Understanding the ratio by Ted Hellard

Understanding the ratio


With the Draft coming up thought it might be an interesting time to have a discussion on how the ratio impacts a cfl team..Always find it interesting reading your posts on a specific player be it import or non ....usually the player in these discussions is looked at in isolation in discussions here....unfortunately no player can ever be looked at in isolation, but always in context of how they fit into the ratio...Some of you may be asking what the hec is he talking about ...ratio what ratio...some of you know we have a ratio to keep but may not understand exactly how it works ...and some of you of course are ratio experts...Well lets start at the beginning...every cfl team must dress 42 players for a game 20 of these players must be non imports....3 of these players are QBs....16 of these players are imports...and 3 of these players are designated imports (meaning they can only substitute for another import)...ok so it is already getting confusing, the easiest way to think of the ratio is to look at it from the 24 players who start and play a game...16 of the 24 who start and play are imports, one of them is a QB ...thats 17 so the balance must be canadian (non import) 24 minus 17 means we need to have a minimum of 7 canadins on the field at all times...Example in our final game last year we started the game on defence with 10 imports and 2 canadians (Coe and Naps)...on offence we had 5 lineman and all other starters were imports....If we were in two back we had Joff and Cates and 4 receivers all imports... BC as an example last year played with two canadians on their starting D (Johnson and Glatt) ...3 offensive lineman and 2 receivers (Jackson and Cleremont)....The DI's in our system were usually 1 designated import was a defensive half he came in for anyone of our import DBs...and we usually had a designated import at DL he came in for one of our import defensive lineman but could not come in for Naps as an example because he is canadian, so Naps substitute was Chev who could take out any player including Naps since Chev is canadian...our third designated import last year was usually a receiver...this allowed us to have five import receivers on the field at one time with one tailback or six if the DI came in for Joff (import for import)....What does this all mean to your very enjoyable threads on players??...only that u have to take into consideration with every player how can we be the strongest team possible knowing we will be starting 7 canadians...Adding Thelwell allows us to consider changing where we play our 7 starting canadians..etc etc etc...As you know from following our players this offseason Thelwell allows us to consider using an American on the OL....BC has one of the strongest teams because of their ability to use the ratio as a strength, they do this by building up their canadian talent and insuring their canadian pipeline is constantly full, through draft and free agency...So remember next time you comment on a player import or canadian to be the best backseat GM you can be you need to be thinking about the ratio and how it impacts us putting the strongest team possible on the field>>>Ted

Okay, so I have to ask the burning question..... What is the penalty for not using enough Canadians? I know misusing a QB or Designated import is a 25 yard penalty, but what is the Not enough Canadian penalty?

25 yards?
Forfeit?
Banishment to Saskatoon for 30 days?

I was just going to post the link in the other thread 05, but you beat me to it.

http://forum.gostampsgo.com/showthread.php?t=7058

This is an excellent thread.

Thank You redandwhite.

So many posters pound their fists in frustration
about the player selections GMs and Coaches make

when they are probably oblivious to the fact
that one can't look at players in isolation.

every player has to always be looked at
in the context of how they fit into the ratio

when deciding which players to use as starters
on Offence and Defence from week to week,

and when rotating players into the game.

The team has to always keep
7 Canadians on the field.

and Thank You PIGSEYE for the link

There are some very good points
made at the Stampeders website.

It is great that the one of the owners and president of the team comes on to the site to chat and give information right to the fan one oon one. When Hellard steps down I will miss him.