The Corbett Report, August 14, 2025

Introduction

A 4-4 start may seem okay, but lets face it, the Bombers of 2025 don’t look like the Bombers of the past 5 years.  A win against Toronto came about due to a kickoff TD and punt return TD that allowed the Bombers to barely escape with a victory.  A win against Edmonton, well, it’s Edmonton.  And two wins against the Lions who are struggling to hold onto their title of “Mediocre at Best”.  Against better teams? Like, say the Stamps (cough, cough) and they seem to 1) be unable to move the ball when needed and 2) be unable to stop the big play.  Which leads us to tonight.  A loss to the 3-6 RedBlacks at the friendly confines of Princess Auto Stadium and you may as well queue up the line of cars, all painted black.

Welcome to week 11. Welcome to the Corbett Report.

Bombers

Look down below at the standings.  The Bombers have allowed more points than they’ve scored.  The last time you could say that?  It would be the 2015 season (that’s 10 years ago in case you’re math- challenged).  That year the Bombers gave up a league worst 502 points while scoring only 353.  They finished that year 5-13.  And now here we are, heading in that same direction.  With a secondary that at times seems either 1) disinterested or 2) incompetent or 3) unlucky. (Yeah, let’s go with option 3, that way there’s still hope).

On offence the team has been, well, inconsistent at best. Collaros has 8 TD passes but also an uncharacteristic 8 interceptions, Streveler has 5 TD passes and 6 interceptions.  Clearly, identifying the colour of the receiver’s jersey is an issue for the Bombers.  In the rushing department, last years MOP Brady Oliveria is averaging just 12 carries per game bringing into the conversation the playcalling of Offensive Co-Ordinator Jason Hogan.  As for passing . . . well . . . forget about it.  The top Bomber receiver is Nic Demski and he’s 13^th in the league.

So there you have it, I’ve done my research and it says if you can’t move the ball, and you can’t defend, then you’re going to lose more games than you’re going to win.

Redblacks

Ottawa’s a better team than their record.  A cliché, I know but it’s the truth.  Their Achilles’ heel is consistency.  Look no further than last week’s game for proof of that.  They were down 22-1 at the end of the first quarter and still managed a 46-42 victory over Toronto.  With Dru Brown developing nicely at QB they’re only going to improve.  Brown completed 26 of 31 passes last week for 373 yards and (get this) FIVE touchdowns.  If he has another game like that tonight it could be a long evening for the much-maligned (see the previous section) Bomber Secondary.

Standings

Team	GP	W	L	T	Pts	Pts for	Pts Against
West
Saskatchewan	8	7	1	0	14	233	174
Calgary	9	6	3	0	12	241	192
Winnipeg	8	4	4	0	8	217	225
BC	9	4	5	0	8	237	254
Edmonton	8	2	6	0	4	183	241
East
Hamilton	9	6	3	0	12	291	254
Montreal	9	5	4	0	10	219	215
Ottawa	9	3	6	0	6	225	256
Toronto	9	2	7	0	4	257	292

Hmmm . . . is tonight’s game a battle for the cross-over?

Keys to the game

For the Bombers to win

Starting to sound like a broken record here but here we go:

• Try and complete passes to BOMBER receivers not Redblack defenders
• Give Brady the ball more often
• Score early and get on a roll

For the Redblacks to win

• 2 or more interceptions
• Hit the big passing plays
• Score early and get on a roll (isn’t cut and paste wonderful?)

The predictions

The Corbett report is 21-18 so far this year, 4-4 in Bomber Games.  Here’s this week’s predictions:

Let’s try a home team sweep this week:

• Edmonton over the Argos
• Saskatchewan over the TiCats
• Lions over Montreal

And in our feature game look for another sellout crowd to fire up the Bombers. 

Bombers 32 Redblacks 30

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