HELLO, Kenny Lawler. What do your obviously very effective practice drills entail? Having greased-up lake trout fired over your head from a cannon? Leaping up to grab bald eagles as they fly by?
There is no such thing as a 50/50 ball when Kenny Lawler is in the area. There is only a one word question: How?
Here are the Week 6 takeaways.
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WHY, MAN, HE DOTH BESTRIDE THE NARROW WORLD LIKE A COLOSSUS
He has big, big shoulders.
I half-expected BC’s James Butler to ditch his post-game media conference because ‘I just need to go lie down for a bit.’
The Lions’ tailback treated us to one of the great workhorse efforts in modern CFL history in his team’s 34-14 win in Edmonton on Sunday night, clocking out with 30 rushes (just two off the club record set by Jim Evenson in 1968) for a total of 172 yards in his ceaseless attack.
For context and comparison, the CFL record for carries in a game is 37, set by Toronto running back Doyle Orange in 1975. (MID TAKEAWAY BONUS TAKEAWAY: CFL teams really, really loved running the ball in 1975 as two of the players tied for third in the category with 34 rushes are Saskatchewan’s George Reed and Calgary’s Wille Burden, who also set their marks during that season)
James Butler left. James Butler Right. James Butler middle.
James Butler with a catch out in the flat (three catches on five targets for 35 yards, 31 of that YAC).
It got to the point where I exclaimed “for the love of God, give the man a break, don’t they have anyone else who can run the ball?”
I needn’t have worried. James Butler seems to love the workload as he was pretty spry in that post-game media interview.
He was last seen on the tarmac at the Edmonton airport, jogging towards the Lions’ charter, pulling a train of loaded baggage carts behind him.
SLEEP IS OVERRATED
So the Calgary Stampeders had to scramble to find accommodations in Regina when Friday night’s game was postponed to Saturday, due to poor air quality from smoke.
Apparently, many of them had to pile in together, four to a dorm room, for the night. Enjoy your cots, gentlemen!
Despite the aggravation they left Mosaic Stadium with a 24-10 win over the Roughriders because A): they just don’t lose in Saskatchewan and B): A good night’s rest is optional, not mandatory.
Sure, they hit the snooze button a couple times, giving up an early interception and then a fumble too, but after that?
Good stuff in every phase, all over the field.
Apparently, head coach Dave Dickenson referred to the four-game stretch the Stamps are currently in as “the gauntlet.”
So far, it’s Calgary two, gauntlet no score.
A QUESTION HAS ARISEN
Who wants to play the Calgary Stampeders right now?
Bueller….
Bueller….
Bueller….
BONUS TAKEAWAY: Bueller….
THEIR DEFENCE IS JOINING THE PARTY
So far this season, most of the Ticat talk has centred around just how good that Hamilton offence is looking in 2025.
In Saturday’s win over Ottawa, the defence turned in a pretty good “look at me” effort, especially after first giving up a touchdown on the REDBLACKS’ opening drive.
Following that and for the most part, it became clear that the unit was in a comfortable place, locking things down pretty good while the offence searched for ways to effectively combat Ottawa’s “we’d rather not get beaten by the long ball” defensive strategy. (MID-TAKEAWAY BONUS TAKEAWAY: That strategy was working well with the exception of Kenny Lawler‘s greased pig/bald eagle practice regimen paying off big on a stoooopid-good 44-yard touchdown reception.)
Couple of sacks, four tackles for loss, two interceptions from corner Jamal Peters, eight knockdowns… pretty much everybody got into the fray. And at a high velocity, too.
THE MESSAGE IS: GET IT TOGETHER
The REDBLACKS could have come away with the win on Saturday night, with a cleaner performance, it’s true.
A fumbled punt turned the tide on the late-game field position battle, as did an interception. Remove those blemishes from their effort and the REDBLACKS might well have come out of Hamilton with a unifying win, one complete with a bit of a blueprint on how to keep the potent Hamilton passing offence mostly under wraps.
“I never question their fight or their compete level,” Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce told the media afterward. “But competing’s not enough. You gotta execute when the game’s on the line.
“Get it together,” said Ottawa SAM Adarius Pickett when asked what message he might have for the team. “There’s no way, with the talent that we have, that we should be sitting here at one-and-five. But we are.”
“We haven’t played *our* football yet,” Pickett added.
In Week 7, the REDBLACKS get a chance to tackle that mission in a crucial game as they face the Ticats again, this time in The Capital.
AND FINALLY… Kenny Lawler‘s catch radius: The entirety of the area code he’s in at the time. And all the neighbouring ones as well.