it's still very early, and these rankings will become more accurate in time.
1-Calgary - Cornish ran all over last year's west division leaders in a dominating win 2-Saskatchewan - Made short work of the eskimos. Sheets made it look easy. 3-Montreal - Managed to get through a fired up team in a very loud stadium. 4-Toronto - as great as they looked offensively, they looked horrible on defence and special teams coverage. 5-Hamilton - looked much the same as last year; put up tons of points, but allow more. 6-Winnipeg - fed off the crowd and almost beat the mighty alouettes. perhaps they won't be as bad as everyone thought? 7-B.C. - really had their tails handed to them. Calgary showed them who's boss. 8-Edmonton - can't take anything positive from that one. looked like they were still in pre-season mode.
notes: #1 Calgary visits #2 Saskatchewan this week. should determine which is for real.
Hamilton's poor defence goes against Edmonton's anemic offence. if Hamilton allows Edmonton to put up lots of points, the tabbies are in for a long season.
The Bombers are in Montreal. we'll see if their inspired performance was due to an improved club or if it was just a one-off due to the emotion of the night that gave them their week 1 effort.
...I might rank BC a little higher than that...and Calgary/Sask are pretty even, 1a and 1b...yes the stamps beat a potentially better opponent than the riders faced but the riders did it away from home...
BC was never in that game. had they put forth a better performance in the loss, i could agree with you. they were steamrolled and only put up some points when the outcome was already determined to make the score more flattering.
with that said, i don't think they will stay in the lower half of the rankings or standings for too long.
**speaking of things after 1 week; does anyone know the TV ratings for week 1? **
The biggest surprise to me was how easily Calgary handled BC. I think it was a combination of a strong game from Calgary and a bit of an off game from BC. I still think BC will be near the top at the end of the season. Toronto did not really impress in their win, but they are the defending champs, so I’ll keep them near the top for the time being.
Toronto - Defending champs came out guns blazing. O was a concern last season, but they started strong here, against what I think will be a tough Cats team
Calgary - Very strong 1st game. Everyone knows the Lions are going to be tough...great start. A solid team last season, and perhaps better this season.
Hamilton - Tough loss to Toronto in a great game. We will see after a game or 2 if their defense has improved...if not, their ranking will sink
Saskatchewan - Looked pretty good overall, but their secondary's star lost his mind, and lets face it, most people were expecting Edmonton to be slow starters and get stronger after a few games.
BC Lion - If they can fix their woes at center, they should be fine. It was extremely noticeable
Montreal - They looked pretty good...a lot better than I expected to be honest, but I don't honestly believe the bombers are a contender, and they scraped by.
Winnipeg - Came out looking pretty good. A pile better than I expected. If Buck can stay healthy, and they figure things out in the secondary, and they actually start running the ball, they might surprise people. for now, the have a low ranking, simply because they have a lot to prove.
Edmonton - As stated, most are expecting this club to take a few games. I am not convinced their OL will be what they hope, and I do not believe they have the right RB. I was rather shocked that the D did not come out stronger.
anybody who puts hamilton in the top 5 even are kidding themselves and not being honest
1.calgary - dominated bc
2.sask - dominated edmonton
3.montreal - barely beat a wpg team, only did beat them because of 13 points off turnovers
4.toronto -Terrible D, just awful awful D
5. wpg - only cuz toronto won and wpg lost due to turnovers.
6.bc - what the heck happened there?
7.hamilton - that d is terrible, AWFUL.. it sucks and gotta say, 31-25 at half and you lose 39-34 = 3 points in the second half, thats not a good sign
8.edmonton - just not a very good team right now
Anybody who puts hamilton above winnipeg right now is kidding themselves, if im toronto and hamilton im very concerned about MY D right now.. very, Defences are supposed to be miles ahead of the Offence right now. Hamilton can score, sure.. so can toronto but.. sorry they arent good enough to put up 40 points every game to win.
Sportsnet of all places was the only major player that I saw with rankings up thus far…pretty sound logic begind them I wouold say…from Lefko none the less…I mean, it is only week one, so it means little…
The opening week of the 2013 Canadian Football League season provided plenty of offence, which created endless excitement and some interesting lead changes.
Normally at this point of the season, the defences are ahead of the offences. But a few things happened to change that. Both Toronto and Calgary, which played in the Grey Cup last year won by the Argos, simply picked up where they had finished in terms of production on the ground and through the air.
Secondly, Saskatchewan’s offensive co-ordinator, George Cortez, who was the head coach of Hamilton last year and helped veteran quarterback Henry Burris set a personal record for passing yards in a single season, displayed his savvy knowledge as an offensive co-ordinator with Saskatchewan. He utilized a balanced attack that worked well.
Some teams employed “vanilla? formations in pre-season and unveiled different schemes in Week 1, which caught defences off guard.
Lastly, the offences took advantage of weakness in defences caused by injuries or inexperienced personnel. Expect Week 2 to be much more favourable to the defences, which now have some videotape to better prepare.
Calgary: The big offensive weapons who helped the team make it to the Grey Cup last year contributed again, notably running back John Cornish, in the win over B.C. Rush end Charleston Hughes, who recorded three sacks, showed why the Stamps cut loose Stevie Baggs.
Saskatchewan: Looked so fluid with the offensive line blowing open holes for stud running back Korey Sheets, who averaged 7.7 yards per carry in the win over Edmonton. Defence created several turnovers, including a pick for a touchdown to close out the first half leading 22-1.
Toronto: Lucky to beat Hamilton, which blew a golden opportunity on the second-last play of the game. But the Grey Cup champions piled up plenty of yardage on offence. Losing dual-purpose kicker Swayze Waters with an injury could literally hurt because field goals were an issue early last season.
Montreal: Came from behind to beat Winnipeg in the Bombers’ season opener at home. The Als offensive line left quarterback Anthony Calvillo exposed to hits too often and he looked really frustrated.
Hamilton: First-year head coach Kent Austin had to be disappointed knowing the Ticats had the Argos beat with a perfectly-called play, only to see the execution falter. At least the Ticats have found an early replacement on returns for holdout Chris Williams with Lindsey Lamar.
Winnipeg: Once again the focus was on quarterback Buck Pierce, who had a shaky outing with an interception on the Bombers’ first possession and finished off with a pick. Similar to last year, the defence failed to protect the lead.
B.C.: This is a team in transition and clearly imploded on offence and special teams. While the Lions clawed back in the final quarter, it only flattered the scoreboard. Surprisingly, the defence, which has a solid front seven, couldn’t stop the run.
Edmonton: Too many penalties, too many turnovers, too many breakdowns. New quarterback Mike Reilly struggled and the offensive line, which has been an issue for several years, didn’t offer him much help. At least they scored more than one point.
can someone explain to me why in the CFL's website with their Week 1 rankings how a team in BC who really did not play well and lost being 0-1 is ahead of both Saskatchewan and Montreal?
Any ranking are going to change a lot in the first few weeks but you almost have to give top 4 to the winners and bottom 4 to the losers.
Calgary - Exactly how good BC should be is irrelevant, BC is a very good team and Calgary handled them like they were a PeeWee team.
Saskatchewan - played a very weak opponent, but those are the teams you should blow out. And they did.
Montreal - I don't think Winnipeg is as bad as people think. I don't think Montreal is going to be as good as I thought.
Toronto -by a hair over Winnipeg. Both teams looked horrible, the only difference being the Argos won.
Winnipeg - see above
Hamilton - the best of the worst. No defense, special teams were both excellent and horrible and they should have won the game. Dropped a wide open screen that would have won the game on last play. Does it get any worse?
B.C. - yes it does get worse, you could hack up a hairball on opening day like BC. The score flatters them in this turkey.
Edmonton - this years Winnipeg? Maybe?
Not a very good start. Calgary and Saskatchewan are the only teams that deserve to rank in the top half, Montreal and Toronto were incredibly lucky to have won, Winnipeg and Hamilton could easily have won if they could control their own ineptitude and BC and Edmonton are yet to play a regular season game.
Yeah, it’s fair to say the bottom three should be Hamilton at 6, Winnipeg at 7, and Edmonton at 8. You can mix and match the top 5 a number of different ways.
If they had lost I could agree with dropping 1 or 2 spots, but you want to keep your ranking you need to at least make an appearance. I’m still waiting for BC and Edmonton to play a game this season. And I question Hamiltons spot. Had they not dropped the wide open screen pass on the second last play they would have beat the Argos so does that mean Argos and Cats would flip 2nd and 6th?
