In Week 7 of the 2009 Canadian Football League season, the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos met for the first of four meetings*. By all accounts, the game was a “classic” as the two sides traded touchdowns with less than a minute left, and it was the Eskimos coming up with a 38-35 victory.
*And who exactly is the CFL scheduler? The Stamps and Eskies play four times a season. Here in 2009, the two sides square off for three of their four games over a 5-week span that includes the Labour Day Classic and the rematch four days later. I guess without Ottawa and Shreveport to muddy up the schedule, the league is hoping familiarity will breed contempt. More like overkill.
In reality, while the finish was thrilling, the defensive execution was shockingly poor, considering the season is approaching the midway mark. I have to believe that with less than 10 seconds left in a game a defensive coordinator, trying to protect a 4-point lead, would want more than one of his players in the end zone attempting to thwart any pass attempt.
Also, Calgary’s hair-brained idea to use a short kickoff after jumping back in front with less than a minute left, allowed the Eskies always dangerous return man, Tristan Jackson, to give his team great field position to complete its comeback 3 plays later. In fact, Jackson nearly took the play right to the house. The lesson, as always: it is nearly impossible to properly cover a kick in the CFL because the field is 3 acres wide.
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There will be a lot of back-slapping in Edmonton and hand-wringing in Calgary as the two sides enter their Week 8 bye weeks on different emotional levels.
But when we get right down to it, the CFL regular season hardly matters.
So fear not Calgary fans, even though the club is well off its 2008 pace, when it won the Grey Cup, the Stamps still have more than enough time to turn things around.
In fact, the team doesn’t even really need to get over .500 to still have a shot at defending its CFL title.
From 1998-2008, the average amount of wins it took to finish sixth, and qualify for the CFL postseason was 9.2. So, as long as a team finishes at the even-water mark, most years it’s more than enough make the postseason.
What is more, during that same period, the last playoff qualifier was under .500 more often than not (6 seasons, including the immortal Edmonton Eskimos squad that went 6-12 in 1999 and won a tiebreaker over Winnipeg for the honour of losing in the first round. You just know the Blue Bombers felt they got hosed…even though they were just 6-12).
I have to believe, the CFL is the only sports league on the face of the planet that had champions in two straight seasons with losing records—B.C. and Calgary in 2000 and 2001 respectively (both finished 8-10).
So really, the goal is just merely survive the regular season, squeak into the playoffs and then have a one-in-six shot at winning a championship*.
*Somebody explain to me exactly how has Saskatchewan won just 3 Grey Cups in the last 80 years? It would be like taking a trip to Paris and running into only 3 people who speak French.
Since the league allows 75% of its teams to make the postseason, the regular season is more of a round robin to determine seeding than anything else.
Last summer in For What it’s Worth, I proposed the CFL should consider many changes; including axing the first round of the playoffs and having just four teams make the second season.
Now, this is never going to happen. CFL owners will never agree to dropping a post season date and lose out on that revenue. And it’s always fun when a sub-.500 team can lift the cup.
However, by having fewer teams in the playoffs each year, regular season games take on more meaning.
And the next time the Battle of Alberta is a “classic” during the regular season, the consequences of the outcome will actually mean something.
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