From an entertainment perspective and quality of play it was easily the CFL’s ‘Game of the Year’ . . . . NO QUESTION
But what play bothered old Stephen A. more than anything - from both a Winnipeg & BC perspective.
No it wasn’t Zach Collaros getting rocked a couple times trying to extend plays without the escape torque of Tre Ford or Dustin Crum. Zach is an inveterate play-extender, thats his nature and he ain’t gonna change at 34/35. Simply put, he’s incapable of changing.
But the play that almost made me sick and prolly made many BC fans sick was the last play of regular time . . . . where BC scrimmaged from their own 43 w/ 8 sec. left on clock. Adams, Jr. thru a bullet up the middle that D. Rhymes caught with 5 sec. left on the clock. Rhymes needed to advance about 5 yards to put BC in medium long FG range to pull off a win before the game headed to OT. But Rhymes broke free (too easily) from his first contact and started a swift trek downfield - appearing to outrun a gassed group of Winnipeg defenders. Except 1, Jamal Parker caught him with an amazing diving tackle at the Winnipeg 7 and the game headed into its fateful overtime session.
Here’s the deal. Rhymes caught the ball at midfield (Wpg 52) and prolly need 5 to 7 yds to give Super Sean Whyte at least a 75% of making a 49 to 53 yd FG. But Rhymes appeared to lose track of space & time. He could even gone down at the Wpg 30 and left 1 or 2 ticks on the clock but he kept running cuz he thought he had a clear track to the Bomber endzone. Then Jamal Parker happened.
Parker’s desperation tackle of Rhymes was one of the greatest pursuit tackles I’ve seen in nearly 60 years of watching CFL ball. (btw, the 2nd best tackle was Ancient Adam Bighill putting his power wheelchair into high gear and knocking Vernon Adams into next week, preventing a 1st down which would have locked up the game. That was astounding. Clearly, Mr. Bighill has some gas left in the tank.
Rhymes brain fart will be the talk o the town in Vancouver amongst Lion fans. He’ll be taking a shi*-kicking from both fans and media alike.
But Bubba Doug Brown on Bomber radio said it best. The entire BC bench & players on the field should have been screaming at Rhymes to go down, go down in order to get in the potential winning FG kick.
From a Bomber critique point - what kind of shoddy defense allows a 67 yard near game winning play on the last play of the game? Thats another wart sign on the Bomber D. But due to Rhymes decision-making process they were allowed to get off the hook. Zach & Olivera sealed their fate in OT1.
You make an excellent point about Rhymes not being aware of the clock and potential FG distance, but so far, the only gripes I’ve seen from any BC fans are about “the refs”.
Games like this one are a big reason why I like CFL football so much. They can be hard on cardiac health, but it feels SO GOOD when they’re over.
Come on, you and I well know that in sports it’s very easy to get caught up in the moment. Sure it’s easy from the sidelines to make the comment he should have gone out of bounds but put yourself in that situation with the adrenaline and such, who knows. Just sayin’
The play that bothered me the most was the so called missed call on the Vernon Adams run at the end of the game. There was no other view available, but, if you look it appears Vernon steps on the white line before reaching out hence the spot where it was a yard and a half shy.
So BC fans complain that this cost them the game and whine. But then don’t except that their team had 53 yards of offence in the 2nd half outside of the last second throw at the end. Then excusing their O-line for being a) unable to get a yard and an half usually isn’t hard b) gave up 6 sacks c) couldn’t get holes open for their run game.
That single play didn’t cost Lions the game. Their pathetic play in the 2nd half did. Oliviera alone had more yards than the whole BC offence basically. Its a god damn 60 minute game. Grown men playing should play till the end. Its not a 2 quarter game so that shouldn’t be a newsflash to the BC Lions.
If you got time to complain about officiating and one play costing your team the game then take a hard look and ask did your team play a full 60 minutes? Did your team take a foot off the gas peddle? Did your team make adjustments? Did your coach get outcoached?
I just re-watched this play, and I agree with your assessment. Bighill had already knocked Adams onto the white line before he extended his arm. Unfortunately, the last of three vantage points did not have the proper depth of field perspective to show this, but the first two did. Then Dunnigan opined that maybe Adams did get the first down. Matt was incorrect, but the Lions fans clung to this last gasp.
Even if Rhymes, who caught the ball in the middle of the field had made a bee-line for the sidelines - time would have expired.
His only play was to go down after crossing the Wpg 45, 40 or even 35 and there would have been sufficient time on the clock for a last second winning FG by the Automatic Man, Sean Whyte.
Once Rhymes crossed the Wpg. 35 he had no choice but to continue and it sure looked like he had an open pathway to glory before Parker made his game-saving tackle.
Wonder what the ruling is if Rhymes had gone down at the Wpg. 40, for instance with 2 seconds left but the Wpg. defenders were coached NOT TO TOUCH HIM. Does simply ‘Going Down’ automatically stop the clock or do you need an opposing defender to touch him down? Anyone know the timing rule re: contact?
Adams doing the Heisman stretch on the sidelines after getting blasted by Bighill perhaps deserved another foot or two, we’ll never know.
BC came up 2 inches short on a 3rd and only a foot or foot and a half. Winnipeg made an incredible stop on that play with a slightly undersized pair of DTs.
If Rhymes went down and “gave himself up” the whistle would have blown. In the past a defender had to “touch” the downed player for the clock to stop. Don’t know when the rule changed, but it definitely has. This was discussed in another thread a little while ago.
By the time Rhymes had eluded his first tackler he was in the middle of the field - even if he made a dash for the sidelines the clock would prolly have expired. His best bet was to sit himself on the field - ie. giving himself up. Could have done it anywhere from the Winnipeg 45 (52 yd FG), Wpg 40 (47 yd FG) or Wpg 35 (42 yd FG). I’d say Mr. Automatic Man Whyte would be around 80% from the 52, 90% from the 47 or 98% from the 42.
Rhymes may even have been able to get to the Bomber 30 before downing himself and left a second on the clock - but thats cutting things a bit too close.
Essentially, once Rhymes crossed the Rubicon (Bomber 35) he was committed to a jailbreak to the Bomber endzone to end the game.
However, while a bunch of Bomber defenders could be described as having Paul Blart, Mall Cop speed, Rhymes didn’t count on one of them, Jamal Parker as being The Flash. Parker actually made up a 5 yd gap on Rhymes, eventually dragging him down around the Bomber 7, sending the affair into OT.
Generally, when you have 12 sec. left on the clock and you’re scrimmaging from your own 47, you have two (2) plays remaining. Barring a hail mary, the first play must get you a minimum 17 or 18 yds in order to leave a bit of clock to enable a longish (but makeable) 52 to 54 FG attempt w/ time running out.
Rhymes actually had easily gained 35 yds and would have left a rather easy FG attempt before going on a prison break.
I don’t blame Rhymes at all. If he had a clear path to the end zone, that’s better than taking a chance on a missed or blocked FG. Had he made it in (as I thought he would when the play was actually happening), none of this would be an issue. Hindsight is 20/20.
Here are a couple of stills showing Adams not fully stretched to the marker just as his foot touched the white paint. The next frame shows that his foot was on the paint by the time he reached the marker. Either way, his arm was over the paint and broken the oob plane at this point. Further, to achieve a Heisman stretch, one’s foot needs to be planted as this picture shows. I don’t think Adams made the play.
Agreed. That whole sequence actually had so many pieces to it to end the exact way it did. Facing a ton of pressure with the stack of 2nd half failures on their collective minds, Adams made an accurate strike to Rhymes in Bomber territory who briefly outduelled Holm before bobbling and securing the ball; an impressive play by itself. Rhymes then gained the necessary yards with Kramdi closing in and getting an attempted tackle on Rhymes. If Kramdi had been successful at that point, there would have been enough time for a makeable FG attempt. However, the hit from Kramdi may have slowed down Rhymes by a half-second that may have been the difference between a BC touchdown and Parker catching Rhymes. At this point, Rhymes could see nothing but daylight and still no presence of Parker immediately behind him. It took an incredible effort from Parker to erase what we were probably all thinking to be a TD until it wasn’t. The fact that all these had to happen clearly shows that our collective, extended dissection of the play, with the luxury of time and hindsight, shows that we are all in no position to second guess Rhymes split second decisions or instincts.
An extra second or two would elapse, but yes when a player goes to ground and does not advance, the whistle can be and is blown.
We see this happen sometimes for example when a quarterback slides down on a scramble for yards or on a late interception when the defender simply slides to the ground. The referee does not wait for some late bojack to come flailing over to clobber him when the player has already gone to ground.
Pretty concise, accurate analysis even if from a disputed Elkimope fanboy!!!
Yes, the down but not by contact rule was put in place to save guys from getting Bullinskied from the top rope by a 300 lb. lineman or a 240 lb. LB. The only time I’ve seen the rule broken is on a pic play - but only if the guy picking off the pass falls to the ground but gets up instantaneously. Same with a WR or RB that slips when running to open space but nobody touches him. Officials have to make an instantaneous call to let the guy get up (if he does it seamlessly) and thus refrain from calling the play dead.
Its relatively obvious (even to poorly trained CFL officials) when a guy is “GIVING HIMSELF UP”
