Not so fast Double D: Why Burris is still the top pivot in the West
Heading into the 2010 CFL season, fans wondered if this was the year the torch would be passed from Henry Burris to Darian Durant.
After all, last season Durant and the Saskatchewan Roughriders didn’t lose a game to the Calgary Stampeders and Durant matched up well against Burris in head-to-head meetings. It was a common opinion that Durant’s stock was rising, while Burris’ stock was on the decline.
This season, however, Burris has shown he is not quite ready to be surpassed by Durant just yet.
After Durant started off strong this season and Burris started off slow, Burris has rebounded nicely and is now outplaying Durant. Calgary’s recent success and Saskatchewan’s recent struggles certainly reflect this.
The change in each team’s fortunes started in Week 4, when the 3-0-0 Riders travelled to Calgary to take on the 2-1-0 Stampeders.
At this point, Durant had gone 62/ 101, for 941 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception on the season, while Burris had gone 71/111, for 788 yards, five touchdowns and six interceptions. Durant was not only outplaying Burris, but he was a leading candidate early in the season for the most outstanding player award.
Burris and the Stampeders are outplaying the Riders right now.
As a team, the Riders had already beaten the powerhouse Montreal Alouettes and had earned victories over two West Division foes: the Edmonton Eskimos and the British Columbia Lions. Calgary, on the other hand, had earned their two victories over East Division opponents. In fact, they had not played a West opponent until this point of the season. Because of this reason, many fans felt the Stampeders’ record was deceivingly-high and they would get a wakeup call the hands of the Green and White.
There was a wakeup call in the game, but it was delivered to Saskatchewan instead. Tied at seven going into the second half, Calgary exploded for 33 second half points and stunned the Riders 40-20. Durant threw one touchdown and three interceptions, while Burris tossed four touchdowns and two interceptions.
This was really a turning point in the season so far for both teams. Suddenly, Calgary is red-hot. The team is currently riding a five-game winning streak and sit first place in the West comfortably at 7-1-0. Saskatchewan is stone cold, dropping two of its last four games. Last week, both facing 1-6-0 teams, Calgary easily took care of B.C. while Saskatchewan lost in the dying minutes against the Eskimos.
The rise and fall of each team has had a lot to due with the play of the quarterbacks. Stats-wise, Durant was outperforming earlier in the season. Now, not so much. Burris’ numbers on the season are: 183/281, for 2,226 yards, 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Durant’s numbers on the season are: 177/301, for 2,474 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Besides yards and interceptions, Burris is leading Durant in almost all categories. He has more completions, a better completion percentage, more touchdown passes and a better quarterback rating.
Has Burris been perfect? Not exactly. Though his team is on a five-game winning streak, there have been some close calls. But, he is doing what Durant is having trouble doing currently, winning.
The fact that Burris is leading in the league in touchdown passes and has cut down somewhat on the interceptions just show how much he has improved since his early-season struggles. Since Week 4, he is averaging close to 300 passing yards a game. More importantly, he and the Stampeders are doing what they failed to do early in the season, attack opposing defences deep. Some of these deep throws have led to interceptions, but in the process Calgary has become far more explosive on offence. With Ken-Yon Rambo back and Nik Lewis and Romby Bryant playing well, Burris has tons of hot targets to throw the ball to.
Burris has also been using his feet more effectively to buy his receivers time, something Durant was doing well earlier in the season.
Durant has averaged a decent amount of passing yards a game in the last four weeks, but his interception total has skyrocketed. Not all of these interceptions have been his fault, but the fact is it is an area that continues to be a concern for Durant. For all of the beautiful touchdowns he will throw on the run, he is starting to throw just as many interceptions in general. His team has suffered as a result. In their stunning loss to Edmonton last week, Durant deserved most of the blame.
With Saskatchewan playing relatively week foes recently, they haven’t exactly looked impressive. Once again, this has something to do with Durant. Against teams with winning records, Montreal and Calgary, Durant has thrown for over 400 yards a game. Against teams with non-winning records, Edmonton, B.C., Hamilton, he is throwing for less than 250 passing yards a game.
Now, it is too early to right off Durant just yet, but the fact that Burris is outplaying him at all is surprising. Heading into the season, with all of Calgary’s losses and Saskatchewan’s gains, to see Calgary playing so well and Saskatchewan playing so poorly is something no one would have expected.
Saskatchewan is not out the race for first in the West yet. Calgary still has to travel to Saskatchewan twice this season and play the Montreal Alouettes twice. However, if the Riders hope to get match-up against the Stampeders, Durant will need to improve. With similar defences and special teams units, Durant and the offence will need to outshine Calgary’s offence to win in the future.
Durant may be an up-and-coming star, but for now Burris looks content to hold onto his elite quarterback status.
Follow Hamelin’s work on Facebook and Twitter.
Related Posts:
Category: Top Stories
About the Author
An aspiring journalist who has a freelance contract with the Regina Leader-Post and is a veteran online CFL columnist. Hamelin currently attends the University of Regina and is enrolled in the pre-journalism program. After this year, he will apply for the school of journalism. Hamelin has had work published in his highschool paper, university paper, Regina's paper and a number of online sites. For a look at all of his work, visit http://jonathansjournalismportfolio.webs.com/View Author Profile
Wow… I'll bet that hurt to write. Well written though! I also wouldn't give Durant ALL the blame for the loss last week. Edmonton's defense finally played a game worthy of calling professional.
Ha ha. Didn't hurt that much to write. I have been dissapointed in Durant. He hasn't been the explosive player we were promised. Edmonton's defence was alright but Durant just wasn't right.
oh, i think burris is the best qb in the cfl.
calvillo isn't anymoire because montreal is aging rapidly and calvillo is getting sacked more and more and because he is 38 he can't really run anymore from all the years of getting hit and running build up.
until, what finally i was waiting to happen happened when calvillo went down… and didn't get back up.
now, calvillo is still a good quarterback but he is only a fraction of what he once was even from last year, there has been a significant drop in his perfomance. imo, anyways.
calvillo is still the best pivot in the east. however, kevin glenn has had two breakout years with the ti-cats and is rapidly improving and with his new found ability to start running the ball and him being a witty veteran qb. it is increasing his stock while calvillo's goes down.
so, i ask you this do yu think glenn will be the best qb in the east when calvillo retires or even by next year?
and
Is Burris going to be by next year in the west or as i believe in the cfl?
Brandon: I think Glenn has the same sort of issue as Durant. They will both make great passes but then throw interceptions. Glenn has had potential to be elite for a couple of years now. Will he finally reach that level? I'm really not sure.
Sorry Jonathan, but Glenn does not have the same issue as Durant. Glenn has thrown 14 touchdowns this year against seven interceptions, pretty decent numbers and if he keeps it up, will lead to a career year for him. Durant on the other hand has 11 touchdown strikes and league leading 12 picks. That's a heck of a difference.
Fair enough.
wow, somebody coming to my defence for a change. although i'm going to agree with you on this one jon, gleen and durant are very similair qb's. the noly thing that seperates them is the ability to run when there is nobody open.