☀️ Good morning and welcome back to The Nosebleeds.

🏃 Went for a 29 KM run yesterday… your boy is dead, but couldn’t let y’all down and miss another newsletter.

🤠 Let’s get into it.

🍁 The beauty of the CFL

The Montreal Alouettes will take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 110th Grey Cup this coming Sunday.

I know the CFL gets some hate in certain parts of Canada (*cough* Toronto *cough*) for being a less entertaining brand of football, but I am here to tell you that is not the case if you sit down and give it a fair chance.

I’m going to go on a bit of a mini rant here, but as a prairie boy who spent his childhood going to Bomber games, I will not stand for the slander and will use this platform to say my piece.

So I present to you my reasoning why you should give CFL football a chance:

1. Legal Motion: What team has the most explosive offense in the NFL? The Miami Dolphins. Which team uses the most pre-snap motion in the NFL? Also the Miami Dolphins. Now there are numerous rules in the NFL that limit the motion of skill players, hence limiting the amount of potential explosive plays. But in the CFL, receivers are allowed to get a full running start before the snap. Imagine Mike McDaniel scheming plays for Tyreek Hill if this type of motion was allowed down south…

1. cont’d. Not a fan of the motion? Well NFL legends Aaron Rodgers and the Kelce brothers are…

2. The Return Game: One of the most exciting plays in football is the kick/punt return, but due to the touchback and fair catch rules in the NFL, I don’t even know why kicking is a part of the NFL game anymore. But in the CFL, due to the larger field and ball, essentially every kickoff is returned. And as far as punt returns go, there is no fair catch rule in the CFL. Rather, the kicking team has to stay at least five yards away from the returner when they catch or pick up the football, or they get a penalty—meaning the only way there is no punt return is if the football goes out of bounds. Another pro of the Canadian game.

3. The Clock: Is there any worse way to end a football game than watching a team trying to kill the clock with less than five minutes left? Run, run, run, take a knee, game over. YAWN. There is so much drama being left on the table if the clock stopped more often. Well that’s exactly what you have in the CFL. In the final three minutes of each half, the clock stops after every single play. There are some similarities to the NFL rules—if there is an incompletion or the ball carrier goes out of bounds, the clock is stopped until the ball is snapped for the next play. But if a player is tackled in bounds in the final three minutes, the clock is stopped until the ref whistles in the next play—meaning the team with the ball has the choice to either run down the play clock (like the NFL but the play clock is shorter in Canada), or snap the ball immediately after the ref blows the play in and waste no time. This rule leads to some spectacular comebacks, and the game is never truly over until the clock hits zeroes… as it should be.

I started writing this section as a preview for the 110th Grey Cup between the Montreal Alouettes and Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but instead it turned into me showing my appreciation for the Canadian game, and asking you all to tune in and give the CFL chance this coming Sunday and watch the Grey Cup. This not to say I don’t like the NFL—I love NFL football. But the disrespect the CFL receives is usually from people who do not understand what makes Canadian football great. One of the most common complaints is that CFL players are bad football players. If that is the case, why do so many former NFL players come to the CFL and never amount to anything? And why do NFL legends like Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson not say that CFL players suck?

Because I have now made you all CFL fans, we’ll save the matchup preview for Friday.

⭕️ C.J. Stroud is legit

Turns out a cognitive test wasn’t the end-all be-all for evaluating QB prospects… who woulda thought 🤷‍♀️ 

Despite the doubters, Texans QB C.J. Stroud has established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the entire National Football League. The Ohio State product has led Houston a 5-4 record—a team that only had three wins last season. But Stroud hasn’t just been really good in his rookie season so far, he may be one of the best rookie QBs we’ve ever seen.

Here are Stroud’s numbers so far this year:

• Passing Yards: 2626 (2nd)

• Passing TDs: 15 (T9)

• Interceptions: 2 (best among qualified starters)

But what’s been special about Stroud is that he is at his best when it matters most. He has led his Texans on back-to-back game winning drives to defeat the Buccaneers last week, and Burrow’s Bengals this week.

Do I actually think Stroud is better than Burrow? No. But are there many quarterbacks I would choose to lead my team over C.J. Stroud? Definitely not (probably only Mahomes, Burrow and the GOAT himself, the Passtronaut, Joshua Dobbs 👨‍🚀).

🤔 CFL Trivia

Staying with the CFL theme. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have reached their 4th straight Grey Cup.

• Question: can you name the last team to reach the Grey Cup in four consecutive seasons (this is only the third time this feat has occurred in CFL history)?

Answer at the bottom.

🙏 Thank you for reading! Follow us on Twitter for more (@nbleedsports, @younggun001) or you can subscribe below!

• Trivia Answer: the Edmonton Eskimos (now Elks) in 1977-1980.