Canadians must make every effort to defend our brand of football

[buffalobillsfootball]

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/sp...a2-7ef9afaf9438

 

Let the games begin.

 

The Honourable Larry W. Campbell stood before The Senate in Ottawa this week and said: "Honourable Senators, I am sure that when the word 'culture' is mentioned, the name 'Senator Campbell' does not spring to mind. However, I rise today to speak on culture."

 

His opening remarks clearly grasped the attention of the congregation that sometimes has trouble staying awake when the Upper House is in session.

 

Mr. Campbell wanted to talk about football and specifically the danger of the NFL creating a franchise in Toronto. "In February," the good Senator began, "it was announced that the Buffalo Bills intend to play eight games in the beautiful city of Toronto over the next five years. This is viewed by many as the first step toward either moving an existing franchise to Toronto or awarding the city an expansion team. What would be the result? It would be a few people turning a $1-billion investment into a $6-billion windfall at the expense of the Canadian Football League. As proud Canadians and fans of the CFL, we must make every effort to defend our own brand of football.

 

"We must ensure that this great cultural icon does not become extinct over the wishes of one city and one group of people in this country."

 

When B.C. Lions president Bob Ackles dispatched a letter in February to his Waterboys -- community business leaders -- he asked that they contact their elected officials at the municipal, provincial and federal levels of government about their concerns of the CFL's future.

 

Senator Campbell, a proud member of the Waterboys movement, took it a step further. He delivered the message to Ottawa in person.

[keepthefaith]

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/sp...a2-7ef9afaf9438

 

Let the games begin.

 

It's probabbly easier to defend the Canadian brand of football compared to the brand that Jauron is teaching to the Bills' young and talented and impressionable players.

[PromoTheRobot]

Question: If you took the CFL Grey Cup champion, and had them play your average NFL team in Canada, on a regulation CFL field, with only a day to prepare, who would win?

 

PTR

[thebug]

Question: If you took the CFL Grey Cup champion, and had them play your average NFL team in Canada, on a regulation CFL field, with only a day to prepare, who would win?

 

PTR

 

 

NFL.......if they were good enough they would be in the NFL....different game I know, but not that different

[PromoTheRobot]

NFL.......if they were good enough they would be in the NFL....different game I know, but not that different

True, but can an NFL team adapt quickly enough if they were thrown into a game with a good CFL team on their terms? I think the talent level is not as wide as you think and the rules change would be a huge thing for an NFL team to overcome.

 

How different is CFL ball? Plenty different! Wider field for one. 30yd end zones change the whole concept of the Red Zone. It's like Olympic hockey. Yeah, it's still hockey but the extra 15ft of width of the ice sheet changes the game dramatically from what NHL'ers are used to.

 

PTR

[nucci]

True, but can an NFL team adapt quickly enough if they were thrown into a game with a good CFL team on their terms? I think the talent level is not as wide as you think and the rules change would be a huge thing for an NFL team to overcome.

 

How different is CFL ball? Plenty different! Wider field for one. 30yd end zones change the whole concept of the Red Zone. It's like Olympic hockey. Yeah, it's still hockey but the extra 15ft of width of the ice sheet changes the game dramatically from what NHL'ers are used to.

 

PTR

Would be a cool game to watch. I would think the NFL team could run the ball more effectively. CFL does not run or stop in well. Again, would be interesting.

[thebug]

True, but can an NFL team adapt quickly enough if they were thrown into a game with a good CFL team on their terms? I think the talent level is not as wide as you think and the rules change would be a huge thing for an NFL team to overcome.

 

How different is CFL ball? Plenty different! Wider field for one. 30yd end zones change the whole concept of the Red Zone. It's like Olympic hockey. Yeah, it's still hockey but the extra 15ft of width of the ice sheet changes the game dramatically from what NHL'ers are used to.

 

PTR

 

 

I am Canadian and I am well aware of the differences in the game as I have watched it for 25 years, however I think the skill levels are night and day. The battles at the line of scrimmage would be no contest....with the wider field I could see the NFL teams sealing off the corners and taking the ball outside with ease. Can you imagine Mike O'Shea trying to catch Adrian Peterson or their corners trying to cover a big time receiver with all the open space. Yah it would take some adjustments for sure but I don't see it as being close at all. Just my 2 cents....(I am assuming the NFL teams get to use their own footballs as well)

[Captain Hindsight]

Well rest assured the Bills won't be moving to Toronto. There are far to many people fighting that move and the owners would have to approve it. I don't see how the Bills would be that much better off in toronto then they would in Buffalo. Same fan base, same region. it just doesnt make sense to move them and now knowing Toronto doesnt want us.... we should be fine

[Sisyphean Bills]

It's probabbly easier to defend the Canadian brand of football compared to the brand that Jauron is teaching to the Bills' young and talented and impressionable players.

[Arkady Renko]

Well rest assured the Bills won't be moving to Toronto. There are far to many people fighting that move and the owners would have to approve it. I don't see how the Bills would be that much better off in toronto then they would in Buffalo. Same fan base, same region. it just doesnt make sense to move them and now knowing Toronto doesnt want us.... we should be fine

 

Why would the owner's care about Buffalo as a city and WNY as a region? Where is there love for the Bills. To many powerful teams, they are just a drain on their finances. They will only vote against it because of political and media pressure.

 

My feeling is that the Bills will stay in WNY somehow, nonetheless, but a lot of creative work has to be done. A new domed stadium and/or more games in Toronto is probably necessary.

[CircleTheWagons]

Question: If you took the CFL Grey Cup champion, and had them play your average NFL team in Canada, on a regulation CFL field, with only a day to prepare, who would win?

 

PTR

With only a day to prepare, I think the CFL team would win - most players take a lot longer to adapt to the CFL game. Not only 3 downs, a wider field and deeper endzones, but the d-line are a yard of the line of scrimmage, all the eligible receivers are in motion before the snap, only a 25 second clock between plays and an extra player on the field.

 

The CFL talent is clearly below the NFL but the game is different enough that there aren't too many players that can come into the CFL and dominate right away. My prediction? Grey Cup champs win by a rouge.

[Thunderstealer]

I am Canadian and I am well aware of the differences in the game as I have watched it for 25 years, however I think the skill levels are night and day. The battles at the line of scrimmage would be no contest....with the wider field I could see the NFL teams sealing off the corners and taking the ball outside with ease. Can you imagine Mike O'Shea trying to catch Adrian Peterson or their corners trying to cover a big time receiver with all the open space. Yah it would take some adjustments for sure but I don't see it as being close at all. Just my 2 cents....(I am assuming the NFL teams get to use their own footballs as well)

 

Good post. It's like tripple A ball vs. the MLB. It's almost identical other than the pitching. The CFL and the NFL are almost identical other than the lines. (linebacker too). the questionable Canadian content rule hurts the CFL immensly.

[Lori]

Different time, perhaps, but the Hamilton Ticats are 1-0 against the Bills...

 

 

Well rest assured the Bills won't be moving to Toronto. There are far to many people fighting that move and the owners would have to approve it. I don't see how the Bills would be that much better off in toronto then they would in Buffalo. Same fan base, same region. it just doesnt make sense to move them and now knowing Toronto doesnt want us.... we should be fine

Buffalo = Toronto?

 

Toronto "doesn't want us," when the popularity of the NFL and CFL is roughly equal in Ontario? Dr. Reginald Bibby is a sociologist at the Unversity of Lethbridge; he's been conducting nationwide surveys on sports popularity (among other topics) every five years since 1975. These statements are from the 2005 survey, published in June 2006:

"In Ontario, interest in the two leagues is almost equal – with the levels virtually unchanged since 1990... Age-wise, men under 35 are equally likely to follow the CFL and NFL, while males 35 and over tend to prefer the CFL."

 

http://www.reginaldbibby.com/images/PC2005...FL_JUNE0906.pdf

 

Ti-cats fans certainly don't want the Bills in Ontario, and an NFL team would be a much tougher sell in the western provinces, which hold the strongest allegiance to their three-down game. Toronto? Many in the Centre of the Universe believes it's a major league city -- it is the fifth-largest city on the continent, after all -- and in football, "major league" means the NFL.

[Thunderstealer]

In St.Catharines (1hr. from Toronto) the CFL is not looked at as legitimate by most sports fans I've met. I'ts percieved as a joke by most. Canadians probably show a liking for it in a survey just to show their patriotism I would guess.

[/dev/null]

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/sp...a2-7ef9afaf9438

 

To show their National Pride in the CFL, I propose that Canada go on Strike

 

That's what I'm talking aboot

[Buftex]

Question: If you took the CFL Grey Cup champion, and had them play your average NFL team in Canada, on a regulation CFL field, with only a day to prepare, who would win?

 

PTR

 

 

I may be crazy, it was a little before my time, but didn't our very own Buffalo Bills play some exhibition games against the CFL, in the 1960's? I know there was a time when NFL teams would play exhibitions against college all-stars...or am I crazy?

[Lori]

I may be crazy, it was a little before my time, but didn't our very own Buffalo Bills play some exhibition games against the CFL, in the 1960's? I know there was a time when NFL teams would play exhibitions against college all-stars...or am I crazy?

They did. August 8, 1961, against the Ticats. And they got their butts kicked, 38-21.

[Proteus]

With only a day to prepare, I think the CFL team would win - most players take a lot longer to adapt to the CFL game. Not only 3 downs, a wider field and deeper endzones, but the d-line are a yard of the line of scrimmage, all the eligible receivers are in motion before the snap, only a 25 second clock between plays and an extra player on the field.

 

The CFL talent is clearly below the NFL but the game is different enough that there aren't too many players that can come into the CFL and dominate right away. My prediction? Grey Cup champs win by a rouge.

 

You are absolutely crazy. The CFL team would get blown out. There is a reason those guys are in the CFL. If the Grey Cup Champions played say San Fran, Frank Gore would run for about 400 yards in that game. I don't care the about the difference in the rules, it is still football. The wider field would be a huge advantage for the faster and more skilled players of the NFL. There isn't a single team in the NFL, including the Miami Dolphins that would lose to the Grey Cup Champions.

[TheZone78]

Even the Miami Dolphins practice squad would blow out the best that any CFL team could put forward. Talent goes where the money and coaching are.

 

I'd rather drive 3 hours, four times a year to Buffalo then watch any CFL nonsense on TV any day. Oh wait, I already do that.

 

BTW, if I had a nickel for everytime somebody has asked me if I'm going to the Toronto games I could buy the Bills myself. Why would I go to Toronto with all the corporate beatniks inside a damn dome to watch the Bills play a football amid a mass of 53,000 non Bills fans when I can go tailgate down in Buffalo and watch football outside like the game was meant to be played amongst 73,000 screaming die hards?

[JuanGuzman]

Question: If you took the CFL Grey Cup champion, and had them play your average NFL team in Canada, on a regulation CFL field, with only a day to prepare, who would win?

 

PTR

 

This is actually very good question and I do not think the answer is as black and white as some posters make it appear. Stipulating that the NFL have only one day to prepare is what makes the issue debatable: I would say the CFL is significantly different than NFL (and the olympic hockey comparison doesn't do it justice, nor the triple A vs. MLB reference) first it requires 12 men instead of 11 so offense plays and schemes would have to be somewhat designed on the fly (likely just adding another WR to package and having him run a clear out route), moreover the defensive back formations would be confusing with CFL sets routinely sending out 6 pack of WRs. LB's at the CFl level are usually former college safeties who weren't fast enough to play the position in the NFL that being said guys like Angelo Crowell would have trouble adjusting to the coverage responsibilities of CFL LB (in fact I honestly think Coy Wire could become a great CFl linebacker if he is looking for job), the wider field also leads to different WR routes than the NFL you see a lot of flag routes in the CFL which I rarely except for that fantastic PLaxico Burress grab to beat the the Partriots in the SB. I would give an huge edge to CFL team based strictly on strategy (coaching staff would be able to make early in game adjustments to find out where NFL team is confused) IF it were the Bill's playing it might help to bring back Marv Levy as he was a former CFL coach with the Montreal Allouettes. QB's I think would tremendous problems adjusting to their reads and seeing an extra guy out there on defense.

 

But the one caveat is the physical advantage the NFL is bigger & stronger. I keep an eye on Current FB of the Washington Redskins Mike Sellers who is quite a solid player for the skins, but with the Winnipeg BlueBombers this guy was just a beast easily as bigger than as most of the DE in the game, it would usually take a gang to tackle him down in the open field, in the NFL Mike Sellers on T.V just looks like an average sized fullback. My prediction is it would be a close game honestly a coin toss, CFL would get a few early scores first and I think hold on for the win but if NFL players were smart enough to learn on the fly and specifically figure how to exact their physical advantage to churn on yardage they could just as easily prevail. I Would love to see it though.