129 yards to the house!

With a title like that, you probably already know what this post will be about ...... the CFL, of course, where the field of play is 110 yards long and the end zones 20 yards deep. I haven't done anything on the CFL since 2009 and wasn't planning on doing anything this year. But when I found out what happened with Trent Guy back on Sunday, Sept. 23, I knew I was going to have to do something.

After wrapping up his college career at Louisville in 2009, Guy, a Charlotte native, signed as an undrafted free agent with the Carolina Panthers and spent 2010 on their practice squad. He was released at the end of training camp in 2011 and this year found his way to the CFL, where having a good kick returner is more a necessity than the luxury it is for NFL teams. In the photo above Guy, a 5-8, 171 WR, is celebrating his 1st TD in a Montreal Alouettes uniform - on a 9-yard catch and run with 4:54 remaining in the 2nd quarter. But a little later, it was his 2nd career TD that caught everybody's attention.

In the CFL, if you decide not to return a kickoff, or a punt, or a missed FG attempt out of your end zone, the other team gets 1 point. Apparently, Guy was having none of that early in the 3rd quarter, even though he fielded the ball at the very back of the end zone after a missed FG by Toronto. Not only did he get the ball out of the end zone, he took it all the way to the other end zone for an unlikely 129-yard TD. You can take a look at the play by click the link below.

http://en.montrealalouettes.com/video/index/id/79059

Only two other returns in league history have been longer, and those were back when the end zones were 25 yards deep. With the 2 TD by Guy, along with 2 by RB Victor Anderson (a former teammate of Guy at Louisville), the Alouettes' 31-10 victory over the Argonauts unofficially takes my 2012 CFL house of dread award for the game with the most touchdowns by players with dreads (actually there might have been more in some other game, but I don't have time to check every single game). You can see all 4 TD in the video of the game highlights on the link below.

http://www.cfl.ca/video/index/id/79063

Of course, not included in the highlight package was another play involving Guy that created quite a buzz around the CFL - the first ever recorded tackle by grabbing a player's dreads in a CFL game. That's Toronto's Mike Bradwell (photos below) with a handful, bringing a painful end to a punt return by Guy in the 2nd quarter.

Bradwell is listed as a WR, so I guess he doesn't know how to tackle. For Guy, who survived a gunshot wound while he was in college, a little hair pulling was nothing, although it did persuade him to put a band around his dreads at halftime. When asked after the game if this would cause him to get his hair cut, Trent said that he was keeping his hair, thank you. You can see the entire post-game interview on the link below (remember, it's Montreal, so some of the questions come with a French accent).




http://en.montrealalouettes.com/video/index/id/79079

The aftermath of Guy being yanked to the ground by his dreads brought reaction from all around the league, as expected. The league's director of officiating, obviously not a fan of football players with dreads, thinks having long dreads actually hurts your own team:

http://www.canada.com/sports/football/lions/says+tugging+flowing+locks+legit+tackle/7292777/story.html


Now let's go to Winnipeg and hear from Blue Bombers WR Kito Poblah:


http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Poblah-feels-no-dread-over-hair-tackle-171223361.html?device=mobile

And here's the word from Saskatchewan, where Roughriders WR Taj Smith also has no plans to lose his dreads:

http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/football/roughriders-football/Riders+with+flowing+locks/7299547/story.html

I like that attitude, Taj.

There's no shortage of sick dreads in the CFL. So here's a look at them - in a dread gallery featuring some but not all of league's dreadheads in action during the 2012 season. I looked at maybe 5% of all the CFL photos available on the internet, so no doubt there will be some great shots that I missed. This is the best of what I had time to find. 

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1. Edmonton Eskimos WR Fred Stamps, one of the best WRs in the league, avoids a tackle by Quincy Butler of Calgary on Nov. 2. Stamps has 36 career TD catches in 6 seasons with Edmonton. This year he had 70 receptions for 1,310 yards (second most in the CFL), and his 9 TD were the most by anyone with dreads. A few years back, Stamps was in the running for longest dreads in the league; but unfortunately they're not nearly as long now as they used to be.

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2. Edmonton probably has the most players with dreads. Here's DB Weldon Brown, happy for the start of another season on June 30, his 3rd season with the Eskimos .....


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3. ..... but I don't think Weldon was smiling after this play on Nov. 2, as he is taken down by Calgary's Fred Bennett. After getting 5 INT last season, Brown had none this year and finsished with 35 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 FR. ...... Who's that #42 in the background? .......

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 4. ..... It's none other than DB Clint Kent, here diving into the end zone (needlessly) to finish off a 29-yard fumble return for a TD on July 13 in a 42-10 win over Winnipeg. Kent was a rookie in the CFL in 2006 then was out of the league for three years before returning in 2010. This season, his first with Edmonton, he had 28 tackles, 4 FR, and 2 fumble returns for TD.

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5. Renauld Williams, star LB for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, tackles Saskatchewan QB Darian Durant from behind during 1st half on June 29. Williams, in his 5th CFL season and 2nd with Hamilton, had 94 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 FR, and 1 INT.

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6. Former Nebraska DT Terrence Moore lines up for the Ti-Cats in a game on Oct. 12. After spending time on the practice squad for the Bears and Lions in the NFL, Moore began his CFL career on Oct. 1.

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7. RB Chevon Walker, who played college football for three different schools, carries the ball in his CFL debut on June 29. Walker rushed for 132 yards on 7 carries on opening night, including an 89-yard TD. But his playing time decreased as the season went along. He finished with 656 yards rushing, 336 yards receiving, and 8 TD. Hamilton went 6-12 and missed the playoffs.

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8. Larry Taylor, slot receiver and kick returner for the Calgary Stampeders, carries the ball against Montreal on Oct. 26. Taylor was 4th in the CFL in combined return yards with 1,583 and scored 1 TD. He also had 2 TD catches. This is the 2nd edition of Taylor's dreads, who had much longer dreads while he was with the Alouettes in 2009 before cutting them off.

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9. DE Kenny Pettway, in his 2nd CFL season at age 29, gets his only sack of the season, dropping Kerry Joseph of Edmonton on Sept. 3. He had 12 tackles on the season. Calgary finished with the second best record in the league at 12-6 and is getting set for their playoff opener next Sunday. Who had the best record? ......

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10. ...... The British Columbia (or just BC) Lions, the defending champs, finished 13-5. Here Lions DB Lin-J Shell is tackled after recovering a fumble against his former team, Toronto, during 1st quarter on Aug. 6. Shell had 7 INT in three seasons with Toronto before moving west. He finished with 31 tackles, 1 sack, 1 FR, and 0 INT in his first season with the Lions. 

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11. LB Solomon Elimimian helps tackle Jon Cornish of Calgary on Oct. 26. Elimimian, the CFL rookie of the year in 2010, rejoined the Lions for the final 6 games this season after being cut by the Minnesota Vikings at the end of training camp. He had 12 tackles, including a season high 6 in the regular season finale last Saturday.

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12. Back in Edmonton, LB and former Rutgers star Damaso Munoz pressures BC QB Travis Lulay on Sept. 22. In his 2nd CFL season, Munoz finished with 88 tackles and 3 sacks.

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13. Damaso Munoz makes one of his 7 tackles at Edmonton on Aug. 17, catching RB Victor Anderson from behind.

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14. Victor Anderson tries to shake out the cobwebs after taking a hit in the game on Aug. 17. Anderson had his best game of the season with 102 yards rushing, 32 yards receiving, and 1 TD in the 38-25 road win over Edmonton. In his rookie season Anderson finished with 317 yards rushing, 239 yards receiving, and scored 5 TD. Now, about those dreads. Well, he used to have as many dreads as anyone else. But while he was still at Louisville, he decided to reduce them permanently; so now his dreads look like Louis Delmas'.

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15. DB Dwight Anderson, no relation to Victor, sets to tackle Hamilton WR Andy Fantusz on Sept. 28. Dwight, after spending three seasons on NFL practice squads from 2004-06, has 14 career INT and 4 TD in 6 CFL seasons. This year, his second with the Alouettes, he had 47 tackles and 2 INT.

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Let's go to Regina, home of the Roughriders.

16. DB James Patrick and BC QB Travis Lulay try to recover a fumble on Sept. 29. Patrick, in his 5th season for Saskatchewan, had 40 tackles but 0 INT.

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17. DB Eddie Russ returns his only INT of the season, as James Patrick tries to throw a block, on July 14.

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18. Slot WR Terrence Edwards tracks an incoming pass as Eddie Russ defends at Winnipeg on Sept. 9. In his 2nd CFL season, Russ finished with 33 tackles and 1 INT for the Roughriders, who finished 3rd in the West at 8-10.

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19. A 5th round NFL draft pick by Tampa Bay in 2009, OT Xavier Fulton torn his ACL in the final preseason game that year. He spent the next two seasons on practice squads before heading north and becoming the starting LT for the Roughriders this season.

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20. DB Woodny Turenne tackles Edmonton QB Kerry Joseph on July 8. This picture really doesn't clearly show how great Turenne's dreads are; but he only played 4 games this year and this was the best I could find. After playing in 2011 for Hamilton, Turenne had 17 tackles in his 1st season with Saskatchewan.

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21. Speaking of great dreads, here's one of my favorite players, WR Efrem Hill, running after a catch on July 28. For 4 years (2004-08) Efrem tried to catch on with an NFL team but either was on the practice squad or the inactive list. He made his CFL debut in 2009 but didn't play much that year or in 2010. But last season he had 66 catches for 812 yards and 1 TD for the Roughriders. It looked like he was going to get significant playing time again this season, but then Taj Smith showed up and took his job away. Hill caught 13 passes for 141 yards in 2012 before being released near the end of August. Since no other team picked him up over the final two months of the season, Hill might be at the end of his career. Hopefully not.

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22. Sorry, but I couldn't find a better picture of Winnipeg WR Kito Poblah than this. This is either a fumble, or more likely a pass intended for him being broken up in a game on Sept. 21. Although Kito played his HS ball in Florida, he was born in Montreal; so he counts as a non-import player, which makes him a valuable commodity in a league where there are very few Canadian skill position players (Half of each team's roster must consist of Canadian players). As long as he can produce even a little bit on offense, he'll have a job for a long time. This season, his first full year, he finished with 41 catches for 417 yards and 1 TD. 

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23. Yes, they have reduced dreads in the CFL too. Winnipeg DB Jonathan Hefney has his dreads seriously reduced as he and CB Alex Suber tackle Hamilton RB Avon Cobourne on Oct. 27.

24. Here's Jonathan Hefney without his dreads reduced at a Blue Bombers practice. Hefney, who starred in college at Tennessee, is one of the better DBs in the CFL. He has 13 career INT in 4 seasons. This year he had 74 tackles, 1 INT, and 4 FR. Winnipeg endured a difficult season. They began the season with 5 straight  road games, in hopes that construction on their new stadium would get done. But they dropped all 5, finished tied for last in the East at 6-12, and that stadium still isn't done. It'll be ready by next season (they promise).

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25. More Edmonton dreads. It's RB Calvin McCarty avoiding a tackle by Toronto LB Marcus Ball in the season opener on June 30. McCarty has 20 career TD in 6 seasons with the Eskimos. But this season he scored only 1. He missed 6 games due to injury in 2012 and finished with just 35 yards rushing and 23 yards receiving all year.

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And now it's time to introduce the contenders for the longest dreads in the CFL.

26. And we'll start with Marcus Ball, rookie LB for the Argonauts, here trying to catch QB Durian Durant of Saskatchewan on Oct. 8.

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27. Under the watchful eye of an official, Marcus Ball tries to prevent a TD by Winnipeg WR Isaac Anderson on Oct. 19. Anderson obviously ends up across the goal line, but he was ruled down before he broke the plane.

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28. Marcus Ball celebrates after taking an INT return 27 yards to the house on Sept. 29. Ball almost pulled a Leon Lett on the return as he started celebrating too soon. Here are the highlights of the game at Winnipeg, which the Argonauts won 29-10.

http://www.cfl.ca/video/index/id/79423

In his rookie season Marcus finished with 73 tackles, 3 sacks, and the 1 INT. Toronto, 9-9 and in 2nd place in the East, will host a playoff game next weekend.

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29. Our next contender is Alouettes WR Trent Guy, who, as we've already seen, has dreads long enough to very easily be grabbed every time he carries the ball. Trent finished his rookie season with 35 yards receiving, just over 1,000 return yards, and only the 2 TD in that one game on Sept. 23. 

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30. Next up, here's Edmonton DE Marcus Howard, tackling Winnipeg QB Buck Pierce for his only sack of the 2012 season ..... 

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31. ..... Howard celebrates his sack. When he's standing still, Marcus's dreads cover up almost the entire #91 on the back of his jersey.

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32. Marcus Howard tries to get a hold of Toronto RB Chad Kackert on June 30. You may remember that Howard played 9 games with the Indianapolis Colts in 2008. But it looks like he now has found a home in the CFL. Howard missed most of 2012 due to a hamstring injury and finished with just 6 tackles (he had 11 sacks in 13 games last year); but he was on the field last weekend; and if he's healthy, he could be a big factor in the playoffs. Edmonton finished last in the West at 7-11. But since they had a better record than the 3rd place team in the East (Winnipeg at 6-12), they get the final playoff spot in the East. 

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33. Calgary DT Kevin Dixon did not play this season; but he's still a contender for the longest dreads in the CFL. Dixon, who made my dread all-America team during his senior year at Troy, missed 2012 due to a knee injury, This photo is from 2011, so his dreads are actually even longer than this.

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34. Yes, absolutely Taj Smith is a contender. Here the Roughriders WR makes a catch as Pat Watkins of Toronto defends on Oct. 8.

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35. Taj Smith runs after the catch on Oct. 13. As you may remember, Smith scored a special teams TD in the NFL a couple of years ago. But no matter how well he played during the preseason for the Colts, they just refused to include him on their 53-man roster. Anyway it looks like he might be settling in for a nice run in the CFL. He played so well for Saskatchewan that the team decided they no longer needed Efrem Hill. Playing his first game on July 28 (Week 5) Taj finished with 47 catches for 690 yards and 2 TD.

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36. Jerald Brown already had very long dreads when he was named Arena Football's defensive player of the year six years ago, so you know he has to be a contender. Here's what he looked like this year, with his dreads almost down to the bottom of his #39.

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37. DB Jerald Brown, now in his 4th season with Montreal, tackles Saskatchewan WR Weston Dressler on Oct. 20.

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38. Jerald Brown reaches for BC slot WR Shawn Gore during 1st half at Vancouver on Sept. 8. Brown has 11 career CFL interceptions, including 2 this year. He also finished with 52 tackles in a nice comeback year after missing most of 2011 with a broken leg.

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39. Our last contender, and certainly not least, is Winnipeg CB Alex Suber, shown here tackling Andrew Harris of BC in the season opener on June 29.

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40. Alex Suber dives as he tries to stop WR Chad Owens of Toronto on Oct. 19.

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41. Here Suber defends a pass intended for Montreal slot WR Jamel Richardson on Oct. 8.

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42. This is probably the best look at how long Alex Suber's dreads are, as he and Jonathan Heffney celebrate an INT by CB Brandon Stewart, helping clinch the Blue Bombers' 1st road win of the season, 27-22 over Montreal in Week 15. At 5-foot-7, 174 pounds, Suber didn't wait around for the NFL to call. Instead of going through the formality of being cut during training camp, he signed with Winnipeg after finishing his college career at MTSU in 2009. And he's done well in his first three seasons, although he has just 1 career INT. This season he had 61 tackles and 1 FR. The Blue Bombers' website did a feature on Suber last year that I wanted to include at some point in this blog. Now is as good a time as any:

http://www.bluebombers.com/article/first-and-ten-alex-suber

It's nice to see Suber doing well and enjoying himself. Hopefully he will have a very long career, and maybe those dreads sometime in the the future will reach down to his waist!

The playoffs are set to begin this weekend. (Due to the threat of some seriously brutal weather, the CFL wraps up its season by the end of November.) If you are interested in watching, two games will be televised (one live and one taped) on NBC Sports Network (channel 220 on Directv) on each of the next two Sundays; and then the Grey Cup championship game will be on live on Sunday, Nov. 25.



















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