Grey Cup: Saturday night update
Saturday, November 18, 2006 | 08:10 PM ET
Quick Saturday night update:
Most disgusting sight at Grey Cup weekend came in Saturday’s post-practice Alouette interviews. I was talking to Tim Strickland. Nearby was Adriano Belli, wearing a hideous pair of black shorts. While Belli answered questions, offensive linemen Paul Lambert and Luke Fritz snuck up behind him and pulled them down.
Adriano, wear something underneath, okay?
=====
The most impressive thing about Dave Dickenson is not the way he dismantled Saskatchewan last Sunday. The most impressive thing about him is the way he handles the question.
“Dave, can you win the big one?” (or some variation thereof).
Dickenson backed up Jeff Garcia when Calgary won the 1998 game, pulling down a high snap on the game-winning field goal. He started in 1999, a gusty performance in a loss to Hamilton where the Tiger-Cats butchered him all day long.
The new millennium brought him heartbreak. Until the West Final, he hadn’t won a playoff game, going 0-3 and watching in 2003, injured, unable to help his Lions in Toronto. Privately, Dickenson seethes at the questions, although he tries his hardest to answer honestly. Days before the Roughrider romp, he openly admitted that if the Lions didn’t win, he was probably gone.
Dickenson’s future is still unclear, but his legacy can be cemented in hours. He is a surefire Hall-of-Famer, the most accurate passer in CFL history, a tough little guy who has overcome some brutal hits.
My prediction is that this will be his day. This B.C. Lions team is just too good, too focused, too talented to blow it now. Beginning to end, they have been the best team in the CFL – by far.
But remember: Montreal comes in playing its best football of the year, and Dickenson was injured twice in two games against the Alouettes. The Lions’ edge is that they have Buck Pierce as backup, a quarterback, who, as a runner, is even more dangerous than Dickenson.
Biggest key for the Alouettes: getting pressure against a great B.C. line with just four men coming. While Saskatchewan’s pass pressure is basic – they send the same four (great) rushers at you and bet you can’t beat them, a bet the Roughriders lost badly in the final – the Alouettes change up all the time. And, they run a great delay blitz with a linebacker, waiting a second or two to send him at the qb.
But, if that doesn’t work, and the Alouettes are forced to send five or six men at Dickenson, that means one-on-one coverage. That’s not going to work out well for Montreal. In the words of Anwar Stewart, “If we don’t get pressure, we’re dead.”
I’m cheering for a close game (better for the viewers), but I like B.C.
« Previous Post | Main | Next Post »
This discussion is now Open. Submit your Comment.
Post a Comment
From the Pressbox »
About the Author
Elliotte Friedman is the host of the CFL ON CBC. Prior to being named host in 2006, Friedman worked on the CFL on CBC broadcasts for the three seasons as a sideline reporter. A Toronto native, Friedman is well known for his additional work on Hockey Night in Canada, as well as his presence on the Torino 2006 Winter Games telecasts as a hockey reporter. Prior to joining the CBC, Friedman worked at The Score network and was widely regarded as one of the best reporters in the country. Friedman used his reporting skills to break stories and file feature reports for high profile events including six Stanley Cup Finals, four Grey Cup Championships, two World Series and one Olympic Games. He is also a regular on the nationally syndicated Prime Time Sports radio telecast, hosted by Bob McCown.
Recent Posts
- Fall of the Argos can be traced back to Austin firing
- Friday, September 12, 2008
- Rejuvenated Matthews a good choice to revive Argos
- Tuesday, September 9, 2008
- Things I’ll never forget about Beijing 2008
- Tuesday, August 26, 2008
- Never let your emotions cloud your judgment
- Thursday, August 21, 2008
- Cheering for Priscilla Lopes-Schliep
- Tuesday, August 19, 2008
- Subscribe to From the Pressbox
Archives
- September 2008 (2)
- August 2008 (4)
- July 2008 (1)
- June 2008 (1)
- May 2008 (5)
- April 2008 (11)
- February 2008 (3)
- January 2008 (5)
- December 2007 (2)
- November 2007 (3)
- October 2007 (3)
- September 2007 (5)
- August 2007 (3)
- July 2007 (8)
- June 2007 (3)
- May 2007 (2)
- April 2007 (3)
- February 2007 (3)
- January 2007 (2)
- December 2006 (4)
- November 2006 (10)
