The Corbett Report, October 11, 2024

Introduction

The Blue Bombers hired Mike O’Shea on December 4, 2013.  It was O’Shea’s first gig as a head coach.  It didn’t start out well for O’Shea with a paltry 7-11 record.  The Bombers kept their faith in Mike and he was onboard for the 2015 season.  That year, um . . . well . . . the Bombers dropped to 5-13 and missed the playoffs again.  On most professional sport teams, the “we’ve seen enough” flag would have been waved and O’Shea would have been gone.  Except, the Bombers had grown tired of a revolving door at the head coach position.  You had to go back to 2004 to find a coach that had lasted more than 3 years as the Bombers leader.  That was Dave Ritchie, head coach from 1999 to 2004.  Since then, the head coach roster spot had been filled by Jim Daley (2 yrs), Doug Berry (2 yrs), Mike Kelly (1 very long  year), Paul LaPolice (3 years ish) and that household name and CFL legend Tim Burke (2 years).  The Bombers had simply grown tired of hiring and firing and so O’Shea was kept on board for the 2016 season. 

To call 2016 a turnaround year might be an overstatement, but the Bombers managed an 11-7 record.  Good for 3^rd in the highly competitive West division.  Improvements kept coming and in 2019, the Bombers finally broke their Grey Cup drought with a victory in Calgary.  Another victory followed in 2021 and although they lost them both, O’Shea lead the team to Grey Cup appearances in 2022 and 2023.

Quietly, humbly, and without much fanfare, Mike O’Shea has become the winningest coach in Blue Bomber history.  He’s now at 106 wins against 68 losses (and remember that many of those losses were in 2014 and 2015).  Tonight, under the leadership of head coach Mike O’Shea, the Bombers have a chance to clinch first place in the West for the 4^th straight year.  Think it’ll happen? I’m never betting against Mike O’Shea.

Welcome to Week Nineteen.  Welcome to the Corbett Report.

Bombers

I know I sound like I’m repeating myself but back in July who ever would have expected that the Bombers could be in a position to clinch first place with 2 weeks to go in the season.  Certainly not the Corbett Report.  Here we are though, and with the offense finding its groove and the defense playing lights out it’s getting much easier to jump onto the already crowded Bomber Bandwagon.

The key to the offense is, of course, CFL rushing leader Brady Oliveria.  Keeping him healthy is key to the Bombers success.  Defense continues to dominate opposing offenses and are the backbone of this team.  It’s great to see that the Bomber offense is starting to give them a few more minutes on the sideline to rest between possessions.

Argos

Argos are a bit of an enigma.  Their current record of 8-7 is respectable but I dare say they don’t really instill fear in their opponents. 

It’s hard to respect this team after the way they handled the Chad Kelly affair in the offseason.  There’s a movement going around on social media for Bomber fans to chant loudly “NO MEANS NO” at tonight’s game.  Whether that gathers any footing tonight remains to be scene but suffice to say that the Corbett Report has lost a lot of respect for Mike Clemons and the Argos leadership with their handling of this issue.

Standings

Team	GP	W	L	T	Pts	Pts for	Pts Against
West
Winnipeg	16	10	6	0	20	408	325
Saskatchewan	16	8	7	1	17	427	399
BC	16	8	8	0	16	413	397
Edmonton	16	5	11	0	10	350	454
Calgary	15	4	10	1	9	345	450
East
Montreal	15	11	2	1	23	406	337
Ottawa	15	8	6	1	17	363	400
Toronto	15	8	7	0	16	432	406
Hamilton	16	6	10	0	12	422	500

Fun facts;

#1 – with both Edmonton and Calgary eliminated from playoff contention, this will be the first time in 78 years that there is no Alberta team in the playoffs.

#2 – A win by the Bombers tonight clinches first place.  The only way they don’t finish first this year is if they lose their last two games, and Saskatchewan win theirs.  As you’ll see below, that’s not going to happen.

Keys to the game

For the Bombers to win

.

• Mike O’Shea!!
• Crowd gets into Chad Kelly’s head
• Oliveria does what Oliveria does

For the Argos to win

• Pressure Zach (getting harder to do each week)
• Get a TD from special teams
• Win the turnover battle

The Corbett Report Record

All games                    35 – 35

Bomber games            9 – 7

The Predictions

Back to a 4-game schedule this week.  Picks:

• Edmonton over Calgary in the “battle” of Alberta. 

• BC over Saskatchewan in the fight for second place.

• Montreal over Ottawa as Montreal coasts to the playoffs

And of course, let’s not forget tonight’s game.  Go with:

Bombers 30

 Argos 13

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