CFL 2012 regular season thread

[browna]

Yeah that's really all it could be, timing wise....so that Tillman doesn't have to spend the next 6 days talking about the trade again.

That, or maybe he got a case of the "grabby grabbies" with another baby sitter.

Here's guessing that him and his chia-pet hair pops back up in Ottawa for his second go round there when that franchise gets off the ground.

[Drake]

Interesting....

CJOB's Bob Irving says he heard earlier this season that Tillman traded Ray to T.O. because he knew he was going to become Argos GM.

https://twitter.com/bendersun/status/264834934429061120

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Originally Posted by Drake

Interesting....



https://twitter.com/bendersun/status/264834934429061120

If true that is awful

[Wood]

Yeah I hope that's not true, it would look awful for the CFL

[browna]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

If true that is awful

And given that it's the toothless CFL, unsurprising.

A league that has an owner that owns two teams.

Where coaches under contract can get hired away without a slap on the wrist.

Don't feel too bad for Edmonton, Hugh Campbell pulled a lot of strings around the league when he was in charge...the AJ Gass league suspension from throwing a Stampeders' helmet getting rescinded by a Alberta Court of Queens Bench judge who was an Eskimos season ticket holder.

Then to trading a bag of of footballs + futures to Hamilton during the season for a couple decent players, with the full intention of Hamilton getting Maas as the futures when the season was over....but not until Edmonton had his services for the remainder of the season...and Maas came in for the playoffs and won the GC for the Esks....before the champagne had dried, he was on Hamilton as Campbell had agreed to back when the trade was made.

[Drake]

Just my prediction as for who I think will become the next GM in Edmonton, Ed Hervey.

[Flickered Flame]

There are lots of rumors floating around including the Esks are not done, speculation that the president, Len Rhodes, is next on the list to be let go. You have to wonder about Reed as well, once their season ends.

The entire organization has been a mess for a few years now. Under Rhodes, several longtime employees have left the Eskimos, the GM has been a disaster. Tillman didn't live in the city, he was flying in for games. The decision to fire was made on Oct. 25th but not announced until today because Tillman wasn't around until yesterday or the day before.

I still stand by my theory on the salary cap. Once the league finally started enforcing it, it hurt the Esks more than any other team.

[Drake]

So much awesome with this post from Esksfans.

We win.

Enjoy the nice pics you have of my front yard, while we enjoy compiling all the info we have in an easy to read format so everyone can see some of the things you were up to. I hope the little goodbye wasn't too tearful at Edmonton House. You know exactly what I mean by that.

You never were an Eskimo

http://www.esksfans.com/forum/showth...Will-Read-This

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Lee Jones (@Lee_JonesCTV)
"No Durant, no Dressler, no first for Rider offence after a quarter."

[Drake]

This article points to a very bizarre situation in Edmonton.

Eric Tillman not being in town was one of a long list of reasons the Eskimos board of directors knew he had to be replaced.

While Tillman said his wife and family would be joining him in Edmonton at the start of the school season two years ago, Tillman never left Regina, working out of his office there and paying his own expenses to commute back and forth, often driving.

The Eskimos allowed Tillman to remain in Regina because, as a highly placed member of the executive put it “the office ran better with him away from it.”

Tillman refusing to live here was huge with the board.

“It’s a community-owned team. And I think they’d have been happier if he’d been living in Mississippi than Regina,” said a source connected to the board.

There was no mention of the idea that Tillman, who didn’t make a single road trip all year other than the one for the game in Toronto, had a desire to leave the Eskimos to take over as general manager of the Argos — one that may be shared by Argos owner David Braley.

Four separate sources, inside the Eskimos organization believe it has a good chance to happen.

“It’s very believable,” said perhaps the most prominent of them all.

“It’s conceivable that’s where he ends up,” said an executive level source.

“Eric spent more time worried about what people were saying about him and trying to substantiate trading Ricky Ray than looking for players,” said another Eskimo employee very close to the situation.

Instead of “no reason” there were plenty of reasons Tillman was fired. And trading Ricky Ray was not at the top of the list.

The No. 1 reason, I believe is they came to the conclusion that things had become so un-Eskimo-like on the football ops floor that head coach Kavis Reed was not going to return and put himself through any more of what he’d been forced to go through under Tillman.

Reed, who was essentially doing most of the general manager’s job not related to recruiting for the past two years, was given his dream job by Tillman. Hiring Reed was the best move Tillman made.

That Eskimos board members came to the conclusion that Reed couldn’t take any more in his dream job speaks volumes about how bad the situation had become under Tillman.

Reed was looking after all football administration, travel, player movement, salary cap management, etc. — virtually everything that didn’t involve personnel.

The number of players who, at the end of the regular season are unsigned and about to become free agents is ridiculously long.

It’s almost criminal the way it sits.

Fourteen relatively high-profile Eskimos are about to become free agents including most of the starting defence.

J.C. Sherritt. T.J. Hill. Marcus Howard. Damaso Munoz. Rod Williams. Julius Williams. Weldon Brown. Chris Thompson.

“They’ve never been approached with offers,” said a football side source.

Tillman helped push himself out the door when he put an element of the team’s future at risk by supplying to the Sun the names of nine quarterbacks on the team’s negotiation list with a breakdown on each one.

The reason for the timing of the dismissal of Tillman wasn’t the fact that the Eskimos are playing the Argos.

It was that it’s all in the coaches and players hands now. For the GM, it’s all about next year. Ed Hervey and Paul Jones have a go list ready in case players need to be brought in as injury replacements.

“I’ll be leading the search both externally and internally for candidates,” Rhodes enthused.

There needs to be an examination why media relations director Dave Jamieson, Ryan Wagner, football administration, Brad Morgan community relations, Duane Vienneau marketing and brand management (he quit Friday) all resigned during the season.

Several others have been waiting to see how this all unfolds at the end of the year.

Did, as two highly placed members of the football ops part of the business maintain, Rhodes take $100,000 out of the football budget to move to his highly unsuccessful half-time and post-game concerts?

http://www.edmontonsun.com/2012/11/0...esident-rhodes

[moon]

Why does Kavis Reed get all sorts of praise? Whether its in this article or on Esksfans I see a lot of hopefully Reed doesn't leave or best move by Tillspin.

The guy hasn't had a ton to work with but he still makes dumb decisions with those players he has and some really stupid in game decisions as well. I think he was a fan favorite in Edmonton as a player so maybe that is it but as a Stamps fan I for one hope he does stay on, preferably with Ed Hervey coming in as GM.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Chris O'Leary (@olearychris)
"In our opinion we can't go wrong at quarterback." -- Kavis Reed. #eskimos

They can't really go right either

[Drake]

Terrible news. He has my prayers and best wishes on the road ahead. I've always liked Don Mathews.

Don Matthews, one of the CFL's most successful head coaches, says he has cancer in his lymph nodes.

Matthews released a statement Monday saying he will not be participating in any of the festivities surrounding the 100th anniversary of the Grey Cup as he prepares for his fight with the disease.

"I've got this and I'm dealing with this. But I want everyone to know I plan to fight like hell and I intend to be playing golf at this time next year," Matthews said in the statement released by the Toronto Argonauts.

"I wish everyone well as the 100th Grey Cup is celebrated and am sorry I will not be there with all of you as I focus, with my wife Stephanie, on my immediate battle off the field."

Matthews was a head coach for 22 seasons in the CFL between 1983 and 2008, compiling a 231-133-1 record with B.C., Toronto, Saskatchewan, Baltimore, Edmonton and Montreal.

He has won five Grey Cup rings as a coach (two with Toronto, one with B.C., Baltimore and Montreal). Matthews was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2011.


http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=408904

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Something that has been missed is the fact that Chad Owens set a new record for all purpose yards, 3863 yards

[MissTeeks]

Here's the full list of winners for the year-end awards:

http://www.cfl.ca/article/cornish-ow...-player-awards

PLAYER

Jon Cornish (CGY)
Chad Owens (TOR)

DEFENSIVE PLAYER

JC Sherritt (EDM)
Shea Emry (MTL)

CANADIAN PLAYER

Jon Cornish (CGY)
Shea Emry (MTL)

SPECIAL TEAMS

Tim Brown (BC)
Chris Williams (HAM)

ROOKIE

Jabar Westerman (BC)
Chris Matthews (WPG)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN

Jovan Olafioye (BC)
Josh Bourke (MTL)

[Fire]

I thought Paredes would got the nod for Special Teams form the West.

[OzSome]

Originally Posted by Fire

I thought Paredes would got the nod for Special Teams form the West.

That would be nice but Tim Brown I think won it in the West. It doesn't matter because Chris Williams will win it all anyways.

I think the West will get 3 or 4 awards. Cornish should have a lock on Top Canadian. If he lose to Shea Emery, there is something wrong with the CFL. On the Most Outstanding Player, I thought the voters will pick Travis Lulay not because of his performance, it's just they might have difficulty picking a Canadian as MOP. I guess I am wrong.

The most overrated player JC Sherritt will be a lock on the Defensive Player of the year. Chris Williams will win the Special Team of the Year, while it is a toss-up on Outstanding Linemen between Boruke of Mtl and Olafioye of BC. On rookie, i think Westerman will win because Matthews was playing for a bad team Winnipeg.

[Drake]

Chad Owens will win the MVP because he is an Argo.

JC Sherritt is lock for DPOY.

Jon Cornish is lock for Canadian.

Chris Williams takes it because of the TD return record. Tim Brown had an average season, Rene Paredes should have come out of the West as he only missed three field goals all year.

Chris Matthews is a stud who had an fantastic rookie season. He'll win it. He will be NFL bound in no time too. Great find by Joe Mack. Jabar Westerman beating Xavier Fulton is an absolute joke. Westerman is a good player but he was mostly a backup. Fulton started all year at one of the hardest positions if not the hardest in all of football (LEFT TACKLE) and had a very good year.

IMO it would have come down between Jovan Olafioye and Dimitri Tsoumpas. So Jovan Olafioye wins it.

[howard_the_duck]

I think the all purpose yards stat is vastly overrated. Darren Sproles led the NFL last year in all purpose yards, does that make him the MVP?

Cornish is far and away the CFL's best back. He was easily the MOP this year in my mind.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

I agree with all of Drake's picks but I would not be surprised at all to see Cornish win it. If it was an MVP award, Cornish would be a lock. The MOP perhaps makes it lean in favor of Owens