CFL GAME NOTES:

This week tied a league-record 41st time that the Eskimos will play for a Division title (Toronto also has 41 but of course over a much longer franchise history). This will be the Eskimos’ 30th trip in the “single-game” era (1973-2015) after going to 11 prior “Best of” series from 1950 to 1960.

The Eskimos come into this playoff game riding an 8-game win streak. That is their longest season-ending win streak since 1982.

This meeting marks the first time since 1996 that Edmonton and Calgary will have met two years in a row for the Division playoff title. They met four years in a row from 1990 to 1993, and back-to-back in 1978-79.

Of Calgary’s 33 previous Division Final appearances, 11 have been against the Eskimos and they hold 6-5 edge including the 2014 championship game. This will be the 5th time that Calgary will travel to Edmonton for the West Final – they won in 2001 and 1991, and lost in 1979 and 1978 at Commonwealth Stadium.

Under Coach John Hufnagel, the Stampeders have now reached the West Final in 7 out of his 8 seasons. In Canadian Football history only four coaches have ever gotten to 7 Finals in an 8-year span at any point in their career with a club.

In two season, Coach Jones has guided the Eskimos from a 4-14 season in 2013 to 14 wins a host spot in the West Final. He has led them to a second straight Division Final for the first time since 2003.

EDM TOP of 32:31: Edmonton has not had less than 29:31 of TOP in any of the last 14 games and has averaged 32:31 over that period. They have won the Time of Possession battle in each of their last 6 games.

This week marks just the third career playoff start for Mitchell however he is now 2-0 including last year’s Finals victory against Edmonton (14-of-22 for 336 yards, 4 TDs). He is one of only four Calgary QBs to throw 4 TDs in a single playoff game (Keith Spaith, Danny Barrett, Marcus Crandell & Mitchell). Mitchell has yet to throw a playoff interception in 15 attempts.

This week will be just Reilly’s second ever playoff start after last year’s Final game effort in Calgary. Between Mitchell and Reilly they have just 3 career playoff starts (3 more than last year though when they were both at start #1).

Mike Reilly 300+: Has now led the Eskimos to wins in 8 straight starts, something no Edmonton QB has done since Tracy Ham won 9 in a row across 1989-1990. Over the last 3 games of the regular season, Reilly produced THREE 300-yard games in a row with 7 TD passes, 1,017 yards and 27 completions for 2nd down conversions. He matched his career-best streak of 300-yard games.

4th Quarter Edmonton: The Eskimos have not been outscored in the 4th Quarter in their last 9 games (107-22 scoring edge) or in any of their 14 wins this year. In their 14 wins they are 145-28 (+117) in Q4 scoring, in their 4 losses they have been outscored 29-3. They had two games in 2105 where they outscored their opponent 21-0 in the final 15:00.

#1 vs #2 receiver: The West Final features the Top Two receivers in the CFL in Eric Rogers and Adarius Bowman. The last two times that a Division Final featured the #1 and #2 overall receivers was 2008 – BC vs Calgary (G.Simon and K.Rambo) and in 2002 – Winnipeg vs Edmonton (M.Stegall and T.Vaughn).

Edmonton turnovers: The Eskimos were sitting at -7 and ranked #8 in the CFL through their first games (29 turnovers made, 22 forced). Over their last 10 games (9-1 WL record), they forced 27 turnovers and made only 14 themselves for a +13 Ratio, the best in the CFL over that stretch.

First time ever: This year’s contest marks the first-ever meeting of 14-4 teams in the CFL playoffs and ties the record for most combined wins (28) by division finalists. In 1995, the North Division final featured Calgary (15-3) against Edmonton (13-5) while the 1997 East final had Toronto (15-3) going up against Montreal (13-5).

BTW 53.5% of MBB pick....Edmonton to win.

Chris Jones interviewed at the half. Said his team could have played better and opened up an even bigger lead. Didn't seem happy at all. Pretty intense guy. Should be quite a second half. 

sorenson Greaves seem to be different players now for some reason.

 

Esks. pulling away.

Reilly out-playing Mitchell. TD Esks. 28-12.

Both teams made good adjustments at the half on offence. 

sorenson Greaves seem to be different players now for some reason.

 

 

Stamps getting no pressure on Reilly whatsoever.

 

sorenson Greaves seem to be different players now for some reason.

 

 

Stamps getting no pressure on Reilly whatsoever.

Reilly's a good athlete. Duked out that blitzing LBer. 

Any chance of prying McAdoo out of Edmonton?

calgary O line disintegrating now.

 

too much to ask for it to hold up.

Amazed Messam got back up after doing a somersault and landing flat on his back.   His fitness level looks to be improved over last year.  Still has a couple of good years in him, I think.

Amazed Messam got back up after doing a somersault and landing flat on his back.   His fitness level looks to be improved over last year.  Still has a couple of good years in him, I think.

240 Lbs. That's a load.

Game getting nasty.

messam clearly  not down.

 

 fumble/touchdown.

 

hope the officials don't give us another reason to lose respect for them.

The official crew is too bloody slow in their reviews, the previous game was so much better.

LOL!

 

penalty for kicking the ball! 

How the hell is that not a TD???

Either way it's gonna be an Edmonton win. Should be a good one, Eskies vs REDBLACKS in the Cup, two teams that sucked as recently as last year so that gives me hope our management can turn it around here quickly as well

sometimes the cfl looks so stupid.

How the hell is that not a TD???

That is obviously a TD for Edmonton. Insulting to add the penalty for kicking the ball. Bush.

sometimes the cfl looks so stupid.

Sometimes? 

 

Brutal, it took the refs. 10 minutes to make that decision, it wasn't even close. 

Wow! Justice! Nice throw by Reilly. TD Esks. 38-15 Edmonton.

She's officially a blowout.

Boy was I ever wrong.... Gonna be a good game next Sunday!

How the hell is that not a TD???

Because the whistle blew. It could clearly be heard during the replay.