It sounds simple because it is but every year, every team in football has two goals. Patrick McCaw Raptors Jersey . The first is to make the playoffs. The second is to win the championship. You cant become champions if you arent in the tournament, which is the only reason there are two goals and not just one. There are now two teams that are no longer in the running to achieve either one of those goals. The Ottawa Redblacks and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are on the outside looking in. The Redblacks may be an expansion team, but considering they had veteran Henry Burris at the helm, they underachieved. It wasnt all his fault, but they should have won more than two games at this point with a former champion behind centre. The Bombers surprised people early and have found their franchise player in Drew Willy, but when facing the top teams in the league, they quickly realized that they dont have the horses to be a true contender just yet. Both teams fell short of the two goals this year and that is going to hurt until they kick it off again next season but the Bombers and Redblacks did a lot of good things. Ottawa was close in all but a couple of games; they were not the leagues doormats despite their record. In Winnipeg, it appears the culture has been changed in a positive way. They may not have enough talent yet, but they arent far off. Proof of that is what happened this past week, where now every player will walk by the statue of the great Bud Grant every time they go to work, reminding them daily of the strong football tradition in Manitoba, which is part of that culture change. Both teams are young and building and should have bright futures. Having said that, football is a result-driven business, and these two teams did not get the results. When that happens, tough decisions must be made and players, coaches, and administrators must be held accountable. Over the next few months, both teams will do an autopsy on the season to determine the reason for the failures, and begin the process of improving. However, that process doesnt have to be put on hold until the end of the season. What about the last few games? How should these teams approach the final couple of games when they mean nothing in the standings? For both teams, the 2014 season is lost. However, what lies ahead over the next few weeks is a great opportunity. Michael OShea in Winnipeg, and Rick Campbell in Ottawa may be tempted to do the we are playing our best players to try and win speech. Like many coaches before them, they may say they want to finish on a good note, want to possibly upset a playoff team and take someone down with them, and play all their starters to try and send that type of message. However, to go the last few weeks of the season status quo would be a missed opportunity. Trying to win is a given. Playing a back-up to evaluate him doesnt mean youre not trying to win. It means you are trying to win while building the foundation for the future. Remember, the only thing that matters in pro sports are those two goals - making the playoffs and winning a championship - and if those goals are no longer attainable this year, then every minute from the day you are eliminated to the day you kick it off next season should be dedicated to achieving those goals next year. In Winnipeg, Drew Willy has proven he is the real deal. He is a natural leader, as tough as they come, and has all the tools in the tool box to be a star quarterback. Henry Burris in Ottawa still has gas left in the tank and can still get it done. He wants to play again next year, and given more help, can still lead a team to a championship. Both quarterbacks should go into the 2015 season as the teams franchise players, and both should be holding the clipboard for the final couple of games of this years regular season. Giving those last couple of games to Danny OBrien in Ottawa and Robert Marve in Winnipeg is not conceding defeat. In fact, it is displaying just how important achieving those two main goals really is to both head coaches. And not just starting them, but announcing it early in the week and letting them deal with the pressures of being a starter through the entire work week. Some may ask, what about a players personal goals and or contract incentives, shouldnt he be able to play for that reason? To answer a question with a question, does allowing a player to finish the season as a starter to obtain a financial incentive help you make the playoffs and win a championship the next year? The answer is no! Whether Burris and Willy have incentives or not, the answer is no! It may also be suggested that a starter like Drew Willy has earned the right to finish off the season. Some will say he has battled all year with his teammates, let him take the ball across the final goal-line. Again, will that help the Bombers get to the playoffs next year, and win a championship? Maybe Al Pacino can make that speech in a Hollywood movie, but the answer is no! OShea and Campbell have a headstart on the 2015 season on all the other teams in the league. Winnipeg and Ottawa have two more games to see what they have in the stable, and not just at the quarterback position. Training camps and the pre-season in the CFL are very short and dont give head coaches much time to evaluate talent. If a team has five quarterbacks in camp, including their incumbent, they only have eight quarters to see them play. If the Number 1 guy gets three quarters in pre-season games, that leaves four other quarterbacks on the roster to play in just five quarters. Not exactly a lot of time to show that you have the talent to make it at the next level. Winnipeg finishes the season with a game in Calgary, and Ottawa finishes with a home game vs Hamilton and one in Toronto. For the Argos and Ticats, those games are huge, and for a different reason, very important for the Redblacks and Bombers. Best case scenario for both OShea and Campbell is that they finish the season with wins, and OBrien and Marve light it up. Then heading into training camp in 2015, that will put that much more pressure on Willy and Burris, which is good pressure. Worst case scenario for both head coaches is they lose out, and both back-up QBs look like back-up QBs. Then heading into the off-season, both coaches have a much greater sense of urgency when searching for depth at quarterback. They wont get an opportunity like this again, and they dont want it again, because it means they have missed the playoffs again. But it is their reality now, and it is also an opportunity. Next year, the two goals will be the same; make the playoffs and win a championship. For Ottawa and Winnipeg, working to obtain those goals next year can start right now. Vince Carter Jersey . Pistorius mindset when he stood on his stumps in a bathroom and pulled the trigger on his 9 mm pistol in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2013 remains the crux of the South African trial that has captured worldwide attention and is about to start its seventh week of globally televised proceedings. It was initially scheduled to run for three weeks. Patrick McCaw Jersey . -- Jane Kish stopped all 25 shots she faced as the Weyburn Gold Wings blanked the Sudbury Lady Wolves 3-0 on Friday to advance to the gold-medal game at the Esso Cup. http://www.nbaraptorsonline.com/Authentic-Jodie-Meeks-Jersey/ . -- Among the 31 players at the Montreal Canadiens rookie camp, none feels closer to cracking the NHL roster than right winger Aaron Palushaj.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, With a lot of playoff games this year already going deep into overtime, weve all heard talk about how no player wants to be the one who makes a mistake prompted by exhaustion that leads to the game-winning goal. But to what extent does all this extra play time affect the officials? How much do they feel the physical and mental fatigue caused by a game heading into its second or third overtime period, and is this related to the perception - real or imagined - that officials tend to "swallow their whistles" in OT? Best,Mark Hill Mark: Fatigue was much more of an issue to contend with in the one referee system when we chased the play from end to end and didnt get much of an opportunity for a rest. A refs best friend can be a moving puck. Whenever possible, I attempted to force players to "move it"! Aside from enhancing the entertaining value of the game another upside of sustained action was that players gave and received hits with less likelihood of retaliation and scrums developing. On occasion I wore a heart monitor and during three to five minute runs without a whistle the readings would be sustained between 165-175 bpm. By comparison the highest my heart rate ever got in the two referee system was 98 bpm. There should be no reason (in the two-ref system) where physical fatigue might negatively impact the decision making process for an official regardless how many overtime periods are played. The mental aspect of a referees performance is a whole different kettle of fish! While players dont want to become the "goat" by making a bad play or mistake, the referees internal struggle is all about rendering a decision that might be perceived as a game ending bad call. (You notice I said perceived.) The best remedy in dealing with this pressure is for the official to maintain a rock solid focus of concentration by remaining in the moment and react to call penalties whenever they occur. Once a ref stops refereeing and puts his whistle away he becomes a spectator instead of an enforcer of the playing rules. Each referee can feel intense pressure to make sure any call he makes is viewed as a "must call" in the late stages and overtime. The referees best work is done well in advance of the late stages of a game by maintaining the expected standard of enforcement and to keep the players in check throughout the entire game. OG Anunoby Raptors Jersey. The best deterrent against infractions being committed is "fear" a ref can instill in players that he will call the penalty whenever it is committed. When that is achieved players tend to play much more disciplined. The onus is placed more squarely on the players not to commit infractions once the referees enforce the rules more consistently and when expectations are met. I notice a difference in these playoffs as to which referees the players respond to and those they take full liberties with. Once the penalty standard slides and obvious infractions are let go it is extremely difficult for the referee to make a call in the late stages unless it involves a scoring opportunity, a puck over the glass or a major infraction. At times such as this the referee crew become spectators and fly on a wing and a prayer in hopes that the players will not do something really stupid that might force a call. If the referee chooses to turn his whistle into a fossil the worst thing he can do is upset the apple cart with a penalty call that doesnt have a direct bearing on the play or is of less quality than what he previously has let go. We saw a prime example of this with fewer than two minutes remaining in Game 4 of the Habs-Lightning series. While it is difficult to deny that the trip by Cedric Paquette on Michael Bournival was a legitimate foul, given the countless infractions that were not penalized, the referee(s) were subjected to justifiable ridicule for calling a trip in the corner of the rink at that time of the game. It is important to note there have been some real solid performances by the zebras in games thus far. The officials we notice most however are ones that stop refereeing the game and employ a standard of enforcement that resembles shifting sand. This isnt a result of fatigue; physical or mental. There is an answer to this dilemma. The referees have to be given clear direction by the Officiating Management to know and maintain the expected penalty throughout the entire game. In this regard the officials need to be better coached and held accountable when the expected standard is not met. Finally, when the officials do the job and make the tough calls they need to know they will be supported. ' ' '