The Corbett Report, July 19, 2019

Introduction

Recent Bomber talk over the past decade has been about streaks. The 28 year Grey Cup drought being the biggest, but also lots of  “the last time we won in Calgary, was . . .” or,  “the last time we hosted a division final, was . . .”, etc.  Streaks of a negative nature as in a sign of just how inept the Bombers have been since last hoisting the Grey Cup.  Well, tonight it’s about another streak.  It’s been 59 years, that’s right, 59 years, since the Bombers started a season with a 5-0 record.  They have a chance to do that tonight.  It’s pretty heady stuff.  For sure, many thought the Bombers would be a solid team, a contending team in 2019, but I’d suggest few would have predicted a 5-0 start.  They might have to add another cart to the band wagon parade if this continues.

I’d suggest though, that the Portage and Main Grey Cup parade not be scheduled quite this soon though.  That team that started 5-0 in 1960? It was coached by Bud Grant, actually started 10-0, finished the season 14-2 but lost the Western final and never made it to the Grey Cup.

So yes 5-0 would be a great accomplishment but 2-0 in November would be a heck of a lot better.

Welcome to home game 3 of 2019.  Welcome to the Corbett Report.

The Standings

WEST
Team	Wins	Losses	Pts	For	Against
Winnipeg	4	0	8	138	79
Edmonton	3	1	6	125	82
Calgary	2	2	4	124	104
Sask	1	3	2	100	111
BC	1	4	2	102	158
EAST
Team	Wins	Losses	Pts	For	Against
Hamilton	4	1	8	187	100
Montreal	2	2	4	107	121
Ottawa	2	2	4	109	134
Toronto	0	4	0	59	162

The Bombers

A couple of interesting roster moves (well, actually, non-moves) by the Bombers this week.  Chris Matthews was declared healthy early in the week but won’t be playing this week.  Whether that’s a healthy scratch or a precautionary move remains to be seen. Perhaps though, with the likes of Darvin Adams and Lucky Whitehead the Bombers feel they’ve got the receiver position covered.

On defense, Adam Bighill remains off the roster.  What’s rather amazing is that the Bomber’s defense has allowed less than 20 points on average without him in the line up.  What happens when he returns? A streak of shut out victories?

The Bomber defense is definitely the strength of this team but it’s best not to overlook the solid performance by the offense this year. I’m getting rather tired of hearing comments like “the Bombers can’t win with Nichols at QB”.  Looking at the stats, Matt’s completed 70% of his passes and passed for 10 touchdowns with only 1 interception.  Yes the 855 yards passing seems rather pedestrian but when you have Andrew Harris (who’s been top performer of the week two out of four weeks he’s played) you don’t need to have huge yards passing.  You just simply need to protect the ball and be efficient when needed.  Nichols has been that and more.

Oh yeah, and then there’s this.  The last two Grey Cups the Bombers won, here were the starting QB’s for the Bombers:

1990 Tom Burgess

1988 Sean Salisbury

Last I checked, neither is in the CFL Hall of Fame

The Redblacks

The Redblacks started the season on fire with impressive back-to-back wins over Western opponents (Calgary and Saskatchewan) but since that start they have dropped two in a row including last weeks 36 – 19 thumping at home against the lowly Alouettes.  They’re coming into Winnipeg limping.  Starting quarterback Dominique Davis (formerly of the Bombers) is injured which brings in Jonathon Jennings.  It’s an interesting lineup change given that Jennings was acquired in the offseason as the replacement for Trevor Harris after he bolted to Edmonton.  So you can’t really say it’s the back up QB coming into town.  Whether Jennings can ever return to the form he had in BC remains a big question mark though.  He’ll be in tough against the stingy Bomber defense who will likely be rather amped up after giving up 3 TD’s to Toronto last week.

Keys to the game

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

For the Bombers to win

• Get to Jennings early. This is his first start and he’s bound to be rusty
• Continue the ball management philosophy on Offense
• Hit a few big plays early to kill any Redblack optimism

For the Redblacks to win

• Win the turnover battle
• Hit a big play early to gain some confidence
• Win the special team battle, (contain Lucky or you’ll be unlucky)

 

The predictions

Picks:

Calgary over Toronto

Montreal over Edmonton (that’s the sleeper pick of the week)

BC over Saskatchewan

And in our feature game:

Bombers continue to roll along

 

Winnipeg 32  Ottawa 22

Corbett Report Stats so far:

CFL overall        15-4

Bomber games     4-0