THIS WEEK IN THE CFL – WEEK 17

On Friday night the Stampeders make their way to Tim Hortons Field to take on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Since the coaching change the Tiger-Cats are on the upswing, going 4-2. They will be looking to snap the Stampeders’ 10-game winning streak. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.

The second game on Friday night features the Ottawa REDBLACKS and the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium beginning at 10 p.m. ET. Ottawa is looking to make it two in a row versus West Division teams in as many weeks, while Saskatchewan is riding a two game winning streak.

Week 17 continues with a double-header on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. First Winnipeg hosts BC. With a victory, Winnipeg can clinch their second consecutive playoff berth, while BC is looking to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The week concludes with the Toronto Argonauts visiting the Edmonton Eskimos at 7 p.m. ET. A win for the Argonauts would at minimum give them a playoff berth and a home playoff date. Edmonton snapped their six-game losing streak last week and will try to make it two in a row.

REMAINING SCHEDULE

Schedule with the highest winning percentage: BC Lions, 35-22 (.614)
Schedule with the lowest winning percentage: Montreal Alouettes, 16-26 (.381)
 

200 YARD GAMES

• Following Brandon Zylstra’s big game with seven receptions and 201 receiving yards game marked the third time this season a receiver has recorded 200+ yards.
• Toronto’s SJ Green recorded 10 receptions for 210 yards in Week 3 versus Ottawa and BC’s Nick Moore notched 220 yards on 10 catches in Week 4 versus Hamilton.
• 200+ receiving games have happened as frequently this year as in the past two years combined: once in 2016 and twice on 2015.
• Brian Kelly owns the CFL record with six games of 200+ receiving yards. Following Kelly, Terry Greer has five and Darren Flutie has four.
• Only five active players have reached 200 receiving yards in a game: Greg Ellingson, Andy Fantuz, Green, Moore and Zylstra.
• In CFL history, 20 players have recorded multiple 200+ receiving yard games;

LEAGUE LEADERS

• With only four weeks remaining the league has some tight races.
• Passing Leaders: Mike Reilly leads the league with 4,546 passing yards; however, Toronto’s Ricky Ray is 126 yards away (4,420). Matt Nichols holds the edge with 27 TD passes. Trevor Harris trails Nichols by one TD and Mike Reilly trails by three.
• Receiving Leaders: Greg Ellingson continues to lead the league in receiving yards with 1,381 yards. However, with Brandon Zylstra’s addition of 351 yards in the past two games he now trails by only 44 yards (1,335). Touchdown receptions are also led by Ellingson with 10. Three players have eight (Duron Carter, SJ Green and Naaman Roosevelt). Brad Sinopoli leads the league with 91 receptions followed by Ellingson and Andrew Harris with 88 each and Green and Zylstra with 82 each.
• Rushing Leaders: Jerome Messam continues to lead the league in rushing (897) and is looking to make it back-to-back seasons as rushing leader. William Powell trails by 63 yards.
• Sack Leaders: In one of the tightest races in the league this season, Victor Butler leads with nine sacks – however, nine players trail him by two sacks or fewer.
• Interceptions: Ed Gainey continues to lead with eight interceptions, followed by Winnipeg’s Chris Randle.

QUICK SLANTS

• Week 17 Playoff Scenarios
• Bye Weeks: Teams coming off a bye this year are 8-6 (.571). The Calgary Stampeders are coming off a Week 16 bye when they visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday night. Since 2005, Calgary is 15-0 coming off a bye week.
• Week 16 was the first week this season where all the road teams won.
• 1,000 Yards: Two more players joined the 1,000 receiving yard club: Brad Sinipoli (1,009) and Naaman Roosevelt (1,006). There are three players who are 100 yards or fewer away from joining: Bryan Burnham (903) Jalen Saunders (901) and BJ Cunningham (900).
• Brad Sinopoli and Greg Ellingson make it three consecutive seasons they both recorded 1,000+ yards.
• Interception-free Streak: Both Jeremiah Masoli and Bo Levi Mitchell enter this week without having thrown an interception in three games. Masoli has tossed 110 straight passes without an interception and Mitchell has tossed 91 straight passes without an interception.
• June Jones can push his record to 5-2 (.714) with a victory over Calgary this week. The last coach who took over in mid-season and had a better mark than .714 was Adam Rita for BC back in 2002 (.750). No Hamilton head coach taking over in mid-season has EVER posted a winning record over the remainder of the season or even above a .400 winning %.
• Saskatchewan’s 13-point comeback was their second straight double-digit recovery to win, a feat not accomplished by any Rider team since September 2010 (from 11 and 15 point deficits).
• The CFL record for games decided by seven points or fewer is now set at 12, shared by Saskatchewan back in 1953, tied by Winnipeg in 1975 and 2001, and most recently matched by Ottawa in 2017.
• Of these 12 games, a CFL record 10 have been decided by five points or fewer. Ottawa is 2-7-1 in their ten games decided by 0-5 point games.
• Canadian QB passing yards: Brandon Bridge has 817 passing yards in 2017, the most by any Canadian QB since Bob Torrance’s 837 yards in 1993.
• In 18 career games (equivalent to one full season), Brandon Zylstra has amassed 1,843 receiving yards (102.4 yards per game).