After an embarrassing and dismal start to their season it looks like teams in the East Division have final laid claim to some parity with their counter parts in the West Division. The East has won eight of the last nine games against their West Division rivals.Over the weekend Toronto defeated Edmonton 33 - 32, Hamilton stopped BC Lions 19 - 17 and the Ottawa RedBlacks really took it to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers winning 42 - 20. After a great start to their season the Bombers have gone into a real tailspin. The Bombers who came out of the gate with a five win, one loss record have now fallen to six wins and eight losses. And quarterback Drew Willy who was at one time the toast of the town has fallen to less than ordinary. To be sure it is not all Willy's fault but he has only been a shell of what once was rolling to a 5 - 1 start. Apparently a message has been sent to the Winnipeg players from the coaching staff in essence " Get better or we will get better players.
The speculation is that the Bombers may be looking to swing a major trade prior to the trade deadline.
Who they would give away and who they want remains a mystery but it is apparent the Winnipeg brass feels a shake up may be in order.
In the other weekend game the Saskatchewan RoughRiders lost 31 - 24 to the Calgary Stampeders. In a move that many are calling stupidity, the Riders started Seth Doege at quarterback instead of Tino Sunseri who apparently the powers that be had given up on. Doege throws three interceptions, can barely make a pass let alone complete it, and the Stampeders roll to a 24 - 0 lead. In comes Tino Sunseri and what a show he put on. Sunseri goes 16 for 19 in the passing department, leads the Riders to three touchdowns complete with three perfect two point conversions and suddenly it's a 24 - 24 game. Unfortunately the defence was unable to nail down the win as the Stampeders scored a late touchdown enabled by another ridiculous Rider penalty. This time it was an illegal substitution as a Rider player failed to sit out the mandatory three plays following a injury. That allowed Calgary to keep the drive going and score the winning touchdown. Are the Riders the only team that these avoidable penalties happen to? It sure seems like it.
So now the Riders are off to Montreal for a Thanksgiving day game with the Alouettes. This time there will be no week long debate about who starts at quarterback. It's Tino's team until Darian Durant returns and that's the way it should be.