There has been a lot of talk around the Canadian Football League the past two seasons surrounding the issue of quarterback injuries.
Some, like the one suffered opening day by Saskatchewan’s Darian Durant, have to just be chalked up to ‘bad luck’. It wasn’t a situation where an offensive lineman missed an assignment and some blitzing linebacker hit him like a runaway bus.
And, it wasn’t a questionable hit either, like the one which sidelined Mike Reilly early this season in Edmonton.
But, in the end only seemingly ageless Henry Burris in Ottawa managed to start all 18 games.
That is not a good thing in a sport where teams live and die in terms of success on the talents of their quarterbacks. They are a league’s premier players and you want the best guy at the helm.
So is there a problem in the league? And, if there is, what is the solution?
The strange injuries, like Durant’s are not something that can be avoided.
The questionable hits will happen, although I would suggest stiffer penalties are required.
The consequences should be two fold. Roughing the passer should be harder on a team from the get go, at 25-yards. If that sounds punitive, it is supposed to be.
In situations where a player accumulates three such calls, they miss a game.
The penalties need to reflect how important it is for a league to keep players like Reilly, Travis Lulay, and the rest of the pivots who spent infirmary time this season on the field.
It is better for the league to have defensive players put the brakes on a bit, and risk a touchdown against that to try to convince fans to be happy with second and third string pivots at the controls.
All that said, with ever expanding rosters in the NFL where teams have much deeper pockets, players are going to be siphoned south, including important Canadian talent which is often found along the offensive line.
So I like the idea that has been floated by some that American players could be considered non-imports after a set number of years in the CFL. It would mean the likes of Burris and Durant would earn a form of ‘non-import’ status. This would allow the league to actually up the non-import minimums but have some added flexibility in how to field those numbers.
In the same area of ratio tinkering I am also a proponent of the CFL mandating one QB on the active roster be a Canadian.
The past couple of seasons also shows that teams probably should be doing a better job of developing back-up quarterbacks. Whether up 20, or down 20, teams tend to stay the course with the starter. Injuries happen, and to be ready back-ups need game situation reps, and that is a philosophy change the league needs.
Habs hot, or not
Among Canadian teams, all right among teams period, in the National Hockey League, Montreal has been on a tear this season, well until a recent scoring drought has clipped their wings a bit.
As of the day of writing the Habs are 19-6-3 for 41-points, best in the east by a couple over the New York Rangers, and only one back of Dallas best in the west with 42-points.
While Montreal being among the elite in the east should not be a surprise, how they are doing it is.
Carey Price is arguably the best goaltender in the NHL, so you anticipate stingy defence in Montreal. But he has appeared in only 12-games this season.
Mike Condon has been thrown into the breach, and has done nicely. As a team 28 games into the season they have allowed only 63-goals. Not bad although the Rangers are five goals lower in the same 28-games.
What has frankly shocked is Montreal scoring 94-goals. Do the math that is a goal-a-game-plus more than they allow. It is also eight more goals than anyone in the east.
So seeing them cool a bit on offence the last week is not a huge surprise.
For some added shock value Ottawa is second with 86.
In Montreal’s case they had been getting points from all over the ice. They have nine players with at least 15 points, or half-a-point game, which in today’s NHL is pretty credible offence. That said only one player; Max Pacioretty is in double digits in goals and he only has 13, to go with a team leading 25-points, a total he shares with Tomas Plekanec.
A little added note Bud Holloway, a former AAA Midget player here in Yorkton made his NHL debut in Montreal recently. He signed with the Canadians last off season after time in Switzerland. Holloway had a one-game call-up against New Jersey and saw about seven minutes of action.
The Wapella, SK. native put up good numbers in Europe last year, 37-points in 42-games in Bern, and has shown an ability to set up goals in the American Hockey League this campaign with 17-assists and 24-points in 22-games with the St. John’s IceCaps.
