This Week In The CFL

Week 6 kicks off in Calgary with the Stampeders hosting the Toronto Argonauts on Thursday Night Football. Toronto is hoping to notch their first victory of the season and their first win in McMahon Stadium since 2013 – a streak of 10 losses in a row. Calgary holds a 2-2 record with kickoff slated for 9 p.m. ET. The Northern Pikes will be the latest halftime act to join the Thursday Night Concert Series. Friday Night Football will feature the undefeated Winnipeg Blue Bombers welcoming the Ottawa REDBLACKS to IG Field at 8:30 p.m. ET. Ottawa will attempt to even the season series following a 29-14 setback in Week 4 in the nation’s capital. Mike O’Shea’s squad will be looking to improve to 5-0 for the first time since 1960. A Saturday double-header opens in Montreal where the surging Alouettes will look for their third consecutive victory with the Edmonton Eskimos in town. These two teams last faced each other in Week 1, with the Esks coming out on top with a 32-25 win. Edmonton is coming off a convincing 33-6 victory over BC in Week 5. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. ET. The Week 6 finale will see the Saskatchewan Roughriders take on the BC Lions at Mosaic Stadium at 7 p.m. ET. Saskatchewan is coming off a bye and is looking to get their second home victory on the year. The matchup marks the first time that Solomon Elimimian will play his former squad, while another ex-Lion, Manny Arceneaux, is hoping to make his Roughriders debut. Mike Reilly owns a career 8-6 record against Saskatchewan. ESPN2 will carry Toronto at Calgary. ESPN+ will carry Ottawa at Winnipeg, Edmonton at Montreal and BC at Saskatchewan. Ottawa at Winnipeg will be TSN’s Live Mic game. LOOKING BACK: WHERE WE STOOD AFTER WEEK 5 IN 2018 WEST DIVISION Team Wins Losses Points For Points Against Calgary 4 0 120 38 Edmonton 3 2 128 125 BC 2 2 83 109 Saskatchewan 2 2 79 95 Winnipeg 2 3 161 113 EAST DIVISION Team Wins Losses Points For Points Against Ottawa 2 2 85 86 Hamilton 2 2 96 84 Toronto 1 3 61 101 Montreal 1 3 61 123 ·     In 2018, Calgary did not suffer their second loss until September 8 (Week 13). The Stamps are currently 2-2. ·     The Bombers are currently 4-0; last season, they did not win their fourth game until Week 7 at the end of July. ·     Hamilton has two more wins than they had at this point last year. RARE OCCURANCES IN WEEK 5 ·     Hamilton’s Brandon Banks scored three touchdown last week against Calgary: one special teams TD and two receiving TDs. ·     The last time a player scored a special teams touchdown and two offensive touchdowns in the same game was Chris Williams on August 16, 2012. Williams, then a Tiger-Cat, was playing Winnipeg and scored on a 72-yard punt return and notched five receptions for 160 yards and two touchdowns. ·     Als pivot Vernon Adams Jr. scored two rushing TDs and passed for two more. The last quarterback NOT named Mike Reilly to accomplish the feat was Henry Burris on October 1, 2015 against Montreal. DYNAMIC DUO PLAYS FORMER TEAM ·     Solomon Elimimian spent nine seasons with the BC Lions, winning a Grey Cup (2011), a Most Outstanding Player award (2014), and a pair of Most Outstanding Defensive Player awards (2014 & 2016). ·     A snapshot of Elimimian’s time with the BC Lions: o  781 tackles – a BC Lions Record o  28 sacks o  8 interceptions o  8 forced fumbles o  6 fumble recoveries ·     Elimimian may be joined by another former Lion, Manny Arceneaux on Saturday Night. ·     The Manny Show is looking to make his debut as a Roughrider. Over the span of eight seasons and 129 games with BC, Arceneaux recorded: o  556 receptions o  8,169 receiving yards o  55 touchdowns o  25 100+ yard games ·     The duo combined for 234 starts in their tenures with the Lions. QUICK SLANTS: ·     The last time Winnipeg started a season 5-0 was in 1960 when they started 10-0 and finished 14-2. ·     Scoring is up 9% compared to last year. Games this season have averaged 55.3 points per game. ·     The last time Montreal won three-straight was in 2016 across Weeks 18-20. ·     Following Hamilton’s 30-23 victory over Calgary last week, West Division teams own a 5-4 record against the East. ·     Four teams have averaged 30+ points per game this season: Hamilton (37.4), Winnipeg (34.5), Edmonton (31.3) and Calgary (31.0). ·     Ottawa has three passing touchdowns this season – all of which came in Week 2 against Saskatchewan. ·     Edmonton has allowed only one sack this season while BC has allowed a league-worst 17. ·     Penalties are up 20% this season with the majority of the increase coming in player safety areas (roughness). Penalties for rough play have been flagged 44% more than last year. ·     Montreal has turned the ball over a league-low five times, while forcing 11 turnovers for a +6 ratio – second only to Winnipeg’s +8 mark. ·     The Argonauts have the lowest number of penalty yards this season (280). ·     The last time Toronto started a season 0-5 was in 1993. ·     Hamilton has eight ‘big play’ returns (30+/40+ returns) this season. Edmonton has not yet registered their first. ·     Coaches have been highly successful with challenges – 50% of which have resulted in overturned rulings. ·     BC’s DeVone Claybrooks is 6-for-6 thus far on challenges, while Mike O’Shea is 3-for-4. ·     There have been 1.3 challenges per game this season (due to primarily to a rule change that has provided a second challenge if the first was correct). ·     The success rate of two-point conversions is at an all-time high at 71% – well above the 51% in 2018. ·     Hamilton is currently 8-for-11 on two-point conversions. The record for most two-point converts is 17, set by Ottawa in 2018. Hamilton is on pace for 29. ·     Lewis Ward has made 61 consecutive field goals and leads the CFL in average length of field goal this season with 35.0. During his streak, he has averaged 31.7 yards. ·     25 of Ward’s kicks during his streak have come from 40+ yards out, including a career-high 53 yards on July 5. ·     Jonathon Jennings will start his first game as a REDBLACK. In his career as a starter, he is 22-22 with a 1-5 record against Winnipeg. Jennings holds a career mark of 15-6 against East Division teams. ·     Trevor Harris is 483 passing yards away from the 20,000-yard plateau – only 35 players have accomplished the feat. Harris enters the game against Montreal this week without having thrown an interception in his last 218 passing attempts – good for the 6th longest streak in CFL history. He needs six more to match Mike Reilly’s mark of 224 in a row and 17 more to tie Dave Dickenson’s 235. ·     Darian Durant holds the all-time record with 323 consecutive attempts without an interception. ·     Rob Maver will play in his 150th game in the CFL, all with Calgary. ·     Odell Willis is one sack away from 100 for his career. He would become the 12th player to reach the mark in the CFL. ·     Chris Rainey needs one return yard to pass Keith Stokes (9,163) and move into 10th all-time.