I was just about to post that if James Johnson didn’t get game MVP it would be a horrible injustice, but he just got named MVP.
In all his time in Ottawa, I always said “Give Kerry Joseph an offensive line and a defence and he can win a Grey Cup”.
Congratulations to the Riders.
Congrats Riders and Rider fans.
It was a gritty and entertaining game from beginning to end. The victory was well earned.
Y’all don’t forget that tomorrow’s a work day.
Ironically, Joseph didn’t throw very well. But he was good enough.
A much closer game than I expected, but the better team won.
I usually am not invested in the CFL, but my good friend from home is plays for Saskatchewan!!! YEAH FANTUZ #83!!! I’m soooo happy for him!
All I can say after that nail-biter: “It ain’t easy being green…”
the Riders are famous for nail-biting wins (and losses).
But they did it!
I only saw maybe 1/4 of the game but I have a question for you CFL experts out there.
Just after the halftime show CBC showed a clip of a bizarre play and as I recall, team A attempts a field goal, which is wide right and a player on team B catches it and promptly punts the other way, caught by a player on team A who repunts it back in its original direction, caught by a player on team B who punts it back the other way again and team A runs with it and gets tackled. But then there was a penalty on team B so team A got another try for the winning FG. When was this play, who was involved, and why did they kick it back and forth like that? All I can think of is that team B punted to avoid giving up the single point and team A punted it back to try for the single. Is such a play still legal?
That play involved Saskatchewan (who won last night). I don’t recall who the other team was. You’re right that the basis of the play was the single point; it was the last play of a tie game, so if the offense had been able to kick the ball through the end zone, they’d score a single point and win. This is why the Riders were just trying to get the ball into the end zone, and the other team was just trying to get it out.
The penalty that was called is “no yards”, which is a rule that the kicking team must not be within 5 yards of the receiver when he fields a punt.
Canadian football still shows its rugby roots more than US football. For example, the entire end zone is a goal zone on kicks. A field goal is 3 points, but if the kicking team doesn’t get it through the uprights, and the ball stays in the end zone, the kicking team gets a single point.
To prevent that from happening, the receiving team always has one player in the end zone on field goal attempts to catch a ball if it goes wide.
If the ball’s wide and the receiving player catches the ball, he can concede a single point, or he can try to get it out - usually he tries to run it out, but he can also kick it out. That’s what happened in that play.
The risk in a kick, of course, is that the original kicking team might recover it, and try to kick it back in and get the single point.
Thanks for the info. One more question: how about if the ball is kicked all the way through the end zone? Are those singles too, or must the ball be downed in the end zone?
All the way through is a single.
Interesting rules, thanks for clarifying. I watch a little CFL on and off and always wondered about that. So mathematically the correct strategy seems to be that if it’s third down and your kicker has less than 1/3 chance to make that FG, then you might as well let the punter kick it as far as he can. Unless of course you need 3 points at the time.
If you’re beyond reasonable field goal range, it’s unlikely your punter can put it through the end zone. Remember the goalposts are on the goal line not 10 yards back, and the end zone is 20 yards deep. A decent kicker can hit with reasonable frequency out to about 50 yards, at which point you’re looking at 70 yards to push it through the end zone on a punt.
If you’re after points, any points, even 1 is good, there’s no reason not to line up for the field goal and at least have a chance for 3. Your placekicker can probably kick the ball as far as the punter anyways and there’s no real downside, unlike the NFL where the defense gets the ball at the point of the unsuccessful field goal attempt. The reason to punt would be if you’re more interested in pinning the other team deep than you are in a point or three.
Unless it’s near the end of a close game, the one point isn’t all that important.
I’d say the usual strategy is to try and punt it out of bounds as close to the end zone line as possible to give the opponent bad field position. In fact, the receiving team will usually elect to give up the single point and take the better field position rather than try and run it out and end up with crappy field position.
I think it’s funny that when they intend to punt it back out the man receiving the punt will be the punter rather than the usual kick-return specialist.
How’s Toronto looking this morning? Got to wondering about that–no doubt the Rider fans had a celebration and the Bomber fans had a wake, so how does the downtown look today? Littered with Pilsner cans and bottles? 
It was a good game. The first half was a little “meh” but the second was sure exciting. The Bombers were a lot better than I expected–and it looked as if the Riders found them to be tougher than expected.
I must say, I was surprised at how little interest was shown here in Calgary. No, the Stamps weren’t in the game, but as I said upthread, there was a time when the Grey Cup stopped the country for three hours on a November Sunday afternoon. I was at my local Calgary sports bar yesterday, and the place sure wasn’t full. (Mind, it wasn’t quite empty either.) Anyway, while most of the TVs were on the Grey Cup, a few were showing the Denver-Chicago NFL game and a few more were showing the Calgary-St. Louis NHL game. My Friendly Neighbourhood Barman had started out with all TVs on the Grey Cup but had been been asked by a few patrons to change a couple of TVs over. I was surprised–there was a time when the place would have been packed with CFL fans and such a request would have been met with a “You’re kidding, right?”
Oh well. I sure enjoyed the game.
It was a good game. Well done, Riders.
My husband tells me that’s a pussy way to win.
YAY RIDERS!!!
(I had to take my flag off my car for the highway driving, but it’s back on now, flying proudly.)