The Corbett Report, October 8, 2016

Introduction

Glass half full? Bombers are playing a meaningful football game on Thanksgiving weekend.

Glass half empty? They’ve lost two in a row and perhaps are showing that they’re not quite up there with the elite of the league.

Certainly the past two weeks served as a reality check for the Bombers and the results weren’t flattering.   There’s still 4 games left though, and I’d take a meaningful game in October over the early exits from the playoff race of the past two years.

Welcome to week 16, welcome to the Corbett report.

The standings

				WEST
Team	Wins	Losses	Tie	Pts	For	Against
Calgary	12	1	1	25	477	311
BC	9	4	0	18	381	333
Winnipeg	8	6	0	16	382	344
Edmonton	7	7	0	14	414	401
Sask	3	10	0	6	251	405
				EAST
Team	Wins	Losses	Tie	Pts	For	Against
Ottawa	6	6	1	13	347	355
Hamilton	6	8	0	12	388	375
Toronto	5	9	0	10	322	419
Montreal	4	9	0	8	287	306

 

It’s been suggested that the Bombers success this year has been solely due to the fact they’ve been winning against inferior teams. So what of BC? They have one win against Calgary (a 2-point victory) and other than that, it’s the same road as the Bombers. Here are the teams that the Bombers and Lions beat in getting to their current records:

BC:  Calgary, Hamilton, Sask, Montreal (2), Ottawa (2), Toronto

Bombers: Edmonton, Hamilton (2), Sask (2), Montreal, Toronto (2)

Looks pretty similar to me.

 

The Bombers

The Bombers should have two players coming off of injuries this week in Quincy McDuffie and Andrew Harris. These two were instrumental in the Bombers 7-game winning streak. Their return should be good for at least one touchdown (and if you hadn’t noticed, one extra TD would have made quite a difference in the last two games).

They’ve also added Tori Gurley, recently cut by the Argos. An interesting move. Toronto cut their top three receivers earlier this week in a move that seemed to be precipitated by poor locker room chemistry. The Bombers obviously feel that their locker room won’t suffer with the addition of what might be a distracting force. Here’s a tweet from another former Argo, now Bomber, TJ Heath about that:

‪”@TGurley81 excited to be back with you for the 3rd time in our career! It’s a different culture here. You gone enjoy yaself. Let’s work!!”

From all reports the Bomber locker room still remains optimistic. It’s time though, for that optimism to transfer to performance on the field.

A good start would be on the defensive side of the ball where the Bombers’ interception count has plummeted and they’ve been burned by big plays and big yardage for the past two games.

The Lions

The sleeper team this year, the Lions are riding high. Their success has been surprising to most CFL prognosticators. They’re a solid team and have ridden the hot hand of QB Jonathon Jennings to a 9-4 record, and 4 wins in their last 5 games. Last week, against the Redblacks, Jennings threw for 348 yards and 3 TDs. He presents another challenge for the Bomber defense. They better come to play or it’ll be a three-peat of losses against the elite QBs of the league.

Keys to the game

For the Bombers to win

• Defense needs to reduce the yardage. 400+ yards against in the last 2 games lead to 2 losses. Another 400+ yards against will lead to a 3rd
• Get a special teams TD (either Fogg or McDuffie)
• Play disciplined football! 15 penalties for 166 yards last week

For the Lions to win

• Score early, silence the crowd
• Torch the Bomber secondary with the deep ball
• Win the special team battle; win the field position battle

 Ring of Honour

This week’s inductee is Herb Gray, another member of the Bomber team from their late 50s Grey Cup runs. Playing defensive end and guard in Winnipeg, Gray was a West Division all-star in 6 of his 10 years in Winnipeg and the leagues top lineman in 1960. In 1980 (the 50^th anniversary of the Bombers) he was named the Bombers’ top defensive player for their first half century.

In spite of numerous NFL attempts to lure him away from the Bombers, Gray remained a Bomber, saying “My honour, my word” and opted to stay a Bomber.

Herb Gray passed away in 2011 but will be represented at the Ring of Honour Ceremony by his son Steve.

The predictions

Winnipeg 33    BC 30

Elsewhere:

Ottawa over Saskatchewan

Edmonton over Hamilton

Calgary over Toronto

Corbett Report Predictions Record for the Season

League predictions                   35 – 26

         Bomber game predictions         9 – 5