CFL Game Notes -

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👁‍🗨well, if you go by stats..the Bombers are in for a tough time in Regina.. Ugly, ugly stats

Chris Jones is 46-35 as a HC

Mike O’Shea is 40-42

Sask is 35-19 over Wpg in the Labour Day Classic.

29 of those games have been decided only in the last 3 minutes.

The meetings since 2002 have generally not been all that close - only 5 of the last 16 games were decided in the last 3:00 - Saskatchewan comes into the game with a better record (5-4 vs 5-5) than Winnipeg for the first time since 2014

- QBs: Saskatchewan will start their 4th straight different QB in the Classic, with Zach Collaros; Matt Nichols will start his 3rd in a row  (Nichols started once for Edmonton vs Calgary and threw for 203 yards); Matt Nichols has yet to be held under 300 passing yards; he has 341 & 364 yards in his two Winnipeg LDW starts (16-17)  (Nichols started once for Edmonton vs Calgary and threw for 203 yards)

- Zach Collaros has also yet to be held under 300 passing yards in an LDW game; his three 300+ games were with Hamilton

- Zach Collaros becomes the 38th player to start a Labour Day Weekend game for the Riders; Nichols is starter #39 for Winnipeg

- Winnipeg snapped a Saskatchewan 11-game win streak in their 2016 LD Weekend meeting but dropped to 1 win in 13 last year

- The Riders have outgained Winnipeg in the last 7 LDW meetings by over 100 yards per game (Avg: 388 to 275)

Breaking Down Who Wins LDW Classic: There have been 54 previous games in this LD matchup and here is how it has broken down based on which club came into the game with a better record. The Bombers are 5-5 this year compared to the Riders at 5-4.

WPG came in with better record: 29 times (Wins: SSK 18, WPG 11)

SSK came in with better record: 15 times (Wins: SSK 11, WPG 4) Note: Teams came in with even records 10 times

As the Riders were seeking in 2017, the underdog has often won this LD Weekend matchup. The Bombers have only 4 upset wins as underdogs i.e. the team lower in the standings heading in.

___________________________________________________________________________________________ Other Team Notes – Winnipeg at Saskatchewan:

- Charleston Hughes: Leads the CFL with 12 Sacks (7 more than any other player) and comes into this game with a streak of 7 straight games with at least one. That is the longest consecutive games streak in his career, his previous long run was set at 6 in a row from Jun 28/14 to Aug 9/14.

- Most consecutive games with a QB Sack: Over the last 25 years, here are the longest streaks with at least one QB Sack. Charleston Hughes has tied the most by any Saskatchewan player and is 3 short of the highest on record since 1994

👁‍🗨Joe Montford and Philip Hunt are the two players ahead of Hughes, each with 10 game streaks.

- Sam Hurl 100 GP/ U of Calgary: Hurl will suit up this week for CFL game #100 in his career and it will be start #56. He is a prominent member of a remarkable 99 players that have come to the CFL from the Dinos - of those 99 individuals Hurl will become the 20th player of this group to make it to 100 career regular season games.

- Nichols 9-3 .750 coming off a loss: Despite a second straight loss last week, Matt Nichols has had a remarkable run since July 2016 in the next start after a Blue Bombers loss as he will be doing again this week. In his last 12 starts after a Winnipeg defeat the club has gone 9-3 for a .750 winning %.

- Avoiding 3 losses in a row: The Bombers have not lost 3 games in a row in the same season since the final three weeks of 2015. They have gone a span of 46 games with just 5 streaks of 2 defeats in a row and none longer than that.

5 of the last 6: The Riders have beaten Winnipeg just once in the last 6 games. This is the best Bombers' 6-game run against their Saskatchewan rivals in the last 13 years.

Opponents' 502 net yards: The Bombers yielded just 325 net yards per game over their first 8 contests and through Week #9 ranked #4 in the CFL. Since then, they have given up 502 yards per game (493 & 511), the highest in the CFL since Week #9. The main area where this has come is on 1st down plays. First 8 games: 6.3 yards per play, Gm #9-10: 8.3 yards per play.

Riders Sacks Allowed: Saskatchewan allowed 9 Sacks in their first 4 games. Since then in 5 games they have yielded just 3. Expect some 2-&-Outs: The Riders are #1 forcing opponents 62 times into a 2-&-Out. Winnipeg is #3 with 53 forced 2-&-Outs.

- Jovon Johnson: Sat out last week's game and that snapped his consecutive games played streak at 73 in a row.

Andrew Harris: Was held to just 13 yards rushing last week on 7 carries. That tied his lowest yardage since Oct 7/15 vs EDM.

- Josh Bartel Inside the 10: Bartel has 6 punts pinning opponents inside the 10-yard line this year, one off the CFL lead. He is #2 overall with 60 since 2012. Winnipeg's Justin Medlock in many less games is #3 since 2012 with 36 including 7 in 2018.

- Offensive & Defensive TD Same Game: The Riders' Nick Marshall scored a touchdown on offence and defence in the same game two weeks ago with a 3-yard rush and a 67-yard INT return. That specific Offence/Defence TD pair had not occurred since Tyrone Walls for Edmonton on September 4, 1972 a span of 46 years. There have been only 4 such pure occurrences in the last 50 years. Last week, Marshall scored another offensive TD on a short run and actually leads the club in touchdowns with 4.

The nearest since 1972 was Milt Stegall on July 15, 1999 who caught a 37-yard TD pass from Kerwin Bell and returned a blocked punt/fumble 52 yards for a score.

Edited September 2, 20187 yr by Mr Dee

Another second half collapse. We see that every game. What do the players do at halftime? Smoke weed? Don't answer that.

 

I'm a big Nichols fan but man, when the chips are down, does he ever crap the bed.

This is one of those times when I ask myself, why do I keep supporting this team and putting up with this? Year 19 of Season Tickets, attended at least half of the home games very season since about 96. Been going to games since 88. Frustration thy name is Blue Bombers.

Nichols is brutal, our receivers drop easy passes, our secondary can’t cover deep and we can hardly make a tackle. 

Just now, rebusrankin said:

This is one of those times when I ask myself, why do I keep supporting this team and putting up with this? Year 19 of Season Tickets, attended at least half of the home games very season since about 96. Been going to games since 88. Frustration thy name is Blue Bombers.

[sarcasm]

Hey man, didn't you read earlier? The past doesn't matter. 

as Much as I’m a bomber fan I don’t think the better team lost today. A team consists of the players and coaches and unfortunately I have to say jones is by far a better coach than O’Shea and their coordinators are slightly better than ours. Player wise I think we have have an edge other than that I think the better team won

MOS reminds me of the salty old sea captain that would rather go down with the ship then man the lifeboats(start Streveler).

Matt is right. We lost the battle on the LOS second half. That was it.

Just now, SpeedFlex27 said:

Matt is right. We lost the battle on the LOS second half. That was it.

If he knew they were losing that battle then why didn't he get his azz out of there quicker and make a play ?.....instead of just standing there waiting for Harris to save his bacon every time...

Matt Nichols is done. Sit him down on the bench.

If this team trots him out for the Banjo Bowl, they should all be ashamed.

Defense played pretty well. 14 of those points against were from Nichols and the special teams. Not their fault Nichols is having less success than Antonio Freaking Pipkin. 

 

1 minute ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Matt is right. We lost the battle on the LOS second half. That was it.

Ok but at some point the QB needs to make plays. Its not like he was running for his life. A lot of those sacks he had atleast 3-4 mississippi's. This is the CFL, the ball needs to be out!

Once we stopped pressuring Collaros the game changed.  No idea what hall is doing as DC. Nichols has to play better but so do his receivers. 

Just now, BBRT said:

I agree 100%. I actually morbidly want them to lose next week - only then can the Bombers at least understand they need to make changes. Doubt they will but we can hope! 

Agree with this 100%

I believe that they will lose next week, and they will lose much more decisively than this game.

This game should also have been out of reach decisively in the 4th but the Sask coach took pity on them in the last few minutes.

 

Bombers are a crap team because Walters is a crap GM.

Let's force some change from the top down by really going into the tank now.

Need to do bad enough for the rest of this season so that we do not have to endure Walters again next year.

Thinking that if they did not win another game this year it would be best in the long run. That is actually quite doable at this point.

 

2 minutes ago, wpgallday1960 said:

I think the better team lost today.  However Nichols should consider his job on the line.

He's definitely not pulling the trigger like he was last year.  Sucks cuz that was what had me liking him over Willy was his faster decisiveness and getting rid of the ball quicker.  He definitely has started hesitating a lot more and appears to be not trusting what he's seeing.

Personally though, this teams non-aggressive mentality should be blamed on the whole coaching staff.  If Mike O'Shea repeats 2014 or 2015 in any manner of this season, get a new HC and entire new staff.

7 minutes ago, wpgallday1960 said:

I think the better team lost today.  However Nichols should consider his job on the line.

The bombers have lost 3 in a row. The riders have won 3 in a row. The riders scored TDs in all aspects of the game. Pull your head out of the sand. Our team is not better. Our team has a better running game. End of story.

Nichols is done. Its all about the QB in the CFL.. Ours sucks. Start the rookie 

Edited September 2, 20187 yr by Goalie

Just now, Goalie said:

Nichols is done. 

Too bad, MOS will not realize it until 2020.

3 minutes ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

Ok but at some point the QB needs to make plays. Its not like he was running for his life. A lot of those sacks he had atleast 3-4 mississippi's. This is the CFL, the ball needs to be out!

Agreed he does. Yes. 

1 minute ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Once we stopped pressuring Collaros the game changed.  No idea what hall is doing as DC. Nichols has to play better but so do his receivers. 

All of their big plays aside from the Thigpen TD came on max protection with both Bighill and JSK blitzing.

2 and outs start, whole team craters.  D played fine when we had a reasonable offense.  More worried about figuring out how to make that offense consistent.  Shouldn't be impossible.  Just over 100 yards in offense in the 2nd half.  Can't expect the D to hold a 3 point lead for an entire half with basically no run support.

8 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

This is one of those times when I ask myself, why do I keep supporting this team and putting up with this? Year 19 of Season Tickets, attended at least half of the home games very season since about 96. Been going to games since 88. Frustration thy name is Blue Bombers.

They just keep finding ways to disappoint.

Just now, rebusrankin said:

Too bad, MOS will not realize it until 2020.

Will he still be the coach when he realizes it though

1 minute ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

Ok but at some point the QB needs to make plays. Its not like he was running for his life. A lot of those sacks he had atleast 3-4 mississippi's. This is the CFL, the ball needs to be out!

 

This is exactly the same thing that happened to Drew Willy and all the other QB's the Bombers have that do not have good mobility and do not have any dangerous receivers.

Bombers have a receiving corps that is entirely comprised of possession receivers and that is because Walters is really goofy. Not finding anyone open when all the entire team does is run 3 yard curls.

He has crippled the Bombers long term with his very goofy drafting practices and lack of ability to scout quality US talent.

 

3 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Once we stopped pressuring Collaros the game changed.  No idea what hall is doing as DC. Nichols has to play better but so do his receivers. 

The receivers need to learn to jump higher for when Matty throws to high....and the receivers need to learn how to catch it when matt throws it into the turf in front of them...... pretty tall order to ask don't ya think

1 minute ago, bustamente said:

Will he still be the coach when he realizes it though

Unfortunately, yes. 

Weirdly, I still feel pretty good about the Bombers other than Matt Nichols. Like, I think this result would be drastically different if they had started or even switched to Chris Streveler.

Nichols burned several possessions by taking terrible sacks. Sure spent a lot of time pointing to where his receivers should be after the play was done, too.

The Riders provide very little offense but rely on their defense to win games. That bodes well for them when Nichols is completing 50% of his passes, throwing for <200 yards and spending most of his game doing almost nothing. If we had even a mediocre passing offense today, I think we win.