THIS WEEK IN THE CFL – WEEK 20
Friday features a West Division battle when the Calgary Stampeders take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Investors Group Field. A Calgary victory will clinch them a West Division title and they will host the West Final. Winnipeg has plenty to play for in their final home game of the year: with a win they officially clinch a playoff berth and eliminate the Edmonton Eskimos from playoff contention. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.
Saturday offers a doubleheader, beginning in Hamilton where the Tiger-Cats host the East Division-leading Ottawa REDBLACKS at 4 p.m. ET. In order to have a chance to win the East Division the Tiger-Cats will need to beat the REDBLACKS this week and fight for another victory next week. However, an Ottawa victory on Saturday secures the team a bye in the playoffs and has them hosting the Eastern Final.
Saturday night features the surging BC Lions against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Since starting the season 3-6, the Lions have turned it around, winning six of their last seven games and have secured a playoff spot. Saskatchewan has also been on a hot streak, winning eight of their last 10 games. A win or tie for the Riders would secure them a home playoff date.
To round out the week, the Montreal Alouettes try to split the home-and-home series with the Toronto Argonauts, who won a thrilling game last Saturday afternoon at BMO Field. The final home game for the Alouettes will kickoff at 1 p.m. ET.
**The Toronto Argonauts at Montreal Alouettes game will be on ESPN2 and the TSN Live Mic game will be Calgary Stampeders at Winnipeg Blue Bombers.**
IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY….
Western Semi-Final: Winnipeg at Saskatchewan
Western Final: TBD at Calgary
Eastern Semi-Final: BC at Hamilton
Eastern Final: TBD at Ottawa
5,000 PASSING YARDS
- The last time four quarterbacks reached 5,000 passing yards in the same season was 1993: Doug Flutie (6,092), David Archer (6,023), Kent Austin (5,754) and Tom Burgess (5,063).
- Mike Reilly (5,242) eclipsed the 5,000 passing mark for his third consecutive season and became the first Eskimos quarterback to do so and just the third QB to reach the mark in three or more straight seasons, joining Doug Flutie (1991-1994) and Anthony Calvillo (2002-2005).
- Reilly is on pace for 5,550 yards on the season and has 29 touchdown passes this season. He needs two more to surpass his career-high of 30, set last season.
- Tiger-Cats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli (4,966) is having a career year and is 34 yards away to his first 5,000-yard season. It would mark the fifth time a Ticats QB has reached the mark, as he would join 2012 Henry Burris (5,367), 2010 Kevin Glenn (5,106), 2004 Danny McManus (5,034) and 1999 Danny McManus (5,318).
- Masoli has 12 300+ yard games this season, two away from the record with two games remaining.
- Ottawa’s Trevor Harris (4,849) is 151 yards away from reaching the 5,000 mark for the first time in his career. He would be the third Ottawa QB to reach the mark, joining 2015 Henry Burris (5,693) and 1993 Tom Burgess (5,063).
- The fourth QB on pace to reach 5K is Bo Levi Mitchell (4,572) who is on pace for 5,144 yards. It would be the second time in his career reaching the mark.
SINOPOLI CHASING CAHOON
- Following his eight-catch, 113-yard performance against the Tiger-Cats, Brad Sinopoli now has 109 receptions on the year and is four catches away from breaking Ben Cahoon’s single-season 112 reception record by a Canadian.
- The Peterborough native has four games this season with 100+ yards and has three games with 10+ receptions.
- If he continues his pace, he will reach 123 receptions on the year which would be tied for third all-time with Don Narcisse. He would only trail Derrell Mitchell (160) and Allen Pitts (126).
- With his 1,320 receiving yards this season, he’s easily surpassed his best season set in 2016 with 1,036 yards and is on pace with two games left for 1,485 yards.
- 2016 with 1,036 yards and is on pace with two games left for 1,485 yards.
TRIO OF TDs
- DeVier Posey scored three touchdowns in 7:48 seconds in the third quarter on Friday night.
- The touchdown catches were 4, 65 and 32 yards from Travis Lulay.
- That’s the fastest three touchdowns by a player since Andrew Harris did so on July 24, 2015 when he was a member of the BC Lions. Harris scored all three majors in 7:05: a 10-yard rush, a 25-yard pass and a seven-yard run.
- The TD pass Harris caught was also from Travis Lulay.
- Since 1995, there have been no previous occurrences of three touchdown receptions in the same quarter.
- The most touchdown receptions in a game is five, set Ernie Pitts in 1959.
THE LAST TIME….
Calgary Stampeders did not make the playoffs (2004)
- Facebook just launched
- Dave Dickenson was playing for the BC Lions
- Casey Printers won Most Outstanding Player
- Bo Levi Mitchell was a freshman in High School
- John Hufnagel won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants as the teams’ Offensive Coordinator
Four QBs passed for 5,000+ yards (1993)
- Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” beat “E.T” to become the highest-grossing film worldwide at the time.
- The first episode of ‘X-Files’ aired
- Doug Flutie won his third Most Outstanding Player in a row
- Mike O’Shea won Most Outstanding Rookie
- Toronto Blue Jays won their second World Series
- Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup – the last Canadian team to do so
QUICK SLANTS
- With the Argonauts eliminated, this marks the first time a Marc Trestman led team has not made the playoffs.
- Luke Tasker (1,049) and Greg Ellingson (1,015) joined the 1,000-yard season club. This is Tasker’s third season reaching the mark and Ellingson’s fourth consecutive season. Toronto’s S.J. Green (969) is 31 yards away from his sixth season reaching 1,000. Bryan Burnham (934) is 66 yards away, Darvin Adams (902) is 98 yards away and Diontae Spencer (891) is 109 yards away from reaching 1,000.
- CJ Gable is 49 yards away from 1,000 yards on the season. It would be his first time reaching the mark.
- James Franklin has 14 rushing TDs this season. He is one off of the league record set by Doug Flutie in 1991.
- William Powell has four two-point converts this season. He is one off from the league record set by Marquay McDaniel in 2015 (5).
- League-wide field goal percentage is at an all-time high of 88.1%.
- Seven CFL kickers are above 88%, including rookie Drew Brown who has yet to miss since joining the Argos and is 6/6.
- CFL kickers are 27/33 (82%) from 50+ yards this season.
- Alex Singleton is five tackles away from 300 for his career and from collecting the most tackles in his first three seasons in CFL history. (1987 is when tackles first became official and compiled).
- After October 1st, the Stampeders are 0-2 this year and were 1-3 in the same time period in 2017. In all other months in 2017 and 2018 they are 24-3-1.
- Winnipeg is riding a four-game win streak, their longest on the season. They will try to match a five-game win streak they had last season. They need at least a tie in their final two games to secure a playoff berth. Their last 11 games have been all about streaks: they won three, lost four and have now won four in a row.
- Edmonton fans this week need a Calgary win over Winnipeg to set up a pivotal Week 21 matchup between Edmonton and Winnipeg. The winner of that game would secure the final playoff berth and become the crossover team.
- Travis Lulay will make his 80th career start (48-31) this week; with 237 passing yards he would pass Warren Moon, Peter Liske and Khari Jones and move up to number 31 all-time.
- Bo Levi Mitchell’s career winning percentage dropped 20 points following back-to-back losses. It marked the second time in his career he has lost consecutive starts. He’s now 68-14-2 (.821). He goes up against Winnipeg this week and owns a record of 10-1 vs. the Blue Bombers.
- BC return man Chris Rainey returned his second career kickoff for a touchdown on Friday night and now has six return TDs in his career (four punts, two kickoffs).
- Johnny Manziel completed 77% of his passes last week – a career high, with three touchdown passes in his last three games.