Category: History and More

The Canadian Football League has been a proving ground for a handful of quarterbacks who went on to star in the NFL.

Before Warren Moon was rewriting passing records in Houston and Joe Theismann was guiding Washington to a Super Bowl title, for example, they were playing – and starring – north of the border.

Sometimes, though, it works the other way.

Doug Flutie had a few highlight moments in the NFL, but had much greater success in the CFL and is one of the greatest signal callers in its history.

Thing is, playing QB under American rules is vastly different than running an offense that features 12 players to a side, lots of acreage and three downs to make a first.

Just ask Vince Ferragamo, who helped the Los Angeles Rams to a Super Bowl appearance before chasing some Canadian coin. He thought he would be a superstar with the Montreal Alouettes, but never adjusted to the extra man in CFL secondaries and simply didn’t have the mobility to be effective as a dual-threat signal caller.

His one season was memorable only in the sense that he was a bust.

So where does Johnny Manziel fit in?

The Heisman Trophy winner out of Texas A&M has played a total of 14 NFL games over two seasons in Cleveland, throwing seven TD passes against seven picks.

Considering his limited action with the Browns, he isn’t so much an NFL “has been” as he is a “never was” (or maybe a “hasn’t yet”).

Now, though, the CFL is opening another door for “Johnny Football.”

The question is, will he open it, walk past it, or slam it in his own face by continuing to be a person who can’t get out of his own way?

The CFL has given the Hamilton Tiger-Cats – the team that owns the league’s rights to Manziel – its blessing to sign him up and the club began negotiations with him on Sunday.

“As per the negotiation list process, Johnny Manziel and his agent recently notified the Tiger-Cats that they had activated the 10-day window during which the Tiger-Cats must offer him a contract or lose his negotiation list rights,” reads a statement from the team. “That window closed (Sunday) and we can confirm that we made an offer to Manziel, and that his rights will remain on our negotiation list while discussions with he and his agent continue. We will have no further comment.”

When announcing its decision to allow Manziel an “in,” the CFL issued a lengthy statement – part of which mentioned his off-the-field controversies:

“It has included an ongoing assessment by an independent expert on the issue of violence against women, a review by legal counsel, and an in-person interview of Mr. Manziel conducted by the Commissioner. As well, Mr. Manziel has been required to meet a number of conditions set by the league.”

The CFL didn’t spell out the confidential conditions, but insists they are “extensive and exacting.”

Anyone who follows American football knows that Manziel has been his own worst enemy, which explains why the CFL statement is so bulky.

His drinking and partying have likely been a major detriment to his on-field woes, and the domestic violence issue made him toxic.

It’s ironic that he could join the Ti-Cats, the same organization that last season gave a job to disgraced former Baylor coach Art Briles before rescinding the deal (at the behest of the CFL).

Briles, you remember, was fired by Baylor amid reports of rampant sexual assault allegations against athletes and an “above the law” culture within the program during his tenure.

Hamilton took a big PR hit for the move and has spent the months since repairing its image.

In this instance the Ti-Cats have done their homework, but what if they sign Manziel and he reverts to his “old” ways?

He was charged with domestic assault during an altercation with his girlfriend in 2016, and that charge has now been dismissed after he completed an anger management course and met other conditions mandated by the court.

That’s all well and good, but you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

The fact that the charge has been erased doesn’t mean the stain has disappeared.

Physically, of course, Manziel has uncommon tools. There were times at A&M he seemed like an Xbox player in human form.

But while he enjoyed the money provided by signing a pro football contract, he didn’t care for the responsibilities that came with it.

Now, however, the CFL and Hamilton is offering a shot at redemption.

There will be a lot less cash involved, but his skillset is perfect for the CFL and could result in some dynamic moments in North America’s other major professional football league – if he can beat out presumptive starter Jeremiah Masoli.

Masoli took over as starter for Zach Collaros last season, and Collaros has been traded to Sasketchewan.

“I think he’d be the best player to ever play up here,” Hamilton coach June Jones told CFL.ca last month. “He can throw it and he can run it like nobody ever has been able to do.”

Should Manziel make the most of his chance, he might become a CFL legend – or make it back to the NFL.

Yet if he squanders this opportunity, it very well could be the last one he gets.

It’s all up to Johnny Football now.

 

Got some breaking news here: The National Football League team that I root for – the New York Jets – will not be participating in the upcoming playoffs.

Seems a 5-11 record wasn’t quite good enough for Todd Bowles’ crew to sneak into a wildcard spot, so I get to play adopt-a-team for yet another postseason.

Most recently, the Atlanta Falcons have served as my “silver medalists.” By that I mean they were the team I cheered for when I wasn’t cursing the misfortune of the Jets.

It was fun following them all the way to the Super Bowl a year ago; it was not quite so fun seeing them deliver the choke of the century against New England. It was especially hard to swallow against the Patriots because, you know, that Jets thing.

Therefore, with Atlanta taking on the Los Angeles Rams tonight in an NFC wildcard game, it is safe to assume I’ll again be donning the red and black and hoping Matt Ryan gets his MVP swagger back.

Safe, but incorrect.

Now that the Rams are back in L.A., it allows me to return to the rooting interest I established in the Stone Age – back when there was both an American Football league and National Football League.

As a kid, I liked the AFL better than the NFL. It was more high-scoring and more fun, and with the Jets featuring guys like Joe Namath, Don Maynard, Matt Snell, George Sauer and Emerson Boozer, they quickly became the team I lived and died with.

But, the NFL was still the senior circuit, so I couldn’t and didn’t ignore it.

And even though I had some affection for the Green Bay Packers – my dad’s favorite team – the NFL club I claimed for my own was the Los Angeles Rams.

Deacon Jones was the defensive player I admired most in all of football, and QB Roman Gabriel had his own brand of “cool.” Bernie Casey and Jack Snow, of course, were great receivers.

Plus, they had those cool blue helmets with white horns.

Thus, in the two-league era, my teams were the Jets and the Rams, with the Shea Stadium tenants my overall faves.

After the merger, the Rams continued to be my “backup” team, and held that status until 1994.

That’s when they moved to St. Louis and that’s when I completely stopped caring about them.

Nothing against the Independent City – I’m sure it’s populated by fine people. But just as the Colts aren’t really the Colts unless they’re in Baltimore and the Raiders were never the Raiders when they were in L.A. (and certainly won’t be in Las Vegas), NFL teams whose mascot is an intact male sheep should call Southern California home.

But now they’re back, and while I know the folks in Missouri were heartbroken to see them leave, I was quite happy to have “my” Rams once again working and playing in the City of Angels.

And it turns out the 2017-18 season has been a good one to jump back on the bandwagon.

They won the NFC West with an 11-5 record and have the best young coach in the game in Sean McVay.

(McVay, by the way, is the grandson of John McVay, who coached the Memphis Southmen of the World Football League. I’m a WFL aficionado, so this family tie has special meaning for me).

The Rams also feature rushing sensation Todd Gurley, who I covered in college when he played at Georgia, and QB Jared Goff, who has been simply outstanding in his second pro season and first as a full-time starter.

And being a guy who likes offense, the fact that L.A. leads the NFL in scoring at 29.9 points per game has made it quite easy for me to transition back to rooting for the Rams.

So while Jets management is trying to figure out what long snapper to take in the first round of draft on April 26, the Rams will host the Falcons today at 8:15 p.m.

And that means I have a postseason clash to get excited about.

That being said, I want to thank Atlanta for giving me the opportunity to rock red and black for the last two decades plus. I’ll always hold a soft spot in my heart for you guys. And hey – if you win this evening, I’ll be in your corner for the rest of the playoffs.

Still, I really do look better in blue.

 

 

 

 

On Monday night, Atlanta will be the center of the college football world and the only teams being talked about will be Alabama and Georgia.

The Crimson Tide (12-1) and Bulldogs (13-1) will meet in the College Football Playoff National Championship, and the one who walks off the turf at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be covered in confetti and holding the big trophy.

They will be the consensus No. 1, and hailed as such.

Yet there will be a certain satisfaction in being a member of the Central Florida University football team.

Because while the official national champs will have one blemish on their record, UCF players will have been on the only team that has none.

The Knights beat all comers, and with a 13-0 record they are the lone unbeaten in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Their perfect season was capped off with a Peach Bowl victory over Auburn – the team that beat both Georgia and Alabama in the regular season.

Ironically, the conquest came at the same stadium that will crown a champion on Jan. 8.

Yet, UCF was not part of the CFP, ranked No. 12 entering the bowls. And even if the field had been expanded from four teams to eight, trust me – they still would not have been part of the CFP.

Oh, they got invited to the party in the form of a New Year’s Six bowl game, but they were never going to be allowed to participate in the celebration.

When it comes to playoffs, it’s a Power 5 world … and Group of 5 teams don’t even get to live in it.

“I guess to the (CFP Selection) Committee, it’s just what more can we do?” asked Knights linebacker Shaquem Griffin. “We won all of them, and I just feel that we should have had an opportunity to show our talents to any and every team that wants to go against us. There’s no more teams left for us to beat.”

Indeed.

There’s no way of knowing how Central Florida would’ve fared in the playoff, but it would’ve been nice to know, wouldn’t it?

But that was never part of the plan.

Allowing the top Group of 5 team to make a “big” bowl game is really rather cynical, when you think about it.

By throwing them that particular bone, it’s the FBS’s way of saying, “You really don’t belong, but we’ll pretend like you do.”

“Going through the season, I was afraid to say much about the rankings and everything because I’m a little superstitious,” said UCF’s outgoing boss Scott Frost, who is now officially on the job as the head coach at his alma mater, Nebraska.  “And just when a coach starts running his mouth, that’s when you lose the next game. But it wasn’t right. I was watching every week, the Committee sitting in a room and decide this two-loss team must be better than UCF because UCF is in the American (Athletic Conference). Or this three-loss team must be better than UCF.”

The argument, of course, is strength of schedule. Conventional wisdom suggests the SEC, ACC, Big 12, etc., play a tougher slate that any team in the AAC.

OK.

But UCF’s schedule was anything but a breeze.

Both Memphis and South Florida were quality league foes, and they had to beat the Tigers twice.

The Knights played Maryland of the mighty Big Ten and whipped them by four touchdowns. The Terps were 4-8, but it was still a G5 over a P5.

And there was that whole Auburn thing, a 34-27 decision over the No. 7 team in the CFP.

It was a matchup won by the better team.

“It looked like a conscious effort to me to make sure that they didn’t have a problem if they put us too high and a couple teams ahead of us lost,” Frost said of the Selection Committee’s rankings. “And oh, no, now we have to put them in a playoff. But we just beat a team that beat two playoff teams and lost to another one (Clemson) by six points and we beat them by seven.
“And Auburn is a great team. I’m not taking anything away from them. I give them a ton of credit. But these guys deserve everything they get, and they deserve more credit from the Committee than what they got.”

Again, an eight-team playoff wouldn’t have solved the problem because the field would be populated by five Power 5 champions and three Power 5 wildcards.

And an expansion to 16 teams probably won’t happen.

So we have what we have – and what we have are people in a room selecting playoff participants based on plenty of subjective criteria.

As I’ve said over and over again, this is not so much a playoff as it is an invitational.

And a great team like UCF was never going to get invited, despite the fact they did what no other team could this season.

And that’s a shame.

“Like Coach already told us, only thing we can keep doing is winning games,” Griffin said. “And I don’t think we have any more games left to win.”