The Corbett Report, July 12, 2024

Introduction

With a checkered past that’s lead through two NFL teams (Dallas and the NY Jets) and two CFL teams (Winnipeg and BC) Lucky Whitehead, at the age of 32, returns to the Bombers looking for a fresh start (and a break from his new-found gardening career).  With the maturity that comes with turning 32 (to which I can relate having just turned 65) Lucky is hoping that the second go-round with the Bombers is the stabilizing force that he’s been seeking all his life.  In 2019 he was second in the league in pass receiving before an injury in week 15 forced him to the sidelines, as he watched the Bombers march through the western conference enroute to their first Grey Cup Victory in 29 years.

Deemed expendable by the Bombers, he resumed his career with BC for the 2021 season, but never seemed able to find the magic that he’d had with the Bombers. In 2024 his contract with BC wasn’t renewed and he became a free agent.  No one picked him up, hence the gardening career.

It’s not all about Whitehead though.  With his signing, the Bombers now have two “Luckys” on their roster.  Lucky Whitehead (Receiver) joins Lucky Ogbevoen (Line Backer) on the team.  Queue the clichés, how can the Bombers lose with so much Luck on their side.  Well, except for maybe tonight.  Only one Lucky is coming off the practice roster and getting into the game, and it’s Lucky……OGBEYOEN.  Bomber fans will have to wait another week to see the other Lucky in a game day uniform.  In the meantime, maybe one Lucky will be all the luck the Bombers need as they look for their second win of the season.

Welcome to week six.  Welcome to the Corbett Report.

Bombers

Speaking of clichés, last week’s win over Ottawa really did amount to “winning ugly”.  Were it not for 6 Castillo field goals, 2 of them over 50 yards, and the gritty determination of Chris Streveler, the Bombers very well could be 0-5.  They can’t be limiting themselves to the Streveler/Oliveira show, the Bombers definitely need a more balanced attack.  Good news is that Zach Collaros is poised to return to the Bombers as the starting Quarterback and while his first four games were, shall we politely say “mediocre”, you gotta figure he’s due for a breakout game.  As always though, the O-Line will need to step up to make this happen.

On the defensive side of the ball, the D-Line, lead by Willie Jefferson, seems to be starting to get a bit of their mojo back (3 sacks last week).  They’ll need more of that going forward.

Stampeders

The Stamps are coming off a 4^th quarter collapse in Montreal.  Leading 26-15 going into the 4^th quarter last week they gave up 15 unanswered points to lose 30-26 to the Grey Cup champs.  The loss dropped the Stamps to 2-2 on the season.  Still, they seem to be much improved over the 2023 edition of the team.  The key of course, as it often is, the play of their QB.  Can Jake Maier continue his solid play this week against the Bombers? If he can, it’ll be a stiff test for the Bombers defence. 

Note that the previous meeting between these two teams ended in a 30-27 Stamps victory in overtime, in a game that quite frankly, the Bombers shouldn’t have been in.

Standings

Team	GP	W	L	Pts	Pts for	Pts Against
West
Saskatchewan	4	4	0	8	128	94
BC	5	4	1	8	147	125
Calgary	4	2	2	4	97	99
Winnipeg	5	1	4	2	99	114
Edmonton	4	0	4	0	98	115
East
Montreal	5	5	0	10	157	99
Toronto	4	2	2	4	117	123
Ottawa	4	2	2	4	84	113
Hamilton	5	0	5	0	124	169

After tonight’s game, the Bombers face BC 2x, Toronto 1x and Sask 1x in the next 4 games.  We’ll know a lot about how the season unfolds by Labour Day.

Keys to the game

For the Bombers to win

• Score early and build on last week’s victory
• Don’t turn the ball over or give the Stamps freebies on offense
• Zach needs to throw more TD’s than Interceptions.

For the Stampeders to win

• Hit the big pass play early and silence the crowd
• Win the game in the trenches (The Bomber O-Line and D-Line are still suspect)
• Shut down the Bombers run game (be it Chris Streveler or Brady Oliveria)

The predictions

The Corbett Report got somewhat on track last week with a 2-2 record and is now only 4-16.  So on that note let’s pick a home town sweep:

• Montreal over Toronto
• BC over Saskatchewan
• Edmonton over Ottawa

And in basketball on Saturday, pick the Winnipeg Seabears over the Vancouver Bandits 103-99.

And of course, tonight the Bombers get revenge for the overtime loss in Calgary with a victory:

Bombers 26 Stamps 23

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