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Rex Ryan decided to bench Sanchez on Tuesday in favour of Greg McElroy after the fourth-year quarterback had another miserable performance in a 14-10 loss at Tennessee on Monday night that eliminated New York from playoff contention.Back on the day in March that Winnipeg traded quarterback Steven Jyles to Toronto for the fourth-overall pick of the CFL draft, the prevailing wisdom around the CFL was that the Bombers had taken an unwise risk that had the potential to blow up in their faces. And the scenario that might unfold, many imagined, would go something like this: With Jyles at the controls, the Argos had found the missing piece to their puzzle. As a 9-9 team in 2010, the Argos had demonstrated tremendous resourcefulness, despite finishing last in the league in passing the football. On the day of the trade, Argo coach Jim Barker proclaimed that the Argos medical staff had advised him that there were no doubts about Jyles being ready for the start of the season. And so with an experienced quarterback on board, it was assumed Toronto would challenge for the CFL Eastern Division title along with Hamilton and Montreal. The Bombers, meanwhile, coming off a four-win season appeared to be betting the farm on the health of quarterback Buck Pierce, whose 2010 season had been ravaged by injuries and who hadnt played since Labour Day weekend. With Toronto and Winnipeg scheduled to meet twice during the first five weeks of the season, it seemed like the optics might be very bad for Winnipeg if certain things took place. If Jyles was able to lead Toronto to victory over his former team in both of those games, if Pierce was hurt again, that there would be some very tough questions to answer in Winnipeg and perhaps a job or two on the line before mid-season. Its funny how things go. As the CFL rolls into Week 13 and the third matchup between Winnipeg and Toronto this season, things couldnt have unfolded more differently for these two Eastern Division rivals, both at the quarterback position and beyond. The Bombers come into this week with the CFLs best record at 8-3, with Pierce – while banged and bruised along the way – making all 11 starts so far. The Argos insistance that Jyles would be ready to start the season turned out to be wrong, leaving them with nine weeks of Cleo Lemon and now Jyles learning on the fly as their season slips away. Of course the differences between these two teams go well beyond their quarterbacks, with the Bomber defence displaying the kind of playmaking ability that Toronto has simply lacked all season long. And among receivers, the Bombers Terrence Jeffers-Harris, who has been a healthy scratch the past few weeks for Winnipeg, would be a No. 1 target if he played for the Argos. All of which proves that impressions and projections made in March rarely hold up come August. Now some other thoughts wrapping up Week 12 in the CFL and looking ahead to Week 13. -- Well have to wait until 2012 to watch Kito Poblah evolve as a CFL receiver. The Central Michigan product - and first pick of the leagues supplemental draft – was injured during Winnipegs season-opener at Hamilton, didnt return until Week 10, and is now gone for the year after sustaining an injury in his second game back. But his nine-catch, 89-yard performance against Saskatchewan in his first game back could be a nice preview of things to come. -- In this year of career record-setting performances, its interesting to project where Edmontons Ricky Ray might get to some day. Ray, still just 31 years old, moved past Matt Dunigan during Fridays game at Hamilton for sixth all-time in completions with 3,068. Given his high completion percentage (he has completed 66.9 per cent of his passes during his career) and age, its not hard to imagine that Ray could reach Damon Allens mark of 5,158. -- For the second year in a row, it appeared early in the season that the CFL might be on its way to having its first ever Eastern crossover playoff team. But with the resurgence of B.C. (5-6) and Saskatchewan (4-7), there is now a better possibility that both of those teams might be able to catch Hamilton (5-6) and cross over to the East at playoff time. -- Argo president Bob Nicholson came out this week in support of head coach Jim Barker and stated the team has no thought of making a change this season. Given that hes coming off a surprising nine-win season and Coach of The Year Honours, we should probably assume that Nicholson isnt considering any change for next season either. But the relevant question isnt so much whether Barker should be fired, but whether he will want to perform both head coaching and general manager duties next season. -- Watching Fred Stamps and Adarius Bowman play against Hamilton Friday night (17 catches for 155 yards, combined), one gets a sense of why the Eskimos were a different team when those two went out of the lineup with injuries. -- Edmontons Jerome Messam is already just 45 yards shy of equalling the best rushing total Jesse Lumsden ever put together. And with seven games ago, the Brampton, Ont. product has a chance to become the first Canadian running back since Sean Millington to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. -- Whats wrong with the Hamilton Tiger-Cat offence tthe past few weeks? Start with the absence of a running game, with Avon Cobourne having just 11 carries over the past two weeks, largely because the Eskimos fell behind early against both Montreal and Edmonton.dddddddddddd Some untimely drops have made the situation worse, as has the disappointing play of quarterback Kevin Glenn. The Cats arent thinking of making a change at quarterback yet but one has to think that day cant be too far off if their current skid continues. Hamilton should get a lift from the return of centre Marwan Hage, a leader on offence and one of the leagues best offensive lineman. -- Last season, the very first Touchdown Atlantic game sold out in about 24 hours. This week, just days before kickoff between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Calgary Stampeders, there were still good seats available among the 20,000 at the University of Moncton Stadium. How come? Good question, since all indications are that the first regular season game in Atlantic Canada was a smash hit. The best guess is that fans may have soured on a set-up in which half the seats are constructed out of temporary end zone bleachers. Still, not being able to sell out a once-a-year event puts a real damper on the notion of the league completing its national map some day. But it highlights the need for there to be a suitable stadium in place before anyone can seriously discuss the notion of expansion. -- Hard to think that the Eskimos will be willing to have receiver Chris Bauman around next season at $130,000 a season. The former Tiger-Cat, and first overall pick, signed a generous free agent deal with Edmonton during the off-season but hasnt exactly justified the investment with just 11 catches for 132 yards so far this season. -- With a 6-5 record, the aura of invincibility around the Montreal Alouettes isnt what it used to be. And while the Als remain an elite team in the CFL, there have been times this season when theyve been very un-Alouette like. For instance, in two of their last three losses (at Calgary and at home to Winnipeg), the Montreal offence has been on the field with a chance to tie or win and been unable to move the ball. Those kinds of things used to be automatic but arent anymore. -- The Eskimos decision to go with an all-Canadian backfield of Jerome Messam, Calvin McCarty and Mattieu Bertrand certainly goes against the grain of traditional thinking. But its not as if Eskimo general manager Eric Tillman and head coach Kavis Reed havent done that before. Both were in Saskatchewan when the Roughriders thumbed their nose at conventional wisdom by loaded up their receiving corps with homebrews Andy Fantuz, Robb Bagg, Chris Getzlaf and Jason Clermont. -- He may not do much more than short yardage situations but it has to be nice for Kerry Joseph to extend his CFL career with a successful Eskimo team. When I ran into Joseph at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala back in January, he had half-turned the page on his playing career and was exploring a career in football off the field. Still it was clear that a short back-up stint late last season in Edmonton did little to erase the bad taste built-up through his two disappointing seasons in Toronto. -- The Toronto Argonauts still look like a team that is working out the bugs on offence, which they very well may be. Against Saskatchewan on Saturday, there were plenty of instances where it looked as though quarterback Steven Jyles was improvising because hed mistaken where one or more of his teammates was supposed to be, or that in fact one or more of his teammates had failed to get to the right spot. The Argos opened the game with a pass thrown wide of a receiver, an illegal procedure penalty, a sack, an unnecessary roughness penalty and a quarterback scramble off a broken play. -- Its too early to pass judgment on Jyles as an Argonaut. But on the heels of last weeks game that ended with him throwing an interception returned for a touchdown, its worth remembering why the Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost patience with him. Jyles statistics in Winnipeg were more than decent. But the Bombers were disappointed that in several instances with a game on the line, Jyles failed to make a play when the Bombers absolutely needed one. That doesnt rest on his shoulders alone but ultimately quarterbacks are often judged by what they do during the final two minutes of close games. -- It seemed like an odd comment when Arland Bruce, upon being traded from Hamilton to one-win B.C., suggested hed just got closer to winning the Grey Cup. But yet with the Lions and Tiger-Cats both at 5-6 on the season, and the Lions winners of four in a row, perhaps Bruce knew what he was talking about. -- The positive effect of Saskatchewans Andy Fantuz missing half a CFL season while auditioning in the NFL has been the emergence of Chris Getzlaf as a star receiver. Getzlaf, who had 55 catches for 946 yards last season, already has more touchdowns than he did a year ago and has upped his yards per catch by three yards over last season. cheap jerseys from china ' ' '