One of the biggest hits in Friday night’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers-Edmonton Elks Canadian Football League clash was delivered not to a player, but rather to Elks’ digital media coordinator Brent Stephen. Sideline collisions certainly happen quite a bit, but this one was particularly remarkable.
This came near the end of the first quarter of this CFL game when Elks‘ quarterback Taylor Cornelius threw to national receiver Mike Jones along the field-side sideline. Jones made the catch, but Bombers‘ defensive back Winston Rose then pushed Jones out of bounds after an 18-yard gain, which sent him crashing directly into Stephen. Here’s how this looked on a TSN replay, as shared by Elks’ marketing/communications intern Adam Ziccarelli:
Here is @lemonspread embracing his first CFL tackle. ?? Well done buddy pic.twitter.com/icLrZwre64
— Adam Ziccarelli (@Adam_Ziccarelli) July 23, 2022
Stephen, a former U SPORTS track and field athlete with the Calgary Dinos, had a good tweet about that:
The closest I’ve been to playing football at any level https://t.co/bTqFYgaWV5
— Brent (@lemonspread) July 23, 2022
And on Saturday, Stephen shared the film of this from his camera, which stopped recording after taking this hit:
Here's the hit through the lens of my camera. It stopped recording by itself. I'm suspecting the shutter or stabilization system is jacked up https://t.co/WnOnYzvzUO pic.twitter.com/svfrxNhkKM
— Brent (@lemonspread) July 23, 2022
It’s remarkable to see what a hit like this looks like from a camera so close to the action. Fortunately, neither Jones nor Stephen appeared to be significantly hurt from this; there are certainly some past sideline collisions that have led to more serious outcomes, including one with brief Elks’ QB J.T. Barrett during his time playing for Ohio State (Barrett just signed as an offensive assistant with the Detroit Lions). And while this one did damage the camera involved, it also gave us some remarkable video footage, which some even suggested was of the calibre of the famed Canadian Heritage Minute series.
A Canadian Heritage Minute. https://t.co/iez8kG0U78
— r/CFL on Reddit (@cfl_reddit) July 23, 2022
On the broadcast side, this game was also remarkable, as it was the first CFL game broadcast in the nêhiyawêwin (Cree) language:
We're breaking new ground tonight on @cfweradio & @cjweradio with the first nêhiyawêwin (Cree) broadcast of football.
Broadcaster Edwin Thomas shares some Cree football terms to get you ready for wâwâskêsiwak (Elks) vs. kâ-sîpihkosicik opahkisikêwak (Blue Bombers) #GoElks #CFL pic.twitter.com/M23HUHDnyN
— Edmonton Elks (@GoElks) July 22, 2022
And this contest was notable on the field as well, with the two-time defending Grey Cup champion Bombers picking up a 24-10 win to improve to 7-0 on the season. And they did so despite quarterback Zach Collaros completing just seven of 16 passes on the night. Despite that, though, Winnipeg remains the only perfect CFL team this season (although two other West Division teams, the Calgary Stampeders and B.C. Lions, each only have one loss). And Edmonton may have to pay for some camera equipment repairs as well going forward.
[Brent Stephen on Twitter]
