The Corbett Report, September 30, 2016

Introduction

The past two weeks have produced two games with similar trends. In both games, the Bombers took the field looking like they misread the schedule and thought the game started an hour later than it really did. The result, a halftime deficit against Toronto of 22-19 and a whopping 27-7 deficit against Calgary. Then the alarm clock apparently went off and the Bombers scored 27 points in the second half, in each game. Impressive stuff for sure. What did it get them? Well against Toronto 30 minutes of football was more than enough and the Bombers walked away with a 46-19 victory. But the Stamps aren’t the Argos and in spite of taking a 34-33 lead with 20 seconds to go it wasn’t enough and the result was a loss of 36-33 to Calgary.

I’m not sure that the adage “you have to play 60 minutes of football to win the game” is true, but I’m pretty sure that playing 30 minutes is going to garner you more losses than victories when all is said and done.

As the song says, “Try to start the night on fire”.

Welcome to week 15, welcome to the Corbett Report

The standings

 

				WEST
Team	Wins	Losses	Tie	Pts	For	Against
Calgary	11	1	1	23	441	294
BC	8	4	0	16	341	300
Winnipeg	8	5	0	16	356	304
Edmonton	6	7	0	12	374	375
Sask	3	10	0	6	251	405
				EAST
Team	Wins	Losses	Tie	Pts	For	Against
Ottawa	6	5	1	13	314	315
Hamilton	6	7	0	12	371	339
Toronto	5	8	0	10	311	381
Montreal	3	9	0	6	249	29

There are five games to go for the Bombers and a quick look at standings reveals that the importance of this game simply can’t be overstated. A Bomber victory, and the Bombers open a 6 point lead against the Eskimos and provide them with a win in the season series. The Bombers would be able to turn their sights to BC who they play the next two games. A second place finish and a home playoff game would certainly be a real possibility. Lose this one and Edmonton wins the season series and moves to within 2 points of the Bombers. Not to mention the wild swing in momentum

The Bombers

As much as last week’s game was touted as a chance for the Bombers to earn some respect, this game is that 10-fold. Lose this game and the Bomber bandwagon will start to empty again. The naysayers will be quick to point out that the 7 game winning streak included wins against powerhouses like Sask (x2), Toronto (x2), Hamilton and Montreal. Teams that currently have a combined record of 17-34. In short, the Bombers need this game. The final standings and a playoff date don’t hinge on the results tonight, but the team’s psyche sure does. The Bombers need to bounce back from last week’s heartbreaker to show that they deserve the title of 2^nd best team in the league.

It won’t be easy. Quincy McDuffie and Andrew Harris, two players who lead the team during the 7 game winning streak are still sidelined. Then there’s been the recent play of the Bomber secondary. They gave up 361 yards passing last week. Perhaps that’s the reason Johnny Adams was traded to Hamilton this week (or perhaps it was the brain cramp play of his on the Calgary fumble). Suffice to say though that the ball hawk group that feasted on QBs errant passes during the seven game winning streak didn’t quite rise to the occasion last week against Calgary. This week, facing another stellar all-star QB in Mike Reilly, the group will be under pressure to get back on form. It’ll be a tough task with the likes of Adarius Bowman in the receiving corps.

Not to get repetitive but this is a crucial crucial game for the Bombers!

The Eskies

Edmonton is a much better team than their records indicates. Ppppffffffffttttttt . . . damn it was hard to type that. It’s true though. The defending Grey Cup champs still have all the weapons.   Their shortcoming seems at times to be mental in nature. Poor play calls at key times. Inopportune penalties. Etc. Make no mistake though, this team, coming off a win over BC last week, is going to be challenge for the Bombers.

Fun fact: Edmonton leads the Bombers in every offensive category.

Keys to the game

For the Bombers to win

• Ball hawk defense needs to get at least 2 turnovers
• Pressure Reilly
• Timothy Flanders steps up (again) in Harris’ absence
• Oh yeah . . . and START THE GAME ON FIRE

For the Eskimos to win

• Keep Bowman interested in the game (he has a tendency to zone out from time to time (football reference intended)
• Score early, silence the crowd
• Win the turn over battle
• Keep Reilly upright

Ring of Honour

This week’s inductee is Bud Grant. Grant joined the Bombers in 1953 as a player and played for 4 years. In 3 of those years he was a West division all-star.   As a player he still holds the records for the most interceptions in a playoff game (5). It was as a coach though that Grant really excelled. With Bud Grant as head coach the Bombers appeared in 6 Grey Cups in 10 years!!! Those 6 appearances resulted in 4 Grey Cup victories. He was CFL coach of the year in 1965. After his career with the Bombers he moved onto the Minnesota Vikings where he became an icon as well. He’s the only head coach to appear in both a Super Bowl and a Grey Cup. There’s a reason there’s a stature of him in front of IGF.

At age 89 Grant continues to work with the Vikings as an advisor and was the guest of honour during the christening of the Vikings new stadium earlier this month – blowing the Vikings ceremonial opening horn! (I don’t make this stuff up.)

The predictions

This is a statement game for the Bombers. Nothing short of a victory is needed for them to prove they’re the real deal. It’s a much bigger challenge than the standings would suggest. The Bombers seem to rise to challenges this year (or at least like to challenge) so I’m going with:

Winnipeg 33 Edmonton 30

Elsewhere:

Calgary over Hamilton

BC over Ottawa

Toronto over Montreal

Corbett Report Predictions Record for the Season

League predictions                   33 – 24

Bomber game predictions         9 – 4