CFL Trends and Highlights - Week 9

Defence Re-Emerges: Week 8 was a great week for the defence for most teams as net offence averaged only a combined 561 yards per game – the lowest average yards allowed per game in any week since 2002.

No Air Space: Calgary forced Ottawa into 11 straight 2-&-outs and 11 consecutive incomplete passes in their 48-3 win.

Negative Yards: In a stretch of 7 drives, Edmonton limited Montreal to -1 yard.

Limited Yards: Winnipeg held Toronto to just 72 yards of offence in the second half but lost on the strength of an Argo punt return TD.

Shut it Down: Hamilton started by forcing BC into 5 straight 2-&-outs and 36 net yards on BC’s first 7 possessions.

Long-range Field Goals: Last year, only three clubs made a 50+ yard field goal. In 2015, six teams have already at least one. From 50+ yards in 2015, CFL kickers are 11-of-14 (78.6%). What is odd is that from 40-49 yards they are only 32-of-46 (69.6%). In 2014, there were only 14 tries from 50+ yards made in 81 games and just 7 were made (50%).

Penalties Update to Week #8: With only 75 penalties, Week #8 averaged just 18.8 calls per game. That is the lowest of the 2015 season and lower than any total from the first 8 weeks of 2014. The cumulative penalty average year-to-date dropped for the 7th straight week to 25.06 per game.

Red Zone Defence vs Winning: The Top 4 Red Zone Defences in the CFL (Edmonton, Toronto, Calgary and Ottawa) have a combined TD% allowed rate of 46% and a W-L record of 19-9 .679. They have turned back more than half of the opposition chances inside the 20-yard line. The remaining clubs are at 60% only in Red Zone Defence with a 13-23 .361 W-L record.

Hamilton’s Fast Starts: Hamilton has started fast for the second consecutive week with 21-0 margins after the 1st Quarter. It was only the second time in 107 years of our history that any team had ever had consecutive leads of 21+ points after 15:00 of play. Only Winnipeg in August 1994 with 21-0 and then 25-0 leads in back-to-back weeks at the end of the 1st Quarter had ever achieved that feat.

QB Sacks / Drives with Sacks: Last week there were 34 sacks, the most in any week in 2015. Updating the number of drives where a club allowed a sack: now up to 154 possessions with at least one QS allowed and only 3 TDs made on them (1.9% TD rate). Sacks have doubled since the beginning of the season – Weeks #1-6: 4.1 per game; Weeks #7-8: 8.1, almost twice as many.

2-Point Converts: The convert choices made by teams has taken a very odd turn in the last 3 weeks with kicks dominating. Despite the 73% two-point success rate, in the last 12 games teams have elected to kick after 50 of the 54 touchdowns scored, or about 8% of the time going for two. That sounds a lot like the 6.4% election rate for two-point converts in 2014 (23 of 359).

Saskatchewan’s Injured List: Looking at their Week #7 roster provides some insight into Saskatchewan’s record. They had 15 players sit out the Aug 8/15 loss who have a combined 927 games (626 starts) of prior CFL experience. In those players, Saskatchewan was missing a total of 626 career starts – almost half as many as the 46-man roster that were active. A good comparison can be made to BC’s roster last week – just 7 players on the IL with a combined 55 career starts.

Third Down Gambles: Results in 3rd-and-1 situations this season have shown a marked change from the last few years with a much lower success rate. The trend shows a drop from 84% success rate in 2013 to just 63% in 2015.

Plenty of QBs: Last week, 15 different quarterbacks ran at least one possession week highlighting the need for depth at that position. With the debut start of Winnipeg’s Robert Marve, in 2015 there have been 14 different QBs start at least one game.

Comebacks – 8 from 10+ points: In 2015 there have already been 8 teams come back from deficits of 10 points or more. By team: Toronto 2, Calgary 2, BC 2, Ottawa 1 and Edmonton 1. Last year there were only 12 all season.

Saskatchewan Takeaways a record low: The Riders have just 2 takeaways this year (one interception and one on downs). The all-time CFL season-low is held by Edmonton in 2006 with 25. Saskatchewan will have to create 2.1 opponent turnovers per game the rest of the way just to reach that mark this year.

Montreal at BC Aug 20th

BC at home vs Montreal: The Lions have won 13 of the last 14 Montreal visits by a combined score of 491 to 253. In the last 4 Montreal visits BC’s average margin of victory has been by 33 points. (163-30). The Lions’ two best home records against any rivals come against the Alouettes at 26-8-1 in 35 games and Ottawa at 22-5-2.

Close Losses: The Alouettes have a current 3-game road losing streak, by margins of 2, 3 & 3 points. This is the first time in all of Montreal club history they have had three such narrow defeats in a row on the road. In all three defeats, Montreal outscored their opponent in the 4th Quarter, but fell just short.

Lulay Loves B.C. Place Stadium: In his career as the Lions’ starting QB, Travis Lulay has compiled a record of 23-7 in his 30 home starts. His first 9 starts were at Empire Field and BC went 4-5. At B.C. Place however, the Lions are 19-2 in his 21 starts including 2-1 this season after the 26-23 win over Edmonton last time out at home.

Plays from scrimmage gap: Last week, Montreal’s defence was on the field for 65 plays compared to their opponent at just 44 plays. Over the last two games, Montreal’s defence has racked up 133 plays to the opposition at just 97. The TOP gap over those two games was 33:57 to 26:03.

First drive TD specialists: The Lions have three opening game TD drives in 2015 and Montreal has two. Their combined total of 5 is one less than the entire rest of the CFL has generated.

Harris fumbles: The CFL’s leading rusher was the focus of Hamilton’s defence and they forced him into two fumbles. It was the third time in his CFL career that he has fumbled twice in the same game. Those turnovers turned out to be key as BC lost each game by at least 13 points: Aug 13/11 (17-30 to Wpg), Jul 30/13 (12-38 to Tor), and Aug 15/15 (22-52 to Ham). It is notable however that those were the first two fumbles BC has lost all season in 2015.

Rakeem Cato: Got off to fast start in his CFL career with wins in 2 of his first 3 starts and a passer rating of 105.9 in that 3-game stretch. Over the last 3 games, he is 0-3 with a passer rating of 80.5. he has thrown 4 interceptions in his last 3 games.

Booming Bede: The Montreal rookie punter is averaging 46.0 yards on 44 punts and 13 of those have gone for 50+ yards. Terry Baker holds the Als’ record for a single season average at 47.4 yards (1999). Kickoffs is where Bede has really excelled as he is averaging 73.0 yards which is on pace to break the CFL record. That is 67.9 yards per kickoff set by Jamie Boreham in 2010.

Making History: On September 12, 2014 against the Eskimos in Edmonton, Alouettes receiver S.J. Green became the seventh player in team history to reach the 5,000-receiving yards mark.

Moving Up: On August 1 against his former team, Nik Lewis caught three passes, allowing him to climb into ninth place all-time in the CFL for career receptions. His 11,482 receivng yards place him 11th all-time in CFL history only 143 yards shy of the tenth spot which belongs to Arland Bruce III.

Well, prepare yourself people, we know who will probably be doing the game today on TSN in Toronto.

Nice to see those that have contributed to our game being recognized.

Right now Collaros is looking like the best QB in the league and Austin looks like the shoo-in for the Coach of the Year. I really can't see any weaknesses in the team, except maybe their running game which may be a problem in cold weather. The 'Cats are full value for their record.

Great observation. With the Cup in Winnipeg weather is going to be a factor and a lack of a running game may prove to be an achilles heel..

The only dangers I see with Hamilton is peaking too early and Austin needlessly exposing his MVP QB to possible injury.

That never happens, does it? 

I think Huff has figured it out...go for 2 every time in the concert. O'Shea will figure that out in 2-3 years, if he's still employed then. Guy is so stubborn.

No he won't. 

Smith looks good in my opinion. He needs a little more experience but he could be the future QB for the Riders.

 

He can't pass.  Marve looks better as a passer, which would be scary for me if I were a Rider fan.  Not only is he struggling with the mental side of it and decision-making, his arm does not look good at all.  He needs a lot of space to get a pass off in the pocket and he needs a wide-open target.

Highly entertaining game.  Interviews aside, I think this one looked quite good on Tv.  

 

It's quite obvious that the Stamps, while still good, are not quite as talented as they were the past 3 seasons.  I figure Edmonton, with a healthy Rielly, will defeat them in the West Final.

Was a good game but looked like Calgary was taking it easy in the first half, even in to the 2nd half.. Part of me believes the Stamps were just playing around with the Riders, not taking them overly serious.

 

Good game but... Lots of iffy penalties again, the one penalty on the Calgary DL for roughing the passer was a joke and a few plays later, Sask scored. 

 

Got the feeling the refs were trying to help out SASK at times.... But, it is what it is really.

 

Stamps are a way better team tho and it showed last night, Sask would make it close and then Calgary would come back and score right away. 

 

As for Smith, I don't see it really, I see a guy who is still looking to run first, i see a guy who can't read a D , i see a guy who makes wrong decisions, I see a guy with a weak arm, someone said it looks like any one of his passes could be picked off and thats pretty much what i see when he throws too. Sask is odd tho, Messam getting 8 yards a carry damn near yet they want Smith to throw all the time, Makes no sense really. 

Ottawa Toronto time... This is where you see if Ottawa is legit or if they are just pretenders still... Think they aren't as good as the record says they are. 

The crowd in Toronto is beyond embarrassing they need to get to BMO and do some marketing.

I'm not sure how embarassing it is, it's just very spread out... Looks like a good sized crowd honestly... just very spread out.. 

 

I was gonna ask.. I've never been to a football game at skydome but.. for anyone who has.. Does it look as awful on TV as it does in person in terms of the view? Stands seem very far away from the field. 

Are the linemen sleeping? On an occasion each teams had receivers yards offside. 

I'm not sure how embarassing it is, it's just very spread out... Looks like a good sized crowd honestly... just very spread out.. 

 

I was gonna ask.. I've never been to a football game at skydome but.. for anyone who has.. Does it look as awful on TV as it does in person in terms of the view? Stands seem very far away from the field. 

 

It's made for baseball.  Where every seat at IGF is facing midfield more or less, every seat at SkyDome is pitched toward home plate, which is basically the endzone of the end facing the scoreboard.  It's terrible for football.

 

I'm not sure how embarassing it is, it's just very spread out... Looks like a good sized crowd honestly... just very spread out.. 

 

I was gonna ask.. I've never been to a football game at skydome but.. for anyone who has.. Does it look as awful on TV as it does in person in terms of the view? Stands seem very far away from the field. 

 

It's made for baseball.  Where every seat at IGF is facing midfield more or less, every seat at SkyDome is pitched toward home plate, which is basically the endzone of the end facing the scoreboard.  It's terrible for football.

 

Yeah it looks that way on TV and looks pretty brutal in terms of the view. 

The crowd in Toronto is beyond embarrassing they need to get to BMO and do some marketing.

What's with everything being "beyond" these days?

 

I'm not sure how embarassing it is, it's just very spread out... Looks like a good sized crowd honestly... just very spread out.. 

 

I was gonna ask.. I've never been to a football game at skydome but.. for anyone who has.. Does it look as awful on TV as it does in person in terms of the view? Stands seem very far away from the field. 

 

It's made for baseball.  Where every seat at IGF is facing midfield more or less, every seat at SkyDome is pitched toward home plate, which is basically the endzone of the end facing the scoreboard.  It's terrible for football.

 

They won't have to worry about playing football there when they put grass in there and kick the Argos out

You're far from the field in Toronto. I saw a game there against the Bombers in 2001 and there were maybe 12k people there. The atmosphere was brutal.

 

 

I'm not sure how embarassing it is, it's just very spread out... Looks like a good sized crowd honestly... just very spread out.. 

 

I was gonna ask.. I've never been to a football game at skydome but.. for anyone who has.. Does it look as awful on TV as it does in person in terms of the view? Stands seem very far away from the field. 

 

It's made for baseball.  Where every seat at IGF is facing midfield more or less, every seat at SkyDome is pitched toward home plate, which is basically the endzone of the end facing the scoreboard.  It's terrible for football.

 

They won't have to worry about playing football there when they put grass in there and kick the Argos out

 

You miss the part where the argos are moving to BMO next year?? 

The crowd in Toronto is beyond embarrassing they need to get to BMO and do some marketing.

You missed the part that i already mentioned that 

Toronto isn't as good as their record says they are and neither is Ottawa. 

I really dislike penalties that don't affect the game.

Pretty good game. Burris was great. Stupid penalties ended up killing Ottawa. Lousy crowd, but it sounded OK considering how small it was. Toronto keeps coming back in the 4th. Can't count on that all the time. 3 Teams @ 6-2 and 3 @ 3-5.

OTT had a chance to make a statement on being a force in the East but flunked the audition. Division is a two horse race for now.

OTT had a chance to make a statement on being a force in the East but flunked the audition. Division is a two horse race for now.

 

I don't think it's even a two team race.... despite their matching records, Hammy is miles ahead of Tor at this point...

Hamilton hasn't really had to come back to win a tight game tho, they are blowing people away... I dunno, I agree Hamilton is the team to beat but... they haven't had to face the adversity really that Toronto has had to face, Adversity builds character, coming back and winning games builds character... Can Hamilton come back and win a close game? I don't know.