The 2014 CFL season was unique in many ways for the league and the fans alike. For the first time since 2005, professional football was played in the nation’s capital with the return of the Ottawa Redblacks. Every expected starting quarterback was hurt this season, leaving room for many back-ups to blossom. A defensive player won the Most Outstanding Player Award for the first time, and a great Canadian who missed half the season with a dinged up head led the league in rushing.
It was a funny season on the field for the players, but also a strange one for the men dressed like zebras. Clearly, someone forgot to tell the officials that they weren’t at the International Orange Nylon Throwing Competition, because it seemed like their main goal was to see who can throw the most flags this season.
Penalties were given out like candy on Halloween, but this season they had the right to be called back on a coach’s challenge. If a flag was thrown, another flag was thrown to remove the first thrown flag. Too much flag throwing. It was mishandled by the league and it led to the Grey Cup being taken away from the underdog Hamilton Tiger-Cats. When Taylor Reed was penalized for an illegal block, Brandon “Money in the” Banks’s punt return to the house with a minute left was negated.
Without the flick of the wrist and the cloth flying through the air and onto the field, one of the best finishes in Grey Cup history would have happened right then and there. Brandon Banks would have become an instant hero in Hamilton and even across the country. The Grey Cup would have been won on a 90-yard punt return.
But, no, the striped men decided to ruin the party with some orange flags. Instead of the punt return being among the top plays of 2014, it will go down as one of the worst plays of 2014. The sideline official didn’t abide by the number one rule in officiating across all sports: when it comes down to crunch time, especially in the playoffs or a championship game, swallow your whistle and put your flags away.
If you ever watch the NHL playoffs, the FIFA World Cup, or the Super Bowl, the officiating becomes lenient and minor infractions are let go. This speeds up the pace of the game and infuriates the crowd, leading to a higher energy in a louder building. Speed + energy+ noise = one amazing sport to watch. Heck, even in the Vanier Cup, the officials let countless pass interference plays go; either they were bad referees or they were really experienced. Either way, the Vanier Cup was exciting because of this.
For 2015, the new CFL commissioner needs to put officiating as his number one priority on his new agenda. Letting some calls go will shorten the almost 3-and-a-half-hour game time and make the game more exciting for the younger fans, as well as the fans who lost interest in the league this season.
Another thing the new commish needs to fix is the number of quarterback injuries. Travis Lulay, Mike Reilly, Bo-Levi Mitchell, Drew Willy, Darian Durant, Henry Burris, Ricky Ray, Zach Collaros and Troy Smith were expected to be the number one pivots this season for their teams. Lulay started one game with two shoulder injuries while Smith suffered a broken hand early in the season then was cut as soon as he was healthy. Durant’s season was cut short because of an elbow injury and Ricky Ray missed the last start of the season with a concussion. Four of the nine quarterbacks didn’t finish the season.
It’s safe to say that the 2014 CFL season wasn’t a good one for them. Without Anthony Calvillo, the league was in desperate need for a superstar behind center, a new, young, exciting one.
In came Mitchell, Collaros, arguably even Jonathan Crompton. Mitchell and Collaros were the starting QBs at the Grey Cup and the country had the chance to watch a new brand of quarterbacks appear on center stage. Mitchell and Collaros can both run and take hits as well as any slotback. Crompton and his Locks of Love hair didn’t put on the same performance as the other two did, but fans across Canada people surely loved watching his collected control in Montreal’s backfield.
It wasn’t a fun year for the men who stand right near these pivots, the running backs. The league’s leading rusher, Jon Cornish, missed total of eight games with two separate concussions, but managed to dash for 1068 yards. Breakout running backs Anthony Allen of Saskatchewan and John White of Edmonton were the next two rushers with 930 and 852 yards, respectively. Then there was Nic Grigsby, the man who was leading the league in rushing touchdowns before being mysteriously released from Winnipeg and picked up by Hamilton. Luckily for him, he ended up in the Grey Cup.
The 2014 CFL season was dominated by the defence. Lions’ linebacker Solomon Elimimian set a new single-season tackles record with 143, 12 more than JC Sherritt’s record mark in 2012. John Chick and Ricky Foley terrorized the opposing QB with 27 sacks between them. A new face appeared in the East with Bear Woods and his ginger-coloured dreadlocks hitting everything that moved; the charismatic leader should be one of the faces of the league for the next few years.
For my first season covering the CFL, the 2014 CFL season was one-of-a-kind and there was a lot to write about. From Chad Johnson signing with the Alouettes to the called-back punt return touchdown by Brandon Banks in the dying moments of the Grey Cup, this season won’t be forgotten for a while. We’ll look forward to a great 2015 season where the game itself becomes slightly more exciting with fewer interjections from the officials.
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