Looking back on the Renegades' demolition of the Edmonton Eskimos on Friday night, a couple of things stand out, after the great performance by quarterback Kerry Joseph, of course. One was the way the defence regrouped after giving up a touchdown on the Eskimos' opening drive. It caused a big turnover late in the half which led to a 14-point swing.

"Our players seemed to be pretty resilient," said Renegades coach Joe Paopao. "They took the opening drive and scored on us pretty easily, but we came back and went back to our signature defence, bend but don't break."

The other thing was the efficiency of the offence with Joseph at the controls. In the third quarter, he took the Renegades on a 108-yard drive which resulted in a touchdown. The result was the Renegades' defence was only on the field for four snaps in the third quarter. That's incredible.

"I feel it, too. We've got to ration those plays," said veteran receiver Yo Murphy, with a laugh. "We owed that to (the defence). They could chill out and stay fresh."

Throw in the fact the Renegades' special teams were strong, too, and you have a 1-2-3 sweep in the three phases of the game.

HEAR AND THERE: Ian Laperriere. Matthew Barnaby. Chris Simon. All guys who could have helped the Senators. All guys who signed somewhere else, for very reasonable prices ... Canadiens coach Claude Julien thinks former Senator C Radek Bonk will do just fine with the Habs in a third-line role. "I think the expectations were really high on Radek here in Ottawa," he said. "Starting from where he was drafted (third overall in '94). At the same time, I think he's done a good job a lot of times playing against the top centres on other teams. He's a good two-way player. Maybe people expected too much out of him offensively." Maybe. But it wasn't too much to expect him to compete every night.

REVELATIONS: Joseph was 26-for-31 against Edmonton and was the victim of two dropped balls which would have gone for TDs (one each by Murphy and Demetris Bendross, though they were both diving attempts) ... Julien now has the security of a long-term deal, but things haven't changed for the Orleans native who now makes his home in Kanata. "Life's the same," he said the other day. "I still cut my own grass."

SPECULATIONS: Somebody asked Joseph after beating the Esks if he was "running scared" during his scrambles. "I'm not running scared," he said. "I was just looking for a lane. I'm never scared." The guys who should be scared are the ones who try to tackle him ... Former Habs coach Michel Therrien got hit five times in the head by his estranged wife, who was brandishing her cellphone, according to Montreal police, who were summoned to the Therrien home in the wee hours of Friday morning. She wanted to sleep there, but Therrien, who's sharing the house with their kids for the summer, said no. Must be a Black and BlueBerry she uses.

LEMME SAY THIS ABOUT THAT: The best thing the Toronto Raptors could do is unload Vince Carter. He said he would give the Raptors a chance to "correct" their situation. Haven't the Raptors waited long enough for Carter to "correct" his? ... Interesting to note, in Bruce Garrioch's piece the other day, that former NHL goaltender and now ESPN analyst Darren Pang isn't sure Dominik Hasek's Jell-O-without-the-mould-style will work anymore. So, he's going to learn a new style now at age 40? Yeah, that'll work.

JUST WONDERING: Do you think Argos linebacker Michael Fletcher watched Joseph against the Eskies the other night? You think Fletcher still believes Joseph is a good athlete, but he isn't a quarterback? ... Tiger Woods' caddie, Steve Williams, kicked a camera because he was upset with a photographer during the U.S. Open. He called it loosing his cool. Someone else might call it assault.

NAPKIN NOTES: A lot of people go to a baseball game and hope a baseball lands in their lap. How about the ball and Derek Jeter? ... The low point of Euro 2004 was the Italians complaining about their shoes and socks after a tie with Portugal. I thought Italy was known for its footwear.

chris.stevenson@ott.sunpub.com