Penalties, Penalties, Penalties...
Many predicted CFL fans would be seeing *a lot* of orange on the field early in the 2015 season due to the new rule changes, but did anyone expect to see *this* many penalties?
The majority of players seeing the field in Saturday night’s Montreal Alouettes-Ottawa Redblacks and Edmonton Eskimos-Saskatchewan Roughriders games won’t be seeing the field when the regular season gets underway, but the amount of flags was absurd.
Penalties tonight. REDBLACKS 21/146 yards. Alouettes 18/168 yards. Preseason football. #Yikes
— AJ Jakubec (@AJonSports) June 14, 2015
Game Totals (#CFL Pre-seaon Avg) -Plays: 101 (104) -Penalties: 55 (30) -Pen. Yards: 450 (230) -% of Plays w/ Penalty: 54% (29%) #Riders
— Derek Meyers (@dmeyersglobal) June 14, 2015
If I could sum those numbers up in one word it would be *ridiculous*. Players, especially on the defensive side of the ball, haven’t been shy about voicing their displeasure with the new rules. We will see Ricky Foley debating his offensive counterparts in the upcoming episode of “CFL Around the Table”, but some are just simply taking their frustrations to Twitter.
This is getting out of hand! This new rule on pass interference is taking away from the game. Just let us play ball..
— TYRON BRACKENRIDGE (@TBrack41) June 14, 2015
One has to believe the flag situation will improve as players get used to playing with the new rules, but we may have to wait until around Labour Day for that to happen…
– written by Travis Currah