Only one question, okay, maybe more than one question, left to be answered on CFL final weekend.
When the Riders were say, 3-4 and looking to jettison the aspiring defensive back Duron Carter, it seemed the Rider season was threatening to circle around a drain of despair and disillusionment so profound it would have made Game of Thrones look like a barbecue cooking show.
However after the Riders 35-16 win over the BC Lions to finish at 12-6, not a common record for this team and evening Chris Jones’ record with the Riders at 27-27, the Riders are looking at this weekend from not just the perspective of a team enjoying a final bye week before the playoffs, but tht of a team that could finish in first by 11 pm Saturday night.
That would mean the BC Lions will have beaten the Calgary Stampeders in the season finale at BC Place, and dropped the Stampeders record to 12-6 but then the Riders would claim first for having won the season series 2-1. It’s sparked a lot of discussion whether you would want to have three weeks off before playing perhaps the biggest game of the season to get you into the Grey Cup.
That is an interesting question because history has shown that sometimes in the so-called meaningless games as all but one seem to be, the stupidest things can happen that will affect a team for the rest of the playoffs.