This Week In The CFL

Just like that, we are nearly done the first half of the season.

Friday night football kicks off Week 11 with the Blue Bombers in Edmonton playing for first place in the West Division. Edmonton is undefeated at home this season (4-0) and is looking to make it three straight wins following victories over Ottawa and Toronto. Winnipeg is similarly hoping to extend a three-game winning streak after defeating Calgary and BC. With Matt Nichols sidelined, the Blue Bombers turn to Chris Streveler to continue the momentum. Kick off is at 9 p.m. ET.

Saturday features a double-header with a pair of interdivision games. First at 7 p.m. ET, Ottawa travels to Regina to take on the Roughriders. The REDBLACKS are in pursuit of a season series sweep of Saskatchewan after a Week 2, 44-41 win, but the team is 1-6 since and have lost two in a row. The Roughriders however, are 5-1 over that same stretch and are riding a four-game winning streak.

The 10 p.m. ET game takes us to Vancouver where the Lions will host the East Division-leading Tiger-Cats. BC will look to avenge a one-point loss to Hamilton in Week 9, while collecting its first home victory this season. Dane Evans is in search of his third victory as a starter, which would push the Tiger-Cats’ win streak to three.

Sunday bring us to Moncton, N.B., for the 2019 edition of Touchdown Atlantic between the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts. The game marks the fourth regular season contest game to take place in Moncton and the first since 2013. The surging Alouettes are coming off their first victory at McMahon Stadium since 2009 – a thrilling come-from-behind, double-overtime affair which is already garnering consideration as the Game of the Year. Toronto will be facing its first East Division since Week 2 when they played host to Hamilton. Kickoff is at 12 p.m. ET.

TSN’s Live Mic game will be Hamilton vs. BC this week.
All four games this week will be on ESPN+

WARD’S STREAK ENDS

• On Saturday, Lewis Ward’s streak of consecutive made field goals ended at 69 – a pro football record.
• Week 10’s miss came from 31 yards. Ward’s only other miss was from 48 yards in his first career game. He is a career 74-of-76 (97.4%) with a personal best of 53 yards.
• Ward’s streak began on June 28, 2018 in Calgary and lasted until August 17, 2019 in Ottawa – a streak of 27 games spanning 415 days.
• A breakdown of his field goals:
  • < 40 yards: 47
  • 40+ yards: 22
  • 50+ yards: 4
  • Average: 32 yards
• Last season, Ward was named Most Outstanding Rookie and Most Outstanding Special Teams Player.

REACHING FOR 1,000

• Through 10 weeks of the season, a dozen receivers are on pace for 1,000+ yards, including five with the potential to reach 1,400+ yards: Brandon Banks (1,522), Bryan Burnham (1,486), Ricky Collins (1,482), Greg Ellingson (1,466) and Reggie Begelton (1,408).

• The remaining receivers on pace for 1,000+ yards include:
  • Shaq Evans (1,366)
  • Derel Walker (1,213)
  • Kyran Moore (1,107)
  • Bralon Addison (1,088)
  • Armanti Edwards (1,059)
  • Dominique Rhymes (1,052)
  • Lemar Durant (1,038)
• Five teams are on pace to have two 1,000+ yard receivers:
  • BC Lions (Burnham and Durant)
  • Edmonton Eskimos (Collins and Ellingson)
  • Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Banks and Addison)
  • Saskatchewan Roughriders (Evans and Moore)
  • Toronto Argonauts (Walker and Edwards)
• At this pace, Winnipeg and Montreal will not have a receiver with 1,000+ yards.
• Last season, nine receivers topped the 1,000-yard mark.
• On the rushing side, six players are on pace for 1,000+ yard seasons:
  • Andrew Harris (1,638)
  • William Stanback (1,579)
  • C.J. Gable (1,417)
  • William Powell (1,186)
  • John Crockett (1,103)
  • John White (1,012)
• Last season, only three backs eclipsed 1,000 yards.

TOUCHDOWN ATLANTIC

• Sunday’s game will be the fourth installment of Touchdown Atlantic and the first since 2013.
• The previous three Touchdown Atlantic games:

DATE	SCORE
September 26, 2010	EDM 24 – TOR 6
September 25, 2011	CGY 36 – HAM 55
September 21, 2013	MTL 26 – HAM 28

• Three players in the 2019 edition of Touchdown Atlantic took part in the 2013 affair: Montreal’s John Bowman and Toronto’s S.J. Green and Bear Woods – all were members of the Alouettes at the time.
• Montreal has two players who attended St. Francis Xavier in Antigonish, N.S.: Henoc Muamba and 2019 CFL Draft second-rounder Kaion Julien-Grant.
• Notable past performances at Touchdown Atlantic:
  • Passing: Kevin Glenn 16-of-23, 276 yards, 3 TDS (2011); Josh Neiswander 26-of-36, 294 yards, 2 TDs (2013)
  • Rushing: Jon Cornish 9 car, 84 yards (2011); Avon Cobourne 15 car, 84 yards, TD (2011), Calvin McCarty 10 car, 84 yards, 2 TDs (2010)
  • Receiving:  Marcus Thigpen 6 rec, 139 yards, 2 TDs (2011); Duron Carter 9 rec, 112 yards (2013); Nik Lewis 8 rec, 95 yards (2011)
  • Defence: Elliot Richardson 4 DT, 2 INTs, 1 FF (2010); Chip Cox 8 DT, 2 sacks, 1 INT (2013); Kevin Eiben 9 DT (2010)

QUICK SLANTS

• Only two weeks have not featured a kick return TD: Weeks 3 and 10.
• Last week ended a streak of six consecutive weeks of kick return TDs with 15 in that span.
• The Lions are on pace to allow 72 sacks – that total has only been surpassed once in the last 26 years: in 2005, BC allowed 74 sacks. Through nine games, Mike Reilly has already been sacked 36 times – the third most in a single season of his career.
• Last week, Greg Ellingson posted his second game of the season with 170+ yards. Of his 10 catches, six converted second downs, giving him 19 on the season to lead the league.
• Ottawa’s DeVonte Dedmon owns the highest punt return average (15.4 yards) and kickoff return average (33.1 yards). He has 1,216 all-purpose yards on the season.
• Reggie Begelton had four TD receptions last week against Montreal. Milt Stegal last accomplished the feat in 2005.
• Montreal came back from an 11-point deficit last week to beat the Calgary Stampeders. It marked their largest comeback since 2014 when the Alouettes overcame a 14-point deficit against Hamilton.
• Toronto rushed for 139 yards against Edmonton last week – it was their first game with more than 100 rushing yards as a team, led by Brandon Burks’ 43. The Argonauts have yet to score a rushing major this season.
• Saskatchewan is coming off a bye this week. In the past two seasons, the Roughriders are 3-0 following a bye week.
• With Matt Nichols injured, Chris Streveler will start for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Last year, Streveler started against the Edmonton Eskimos in the season-opener and finale, going 0-2 while passing for four TDs. He is 1-3 in four career starts.
• Trevor Harris currently has the lowest interception percentage in CFL history at 2-in-361 attempts (0.55%); the record is (0.8%). His TD to Interception ratio is 6.5:1 – also the highest in CFL history.
• Brandon Banks and Vernon Adams lead the league with eight touchdowns followed by William Powell at seven.
• Jon Ryan leads the league with an average of 49.9 yards per punt, which would sit third all-time. He holds the record for highest punting average over a season with 50.6 in 2005.
• Justin Medlock leads the league with six punts inside the 10-yard line.
• Boris Bede is averaging 69.4 yards per kickoff, which would surpass his own record of 69.0 in 2017.
• Tre Roberson and Winston Rose each have 6 interceptions, 109 return yards and one TD.