So, yes, I watched another CFL football game this Sunday, rather than watching my Giants (I assumed that they were going to lose, admittedly).
And it turned out to be a pretty good game!
The 10-1 Calgary Stampeders, the best team in the league so far this season, visited the Montreal Alouettes, hoping to stay hot this season, although they has an injury depleted lineup.
Despite Calgary being at less than 100%, and also, since the eastern teams have struggled mightily this season against the western conference teams, I figured that they would have a good chance of winning, since Montreal has not shown much this season, particularly on offense.
But they did on this day! The Alouettes took a solid 15-1 lead (I still can't get over how you can score 1 point with touchbacks in Canadian Football!) in the first half, before Calgary was able to get a touchdown just before the half ended to close the margin to 15-8.
Touchdowns like that can be very dispiriting for the team that had dominated the first half, as the Alouettes had, and I was wondering how Montreal would respond.
When Calgary tied it up, it seemed like the inevitable come from behind victory for the Stampeders was well on it's way. Calgary had pulled off one of the biggest comeback wins in history the previous weekend, overcoming a 29-3 lead by Toronto to ultimately win the game, 40-33! Surely, they would find a way to erase Montreal's measly fifteen point halftime lead to win, like they have been doing throughout this season, right?
Not so, however! The Alouettes rallied after that, taking the lead again with a field goal in the third quarter, then producing 13 points in the fourth quarter (they apparently only averaged 18 points coming into this game) to ultimately clinch the 31-15 win.
Montreal quarterback Jonathan Crompton (college football fans might remember him from Tennessee) completed 20 of 28 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns (which are apparently also known as "majors", at least according to the two broadcasters covering the game).
Drew Tate completed 15 of 30 passes for 152 yards and no touchdowns, with one interception, in a losing cause for Calgary.
So, Montreal, who needed this win to keep pace with the other eastern teams that had won, found a way to get a rare win over a dominant Calgary squad that still owns the best record in the CFL!
Moreover, it was the third straight win by an eastern team over western conference teams on the weekend, which is highly unusual. A narrow win by the Saskatchewan Rough Riders over the Ottawa Redblacks, 35-32, prevented the clean sweep.
Still, this weekend belonged went to the eastern conference teams, for a change. The Toronto Argonauts recovered from the devastating loss to the Stampeders the previous weekend to down the British Columbia Lions 40-23 in Vancounver, while the Hamilton Tiger-Cats managed to hold off the Edmonton Eskimos, 25-23 at home.
One thing that has also struck me about watching the few Canadian Football league games that I've had access to so far is not only the changes in uniforms from week to week (or so it seems to me), but that they have different helmet from week to week! It seems that each team has different helmets for home and road games, or for special occasions. Calgary always had these red helmets with the outline of a running stallion in white profile on the sides, but they had the same design with black helmets, and not a trace of red, this time around. Montreal sported their usual helmets, although the last game that I saw them in, they had a helmet that was different colors, and had the letters MTL. Frankly, I hope the Alouettes ditch those particular helmets permanently, because those were sinfully ugly!
It also appears that each team has different helmets for different occasions (except for Toronto, that I have not noticed a difference with yet), and it just struck me as odd, although quite possibly, quite innovative. Just something that I thought I'd mention, more as an outside observer than anything else.
One thing that has also struck me about watching the few Canadian Football league games that I've had access to so far is not only the changes in uniforms from week to week (or so it seems to me), but that they have different helmet from week to week! It seems that each team has different helmets for home and road games, or for special occasions. Calgary always had these red helmets with the outline of a running stallion in white profile on the sides, but they had the same design with black helmets, and not a trace of red, this time around. Montreal sported their usual helmets, although the last game that I saw them in, they had a helmet that was different colors, and had the letters MTL. Frankly, I hope the Alouettes ditch those particular helmets permanently, because those were sinfully ugly!
It also appears that each team has different helmets for different occasions (except for Toronto, that I have not noticed a difference with yet), and it just struck me as odd, although quite possibly, quite innovative. Just something that I thought I'd mention, more as an outside observer than anything else.
In any case, if you'd like to check for updates on the goings on in the CFL, including articles and highlights available for each of the games, as well as a lot of other information, click on this link below to access the official website for the league:
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