL should retain it's East vs West identity.
Personally I prefer the East/West rivalry. I understand why Winnipeg has to be placed in the
East Division but I don't like it. But that is because I grew up with a 9 team league with definite East/West boundaries
and Winnipeg will always be a Western team to me.
That is why a team in Ottawa in important. Of course competitive teams in Hamilton and Toronto would be nice, but I'll settle for one miracle at a time.
Bottom line though is to keep the league strong and I'll accept any type of team alignment to keep it so.
Fan, I agree the article was a good read. My only problem with Cox's writing is that the way he refers to the CFL as gunslinger and northern variety and that is that it almost comes across like the CFL is some foreign sports league that is way out there and defense doesn't matter, you just keep shooting and see what happens, no thought at all. This is a common misperception of Canadian football that there is little strategy involved compared with American football with 4 downs and lots of time between plays. When in fact it's ours, Canada's league, whether someone likes it or not, with a long history. I just wish a writer once in a while would call it 'our' league rather than writing like it's something that is some aberration of football on some other continent.
I agree and would go even further and say that the CFL is a more strategic game.
Do we give up the single and game 35 yards or should we do a return kick because the single point is that crucial.
The 3 minute timing rules involve much more strategy than just taking a knee.
Or how about onside punts?
Three down football forces coaches to be more creative.
Yup. But when was the last time we saw a sports writer in this country actually put this down on paper? I don't remember. Instead it's all about the wacky, unpredictable CFL, throw it up in the air and kick it and see what happens. To be honest, I wonder how many writers watch and understand the game. who knows.