A heated social media tiff between Bussin’ With The Boys’ Taylor Lewan and ESPN NFL analyst Andrew Hawkins over CFL rules was worked out on Tuesday, thanks in large part to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Who had all that on their bingo card?
Our sordid story actually begins way back on August 22, 2024, when the Toronto Argonauts defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders 20-19 after kicker Lirim Hajrullahu’s 40-yard field-goal attempt sailed wide left, but also went through the end zone for a game-winning single (or rouge), as is the rule in the Canadian Football League (CFL).
For some reason, Lewan took to X on Monday and shared a clip of that kick, adding some harsh commentary.
“This is the dumbest rule I’ve ever witnessed,” he wrote on X. “You missed a kick but it hit the back of the end zone so you get a point to win the game? So dumb.”
That caught the attention of Hawkins, who played six seasons in the NFL after two seasons for the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes, where he was part of back-to-back Grey Cup Championships. The ESPN analyst took Lewan to task for taking a shot at a rule that has existed long before the CFL began.
“Typical NOOB, jumping on twitter to give his opinion on a game he watched for the first time ever,” wrote Hawkins. “Bring that sh*t north of the border and see what me and Saskatoonians do to you!!!”
That kicked off a fairly intense back-and-forth between the two former football players, with Lewan taking shots at the value of being a CFL player, Hawkins offering to personally teach him a lesson, Lewan claiming he would have prevented Hawkins from winning a Grey Cup had he played against him, and Hawkins saying Lewan wouldn’t have been worth a spot on a CFL roster.
Things mostly went quiet from there. However, on Tuesday, Hawkins revealed that he and Lewan had connected by phone and hashed things out, thanks in part to former Calgary Stampeders linebacker The Rock.
“Don’t want to go into it too much here… but I hopped on a call with [Taylor Lewan] and we talked it out like men,” wrote Hawkins. “We agree to disagree on some things, but overall agree we are both fathers, sons, uncles, nephews, brothers, and cousins and that neither of us were proud how showed up in the last 24 hours. We good.”
“Hawks right, our different opinions were clouding our judgement,” added Lewan in a quote of Hawkins’ post. “Luckily, the level-headedness of [The Rock] stepping in and connecting us made me realize it’s okay to disagree.”
And so, all was right with the North American football world once more, whether you appreciate the rouge or not.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.