It was certainly a memorable opening week in the CFL. Montreal and Saskatchewan delivered one of the most exciting regular season games ever. Winnipeg proved they are no slouches and the B.C. earned a big road victory over Edmonton. Each week, CFL Daily Dose will share their power rankings. There is no complicated formula that goes along with these rankings.
1) Saskatchewan Roughriders (1-0-0, Last Week: N/A)
Saskatchewan’s epic 54-51 double overtime victory over Montreal in Week 1 proved a couple things. Mainly, their offence is stacked with talent and they are not going to falter even when they are behind by a lot of points. Their defensive secondary struggled last week, but they were facing one of the best receiving cores in the league.
2) Montreal Alouettes (0-1-0, LW: N/A)
They lost in Week 1, but the defending Grey Cup champions didn’t exactly look terrible in the lose. At times, Anthony Calvillo picked Saskatchewan’s defence apart. The offence will have to go back to the running game more, as Avon Cobourne only had 10 carries. One area concern for the Alouettes is the defence. The Riders had 478 passing yards and 179 rushing yards on them last week.
3) Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1-0-0, LW: N/A)
Where did the Bombers come from! With almost no one really giving them a chance in Week 1, Winnipeg stunned the CFL by topping Hamilton by 20 points. The offence and defence were both solid for the Bombers. If Buck Pierce continues his resurgence under centre, Winnipeg will go far this season.
4) B.C. Lions (1-0-0, LW: N/A)
Jamal Robertson is a tank! In his first regular season game with the Lions, the running back racked up 168 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. The rest of their offence wasn’t overly impressive, but they didn’t have any turnovers. The real impressive thing in the game was the performance of B.C.’s defence. They caused five turnovers and limited Edmonton to ten points at home.
5) Calgary Stampeders (1-0-0, LW: N/A)
A win is a win, but Calgary could have done much better at home against the woeful Toronto Argonauts. Toronto was actually marching to tie the game before Malik Jackson returned a fumble for a touchdown. Henry Burris, Joffrey Reynolds and Romby Bryant had solid games, but the Stampeders need to be more consistent on offence.
6) Hamilton Tiger-Cats (0-1-0, LW: N/A)
Hamilton is better than they played in Week 1, but it definetly was a surprising loss. Their big guns, Arland Bruce III, De’Andra Cobb and Arland Bruce, were held in check. Remember, the Tiger-Cats did lose to Toronto in Week 1 last season and finished the season second in the East. Marcus Thigpen was exceptional in the return game, picking up two touchdowns.
7) Edmonton Eskimos (0-1-0, LW: N/A)
That certainly wasn’t the start Edmonton’s fan were looking for or expecting. The Eskimos only put up 10 points at home in their season opener. Ricky Ray had decent stats, but he really failed to stretch the defence. The Eskimos had a solid run defence in 2009, but couldn’t stop Robertson from running all over them.
8) Toronto Argonauts (0-1-0, LW: N/A)
They didn’t do as poorly as some expected, but that might be a testament to how average Calgary is this season. Cleo Lemon was average under centre, throwing 192 yards a touchdown and an interception. The lack of the running game has got be a concern for the Argonauts.
July 7th, 2010 at 7:51 AM
I guess if you’re making your power rankings on one quarter of play, then your rankings are pretty good! What are your criteria for making these rankings? Is it just opinion or do you have some sort of ranking system?
If you are using stats, the #1 and #2 Teams had the worst defensive outings of any of the teams. They both looked awful. You based BC’s on one players ability to run the ball, and you based Calgary and Toronto’s on your assumption that Toronto is an awful team.
For all around play after one game, I think you’d have to give the #1 ranking to Winnipeg. After that, there are a lot of question marks as to who would go where.
Of course I am biased, so I think Calgary would be higher, but I welcome a low ranking so people underestimate the Stamps. If you actually watched the game, you’d notice the Time of possession was insanely lopsided. So it doesn’t make sense that the Stamps didn’t put up more points. But were the Stampeders ever out of control of that game? The Argos defense is better than the Stamps assumed, but the play calling was clearly one that didn’t need to get super creative. The “questionable” defense wasn’t hugely tested so I’m interested in going up against a good offense.
So if Montreal or Saskatchewan went against a top defense, do you think they would have the same outcome?
July 7th, 2010 at 10:44 AM
I’m not going to get into a long explanation, but I’d love to see anyone argue that Saskatchewan and Montreal aren’t the top two teams in the league. After that, Winnipeg is very close. B.C. would come next because their defence is playing solid and their offence played turnover free football. Calgary comes next because they barely beat Toronto (who, regardless of what you say, is a bad football team). After that, the rankings clearly go Hamilton, Edmonton and Toronto. I may someone be a bit biased towards Saskatchewan, but you are clearly way too biased towards the Calgary Stampeders.
There is no way they should be ranked higher. They struggled to put up points against Toronto and have some major issues.
Still, it is early and hard to rank teams after one week.
July 7th, 2010 at 11:06 AM
A bit biased towards Saskatchewan? You are as biased towards Saskatchewan as I am towards Calgary.
Anyway… We’ll see.
July 7th, 2010 at 11:58 AM
Based on a combination of last year’s result and the team’s performances this past weekend, I have to agree with Jon’s evaluation of where the teams stack up. That being said, it’s still very early in the season and we will probably see a lot of movement on this board in the first three or four weeks of the season as the true contenders start to seperate themselves from the pretenders.
Gizzie Willie recently posted..CFL Roundup 90
July 7th, 2010 at 12:04 PM
Thanks Gizzie,
It is early though. I agree the pretenders and contenders will seperate themselves. Power rankings in Week 1 could easily change. This is because you have to rely on last year’s result early in the season.
Scott: Obviously I am a fan of Saskatchewan, but when it comes to writing I am a general CFL writer. I have written many articles not concerning the Saskatchewan Roughriders at all. Saskatchewan just beat one of the best teams in the league. Who would be ranked ahead of them?
This season I predicted them to win the Grey Cup. Is that a stretch? Not really. They were close to winning it last season and maintained a pretty solid group of players. You predicted Calgary to finish first in the West, saying Saskatchewan wouldn’t be able to get over there player losses. Yet, Calgary had just as many player losses. They were destroyed on the offensive line, traded away their best reciever last year and lost their starting middle linebacker. Saying that Calgary can get past these changes and Saskatchewan can’t is not true.
With that being said, both team’s changes aside, it is hard to argue that Calgary is a better team.
July 7th, 2010 at 4:21 PM
Power rankings after one game are difficult, but I think that Jonathan’s are accurate. What argument is there to put a team that scored 51 points fifth, which is where the CFL’s own power rankings have the Alouettes? None. Montreal was the second best team this week, but just barely (either way, having lost by 3, but only outscoring Winnipeg by 2). It sucks to see your favorite team lower than you would rank them, but if they are really better than they are ranked they will rise up the ladder fast enough.
July 8th, 2010 at 7:17 AM
Jonathan: First off, I am somewhat giving you a hard time. Sask and Montreal did have a heck of a first game, and I won’t deny it. They do deserve to be at the top.
Secondly, I live in Saskatchewan, and I have given more credit to Saskatchewan over the years than most Rider fans do. I knew Durant was going to be the guy, and COULD be the guy when he took over when Crandell got hurt 2 years ago. So I may be biased towards Calgary, but I ALWAYS give Saskatchewan credit. You rarely give credit to the other teams for what they have done to replace. I have watched all the teams in the league very closely to see what has happened. I looked at the players replacing the Rider players and they aren’t great… Can you name the players brought in to replace the O-Line? It’s comments like saying Calgary’s O-Line was “Destroyed” that will lose you credit with players, coaches, and managers. They are as good this year as they were last year. If you had read anything my articles have said, they were a mix and match O-Line last year due to injuries, so even though those players left, there were some strong additions, and will do a job very close to if not as good as the others. THAT’s why I think they will be better than last year because their O-Line had troubles last year.
Lastly, you are definitely justified in saying the Riders will be first. Are the Riders the ONLY serious contender? By no means NO! I do an interview show here in Yorkton, and we interviewed Sports broadcasters from the 4 west cities. Guess how many said Saskatchewan would finish first? One…and it WASN’T Rod Peterson. Rod and two others said Calgary would finish first. So three guys that have been doing this for a long time said Calgary would finish first. So I feel very justified in my pick…Bias aside. Besides I only gave the Stamps one win more that the Riders. I even picked the Riders to beat Montreal! If I was SO biased, I would have given it to Montreal right?
To be honest, I have been fine with almost all of your articles, and the only part that has me the most upset is the fact that you told me to ‘Come on” when I picked Calgary first. I have very good reason to think that, and for you to say that in that manner seemed very unprofessional, and it got my feathers ruffled. That is probably why I was nit-picking at your power rankings. So just know I respect you as a writer, but just pick your words carefully in your responses, because there is a level of professional respect that needs to be there ESPECIALLY when you’re young and breaking in.
So… No hard feelings?
July 8th, 2010 at 7:49 AM
Oh, and just for note… Thought you might find it interesting.
Here are TSN’s Power Rankings. ;)
1. Saskatchewan
2. Calgary
3. BC
4. Winnipeg
5. Montreal
6. Edmonton
7. Hamilton
8. Toronto
July 8th, 2010 at 9:53 AM
No problem Scott,
Saying “Come on Man” was definetly an overexageration. It’s all good, Doesn’t TSN use a formula though?
July 8th, 2010 at 10:52 AM
It looks like TSN uses the same formula, or at least a similar one, that the CFL uses, which factors in Win/Loss as well as offensive and defensive stats. There is an explanation of their formula below their actual rankings.
July 8th, 2010 at 7:13 PM
Yeah they do use a formula, which I think can work at times and not at others. I do think it’s best for keeping bias out of it. I just had to chuckle when I saw it.
July 9th, 2010 at 2:02 PM
That formula will work better later in the season that it does in the first few weeks.