I just wanted to make an observation as to the vast improvement in entertainment these opening games provided over last year's football.
I know its only 2 games and there's alot left to be said about whether or not the rule changes really made a difference but a heck of a start. A couple points:
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Special teams are once again special. I was happy to see nearly every missed FG brought out. It made for alot of excitement and even produced a record breaking 129 yard missed FG TD return by Levingston. There were many long and exiting returns and a handful that were a broken tackle or one more block away from scoring. This in contrast to the 3 kick return TDs we saw all of last year. Great on the CFL to bring back 4 sided players and force kicks in bounds.
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The deep passing game seems to be back. I don't know how much this has to do with the painted striped balls but the QBs were trying deep whenever it was there and succeeding quite often. This was especially impressive considering offences usually lag behind defences in terms of 'gelling' and playing cohesively. I was impressed with the sure-handedness of the recievers in general with there not being a whole lot in the way of dropped balls. I don't know if I've ever seen such quality offensive play in week 1 before.
Again this might be a little premature. The East and West semi-finals last year also produced consecutive, nail-biting contests that were classics in the midst of an otherwise boring season. Lets hope the whole season is as entertaining as opening night.