The Corbett Report, July 2, 2015

Introduction

Greetings! Welcome back to another season of the Corbett Report. It’s been an interesting season in Bomberville. A stable front office has meant the team could actually focus on football. No more stadium delays, no Mike Kelley shenanigans, Joe Mack’s gone and hopefully forgotten (the last player to be drafted in his era has left the building). Stability and the Bombers haven’t often gone hand in hand this past decade but this year is an exception to that. With Kyle Walters, Wade Miller and Mike O’Shea entering their second full season at the helm of the Bombers, front office turmoil can’t be used as an excuse for non-performance this year. In fact the most significant off-field change this year might just be Buzz and Boomer changing their pre-game routine.

Stability and continuity produce championship football teams. Look no further than the Calgary Stampeders for proof of that. This season may still be a challenge and Bomber fans need not get their hopes too high, but at some point in time the front office turnstile has to stop turning and rebuilding has to become building. This could be the year.

Welcome to 2015. Welcome to the Corbett Report.

Standings

			WEST
Team	Wins	Losses	Pts	For	Against	Streak
Winnipeg	1	0	2	30	26	1 Win
Calgary	1	0	2	24	23	1 Win
BC	0	0	0	0	0
Edmonton	1	0	2	11	26	1 Loss
Sask	1	0	2	26	30	1 Loss
			EAST
Team	Wins	Losses	Pts	For	Against	Streak
Ottawa	1	0	2	20	16	1 Win
Toronto	1	0	2	26	11	1 Win
Hamilton	0	1	0	23	24	1 Loss
Montreal	0	1	0	16	20	1 Loss

 

No, that’s not a misprint. Ottawa and Winnipeg lead their respective divisions. Though if I were a gambling man I’d suggest that the odds of this being a Grey Cup matchup for 2015 are about the same as:

• Matt Dunigan coming out of retirement
• Toronto selling out the Rogers Centre for their home opener (which through some freak of scheduling isn’t until week 7)
• Watermelons being put on sale in Regina on Labour Day
• Kevin Glenn earning the Most Respected Player of the League award

You get the picture. There’s still a fair bit of football left to be played.

The evolution of the convert

So the CFL in their efforts to increase scoring and reduce the yawn factor of the point-after made an interesting rule change this year. Until this year, whether the scoring team attempted a 2-point convert or a single point kick, the ball was scrimmaged on the 5-yard line. This year, if a team indicates that they will be going for 2 points the ball will be scrimmaged at the 3-yard line. If they want to kick for a single point, the ball will be scrimmaged on the 25-yard line, essentially making the point-after a 32-yard kick. Last year, 20% of field goals from the 30-35 yard range were missed. This has already lead to some interesting coaching calls on field. What annoys me is that it cuts down on the time you have to hit the washroom and the beer line. The point-after used to be a perfect time to leave your seats – now you actually have to pay attention to the converts!

The Bombers

The Bombers last week broke an 11 year drought by winning in Saskatchewan. A pretty amazing feat given that most football prognosticators have picked them to finish last. Of particular note was the play of QB Drew Willy. He completed 22 of 25 passes, threw for 325 yards and 3 touchdowns with zero interceptions. This is what you can do when you’re allowed to play standing up and not on your back looking to the sky. Not to be outdone, Paris Cotton ran for 108 yards, many of those in the fourth quarter with the Bombers trying to hold their lead. But before you start making plans to attend the parade in November, consider this. The Bomber defense gave up 212 yards rushing and 497 yards overall last week. What saved them is zero turnovers. So some demons from 2014 were excised, but others…..like defending against the run….not so much.

The Ti-Cats

The Cats are coming off of heartbreaking 24-23 loss to Calgary in which Calgary needed a last second, 50 yard field goal to win the game. With Zach Collaros back at QB (27-28, 281 yards, 0 TDs, 1 Int last week), and Andy Fantuz playing well this is a solid team on offense. Their strength though is definitely their D. They intercepted Bo-Levi Mitchell 3 times last week, held Jon Cornish to 70 yards rushing and had the defending Grey Cup champs looking perplexed most of the night.

Keys to the game

So with all of that said, here are the keys to the game:

For the Bombers to win

• Hold onto the ball – ALWAYS, hold onto the ball
• Hand Paris Cotton the baguette and let him do his thing
• Don’t give up the big play

For the Cats to win

• Get to the QB
• Another punt return TD for Brendan Banks
• Challenge the Bombers secondary

The predictions

After going 1 – 3 last week I dare say my predicting ability is showing some pre-season rust. This week let’s go with:

• Calgary over Montreal (does Montreal have more than 1 QB?)
• Ottawa over BC (okay, that’s a stretch, but hey it’s early)
• Toronto over Sask (Is Trevor Harris going to make us forget Ricky Ray?)

And of course in our feature game:

With all the changes the Bombers made in the off season it is not unreasonable to expect them to start slow this season and ramp up as the season progresses. The Cats serve as a good test as to where the Bombers are as a team in week 2. Was last game an anomaly or are the Bombers for real? We’ll see tonight. Since it’s early in the year I’ll go out on a limb.

Bombers 28   Ticats 22