Sandra's WK 1 CFL Power Grouping

Welcome to the 2019 edition of Sandra's CFL Power Grouping.  If you've followed my page for a while you likely know how this works, but if you are new I'll explain - Typically sports people do Power Ranking which groups teams from 1 to 9 (or more depending how bad they stink).  Instead of this traditional ranking I started doing a Grouping instead.  There are three groups labelled A, B & C.  This means there is no official number 1 team and instead the A group is the best in my opinion for that week.  Cool right?  The other thing is, I really don't take any of this very seriously and I don't think you should either.  I mean, sports is fun right?  The drawing is cathartic...especially after another Rider loss and as one reader told me...there's something very genuine about someone sitting and sketching a picture (to paraphrase).  So please with all this in mind, don't get upset if what I have doesn't match what you may think a ranking should look like.  Awesome!  Let's get the 2019 show on the road.

Group A - It's Up! Aaaand It's Good!

The Stampeders were the 2018 Grey Cup Champions.  Bo Levi resigned in the off season after having NFL try outs.  It was close!  He was almost a Rider.  The team had a few free agency changes...the departure of Micah Johnson to the Riders for one and with these things in mind everyone watches to see if there will be a fall from grace.  If there's one thing I know - Hufnagel always has this team ready.  Sure they lost their home opener to the Ottawa Redblacks...their first win IN Calgary's aged McMahon Stadium...  where was I going with this?  Oh yeah!  This also means to me that the Redblacks deserve to be in this group.  They revenged their Grey Cup loss in a place they'd never won before with the rookie starter Dominique Davis at the QB helm.  None of these things should be overlooked in spite of the 4 interceptions.  Meanwhile, Winnipeg is planning a Grey Cup parade after their victory over the BC Lions.  Yes, the Blue Bombers looked good but to me the Lions were a far less (see C group) team despite their highly paid quarterback Mike Reilly.  I also thought it was interesting that we didn't hear Willie Jefferson of Adam Bighill's name very often but then it was hard to hear anything over Duane Forde's chewing of the Outrageous Burger.

Group B - Move the Chains

The Edmonton Eskimos debuted their newish Quarterback Trevor Harris and he had a terrific game.  They played the Montreal Alouettes who, let's be honest, after firing their head coach a week ago and being taken over by the CFL had pegged for...is there an X Group?  With Khari Jones thrown into the roll of Head Coach and Vernon Adams Jr taking over the reigns late in the game...well the Esks almost didn't win this one.  I have the Hamilton Tigercats in this grouping as well.  While, I am extremely angry at the dangerous and reckless play of Simoni Lawrence (is he suspended yet?), the rest of the team shouldn't be penalized.  They did eek out the win over the Roughriders but some of us are left wondering what could have been if Zach Collaros wasn't knocked out of the game on the THIRD play.  I won't discuss it now as that's a subject for it's own blog post...or more...over 6 weeks.

Group C - Back to the Drawing Board

The BC Lions who I mentioned above have the brand spanking new and highly paid Mike Reilly at their disposal.  They also have some terrific receivers in Burnham and Carter yet throws kept getting missed.  Also what happened to the run game?  Oh and PULEEZE Mr. Claybrooks can you straighten your hat!  You're head coach of a professional team now...  My Saskatchewan Roughriders are in this group too but mostly because they are once again spinning the quarterback carousel.  Unlike some fans, I don't think the season is lost but instead actually have a lot of hope (after the anger wore off) that we will see the emergence of Isaac Harker.  Won't it be exciting to say we saw that happen?  * fingers crossed *   The Riders take on A Group Redblacks in Week 2 and it'll be interesting to see how that shakes out.

I've listed the Toronto Argonauts here simply because they were on bye week and didn't play in Week 1.  That's likely a good thing as all of Toronto and the Nation celebrate the Raptors NBA Championship.

Thanks for reading and if you have any drawing ideas I will gladly welcome them.  Drawings will be kept under the 2019 Garfunkel's tab for quick and easy reference.