2011 CFL season

2011 CFL season
Regular season
Duration June 30, 2011 – November 5, 2011
Playoffs
Start date November 13, 2011
East Champions Winnipeg Blue Bombers
West Champions BC Lions
99th Grey Cup
Date November 27, 2011
Site BC Place Stadium, Vancouver
Champions BC Lions
2010  CFL seasons  2012

The 2011 CFL season was the 58th season of modern Canadian professional football. Officially, it was the 54th season of the league. The complete schedule was released on February 18 and featured the defending Grey Cup champion Montreal Alouettes opening the season against the visiting BC Lions on Thursday, June 30, 2011.[1] The season was among the most notable in the modern era for the competitiveness of the teams; going into the final week, five teams were tied for first place in the league, a first in modern CFL history. It was also the first time since 1982 that all teams finished with fewer than 12 wins in the regular season. As well, for the first time since 1950, the start of the modern era, all four teams competing in the divisional finals were different from the four teams that had competed in the division finals the previous year. Newly renovated BC Place Stadium in Vancouver hosted the 99th Grey Cup on November 27, with the hometown Lions defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 34–23 in front of a sold-out crowd.[2]

CFL news in 2011

Touchdown Atlantic

The CFL will return to Moncton for the second installment of the Touchdown Atlantic series. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats will be the home team, while the Calgary Stampeders are the visitors with the game scheduled to take place on Sunday, September 25.[1]

Labour Day Classic twist

When the 2011 schedule was released, it was revealed that the typical Labour Day Classic match-up featuring the Hamilton Tiger-Cats hosting the Toronto Argonauts would not occur this year for the first time since 1995.[3] Instead the Tiger-Cats will play host to the Montreal Alouettes and then visit the Alouettes the following week as a part of a home-and-home series. While the fan reaction was heated, Commissioner Mark Cohon explained that due to a lack of available home dates for the Argonauts, Toronto would be hosting a game against the BC Lions that weekend, necessitating the need for the change.[1][3] This will be the ninth time that Hamilton will have played Montreal on the Labour Day weekend.

Rule changes

On April 14, 2011, it was announced that four significant rule changes would be introduced for the 2011 season.[4] The following changes were implemented:

Hall of Fame induction weekend

For the third consecutive year, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame induction weekend events will take place outside of Hamilton, Ontario, the home of the museum. It will take place in Calgary from September 14 to 18, with the hall of fame game itself featuring the Calgary Stampeders hosting the BC Lions on Saturday, September 17.[5][6]

Salary Cap

According to the new collective bargaining agreement, the 2011 salary cap will be set at $4,300,000. As per the agreement, the cap is fixed and will not vary with league revenue performance. The minimum team salary will be set at $3,900,000 with individual minimum salaries set at $43,000.[7]

Records and milestones

Regular season

Structure

Teams play eighteen regular season games, playing divisional opponents three or four times and teams from the opposing division twice. Teams are awarded two points for a win and one point for a tie. The top three teams in each division qualify for the playoffs, with the first place team gaining a bye to the divisional finals. A fourth place team may qualify ahead of the third place team in another conference (the "Crossover") if they earn more points in the season.

If two or more teams in the same division the following tiebreakers apply:

Notes:

Standings

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points

Teams in bold are in playoff positions.
X – clinched playoff berth
Y – clinched first place

West Division
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Y-BC Lions 18 11 7 0 511 385 22 Details
X-Edmonton Eskimos 18 11 7 0 427 401 22 Details
X-Calgary Stampeders 18 11 7 0 511 476 22 Details
Saskatchewan Roughriders 18 5 13 0 346 482 10 Details
East Division
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Y-Winnipeg Blue Bombers 18 10 8 0 432 432 20 Details
X-Montreal Alouettes 18 10 8 0 515 468 20 Details
X-Hamilton Tiger-Cats 18 8 10 0 481 478 16 Details
Toronto Argonauts 18 6 12 0 397 498 12 Details

Award winners

CFL Player of the Week

Week Offensive Player of the Week Defensive Player of the Week Special Teams Player of the Week Outstanding Canadian
One Jamel Richardson Alex Suber Tim Brown Ian Logan
Two Anthony Calvillo Joe Lobendahn Rene Paredes Jerome Messam
Three Brandon Whitaker Chip Cox Justin Medlock Jermaine Reid
Four Buck Pierce Greg Peach Damon Duval Cory Watson
Five Chad Kackert Jonathan Hefney Paul McCallum Dave Stala
Six Anthony Calvillo Solomon Elimimian Larry Taylor Jerome Messam
Seven Chad Owens Chip Cox Sean Whyte Jabari Arthur
Eight Arland Bruce Aaron Hunt Noel Prefontaine Chris Getzlaf
Nine Henry Burris Joe Lobendahn Sean Whyte Johnny Forzani
Ten Travis Lulay Jerrell Freeman Chad Owens Akeem Foster
Eleven Anthony Calvillo Khalif Mitchell Paul McCallum Craig Butler
Twelve Buck Pierce Chris McKenzie Noel Prefontaine Jerome Messam
Thirteen Brandon Whitaker Jovon Johnson Marcus Thigpen Ricky Foley
Fourteen Jon Cornish Charleston Hughes Adam Bighill Jon Cornish
Fifteen Anthony Calvillo Anwar Stewart Paul McCallum Jerome Messam
Sixteen Cory Boyd Chip Cox Paul McCallum Jon Cornish
Seventeen Ricky Ray Jason Vega Justin Medlock Jerome Messam
Eighteen Travis Lulay Khalif Mitchell Christopher Milo Johnny Forzani
Nineteen Adarius Bowman Juwan Simpson Paul McCallum Andre Durie
Twenty Anthony Calvillo Jamall Johnson Marcus Thigpen Jon Cornish
Twenty-one Chris Garrett Korey Banks Paul McCallum Andrew Harris

Source[15]

CFL Player of the Month

Month Offensive Player of the Month Defensive Player of the Month Special Teams Player of the Month Outstanding Canadian
July Ricky Ray Odell Willis Justin Medlock Jerome Messam
August Henry Burris Solomon Elimimian Sean Whyte Johnny Forzani
September Brandon Whitaker Jerrell Freeman Paul McCallum Jon Cornish
October Travis Lulay Byron Parker Paul McCallum Jerome Messam

Source[16]

CFL playoffs

Main article: 99th Grey Cup

The BC Lions became the first team to win the Grey Cup on home turf since the 1994 BC Lions and became the first ever team to win the championship after starting the season 0-5 by defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 34–23 at Vancouver's BC Place Stadium. Lions' quarterback Travis Lulay was named the MVP, while Lions' running back, Andrew Harris was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian.

Playoff bracket

  November 13:
Division Semi-Finals
    November 20:
Division Finals
    November 27: 99th Grey Cup
BC Place Stadium Vancouver
                           
  East     E3  Hamilton Tiger-Cats 3  
  E3  Hamilton Tiger-Cats 52*     E1  Winnipeg Blue Bombers 19    
  E2  Montreal Alouettes 44         E1  Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23
      W1  BC Lions 34
  West     W2  Edmonton Eskimos 23    
  W3  Calgary Stampeders 19     W1  BC Lions 40  
  W2  Edmonton Eskimos 33  

*-Team won in Overtime.

CFL Leaders

2011 CFL All-Stars

Offence

Defence

Special teams

2011 CFL Western All-Stars

Offense

Defence

Special teams

2011 CFL Eastern All-Stars

Offence

Defence

Special teams

2011 Gibson's Finest CFL Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 "2011 CFL schedule is here". Cfl.ca. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  2. "99th Grey Cup Recap: Winnipeg 23, B.C. 34". CFL.ca. 27 November 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
  3. 1 2 "No Argo Labour Day game this year". TheSpec. 2011-02-19. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  4. "2011 CFL rule changes approved". Cfl.ca. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  5. "Canadian Football Hall of Fame – Hall of Fame Weekend 2011 Dates Confirmed". Cfhof.ca. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  6. "Official Site of the Canadian Football League". CFL.ca. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  7. "New CFL-CFLPA CBA at a glance". Cfl.ca. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
  8. http://www.cfl.ca/article/new-touchdown-king New Touchdown King: Calvillo throws TD 395
  9. http://www.cfl.ca/article/calvillo-sets-completions-record-against-argos Calvillo sets completions record against Argos
  10. http://www.cfl.ca/article/mccallum-lions-kick-stamps-out-of-first-place McCallum, Lions kick Stamps out of first place
  11. http://www.cfl.ca/article/calvillo-becomes-cfl-s-all-time-leading-passer Calvillo becomes CFL's all-time leading passer
  12. http://www.cfl.ca/article/argonaut-chad-owens-sets-pro-football-record Argonaut Chad Owens sets pro football record
  13. http://www.cfl.ca/article/parker-registers-ninth-pick-six-a-new-record Parker registers ninth pick-six, a new CFL record
  14. http://www.bclions.com/article/best-in-the-west Best in the west
  15. "Gibson's Finest CFL Players of the Week". Canadian Football League. Retrieved 2011-08-23.
  16. "Gibson's Finest CFL Players of the Month". Canadian Football League. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
Preceded by
2010 CFL season
CFL seasons Succeeded by
2012 CFL season
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