For your perusal..

Game Day CFL Game Notes

After losing 8 of 9 meetings dating back to 2012, the Blue Bombers have won the last two games against the Ti-Cats. Matt Nichols led Winnipeg to a 38-11 win on Aug 3/16 to sweep the 2016 season series but Zach Collaros was out for both games.

Over the two games, Winnipeg created a 12-2 (+10) edge in Takeaways and won despite being outgained in each contest. Hamilton passed for 702 yards and 4 completions of 30+ yards but threw 5 interceptions in the two games, two by Maurice Leggett and one by Taylor Loffler. Andy Fantuz and Luke Tasker led Hamilton with 14 and 11 catches respectively.

Hamilton has played only one game against Eastern rivals thus far.

Nichols has now led THREE late 4th Quarter game winning drives in 2017 on top of 5 last year and so has engineered 8 in his last 15 starts. Overall in that stretch of 15 starts he has led Winnipeg to a 10-5 record.

Collaros now has a 10-game losing streak as a starter however and the most recent QB to have recorded that was Casey Printers across 2008-09. The CFL record for consecutive starts lost is 13 by Lynn Amedee 1963-64 (EDM).

The Tiger-Cats started well this year with 9 QB Sacks and 33 QB Pressures in their first 4 games. Over the last two contests however they have just one Sack and 8 Pressures on the opposing QB.

Justin Medlock reaches career game #100 this week and through the first 99 has accumulated 1,036 points (#22 all- time). His career totals cover: TOR 174 pts in 21 GP, HAM 559 pts in 54 GP, WPG 303 pts in 24 GP. Justin has averaged 12.6 points per game for Winnipeg, the highest average of any player in club history ahead of Trevor Kennard (9.8 per game).

Last week Hamilton ran the ball just 6 times at Edmonton for a season-low. Their 6 rushing plays matches the lowest by any CFL club since 2008 (Montreal at SSK on Jul 19/08, 5 rushes for 13 yards).

Darvin Adams: Has taken over the Winnipeg receiving lead and has made at least 4 receptions in every game this season. Adams, Bakari Grant (SSK) and Anthony Coombs (TOR) are the only players with 4+ catches in every game in 2017. Adams has been targeted 27 times in the last two games and leads the Bombers with 3 TD grabs and 3 receptions of 30+ yards.

Despite allowing the fewest QB Pressures in the CFL (28), the Bombers Matt Nichols has been sacked 11 times in the last 3 games pushing the total to 16 for the season (tied for #6). Winnipeg has yet to score a TD this season on any drive where they have allowed a QB Sack. Their TD% when NOT allowing a Sack is 25%, tied for 3rd with Edmonton and behind only Calgary (28%) and BC (27%).

The Bombers starting lineup has been the most consistent thus far with only 29 different players having at least one to date. For Winnipeg, 18 of a possible 24 players have made all 6 starts thus far, and 23 players have made at least 4 starts.

The Bombers are 9-3 on the road in their last 12 visits around the CFL compared to a 6-6 home mark since the start of 2016. They have had at least an even or better road than home record in 5 of the last 7 seasons.

Receiver T.J. Thorpe will get his fourth straight start since coming off the practice roster. The 24-year-old has quickly become one of Nichols’ favourite marks, averaging almost nine targets a game and has caught 20 of 26 passes thrown in his direction.

Zach Collaros had his best game of the season last week, throwing for 282 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Receiver Damarr Aultman had a team high 74 yards and a touchdown in his CFL debut.

The Ticats rank last in the CFL in points and yards allowed per game.

Numbers - 

4 – League leading interceptions for Bombers defensive back T.J. Heath.

5 – Quarterback sacks by Jamaal Westerman, tied for fourth in the league.

487 – Average total yards the Ticats defence has given up through six games this, ranking last in the league heading into Week 8.

 

It wasn't Duane Forde because the 2nd time the voice was talking over Duane's voice.   

I would of loved to hear Austin mic'd up...  the guy looks nearly Burke like on the sidelines  (dead inside)

2 hours ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

my only complaint is I'd like to see some better production when we get the opposing 30. Yeah we have $Medlock$ but I'd really prefer he doesn't have to kick 6 fgs a game.  But I'm pleased with the win. Convincing none the less and a game we should have and did win.  Makes me a little sad that if we don't blow that 2 score lead with the Lions we'd be 6-1 right now. but 5-2 baby! 3 in a row! beat up esks up next then montreal.  If we head into the LDC 7-2 sky is the limit

Yes it'll be hard for the Blue not to look past the Esks to Montreal. 

2 hours ago, basslicker said:

it was Duane Forde. 

I don't think so. Didn't sound like him either. Likely someone from the truck. 

Brandon Banks looks disinterested and slow these days...

Was definitely not Forde that got accidentally Mic-ed up. Likely someone on TiCats sideline. 

Edited August 13, 20178 yr by Noeller

3 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

188 NET yards for Hamilton. That is outstanding. When was the last time a Blue Bombers team held the opposition under 200 net yards of offense?

we hold teams under 200 yards of offense at least 50% of the time (if the time period in question is 1 quarter)

Ahhhhh...that's more like it and I hope we can keep it going...Solid play by D and the offence...made the Cats look silly...Nichols has really started to come into his own and he's learning to chuck the ball into the stands when there's nothing there...instead of the sack...I think they got to him a few times early but we shut that down...Loved the one armed grab by Adams for the td....This guy is sure proving his worth and I like the way we're moving the ball around to different receivers...Harris and Flanders....very dangerous...I hope we keep that going...Solid play =solid win...Way to go Bigblue...........................I'm really starting to like this Thomas kid.

Here's one to discuss, do you use a DI on Tristan O when he comes back? To me, you can't bench Jeffcoat, so that's the only solution.

1 hour ago, rebusrankin said:

Here's one to discuss, do you use a DI on Tristan O when he comes back? To me, you can't bench Jeffcoat, so that's the only solution.

Or do you trade him? 

7 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Or do you trade him? 

Good luck with that..... 

1 hour ago, rebusrankin said:

Here's one to discuss, do you use a DI on Tristan O when he comes back? To me, you can't bench Jeffcoat, so that's the only solution.

Honestly, I love Westerman and the big plays he makes but he also makes so many bone headed penalities he can be hard to put up with. 

Fortunately, he's a Canadian at least. 

We are so fortunate to have Westerman on our team. He fulfills so may needs. Does he get penalties? Yes, he does. But he is so worth it, it's not even funny. 

Don't kid yourself, every team in the league would look seriously at Westerman in their lineup and feel good about it.

Edited August 13, 20178 yr by Mr Dee

1 hour ago, Goalie said:

Or do you trade him? 

To Hamilton for their first round pick.    Not sure they have any players we want.  Most of them are freaking brutal.  

13 minutes ago, kelownabomberfan said:

To Hamilton for their first round pick.    Not sure they have any players we want.  Most of them are freaking brutal.  

Don Unamba!

26 minutes ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

Don Unamba!

When you're pulling guys like that from 3rd tier arena ball you know you're in trouble.

How was there no flag on Adams catch?  All Unamba did was attach himself like a parasite into him.

14 hours ago, Goalie said:

Rumors are June Jones. 

Man, I loved what whoever it was said. No sugar coating the pathetic Ti Cats performance last night. No political correctness there.  I'd point fingers at Collaros. Yeah, his line is bad but he's using it as a crutch.  He's shown zero leadership this year. I guess we know now he'd have played in 2015 had he signed with the Bombers with that turnstile of an OL we had instead of Hamilton. 

Edited August 13, 20178 yr by SpeedFlex27

5 minutes ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

How was there no flag on Adams catch?  All Unamba did was attach himself like a parasite into him.

I was wondering the same thing. Another miss by the ref, who was right there. Unamba practically hog tied Adams, but forgot he had two hands, and only needed one. 

Now that's a challenge we would have won easily..

3 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

When you're pulling guys like that from 3rd tier arena ball you know you're in trouble.

How was there no flag on Adams catch?  All Unamba did was attach himself like a parasite into him.

yeah I was thinking as the ball was still in the air and watching Adams getting man-handled "Glad MOS still has that one challenge left".   As I said though, glad Adams caught it and saved me a strike this week.

On 8/13/2017 at 11:44 AM, Mr Dee said:

We are so fortunate to have Westerman on our team. He fulfills so may needs. Does he get penalties? Yes, he does. But he is so worth it, it's not even funny. 

Don't kid yourself, every team in the league would look seriously at Westerman in their lineup and feel good about it.

yea to suggest Westerman's negatives even remotely come close to his positives is asinine.  Hes a Canadian who plays as well as if not better then most DE's in the league..  Hes non-stop and frankly, I like the edge he plays on.. sometimes its a bit too much and it costs us a 15 but on the other hand, his timing sometimes is perfect and he breaks up plays or gets a sack/hit on the QB..  if we were to cut him today, there would be a lineup of GMs vying for his signature on a contract.

23 hours ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

When you're pulling guys like that from 3rd tier arena ball you know you're in trouble.

How was there no flag on Adams catch?  All Unamba did was attach himself like a parasite into him.

that was an absolute mugging and I was amazed the flag wasn't thrown.. if we would have had to challenge that...

 

On 8/13/2017 at 11:14 AM, Goalie said:

Or do you trade him? 

Let's start five or six threads on it so it can be discussed fully!

19 hours ago, kelownabomberfan said:

yeah I was thinking as the ball was still in the air and watching Adams getting man-handled "Glad MOS still has that one challenge left".   As I said though, glad Adams caught it and saved me a strike this week.

I think if Adams hadn't come down with the ball then the ref probably would have thrown the flag. Plenty of times they keep the flags in their pocket until the play is done for what ever reason. 

On 2017-08-13 at 9:42 AM, rebusrankin said:

Here's one to discuss, do you use a DI on Tristan O when he comes back? To me, you can't bench Jeffcoat, so that's the only solution.

I wouldn't.  There's 3 NIs taking regular reps on the DL.  Don't really have a use for a DI there.

On 8/13/2017 at 7:42 AM, rebusrankin said:

Here's one to discuss, do you use a DI on Tristan O when he comes back? To me, you can't bench Jeffcoat, so that's the only solution.

I have a feeling with his lineage Jeffcoat will ask for his release at the end of the season to pursue NFL opportunities, so the Bombers better hedge their bets and keep Okie on standby.

He's had a few seasons kicking around down there...couldn't really fill a role of a true DE or a OLB...so can't see it after a year here..maybe 2 strong seasons being really dominant perhaps