CFLCFL's mid-season: 10 things we learned

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If quarterback Buck Pierce (4) and his crew can pick up the offensive numbers between now and the playoffs, then there just might be a Cup heading to Winnipeg. (Trevor Hagan/Canadian Press)

As the Canadian Football League heads through the halfway point, CBCSports.ca's Malcolm Kelly takes his annual look at some lessons learned in the first two months.

1. Defence sells tickets. Offence wins championships.

Who knew? This is completely against what pundits have always claimed in football, but it seems to be working nicely in Winnipeg where the stands are packed, the team is 7-1 and the guys on defence are rock stars.

Odell Willis, who has nine sacks to lead the CFL, might never have to pay for another meal in the 'Peg again.

Here's the rub. Among the four serious contenders for a Grey Cup (including Montreal, Calgary and, yes, Hamilton), Big Blue has by far the best defensive numbers matched with the worst offensive ones.

If QB Buck Pierce and crew can up the offensive numbers between now and the playoffs, there just might be a Cup in them hills.

2. Perhaps the way to beat the Alouettes is to beat up one player at a time.

When Mark Estelle was brought down (or horse collared - your choice) by Nik Lewis on a fumble return at Calgary in Week 9, he tore up his knees and will be out for the season.

That's now three outstanding defenders in the Als' backfield gone, including Jerald Brown, who went out at the beginning of the year, and Etienne Boulay, who has concussion difficulties.

The Montreal secondary had some problems defending down the middle last year but worked them out fine. In 2011, however, they have but two interceptions and are giving up almost 300 yards in the air per game.

3. You can renovate a Lemon.

This columnist gave up on Cleo Lemon as a CFL quarterback near the end of last year. Good thing I'm not running the Argonauts because the former long-time NFL backup is starting to get it.

Lemon has completed 66 per cent of his passes in 2011, putting him, wait for it, No. 1 in the CFL. Imagine if new defensive coordinator Orlondo Steinauer can get his side of the ball straightened out.

4. If you build it they will come. Or perhaps not. Or maybe if you build it over here. Or maybe not. Or, hell, let's just start all over again.

Remember when no one wanted to build a new stadium in Hamilton on the Ivor Wynne site because there wasn't enough parking, and it wasn't as good a place for revitalization as, say, the port lands?

Finally they came right back to Balsam and Beechwood and decided to renovate the 1930 pile, home of the prettiest bathrooms in the league. Until, that is, a check of the stadium showed it can't be, you know, renovated.

So now, the city will work with the Tiger-Cats and the Pan Am 2015 folks to knock Ivor Wynne down, change the configuration from west-east to north-south, eliminate a nice little soccer stadium next door, increase parking, and do it for the same money.

Not to mention on time for the 2014 CFL season.

Some of the city councillors are a little confused. So are we.

5. You don't have to teach an old War Horse new tricks.

As advertised, the Calgary Stampeders got off to a slow start (2-2) while they worked out the problems in the defence caused by having to replace both corners.

Management had brought in Greg Fassitt, who bounced around the NFL for four years, and Geoff Tisdale, signed as a free agent after three years in Hamilton, to fill those gaps and then patiently worked them in to the scheme.

Simple and effective method: Make sure you have the right bodies in the right places available at the right time. Onward gallop the White Stallions.

6. Prairie folks aren't supposed to panic in a crisis.

Meanwhile, over to the right of Calgary geographically (certainly not politically), we have the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who hired Greg Marshall as their new head coach to great fanfare, and then fired him just eight games into the season.

I've talked about this before, but this team did not properly replace all the players missing due to free agency and injury, especially on the defensive line, at running back and most urgently at receiver.

And remember, it was hardly a power house last season, losing four of its last five and almost blowing the first playoff game with B.C. Yes, they played well a week later to beat Calgary and make the Grey Cup game, but they weren't very good in losing the big one.

So just what, exactly, were they expecting from this 2011 group that made firing the coach such a necessity?

7. It's not the size of the lake, it's how deep the water.

Russian geography class. The Edmonton Eskimos need to be Lake Baikal, not the Sea of Azov.

The Sea of Azov, attached to the Black Sea, is an impressively large body of water that averages just seven metres in depth. Lake Baikal, on the other hand, is a long, thin thing that averages 744 metres in depth.

Eskimos fans are already with us on this, but for the rest of you, when rebuilding a team the key is to increase your depth, especially in Canadians. So even though things look impressive on the surface at 5-0, as soon as you are hit with a pile of injuries, as Edmonton has been, there's nothing underneath to fill in.

GM Eric Tillman is a master at building properly, and that's why he isn't running around trading futures or cutting works in progress just to push into the playoffs this season. He wants a Grey Cup.

8. Multiple losing seasons are like multiple divorces. Eventually it's your fault.

Changing coaches in mid-season never works in football, and Wally Buono knows that. But the B.C. Lions GM must have wondered at least a couple of times over the last two campaigns whether it was time to fire the head coach - himself.

In 2009, the Lions finished 8-10. Last season, the orange and black opened 1-7 before putting on a great 7-3 finish. This year, they started 1-6 before pounding Edmonton in Week 8.

That's 17-26. If there isn't another late charge by the Leos over the next 10 games, maybe it's time for Wally to divorce the GM job from the head coach spot for 2012.

9. There's a reason why you put the horse before the cart.

This columnist can be hard on CFL commissioner Mark Cohon at times, but boy is he right about not even considering expansion to Atlantic Canada until a stadium is not only planned, but built.

When Cohon came aboard in 2007, getting back to Ottawa seemed assured so a franchise was awarded in 2008.

The city went slowly, a local advocacy group fought tooth and nail to prevent renovation of Frank Clair Stadium, there was a counter proposal for a soccer stadium in Kanata, and all of that delayed things until 2013.

Then this month we learned that it's now going to be 2014. Or maybe, if luck isn't with everyone, 2015. Shovels in the ground by early 2012. That's at least six years of delay.
So cut the Commish a little slack when he says no stadium, no team.

10. There are other places you can expand to. Here's one.

There's a city out there just ripe for a CFL franchise, a picturesque location that features a metro-area population of 609,715 (three times bigger than Regina) in a reasonable climate that isn't too hot, or too cold.

This city is a sports-loving mecca that, among other things, was fifth in the whole Canadian Hockey League last season for attendance, shattered the ticket sales record a few years back for the national figure skating championships, has hosted a Memorial Cup, and boasts a famous, top-level college basketball program.

Best of all, there is an existing stadium of more than 28,000 seats that can easily fit a CFL field with a few small renovations.

Moncton? Halifax? Quebec City? Saskatoon?

Nope. Spokane, Wash.

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