Edmonton @ Montreal

thursday night football

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July 25, 20187 yr

GAME DAY NOTES

 Duke Williams 100+ in 4 straight: Williams' current run of consecutive 100-yard games has reached 4 in a row. With one more this week he can to a level that has been reached only 9 times in CFL history covering 1950 to 2017. The last player to extend that streak to at least 5 games of 100+ in a row was Jamel Richardson in 2011 (6 straight). The Edmonton record is held by Brian Kelly at 5 games in row set in 1983.

 Overall Standings & Parity: Through the first 5 games for all clubs with the byes now having evened out for all but Winnipeg, Calgary has dominated at 5-0 with two teams at 1-4. However, league-wide there are SIX clubs with either 2 or 3 wins in a season of parity in the middle and thus not far from early playoff contention. Every team has at least one victory to date.

 Lack of Win Streaks: There have been only THREE clubs thus far able to win back-to-back games over the first six weeks. Only Calgary (5), plus Hamilton and Saskatchewan have managed to win at least two games in a row.

 Turnovers even more prominent: There has been just ONE team that has been able to overcome a T/O deficit and win their game in 2018. Only Edmonton on June 29th in a 41-22 victory over BC was negative on Giveaways with 3 against the Lions' 2 that day. Overall, teams with fewer Turnovers are at 18-1 .947 in 2018 compared to 55-13 .809 in 2017 and 57-10 .851 in 2016.

Scoring at 46.5 ppg: Games are averaging just 46.5 points in 2018 vs 53.0 over the past two full seasons (2016-17). In 2018, there have been 10 games in which the point total has been 42 or less.

 Rushing up by 17% in 2018: The focus in 2018 has been a return to rushing the football with yards averaging 217 per game, the highest per game yardage since 2010. Teams who have won the rushing battle in 2018 are 17-6 .739. Winnipeg leads the CFL at 173 yards per game which is the best average by any club since Edmonton in 1991 (185.3 per game).

- Montreal Career Rushers: Tyrell Sutton moved up to #4 all-time for the Als last week by passing Brandon Whitaker. He is just 370 yards away from the #3 spot in club history. His per carry average is exactly the same as all-time leader Mike Pringle at 5.6 yards.

Deep passing contrast: Edmonton leads the CFL in throwing deep this year with 16 completions where the receiver was more than 20 yards downfield. By comparison, Montreal is tied for last having just 8 connections of 20+ yards downfield. Six of Edmonton's 9 TD passes have been of the 20+ depth variety.

MTL Roster changes from Week #1 to Week #7 - 42% Turnover: Of the 24 players that STARTED for the Als in their season opener, 10 of them (42%) either did not start last week or have since been traded away including Jamaal Westerman and Chris Williams.

- 14th MTL QB Starter / 25 Week-to-Week changes:The following players have started at QB for Montreal since Anthony Calvillo's last start on August 17, 2012 - Josh Neiswander, Tanner Marsh, Troy Smith, Alex Brink, Jon Crompton, Rakeem Cato, Kevin Glenn, Brandon Bridge, Vernon Adams Jr., Darian Durant, Drew Willy, Matthew Shiltz and Jeff Mathews.

Even more important perhaps, Montreal has been forced to make 25 week-to-week changes in their starting QB in the 89 games since August 2012. Edmonton has changed their QB starter week to week just 9 times over that span.

- 1-15 in the last 16 games / 7 in a row at home: The Alouettes have won just once in their last 16 games - that matches the previous poorest 16-game stretch in their history, 1-15 from Oct 6/51 to Oct 18/52 almost 66 years ago. They come in having lost their last 7 home games - the longest home losing streak in Montreal history.

- Edmonton vs Montreal: The Eskimos have won the last 8 meetings against Montreal, one short of their best run vs the Als. They won 9 consecutive meetings with Montreal across the 1978 to 1983 seasons. The current 8-game streak comes on the heels of exactly the same 8-game winning run that the Als had over Edmonton (2010 to 2013). The last Montreal win over Edmonton? Oct 5/13.

- Slow starts: The Eskimos have scored a total of just 3 points in the 1st Quarter over their last 3 games. They have been behind after the 1st Quarter in each of their last 4 games and come back to win two of them.

- Edmonton scoring: The Eskimos averaged 31.7 points per game over their first 3 contests, but have scored 16 and 15 points in their last two games respectively. Over the last two outings they have just built just 3 TD drives in 23 possessions.

- Mike Reilly: Has been the Esks' #1 QB since 2013 and has now started 48 of their last 49 games. Edmonton has gone 33-16 .673 in that 49-game span with Reilly missing a start only on Nov 5/16 at season's end. Reilly has 300-yard games in 3 of his 5 starts in 2018 (36 career) and in 65% of his starts since 2015.

Sutton as a receiver: Tyrell Sutton is on pace for 76 receptions for 659 yards (he has 21 catches for 183 thus far) - that would be more yards and catches than in the last two years combined (71 for 518 across 2016-17).

- Boris Bede 14 FGs in a row: Has yet to miss a placement kick of either type in 2018 - 8/8 FGAs and 6/6 converts. He is just one short of his all-time career long run of 15 in a row set in June-July 2017 and has made 17 consecutive 32-yard converts.

- Montreal flagged: The Als committed 44 penalties over their first 3 games (incl. declined) – in their last 2 games just 14 penalties.

- Sean Whyte: Did not attempt a field goal last week and thus far has been called upon only 9 times. He is 7-of-9 in 2018. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Edited July 27, 20187 yr by Mr Dee