The 104th Grey Cup is coming up. Here’s what you need to know and a list of five players to watch.
Five players to watch
Bo Levi Mitchell (quarterback, Calgary): the CFL’s best player on the CFL’s team, the man from Katy, Texas by way of Eastern Washington University is looking for his second Grey Cup championship – he led the Stampeders to the 102nd Grey Cup title two years ago – to solidify his legacy as one of the best quarterbacks in Canadian Football League history. He’s already mentioned in the same breath as Warren Moon, Doug Flutie and his head coach, Dave Dickenson.
Playing behind a very good offensive line, Mitchell, who threw for 365 yards and three touchdowns in a dominant West Final outing against BC, rarely makes mistakes, and has plenty of weaponry on the edges and out of the backfield to get the ball to. He isn’t easily flustered, understands the pressure-cooker environment of playoffs, and, this season, has made an art form out of dissecting the very best defences the rest of the CFL can throw at him. Sunday has all the hallmarks of being a career day for the Texan.
Henry Burris (quarterback, Ottawa): as forty-one-year-old Burris goes, so do the Redblacks and against a fearsome Calgary defence, the Spiro, Oklahoma native needs to play the game of his life. He was very good in the snowy East Final against Edmonton (15-26 for 246 yards and two touchdowns), but as good as the Eskimos defence got late in the season, he’s going to need to step up once more, because the Stampeders are not going to make his life easy.
Despite an up and down year, some of it spent on the sidelines in favour of back-up Trevor Harris, Burris is a veteran and he knows what big games are all about. He’s a 2-time Grey Cup champion and won the Grey Cup MVP in 2008, ironically with Calgary, and knows what needs to be done. The definite underdogs, Ottawa’s success will be determined by how careful Burris is with the football.
Jerome Messam (running back, Calgary): the Canadian Football League’s best running back, and the author of a spectacular 1000-yard season, the pride of Brampton, Ontario has flourished in his first season with the Stampeders. Messam is as big as a truck, and he goes looking for contact whenever he’s toting the football. Strongly-built, he’s not an easy man to bring down, and if he gets into the open field, with space, watch out.
The great thing for Calgary is that despite his gaudy numbers, Messam is something of a second choice in their offensive game plan. It’s throw early and often, with Bo Levi Mitchell at the controls, and Mitchell’s accuracy to his skilled position player weapons invariably opens up space for Messam to run, and that’s bad news for defences. Watch for him to be particularly lethal off of play-action in the run game, and he’s an underrated receiver out of the backfield. If Messam has a big day, a hundred yards or more, Calgary will win.
Charleston Hughes (defensive tackle, Calgary): perhaps the best defensive lineman in the Canadian Football League, Hughes, from Saginaw, Michigan, is the emotional centre of the Stampeders defence, recording sixteen sacks and three forced fumbles in the 2016 regular season, more than anyone else in Canadian football. The two-time Grey Cup champion is a deceptively fast for a big man, and will take advantage of even the slightest opportunity to maraud in on opposing quarterbacks.
The Stampeders defence is stingy, giving up the fewest points in the league, and a lot of that is thanks to the immense pressure it puts on opposing quarterbacks. Hughes is a major part of that effort, and it seems unthinkable that Hughes won’t be up and about on Sunday night in Toronto. If he dominates, Ottawa will find it very difficult.
Brad Sinopoli (wide receiver, Ottawa): a Canadian from Peterborough, Ontario, Sinopoli is one of the very good group of receivers (alongside Greg Ellingson and Juron Criner – both of whom bear watching, too) Henry Burris will look to target early and often on Sunday night, Sinopoli, a quarterback in university, had a career-best year, catching ninety passes for 1036 yards and four touchdowns in the regular season, en route to winning the Redblacks’ Most Outstanding Canadian award.
Blessed with brilliant hands and an inside-out knowledge football knowledge, Sinopoli is also a Grey Cup champion, winning in 2014 with Calgary, and he was a part of Ottawa’s losing effort one year ago. He’s made some big plays for the Redblacks this season, and with star receiver Chris Williams sidelined, there will be even more pressure on Sinopoli to perform on the big stage, and do so against a very potent Calgary secondary.
When: Monday 28 November (Australian EDT) / Sunday 27 November (Canadian EST)
Who: Calgary Stampeders versus Ottawa Redblacks
Where: BMO Field, Toronto, Ontario
Halftime Entertainment: OneRepublic
Television Coverage: ESPN2/ESPN2 HD from 10:30am Monday 28 November Australian EDTFast Facts
• Toronto’s BMO Field hosts it’s first Grey Cup contest.
• Calgary’s star running back Jerome Messam makes his Grey Cup debut in his hometown.
• Ottawa’s starting quarterback, Henry Burris, will face off against the team with whom he won his two Grey Cup championships, and a Grey Cup MVP.
• Calgary’s rookie head coach Dave Dickenson won three Grey Cup championships as a quarterback, including two on the Calgary roster.
• It’s the first outdoor Grey Cup game in Toronto since 1982.
• 2016’s game will be the forty-eighth Grey Cup decider held in Toronto
• It’ll be the first Grey Cup game to be played on a natural grass field since 2002.
• The Grey Cup is annually Canada’s biggest sporting event, in terms of attendance.
• The venerable Exhibition Stadium, which hosted twelve Grey Cup games, was knocked down and BMO Field was built on the same ground.
• The 104th Grey Cup caps a mammoth year of sporting events in Toronto, which hosted the World Cup of Hockey, and featured deep playoff runs for the Raptors (NBA), Blue Jays (MLB) and Toronto FC (MLS).
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