THIS WEEK IN THE CFL - WEEK 14

Week 14 in the CFL begins in the nation’s capital Friday night with a double header. The Toronto Argonauts travel up the 401 to take on the Ottawa REDBLACKS in an East Division tilt that will be a swing game for the victor. A Toronto win would put them ahead of Ottawa in the standings, whereas an Ottawa win would give the REDBLACKS a three-point cushion on the Argonauts with six weeks left in the season.

In the back end of Friday’s double header, the Lions come off their bye and head to Edmonton to take on the Eskimos. The Lions play their best football on the road, going 5-1 this year, while Edmonton looks to keep pace in the West Division and keep their eyes on the potential cross-over.

On Saturday afternoon, the two hottest teams in the CFL duel in Calgary: Winnipeg is on a current seven-game winning streak while the Stampeders are unbeaten in their last 11 games. Calgary has taken the first two games of the series between these two teams (36-22 in Week 2 and 33-18 in Week 5).

To complete Week 14 Saskatchewan hosts Hamilton for the final time at Mosaic. Saskatchewan is looking to make it two consecutive wins following their thrilling overtime victory over Edmonton last week. Following their comeback victory over the Montreal Alouettes, the Tiger-Cats will be looking to win their second-straight win to stay atop the East Division.

STREAKING TEAMS MEET IN COWTOWN

• When Calgary and Winnipeg meet on Saturday it will be the longest combined winning streak between two teams (where each team has a streak of at least 3 wins).

• Calgary holds a nine-game win streak and Winnipeg has a seven-game win streak combining for 16 cumulative consecutive wins.

• For the longest streak in the same year (i.e. streaks that did not overlap seasons) the previous record was held by Calgary and Winnipeg in Oct. 7, 1965 where Calgary entered the game with six wins in a row and Winnipeg had four wins in a row. The past record with overlapping seasons is 13 set on three different occasions:
  • Aug. 6, 1995 between Calgary (eight wins in a row) Baltimore (five wins in a row).
  • Sept. 6, 1993 between Calgary (ten in a row) and Edmonton (three wins in a row).
  • Sept. 11, 1961 Edmonton (eight win in a row) Hamilton (five wins in a row).

• During Calgary’s nine-game streak in 2016 they have scored 325 points and allowed 192 – an average margin of victory of 14.8 points.
• Winnipeg’s seven game streak has seen the Bombers score 224 points and allow 133 – an average margin of victory of 13.0 points per game.
• Key stats during the Blue Bombers streak:
  • Bombers have turned the ball over five times and have forced 29 turnovers: a +24 T/O ratio.
  • The Bombers have also scored a total of 89 points off turnovers – 40% of their total points during their streak.

• Key stats during the Stampeders streak:
  • In the fourth quarter and OT they have outscored their opponents 134-50.
  • The team has averaged 31.6 points per game and 336 passing yards per game.

A LOOK BACK FROM LAST WEEK

• The game between Montreal and Hamilton last Friday night had a total of only SEVEN penalties, matching the lowest combined single-game penalty total in the last 20 years.
• The average penalties for the four games in Week 13 was 14.5 per game – the lowest average in a single week this year and the lowest since 2013.
• The Hamilton and Montreal game was the second-fastest game of the season, taking two hours and 37 minutes. The fastest game, at two hours and 30 minutes, occurred in Week 11 between Toronto and BC.
• Coaches’ challenges were also at a season low with only five plays challenged and two overturned.
• Between the four games a total of 232 points were scored, with an average of 58 points per game. That is the second-highest average for a week of games this season, trailing only Week 9 where the average points per game was 59.3.
• Week 13 also featured the most rushing yards this season with an average of 219 yards per game.
• Toronto and Winnipeg game had six lead changes – tied for the most this season in a single game.
• First-time all-year that all four home teams won in a week. In the last 10 games, road teams are 1-9, however they still own the advantage overall this season going 28-24-1 (.528) winning percentage.

STAMPEDERS CHASING HISTORY

• With a 10-1-1 record this season, Calgary has the third-longest win streak in CFL history with nine consecutive seasons with 10+ wins. The Stampeders trail only Edmonton (13 seasons between 1985-1997) and an earlier streak by Calgary (12 seasons between 1989 to 2000).
• With their win last week, Calgary clinched a playoff berth for the 12-straight season, one short of the club record.
• This is Calgary’s ninth consecutive season finishing with a record above .500.
• The Stampeders’ current win streak is tied for the sixth-longest winning streak in CFL history. A victory this week would give them their 11^th 10+ game winning streak in CFL history.
• Dave Dickenson is three wins shy of tying the record for most wins in his first-year as a head coach. 13 wins is the record shared by Adam Rita with Toronto Argonauts in 1991, John Hufnagel with Calgary in 2008 and Mike Benevides with BC in 2012.
• Calgary is 6-0 at home this season at McMahon Stadium and looking to make it seven wins when the Blue Bombers come to town on Saturday.
• Calgary will be finishing their West Division schedule this week and play their final five games against East Division teams.

QUICK SLANTS

• 1,000-yard watch: Ottawa’s Chris Williams is five yards shy of joining the 1,000-yard club. Through 13 weeks, Adarius Bowman (1,279), Derel Walker (1,168) and Naaman Roosevelt (1,095) are the only receivers who have reached the benchmark so far.

• Rushing title: to this point of the season, three running backs have emerged as front runners for the rushing title. Everyone is chasing Calgary’s Jerome Messam (739 yards); Toronto’s Brandon Whitaker trails by 39 yards (700 yards) and Andrew Harris is 62 yards behind with 677 yards.
• Since the rule change to coaches’ challenges in Week 10, the average of challenges has dropped 18.7% to 2.00 per game.
• Last week’s game between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Saskatchewan Roughriders game was the 6^th game this season to go into overtime. Home teams are 3-2-1 this year in overtime games.
• That’s one more overtime game than all of last year and the most since 2002 when there were eight. Edmonton has been in four of 2016’s six OT games – a club record. 
• Saskatchewan won the game without a single catch from their four of their five top receivers last week.
• Through their first 12 games Saskatchewan has had 86 players play at least one game, with 50 different starters.
• There have been 25.3% more “Big Plays” this year compared to 2015’s final average.
• Teams this year have scored a touchdown 55% of the time in the Red Zone. Toronto has the best TD percentage with 67% while Ottawa has the lowest with 44%.
• Sean Whyte leads the CFL with a field goal percentage mark of 91.4% - that’s the fifth-highest mark in CFL history. He made five of five last week versus Saskatchewan.
• Adarius Bowman had a season personal best nine catches for 152 yards last week. That puts him on pace for 1,918 yards and 133 receptions. 133 would be the second-most receptions in a season, behind only Derrell Mitchell (160), who was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame last week.
• Bowman has seven 100-yard games this season; the most by a receiver in a single season is 12, set by Jamel Richardson in 2011 with the Alouettes.
• Bowman also went over the 8,000 receiving yards mark in his career last week versus Saskatchewan.
• Andy Fantuz is 68 yards short of the career 8,000-yard mark.
• Glen Love of Calgary had six special teams tackles (one STT was added after a post-game review), one short of the single-game record of seven that is held by six different players.
• Matt Nichols became the first Winnipeg QB to win seven consecutive starts since Khari Jones across the 2002 and 2003 seasons.