Pros and Cons for the Broncos in week two of the 2018 preseason

By: Adamo Marinelli

August 13th, 2018

   On August 11th, the Broncos and Vikings played in their first preseason game of 2018. In a 42-28 loss to the Vikings, there were many pros and cons in the Broncos performance.

Pros:

    Punt return & special teams: Finally, Isaiah Mckenzie is performing to his full potential. In 2017, there were too many dropped balls off punts that led to costly turnovers and most of those turnovers were normally the difference in a Broncos’ loss. Everyone in the stadium held their breath whenever he touched the ball. But that should not be happening this year based on his performance at training camp and in the first preseason game. In his only punt return attempt of this game, he ran it back 78 yards for a touchdown. That score cut the Vikings’ lead in half to 28-14 with McManus’ extra point. That touchdown benefited him and the Broncos. Let’s hope Mckenzie will have a lot of punt return touchdowns this upcoming season.

    Royce Freeman: Freeman on four carries had 38 yards, including a 23-yard rushing touchdown to get the Broncos on the board, they now only trailed 17-7. Devontae Booker had two carries for seven yards and De’Angelo Henderson had four carries for 10 yards. Royce Freeman was the best running back of the three in this game and might be the starter this upcoming season where he should be very productive in helping out the offence run by Case Keenum, however that trio of running backs should be very promising this year.

    Offensive Line: With the new acquisition of Jared Veldheer in free agency, the Broncos’ offensive line is set to be much better than last season where they were 29th in the league allowing 52 sacks, 104 QB hits and produced only 1,852 rushing yards, their worst performance since their 4-12 season in 2010. The Broncos only allowed one sack in the game against the Vikings and Veldheer only allowed four last season with the Arizona Cardinals so he will help Denver’s offensive line become very strong. In his time playing against the Vikings, he let nothing get by him: no sacks or QB pressures allowed.

    Chad Kelly: Chad Kelly, the current third-string QB, entered the game with just under six minutes left in the third quarter and made his case as to why he should leap Lynch in the depth chart and become backup quarterback to Case Keenum. He had an excellent performance completing 14-21 passes for 171 yards and two touchdown passes, and only one interception late in the game. He also had 38 rushing yards on four rushes, tying Royce Freeman for the rushing leader in the game. He ran the offence well and proved he’s NFL material. Because of him, the Broncos took the lead, 28-27 with 10 minutes left in the game. In fact, the Broncos announced yesterday that Kelly will be the backup to Keenum and Lynch will be third string.

    Backup defence: Was good at some points but looked questionable at others. They got one interception, sacked Siemian twice, and sacked Sloter once. However, the Broncos secondary gave up some big plays, but what teams don’t give up some big plays at some points. Most of their rookie defence will be good and likely be playing at some point this season.

Cons:

    Starting offence: The starting offence including Case Keenum, Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, Devontae Booker and Jake Butt amongst others were very quiet and couldn’t get anything going in their time on the field. Keenum completed 1-4 of his passes, for five yards with 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Demaryius Thomas only had one reception for five yards, Keenum’s only completion, and Emmanuel Sanders didn’t even get one target. The starting running back Devontae Booker was not very productive either, after carrying the ball twice for only seven yards. Both tight ends Jeff Heuerman and Jake Butt didn’t get a single target either. We know the starters only played two drives, and two drives are hardly enough to get anything going and not sufficient data to evaluate the starters’ performance, however, with more playing time in future preseason games, the offence will click. Despite this though, the Broncos starting offence only produced 16 total yards after one quarter compared to 116 for Minnesota and they only were able to get one first down in first half, which is bad, even for only two drives played.

    Paxton Lynch: With a big and tall physical stature, Paxton Lynch had potential to eventually be a starting QB in the NFL. Which is why John Elway drafted him in the first round in 2016. However, despite having skill around him and a good physical stature, Lynch has not made any progress whatsoever in his time with the Broncos. In fact, he actually was better in his rookie season in 2016, where he played three games, started in two of those games than in the 2018 preseason. Normally, players improve over time. Evidently, that’s not the case with Paxton Lynch. He struggled against the Vikings -- and that’s putting it kindly -- completing 6-11 passes, throwing for only 24 passing yards, 0 TDs, one interception, and three rushing yards with an atrocious QB rating of 22. That performance demoted him to third string QB, Chad Kelly will now back up starter Case Keenum. The Broncos could cut Lynch, but if they do, they’d have about $4 million in ‘dead money’, which can’t be used to sign another veteran backup QB. It’s cheaper to keep Lynch and not sign another backup QB, which is what the Broncos will do. They will just have Keenum starting and Kelly as the backup. Besides, if Keenum gets hurt, God forbid, the Broncos’ season will likely be over anyway, as Chad Kelly will not be the next Nick Foles, so just throw Kelly in as starter and see what he can do until Keenum gets healthy again to plan for the long-term future after Keenum, if he decides to leave after his two year contract depending on how his time with the Broncos is. Ideally, if it’s good, he stays; if it’s bad, he leaves.

    Starting defence: The starting defensive players only played two drives to open the game, and the Denver defence is normally very good, easily top five in the league for the last five seasons, maybe excluding last year. However, with the departure of cornerback Aqib Talib, being traded to the Rams, the secondary or at least the cornerback depth in Denver became a bit weaker. Sure, they still have Bradley Roby and Chris Harris Jr. but that trio with Talib is better than the duo without him. In the opening drive, Denver’s defence got trampled by the Vikings offence which resulted in a Cousins to Diggs touchdown after a 40+ yard pass from Cousins to Diggs earlier in the same drive that flew right over CB Bradley Roby’s head. The defence also surrendered a lot more yards of total offence than Minnesota and gave up 42 points, which is much higher than their average total, but they got three sacks and one interception while Minnesota’s defence only got one interception and one sack. That just shows how good of a group Denver’s defence is even when they have bad drives or games, like both of their drives against the Vikings. So the starting defence and offence shouldn’t be that much of a problem for the Broncos in the regular season, despite it being lackluster against the Vikings.

    Isaac Yiadom: He is a good cornerback, fresh out of Boston College, but he needs more development to be one of the starting cornerbacks in Denver alongside Roby and Harris Jr. You can’t just get out of college and be a superstar. It doesn’t happen often. Sure, Stefon Diggs scored the opening touchdown over the head of Yiadom, but in his first NFL game, he shouldn’t be expected to cover veterans like Diggs. He sure wasn’t covering any ‘Stefon Diggs’ in his college days.

Conclusion:

    Despite the 42-28 loss to the Vikings, the Broncos are a good team offensively, defensively and on special teams they received a lot of upgrades this offseason, particularly with Keenum at QB, Veldheer strengthening the offensive line at offensive tackle, adding Su’a Cravens and Tramaine Brock to the secondary as a safety and a cornerback respectively, Clinton McDonald to the defensive line as a defensive tackle, and drafting Bradley Chubb to strengthen Denver’s pass rush with Von Miller and Derek Wolfe and drafting a good running back in Royce Freeman who can also be a backfield receiver and tight end Troy Fumagalli who will compete with Jake Butt and Jeff Heuerman for the #1 spot. With Keenum at QB, and three elite receivers in Emmanuel Sanders, Demaryius Thomas and Courtland Sutton the offence should be better with fewer turnovers, the defence should be able to force more sacks and turnovers and with William Mckenzie able to return punts for touchdowns confidently, after his 78 yard return for a touchdown against the Vikings, the Broncos should have a good season.

    Courtland Sutton wasn’t targeted very much in the game only having one reception for three yards, but I’m sure he’ll be more utilised as the preseason and the season progress. Also, running back Philip Lindsay is a huge threat in the passing game as well as in the ground game and he was who Kelly threw the touchdown to in the fourth quarter to take the 28-27 lead. He had 3 receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown as well as seven yards on two carries which is good for a fifth string running back behind Booker, Freeman, Henderson and Williams. If he makes the team, the Broncos will use him a lot. Finally, tight end Matt Lacoste who had two receptions, for 40 yards and a touchdown, also from Kelly will be a good addition to Heuerman, Butt and Fumagalli if he makes the team. The Broncos have a lot of depth at most positions on both sides of the field and that should lead to a good season. I say they finish 10-6, second in the division behind the 12-4 Chargers, get the second wild-card spot and lose in the divisional round to the Jaguars in a close game.

Johnny Manziel: A game to forget against the Tiger-Cats

By: Adamo Marinelli

August 8th, 2018

    After nearly three years since his last game in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns in December 2015, Manziel was ready to start fresh in his first CFL regular season game with the Alouettes on August 3rd after being traded by Hamilton once they decided Jeremiah Masoli would be their starting quarterback. Manziel played one preseason game with the Tiger-Cats where he threw a touchdown and had 88 passing yards and now with the Alouettes, was set to take on the team that welcomed him to the CFL.

    Before Manziel even had the chance to get on the field, a muffed kickoff after a Hamilton touchdown on the opening drive of the game by a Montreal Alouette brought the Hamilton offence back onto the field with superb field position. At this point, Montreal fans already began to worry.

    Then after Montreal got the ball back, Manziel’s first regular-season pass in the CFL was an interception to Larry Dean of the Tiger-Cats at the Montreal 24-yard line and returned to the 11. This followed by another Hamilton touchdown to put them up 14-0. Hamilton would go up 21-0 off a blocked punt from the Montreal 25-yard line returned for a touchdown.

    Then with just over six minutes left to play in the first quarter, the Alouettes had a 1st & 10 from their own 50-yard line. Manziel escaped pressure and avoided 3 tackles before throwing a pass to his wide receiver which should’ve been caught but it wasn’t. That was Manziel’s second interception in less than a quarter of football. That led to a 21-yard touchdown pass from Masoli to Saunders and the Tiger-Cats took a 28-0 first quarter lead.

    What a terrible start for Manziel and the Alouettes. But unbeknownst to them, things would only get worse.

    With only 1:43 gone in the second quarter, the Tiger-Cats up 28-3, Montreal’s Domenic Ellis intercepted Jeremiah Masoli at the Montreal 35-yard line, ran it back to about the Montreal 47 yard line and received an extra 15-yards on a ‘horse collar’ penalty against Hamilton. Montreal had a 1st & 10 at the Hamilton 48. Things actually looked good. But it was too good to be true. Two plays later, on 3rd & 3 from Hamilton’s 41 with 11:30 remaining in the second quarter, Manziel on a bootleg play action pass overthrew his receiver on a deep ball down the field and was intercepted for the third time in the game. That interception would lead to Hamilton RB Alex Green’s second touchdown of the night just under five minutes later. Hamilton led 35-3 with 6:43 left in the first half.

    Later in the second quarter, the Alouettes had a 1st & 10 at the Hamilton 51-yard line. Finally, the Montreal crowd got a taste of the real Johnny Football. Manziel rolled left off the snap and fired a 31-yard pass to Eugene Lewis. Montreal had a fresh set of downs on the enemy 20-yard line with 2:42 remaining in the first half. After a gain of six yards, on 2nd & 6 from Hamilton’s 14-yard line, Manziel, under pressure from two Hamilton defenders, underthrew his intended receiver and threw his fourth interception of the first half of his first CFL regular-season game. This game resembles his first start as a QB in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns, in week 15 of the 2014 season, wherein a 30-0 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Manziel completed 10-18 passes for only 80 yards and two interceptions for a 27.3 passer rating -- one of the lowest all-time in the Super Bowl era -- while being sacked three times. This fourth interception led to a Lirim Hajrullahu field goal to increase Hamilton’s lead to 38-3 with under a minute left in the half.

    About 2:05 into the fourth quarter, Manziel was pulled for backup QB Vernon Adams who had a rushing touchdown and a successful two-point conversion pass to give the Alouettes fans something to cheer about, even though there was very little to cheer about that night.

    In a 50-11 loss, Manziel had completed 11-20 passes for a mere 104 yards and four interceptions. On the other hand, Masoli completed 17-26 of his passes for 300 yards, two passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and an interception. Clearly, Masoli was the much better quarterback.

    It was a very sombre performance by Manziel in his first CFL regular-season start, however, despite his struggles in his first CFL start, he plans to only stay positive and look ahead to next week’s game in Ottawa on August 11th. Hamilton will visit Winnipeg to play the Blue Bombers on August 10th, to try and catch the Redblacks for first place in the East division.        

The Argonauts stun the Redblacks, erase 24 point deficit

By: Adamo Marinelli

August 7th, 2018

    On August 2nd, we witnessed one of the best fourth-quarter comebacks in CFL history. The Toronto Argonauts, who trailed 38-14 with only four minutes remaining in the third quarter rallied back to erase a 24 point deficit in the final 17 minutes of the game thanks to three passing touchdowns by the third-string quarterback Mcleod Bethel-Thompson in his first start in the CFL including the game-winner with 0:01 left on the clock to Armanti Edwards and a rushing touchdown from James Franklin to start the comeback with two minutes left in the third quarter.

    The Redblacks got started early and got into the end zone for a touchdown with a pass from Harris to Sinopoli less than three minutes into the game. This was their first touchdown in nearly 65 minutes of football. The Redblacks added a two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead. After James Franklin, the Argonauts’ starting quarterback rushed for a one-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 8-7, Dominique Davis, the second string quarterback for the Redblacks rushed one yard for a touchdown to increase the Redblacks’ lead to 14-7 in the second quarter. Then Richie Leone punted 41 yards to the Toronto seven-yard line after a two-and-out and Martese Jackson muffed the punt for a loss of seven yards and Anthony Cioffi recovered it in the end zone for a Redblacks touchdown to lead 21-7. Then with 31 seconds left in the half, Harris threw a 17-yard pass to Diontae Spencer to increase the Redblacks’ lead to 28-7. It was a very dominant half by the Redblacks.

    The Argonauts answered back with a major 3:19 seconds into the third quarter with a five-yard pass from Bethel-Thompson to S.J Green to cut the lead in half. The Argonauts only trail by 14; the score is now 28-14 for the Redblacks. Then, with just under six minutes left in the third quarter, Lewis Ward tacked on a 17-yard field goal to make it 31-14 for the Redblacks. After another two-and-out by the Argonauts, Zach Medeiros punted the ball 48 yards down the field to Diontae Spencer who returned it 87 yards for a touchdown. The offence, defence and special teams were excellent for Ottawa. Ottawa now led 38-14, with 4:15 to go in the third quarter. The game should have been over. But this is when the defence for the Redblacks started to fall asleep and where the Argonauts’ comeback started to come into fruition.

    With two minutes remaining in the third quarter, James Franklin, the Argonauts’ normal starting quarterback after Ricky Ray’s injury scored his second rushing touchdown of the night, both being one-yard runs. The two-point conversion was batted down by Redblacks’ defensive back Antoine Pruneau, the Redblacks now led 38-20. Toronto didn’t stop there. They had a very successful drive down the field early in the fourth quarter which set up an 11-yard touchdown pass to S.J Green. With the touchdown, the Argonauts only trailed 38-26 due to a missed extra point kick that ricochet off the right upright. After both teams exchanged field goals, it was 41-29 for the Redblacks. When the Redblacks were up 38-26, they had a chance to get a touchdown and go up 45-26 to potentially seal the game, however, after a pass from Trevor Harris to R.J. Harris, the receiver ran with the ball all the way to the Toronto 15 yard line before getting tripped up by his own teammate. There were no Argos in his way, so if he wasn’t tripped up by his teammate, the Redblacks wouldn’t have been forced to kick a field goal. After an Ottawa two-and-out followed by a punt and a great run-back by Martese Jackson, the Argo that muffed the punt into his own end zone to the Ottawa 30 yard line, Bethel-Thompson found a wide open James Wilder Jr. for a 20 yard touchdown pass on a play action pass for his third passing touchdown of the night. With the extra point, the Argos only trailed by five points; 41-36 for the Redblacks with 3:09 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Redblacks only needed a pair of first downs to seal the game, but failed to get a first down and punted the ball to the Argonauts. After a long drive down the field, including a third-down conversion at the Redblacks’ 35 yard line, on a 2nd & 10 from the Ottawa 23, Bethel-Thompson took the snap with nine seconds left in the game and found Armanti Edwards for the game-winning touchdown with 0:01 remaining in the fourth quarter to lead by one point. The Redblacks sent their punter, Richie Leone to receive the Argos kickoff so he could try to punt it to the back of the Argos’ end zone to try and tie the game with a touchback, but a punt from the Ottawa 50 yard line was fielded at the Toronto 11 yard line and the Argos held on to win a wild game 42-41. Not only did the Argos erase a 24 point second half deficit (mostly in the fourth quarter) to come back and win a much needed game to keep their playoff hopes alive in a close east division race between Ottawa, Hamilton and Toronto; but they also outscored the Redblacks 22-3 in the fourth quarter and 35-13 in the second half after being outscored 28-7 in the first half.

    After a tumultuous first half, the Argonauts were on their way to losing six of seven games to open up the 2018 season. But an exhilarating second-half comeback which saw the Argos erase a 24 point Redblacks’ lead, led by quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, starting his first CFL game, may have saved the defending Grey Cup champions’ season.

     The Redblacks’ offence responded and was excellent compared to last week’s game against Hamilton in which Lewis Ward’s seven field goals contributed to all of the Redblacks points in a 21-15 win. Trevor Harris went 27-35, with 381 passing yards and two touchdowns and an interception. However, the Argonauts’ quarterback had a better game than Harris as Mcleod Bethel-Thompson went 25-37 with 302 passing yards, four touchdowns and an interception. A marvellous performance in his first CFL start. Toronto won the running game considering James Wilder Jr. had 17 carries for 73 yards compared to William Powell with 14 carries for 35 yards. The Argonauts also won the receiving game as S.J. Green had nine receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns compared to Diontae Spencer’s eight receptions, 145 yards and one receiving touchdown (excluding his 87-yard punt return). Although, James Wilder Jr.’s four receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown was surpassed by Brad Sinopoli’s 7 receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown, so the receiving game was great on both teams but the Argos got the slight edge with more clutch plays. Despite the Redblacks' offence had an amazing game against the Argos, their defence, especially their secondary, was subpar, at least in the second half. It’s just a new problem every week for the Redblacks: some minor, but some major.

    This isn’t the first time the Argonauts have come back from a large deficit to beat the Redblacks. In week three of the 2017 season, the Argos came back from a 12-1 halftime deficit and outscored the Redblacks 25-13 in the second half to win 26-25 in Ottawa.

 The Redblacks are set to face Johnny Manziel and the Montreal Alouettes in week nine, while the Argos get a two-week break to rest and prepare for the B.C. Lions, who will visit BMO Field on Aug.18th, 2018.

Was trading Osuna the right move for the Blue Jays?

By: Adamo Marinelli

August 4th, 2018

    On Monday, July 30th, 2018, the day before the 2018 MLB trade deadline, the Blue Jays closer, Roberto Osuna was traded to the Houston Astros for closer Ken Giles and two pitching prospects in David Paulino and Hector Perez.

    Osuna is eligible to play again starting on Sunday, August 5th, 2018, after his 75 game suspension following the charges of his assault against a Toronto police officer early in May 2018 under the Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.

    The trade was a swap of a closer with on-field troubles with one who has off-field troubles. In 35 games played, he only had 12 saves. He has 0 wins, two losses and an ERA of 5.12, which is bottom five in the MLB. He pitched only a mere 31.2 innings and collected 34 strikeouts. Osuna in only 15 games this season, has nine saves in 10 chances and had 13 strikeouts after only pitching 15.1 innings. He had 0 wins and 0 losses, but an incredible ERA of 2.93. He was an all-star last year when he went 3-4 with 39 saves and a 3.38 ERA. He was on route to one of the better years of his career in 2018, but ever since his incident with the law in May, he hasn’t seen the field.

    The Astros lead the AL West but were set to begin a series at Seattle having lost a season-high four in a row. They also acquired reliever Ryan Pressly from Minnesota last week who with Osuna will strengthen their closing pitching.

    Osuna hasn’t pitched in the majors since May 6th, 2018, two days before he was placed on administrative leave after he was charged with assault in Toronto. His trial remains pending and it was pushed back to August. Osuna’s lawyer Domenic Basile said he will not plead guilty to the charges and that he feels “remorseful of the circumstances of the situation.”

    “This [whole situation regarding Osuna] has been exceptionally difficult,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said on a conference call, in response to a question about how he feels about Osuna’s actions and why he traded him to Houston.

    Osuna lost 89 days’ pay as a result of his 75 game suspension, which comes to $2,536,022 of his $5.3 million yearly salary, and the suspension delayed his eligibility for free agency by one year until after the 2021 season as opposed to after the 2020 season.

    Osuna says he’s remorseful, thanked the Astros for giving him another chance and promised he wouldn’t let the organisation down. If he plays tomorrow, he will be quick to get back on track and return to his elite form. However, Giles seems to be more of a stubborn athlete and a more annoying teammate to be around and play with. He also seems to be a bad influence on other teammates, especially younger ones, at least based on one game on May 1st where he punched himself in the face while heading to the dugout after giving up a three-run, ninth-inning homer to the Yankees’ Gary Sanchez. All players have temper tantrums once in a while, especially after making a big mistake, but either way, it’s unacceptable behaviour. Despite this though, he will have a chance to close for the Blue Jays in the near future.

    The Astros seem to have won this trade, with Osuna being a more talented pitcher and closer than Giles, but a rebuilding team like the Blue Jays don’t need a closer. They are trying to lose games to get a better draft pick, essentially they’re tanking. A closer’s job is to win games. The Blue Jays don’t need to win at this point in the season, as they already look to be out of playoff contention this year. Nevertheless, along with Giles, the Blue Jays received two young pitching prospects who they can use on their roster or trade for draft picks. And that’s a successful deal for a rebuilding team, like themselves.

Is the lack of Redblacks’ touchdowns a threat to their season?

By: Adamo Marinelli

August 1st, 2018

    The Redblacks’ offence was explosive in week six against the BC Lions in a 29-25 win. Trevor Harris had a passing touchdown and 363 passing yards, William Powell had 50 rushing yards, 61 receiving yards on seven receptions and a two-yard rush touchdown which was the eventual game-winner and Brad Sinopoli had a stunning game with 11 receptions, 171 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown.

    But in their week seven game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the offence was okay, Harris completed 23/35 of his passes, with 228 passing yards, Powell had 15 carries for 47 yards and Sinopoli had nine receptions for 82 yards and Ellingson had three receptions for 34 yards. However, unlike in week six, in week seven, the Redblacks failed to score a touchdown. They didn’t score a touchdown all game against Hamilton. Their kicker, Lewis Ward hit seven field goals against Hamilton, his longest from 47 yards out -- in windy weather which is not excellent conditions to be kicking field goals -- accounting for all of the Redblacks’ points in a 21-15 win in their week seven matchup.

    So after the week seven matchup, we must ask the question: Is the game with no touchdowns just a fluke for the Redblacks offence or will the lack of touchdowns against Hamilton carryover throughout the rest of the season and cost the Redblacks some close games throughout the season and put the Redblacks’ hopes of making the playoffs and going for another Grey Cup title in jeopardy?

    The Redblacks have had games where they scored no touchdowns and then bounced back offensively in their next game. For example, in week five of this season, the Redblacks were held to just a single field goal in a 28-3 loss to the Stampeders. Trevor Harris and the offence just couldn’t get any rhythm going against a stellar Stampeders’ defence. However, the next week, the Redblacks offence exploded against the BC Lions, scoring two touchdowns and featuring explosive performances by Harris, Powell and Sinopoli, who is July’s CFL player of the month.

    After a quiet game on offence against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Redblacks’ next game is a week eight matchup against the defending Grey Cup champions, the Toronto Argonauts who are struggling this season, with a 1-5 record thus far, mostly due to the loss of their starting quarterback Ricky Ray to injury. The Argonauts are starting their third-string quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson against the Redblacks and he hasn’t started a regular season game in the CFL thus far this season and since he signed with the Argonauts in 2017 after he was on the practice squad of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2016. It’s hard to say whether he has a good first game or struggles as each quarterback is different but based on the Argonauts’ performance so far this season, I say their offence struggles in week eight against a Redblacks defence that’s been excellent this season, especially last game, limiting a very strong Hamilton offence led by starting quarterback Jeremiah Masoli to one touchdown and only 15 points which gives the Redblacks’ offence lots of time to operate and produce plenty of points… but not only from field goals but also from touchdowns. The passing game and running game should produce at least one touchdown each against the Argonauts in week eight of the 2018 CFL season.

    So, in conclusion, this offensive lul is likely just a fluke and won’t affect the Redblacks’ playoff and even Grey Cup winning hopes. Although, the Redblacks need to prove their offence is capable of scoring touchdowns in the game against the Argonauts and even try to get a win to separate themselves from the rest of the division and to make sure their offence stays status quo to a talented CFL offence. But, if the Redblacks do not have a good game offensively against the Argonauts, which is unlikely, whether or not they win, the Redblacks’ hopes of winning the Grey Cup might be jeopardized, despite the fact they look to have the east division locked up so far this year, especially if they improve to 5-2 with a win this week against the Argonauts.

What is the plan for the Ottawa Senators next season?

By: Adamo Marinelli

July 31st, 2018

    The Ottawa Senators are coming off a very subpar and all-around disappointing season in 2017-18 with a 28-43-11 record finishing second last in their division only ahead of the Buffalo Sabres. This unimpressive season came just one year after their Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2017 where they lost in seven games to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

    This season, the Senators made a lot of trades and sent many familiar faces to new teams. On November 5th, 2017, the Senators sent centre Kyle Turris to the Nashville Predators for Matt Duchene, a centre for the Colorado Avalanche in a landmark three-team deal. Then, on February 14th, 2018, the Senators traded defenseman Dion Phaneuf to the Los Angeles Kings for right winger Marian Gaborik. This was essentially just a swap of two bad contracts but Gaborik’s contract is shorter in term and lesser in value then Phaneuf’s so financially Ottawa won the deal even though Phaneuf is three years younger than Marian Gaborik. Furthermore, before the trade deadline, the Senators traded forward Derick Brassard to the Penguins in a three-team deal including the Vegas Golden Knights for goaltending prospect Filip Gustavsson, defenceman Ian Cole, who signed with the Avalanche on July 1st after the Senators released him, and two draft picks: a first rounder in 2018 and a third rounder in 2019. Not to mention, the Senators traded left winger Mike Hoffman, prospect defenseman Cody Donaghey and a fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft for forward Mikkel Boedker, defenceman Julius Bergman and a sixth-round pick in the 2020 draft. This all happened less than a week after a shocking revelation concerning his girlfriend’s alleged harassment of team captain Erik Karlsson’s wife on social media was revealed to the media. A mere four hours after he was traded to San Jose, the Sharks flipped Hoffman and a seventh-round 2018 draft pick to the Florida Panthers for a second, fourth and fifth round draft pick in 2019. Many other trades were speculated to happen this year for the Senators but didn’t end up coming into fruition.

  The Senators were doing pretty well until the Turris trade, sitting third in their the Atlantic division with a 6-3-5 record for 17 points behind the Lightning and the Bruins. It was only after the Turris trade that the Senators started to decline, but it seems unlikely that the Senators lackluster season was caused by one trade, despite the fact it wasn’t until the second half of the season that Duchene started heating up and becoming more productive on offense which is around the time Turris started cooling down in Nashville. Although, it is possible that the Senators fell off their metaphorical cliff after the Turris trade as there has been a history of team’s falling apart after they trade away one of their star players. The reason behind it is the chemistry of the current team has been disrupted and the new player will take time to adapt to the chemistry and game plan of the new team. I doubt the trade was the cause of the season of struggles for the Senators but it potentially was the cause.

    Another major issue for the Senators this year was goaltending. Both Craig Anderson, the starter and Mike Condon, the backup were very inconsistent this year despite being the backbone of the team in 2017 in their lengthy playoff run all the way to game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins. One game, the goalies would play amazing and look like an all-star and then the next, they’d surrender five goals and be pulled. Essentially, neither of the goaltenders got any rhythm going and it was just a bad season for the Senators in terms of goaltending. Anderson and Condon are both under contract for another two years -- until 2020 -- although, both of them only come to a combined cap hit of $7.1 million until their contracts end which means the Senators don’t have an excessive amount of money invested into goaltending which is considered a positive, especially because Anderson is a good goalie, he just seems to be following a trend of one good season followed by a bad season. Following a bad season, we can expect a good season from Anderson but it’s uncertain. One of the goalies might be traded this offseason, but it is unlikely because, following a bad season from each of the two Senators goalies, there is not much of a market for them and not very much interest from other teams for either Anderson or Condon.

    Also, the defence was okay this past season in Ottawa with players like Karlsson, Wideman, Ceci amongst others but it has been better in previous years considering this season, the Senators were second last in the league in goal differential at -65, only ahead of the Buffalo Sabres. They scored 219 goals and conceded 284 in the 2017-18 season. But if Karlsson does get traded, the defence will take a blow unless they can get a high caliber defensive player similar to Karlsson’s talent to replace the current team captain. Hopefully, Karlsson stays or Ottawa gets a high caliber defenseman in return for Karlsson if he gets traded; so the defence can improve from this year’s lackluster performance and return to the skillful group they were in previous years with Karlsson, especially in their lengthy 2017 playoff run.

    In addition, the Senators had trouble scoring this year and their offence wasn’t as potent as in previous years and they were 25th in the league in scoring, only having 219 goals for, with about 2.7 goals per game. However, with all the trades this season sending many familiar Senators to new teams, this disrupted the chemistry of the team and is potentially one of the reasons for the lack of scoring. The new players the Senators received in return for everyone they traded away helped in the scoring department this year, but considering they are relatively new to the Senators, their chemistry with the other players on the team -- especially players who’ve been on the Senators for longer than a season -- is not as high as it should be and only needs time to improve. Once the team’s chemistry does improve, the scoring will increase for the Senators and revitalize their offence. It should improve as early as next season.

    Moving forward into the 2018 offseason, there are still a lot of question marks surrounding this team. The biggest one is captain Erik Karlsson. He made it clear he wanted to be paid what he was worth and nothing less and when the Senators didn’t offer that contract, he requested to be traded out of Ottawa. It was possible he could have been traded before the deadline, but the Senators couldn’t get a deal done. He was then eligible for a contract extension after July 1st, but no deal has come through yet, so it appears the Karlsson era in Ottawa will come to an end and he will be traded. It’s likely he will be traded with Bobby Ryan as a package deal to offset his $7.25 million cap hit. Karlsson has eight potential destinations in San Jose, Vegas, Tampa Bay, Washington, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Colorado and New Jersey. But, the Sharks, Golden Knights, Lightning, Capitals and Rangers have already spoken to Senators GM Pierre Dorion about a potential trade thus far, so those five teams have a better chance of landing Karlsson then the Islanders, Avalanche and Devils, but no trade is confirmed yet. Karlsson can still in theory sign with any of the eight teams. I don’t want to see Karlsson go, as he is the face of the Senators and a franchise talent, however, the NHL is a business and trades happen. Besides, Ottawa would be over the cap if they sign Karlsson long-term at what he is valued, which is the amount of money he wants, at approximately an eight-year, $96 million deal averaging $12 million annually and then signing support around him like Ryan Dzingel, Jean Gabriel Pageau, Mark Stone, Cody Ceci, Thomas Chabot, etc., which is another reason why the Senators want to trade Karlsson. The Senators want to trade Karlsson; Karlsson wants to leave Ottawa, it looks like he’ll be traded. Besides, Senators Eugene Melnyk is cheap and doesn’t even want to spend a lot of money even on excellent talent like Karlsson, which is why Ottawa didn’t try to sign Karlsson for what he’s worth and then clear more cap space to resign other players to play around Karlsson, which is what would’ve been done if Karlsson had been resigned.

      In return for Karlsson and possibly also Ryan, the Senators will be asking for a lot in return as they’re both excellent hockey players and Karlsson is a franchise player, a potential Hall of Famer and an elite defenseman who can also score. Conventional wisdom suggests a first-round pick, a promising prospect, and a roster player will be the starting point, while more picks and current roster player who is about the same talent as Erik Karlsson might work their way into that equation as well, especially if Bobby Ryan is included in the Karlsson deal, whether it is a two or three team deal. There is some precedent in Kevin Shattenkirk, who was dealt by the St. Louis Blues as a pending UFA in February 2017 (along with prospect Pheonix Copley) in exchange for a first-round pick, a conditional second-round pick, prospect Zach Sanford and depth forward Brad Malone. This is a deal similar to the potential Karlsson deal although Karlsson is a more talented defenseman than Shattenkirk. However, this precedent only matters if Karlsson gets traded and so far he is still a member of the Ottawa Senators, but if Karlsson does get traded, his deal will be compared with Shattenkirk’s deal.

     Based on all these trades and roster changes, I think 2018 will be another rebuilding season for the Senators -- especially if Karlsson does get traded -- although, I do not want another rebuilding season, as the Senators should be a playoff team. I do recognize rebuilding takes time and it might be a few seasons before the Senators return to being a playoff team and possibly a Stanley Cup contender, but it’ll be a few tough seasons for Senators fans worldwide. And the first step of the rebuilding process in the next few seasons is figuring out if Karlsson is going to be traded or resigned by the Senators and if he is traded, where will he be traded?

The Toronto Blue Jays’ 2018 Season So Far

By: Adamo Marinelli

July 24th, 2018

    More than halfway into the 2018 MLB season, about a week after the All-Star break, the Toronto Blue Jays sit fourth in their division of five teams, the American League East at a 46-54 record including today’s blowout 5-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins and they look like they will miss the postseason for the second consecutive year after losing 4-1 in the ALCS to the Indians in 2016.

     They started the year great, they finished April 16-12, not far back of the Yankees and Red Sox for first in the AL East, despite Marcus Stroman’s April struggles. But ever since their all-star closing pitcher Roberto Osuna was arrested on May 8th, 2018, the Blue Jays have derailed. Their pitching has suffered greatly and as a result, their defence struggled and their bats also stayed quiet. To add insult to injury, their offence created (runs and home runs) were in the bottom half of the league, which is not like the Blue Jays. To add more salt to the wound, ever since they lost their all-star hitter Jose Bautista at the end of last season to free agency where he made his way to Atlanta to play for the Hawks and then to New York to play for the Mets, the Blue Jays have not been as potent on offense ever since. Same deal with Edwin Encarnacion who left before the start of the 2017 campaign.

     Despite all of this struggle in Toronto, Kevin Pillar has turned a few heads with his incredible defensive play, robbing batters of home runs game after game, the best of which was against the Detroit Tigers on July 1st, 2018. But this amazing play from Pillar is not enough to get the Blue Jays back to the playoffs all on its own.

     Marcus Stroman, a Blue Jays pitcher when talking about his recent struggles (similar to the struggles he faced in April at the beginning of the season) and the team’s struggles, said that he isn’t performing as well as he hoped to be and that neither is the team. “But I and the team can perform better and we will.” He also said that he loves the city of Toronto and will do all he can to help the Blue Jays make another visit to postseason baseball in October. But the media only took the part where he said himself and the team aren’t performing as well as they should be and interpreted it as if he said his team sucks right now and so does he. Stroman took to Instagram saying he never said anything the media claims he said, then he said “he and the team are just not playing our best baseball and can improve. We have been great in the past and will be great again now. I do not think I nor our team sucks. We just have reached a bump in the road but will overcome it”. He then added, “I love Toronto and want to win a championship here.”

    This drama between Stroman, the media and the entire Blue Jays organization is the last thing the Blue Jays need in a season in which they have been struggling, at least from May onward. But it’s here anyway, one more thing for the team to focus on.

    In other news, unless, the Jays win 75% of their remaining games this season, which is unlikely based on their performance so far this year which has been taunted by a lack of starting pitchers (especially due to Osuna’s arrest), a lackluster bullpen and very limited offensive capabilities, the Blue Jays look like they will be missing the playoffs for the second year in a row, which is not like the Blue Jays and the team, fans and manager John Gibbons, know this.

    Should the Blue Jays wait until next year and try to make the playoffs with the same team, just they’ll have Osuna amongst others back from suspension and injury, etc., or should the Blue Jays blow it up and just trade all their players away for draft picks and young prospects to start rebuilding? The problem with rebuilding is that it will take a few years to be relevant again and to be a real playoff contender but the Blue Jays will have to rebuild eventually, as I don’t think they can win with their current core, even with Osuna back, especially with the release of Joey Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion despite they have a good amount of talent on their current roster with Josh Donaldson, Roberto Osuna, J.A. Happ, Marcus Stroman, Troy Tulowitzki, Kevin Pillar, Russell Martin and Aaron Sanchez, etc.