I haven’t paid much attention to the Canadian Football League this year, perhaps because other things happening on our football planet — the AFL, the NFL, the Premier League, etc. — have been dominating my time, and also because the Toronto Argonauts are 2-5 but would make the playoffs if the season ended today.

Still, this made me smile just a little.

Montreal running back Jarrett Payton is the CFL’s offensive player of the week after leading the Alouettes to a 30-18 win over the Calgary Stampeders in just his third game in the league.

Payton rushed for 160 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries last week. His performance included a 35-yard run in the second quarter that was capped by an eight-yard score.

It’s impossible to root against Jarrett Payton, whose father was truly one of the all-time greats and was taken from us far too soon because of liver problems. Walter’s son showed flashes of his father while he was at the University of Miami, and many sports fans were hoping that Jarrett would find a spot on an NFL roster one day, but he was cut by the Tennessee Titans in 2006 after being way down on the depth chart for them in 2005.

So far, Jarrett’s biggest football accomplishment was leading the Amsterdam Admirals to a World Bowl title in the now defunct NFL Europe. A small part of me hopes he can lead Montreal to a Grey Cup, and that he scores the touchdown in that game that his dad never got to score in Super Bowl XX.

Good on ya, Jarrett. I know you’re trying to live up to an impossible legacy, but we’re rooting for you just the same.

(Spotted on FanHouse.)