The Corbett Report, August 27, 2026

Introduction

You wouldn’t think it after last week’s 2^nd half meltdown, but the Bombers are still very much in the playoff mix with half the CFL season to come.  Consider this: Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatchewan are all 2-2 in their last four games and while BC is on a 4-game winning streak, they haven’t exactly looked like world beaters.  The Western Division is very much up for grabs this year.  Here’s the problem for the Bombers though.  Their inconsistent play leaves one doubting whether they can make a run for it this year, like they did the last time the Grey Cup was in Calgary (for those who don’t recall, that was 2019).

Upcoming is an interesting four weeks that should go a long way to sorting out where the Bombers will place come November.  Here’s the schedule for the next four weeks for the Bombers and their division rivals:

Winnipeg: Montreal, Sask, Sask, Bye

Sask: Toronto, Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Bye

Edmonton: Bye, Calgary, Calgary, Toronto

BC: Ottawa, Montreal, Montreal, Bye

Calgary: Hamilton, Edmonton, Edmonton, Ottawa

With the back-to-back games against the Riders on the horizon, we’ll know more about how the Bombers’ season will unfold around mid-September.  By then, the Bombers could find themselves looking at a crossover or even at risk of missing the playoffs. 

For now though, there’s still time.

Welcome to week 13, welcome to the Corbett Report.

Standings

Team	GP	W	L	T	Pts	Pts for	Pts Against
West
Edmonton	11	8	3	0	16	323	279
Saskatchewan	10	6	4	0	12	309	271
BC	10	5	5	0	10	274	267
Winnipeg	10	5	5	0	10	256	286
Calgary	10	4	6	0	8	378	327
East
Montreal	10	9	1	0	18	367	263
Toronto	10	5	5	0	10	304	311
Hamilton	11	4	7	0	8	257	319
Ottawa	10	0	10	0	0	223	368

Hamilton, without BLM, looks in danger of missing the playoffs.  A crossover position is definitely in play, but really, what does that look like with Montreal setting the world on fire?

Bombers

I think the Bombers are deserved of their 5-5 record.  So far this year they’ve really shown that they’re a “middle of the pack” kind of team.  Apart from rushing, where Oliveria leads the league with 850 yards, the Bombers are, well, kind of in the middle.  Their top receiver is 14^th overall (Nic Demski), they’re -4 on the turnover ratio, they’re 7^th in net offence, 6^th in net offence allowed in fact, they truly are in the middle of the pack in many of the CFL stats.

Granted, they’ve won some close games (a 30-28 victory against Calgary in the season opener comes to mind) but they’ve also lost some games that they should have won (last week’s 22-19 loss to Edmonton illustrates that point). 

What’s scary is that they could have gotten off to a much better start than 5-5.  Consider this: they’ve played 6 of their first 10 games at the friendly field of Princess Auto Stadium and managed only two victories at home. Also, two of their five wins are against the hapless Ottawa RedBlacks.  Their 5-5 record seems to suggest some underachieving. 

The Bombers’ next 4 games are against: Montreal, Sask (twice) and the Argos.  It’s going to be an uphill struggle for the Bombers just to make the playoffs.  Who would have seen that coming in 2026?

Alouettes

Montreal has proven to be the class of the league this year.  On offence they lead the league in most offensive stats including: net offence, first downs, average yards/play, rushing yards etc.  On defence they’re overall ranking is second.  They’re second in yards after catch allowed, net offence allowed and first in yards/play allowed.  In short, they’re a powerhouse on both sides of the ball. 

If there are any weaknesses on this team it could be on special teams where most of their stats are kind of in the middle of the pack and their overall special teams rating is 7^th overall. 

It’s easy to oversimplify a team’s performance by saying it falls to one or two guys but when two of those guys are Davis Alexander and Tyson Philpot it’s hard not to conclude that the fortunes of the Alouettes rest with their performance.

How much you ask? Consider this:

Davis Alexander has started in 24 CFL games.  He’s won, get this, 22 of them!  This year he leads the league in yards passing with 3,400.  His completion percentage is 73.3%.  His TD-Interception ratio this year is 20 TDs to 2 Interceptions.  In short, when he starts, the Alouettes win.

Tyson Philpot is Alexander’s favourite receiver so it’s no surprise that with DA at the helm Tyson leads the league in receiving.  The Canadian has caught 83 passes for 1,229 yards.  Behind him in second? That would be Tyler Snead who’s caught 58 passes for 982 yards.  Oh yeah, and just in case you were wondering, Snead is also an Alouette. 

Sheeeeesh, as I’m typing this I’m wondering if the Bombers should even bother to play this game.  Maybe a loss by default would look better on their resume.

Keys to the game

For the Bombers to win

• Get two TDs on kickoff returns
• Score when in the Red Zone (unlike last week)
• Win the time of possession

For the Alouettes to win

• Remember the start time
• Alexander to Philpot (it’s worked so far)
• Stop Brady Oliveira

The predictions

Record so far this year: 25-21 (Bomber games 5 – 5). 

This week look for:

• Calgary to get a bounce back game after two tough losses.  Calgary over Hamilton
• Toronto to hand the Riders their third straight loss with a victory at Mosaic.
• BC to win in Ottawa.  Sigh.

And

The Bombers may still be in the playoff picture, but the picture gets murkier this week.

Alouettes 55 Bombers 16

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