Quarterback Jason Maas was close to being traded back to the Edmonton Eskimos this week, according to several CFL sources.
The sources tell us the Esks actually have agreed to terms on a deal with the Montreal Alouettes, for whom Maas serves as a backup to first-string quarterback Anthony Calvillo.
The deal, however, was put on hold because Calvillo’s wife is expecting a child and could deliver any day now. The Als want Maas around in case Calvillo isn’t available for an important game in Toronto Friday night or for a rematch against the Argonauts next week.
The Argonauts and Alouettes are both 7-7 and the winner of the Friday game will take second place in the Eastern Division.
There’s little doubt that Maas will, sooner or later, return to Edmonton. The Eskimos covet him for the rest of the 2007 schedule because of a season-ending shoulder injury to their first-string quarterback, Ricky Ray.
Stefan LeFors has tried to replace Ray but has been average at best and has not been able to spark his team to a victory.
Maas was the Esks’ starting QB when Ray was in the NFL earlier this decade. Ray and Maas also combined for an outstanding quarterbacking tandem in Edmonton before the latter was traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats before the 2006 season.
In Hamilton, Maas floundered as part of one of the worst teams in CFL history.
• The Ticats, by the way, have a good chance at becoming the first team in CFL history to record two 2-16 seasons.
They finished with a 2-16 record last season and will do so again this season unless they win one of their final four games.
Already mathematically eliminated from the post-season, the Ticats face the Saskatchewan Roughriders twice in the next couple of weeks and then play the B.C. Lions and the Eskimos.
• There are some bizarre differences of opinion coming out of the Ticats’ chief shot-callers.
General manager Marcel Desjardins is saying he believes his team had a good chance of making the playoffs this season.
Coach Charlie Taaffe, however, is saying the Ticats had no realistic shot at the playoffs because this is his first season with the team and because the team included 25 rookies.
“Sometimes,” Taaffe was quoted as saying, “you have to temper enthusiasm with reality.”
Look for Desjardins or Taaffe — or both — to be fired not long after this season.
• The Ticats should, despite all the gloom and doom, emerge with the East’s top rookie.
The pickings are slim throughout the league, but kicker Nick Setta has been mostly reliable and doesn’t appear to have much competition for the choice as top rookie in his division.
The sure-fire rookie of the year in the league, however, will come out of the Western Division. The B.C. Lions’ Cameron Wake, a fierce defensive end who has caused havoc for opposing quarterbacks all season, will be the easy choice as top rookie in the CFL.
• The Ticats’ cohorts in Ontario used to be almost as wretched as them, and not all that long ago, but the Argos have excelled lately and have won three consecutive games.
They also feature the CFL’s top defence.
Oddsmakers favour the Argos by 4.5 points over the Als Friday night, but Toronto coach Michael Clemons takes nothing for granted.
“If (Toronto quarterback) Michael Bishop plays well, that’s the key,” Clemons said. “If Michael plays well and does what he is supposed to do, I think we win the football game. It’s a lot of pressure, but it’s what he wants.
“He has really grown and developed,” Clemons continued. “I don’t think he has yet returned to the form we saw before he got injured. I expect him to stay out of danger a little more, to make a couple of better decisions, and to make another big play or two.
“I am proud of him. But I expect more.”
• Never in the CFL’s history has the league’s top defensive player been a defensive halfback, but that could change this year.
The B.C. Lions are openly touting defensive back Ryan Phillips for the award.Â
Phillips leads the CFL with 10 interceptions — three more than anyone else.
Phillips, incidentally, is the nephew of former NFL and Argos running back Terry Metcalf. He is the cousin of Terry’s son, Eric Metcalf, who also was a star running back in the NFL.
Phillips grew up in Seattle but never saw a CFL game until he played in his first one three years ago. The Lions discovered him in a tryout camp.
The CFL record for most interceptions, incidentally, was 15 — recorded by the Ticats’ Al Brenner in 1972.
• B.C. coach Wally Buono, who has no peers in the CFL, has given the Eskimos bulletin-board material this week by suggesting to reporters that he’d like to use all three of his quarterbacks against Edmonton Saturday.
“We hope we can get up by enough points so that all three can play this week,” Buono said.
Jarious Jackson has been doing a formidable job as the Lions’ QB in recent weeks because of injuries to the team’s top two QBs — Dave Dickenson and Buck Pierce. But Dickenson and Pierce both will be in uniform Saturday.
Buono’s comment may have been made innocently, but some of the Esks apparently interpreted it as the coach taking their defence lightly.
“All it’s going to do is just fire our defence up,” Edmonton defensive back J.R. LaRose proclaimed.
• Every week this season, I make my traditional picks against the spread at the bottom of this column. I went 2-2 last week and am 36-18-2 on the season.
Week 16:
FRIDAY — Montreal at Toronto:
The Argonauts are favoured by 4.5 points. I don’t think this game will be even close. The Alouettes had a rough second half last week against the Pussy-Cats, of all teams. They’re going downhill while the Argos are steadily climbing uphill. TAKE TORONTO MINUS THE 4.5 POINTS.
SATURDAY — B.C. at Edmonton:
The Lions are favoured by 9.5 points. The Lions have three quarterbacks. The Eskimos have none. TAKE THE LIONS MINUS THE 9.5 POINTS.
SUNDAY — Saskatchewan at Hamilton:
The Roughriders are favoured by seven points. And, let’s be honest, that’s not to much to lay on a good team that cares, playing a team whose season ended when it started. . .TAKE SASKATCHEWAN MINUS THE SEVEN POINTS.
SUNDAY — Winnipeg at Calgary:
The Blue Bombers are favoured by four points. Sources say Henry Burris has recovered from his shoulder injury and will be back as the starting quarterback for this one. If that’s true, the Stamps will stop looking like a disorganized high-school team and should prevail. TAKE CALGARY PLUS THE FOUR POINTS.
