CFL Game Notes -

CFL.ca

👁‍🗨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

Alexander & Fogg being targeted the most surprise. 

8 minutes ago, pigseye said:

Alexander & Fogg being targeted the most surprise. 

Not really - they were the strong side HB & CB. Sayles at weak side halfback is right behind them.

 

3 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

Not really - they were the strong side HB & CB. Sayles at weak side halfback is right behind them.

 

Then why is our best CB Randle on the weak side? Don't most throws go to the weak side? 

3 minutes ago, pigseye said:

Then why is our best CB Randle on the weak side? Don't most throws go to the weak side? 

I'm not an expert, but I do know that the strong side linebacker has a lot of coverage responsibility and basically plays as a 6th DB. 

My bad, it depends which side has more receivers lined up on it, it can be the right or the left depending on the formation. 

4 minutes ago, pigseye said:

My bad, it depends which side has more receivers lined up on it, it can be the right or the left depending on the formation. 

I believe in the NFL it's also where the side where tight end lines up. 

49 minutes ago, pigseye said:

My bad, it depends which side has more receivers lined up on it, it can be the right or the left depending on the formation. 

Depends on the width of the field usually in a general sense.  The wider side is the strong side, shorter side is weak.  A Corner wouldn’t stay near the sideline if all the receivers are bunched closer to the ball though and there’s lots of offensive formations where the strong side LB might line up past the weak side LB on the weak side to match a certain receiver or back.

6 hours ago, BomberBall said:

I'm guessing that's not the main point of his post.

You could be right.