THIS WEEK IN THE CFL: WEEK 15
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| Matt Smith/CFL.ca |
Week 15 has doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, the opening game is in Ottawa where the Saskatchewan Roughriders visit TD Place at 7 p.m. ET. Ottawa is a point behind the East Division leading Argonauts while Saskatchewan is looking to get back to their winning way after a defeat at home versus Calgary.
The late game takes us to McMahon Stadium at 9:30 p.m. ET where Calgary is looking to extend their home-winning streak to 16 games, while Montreal looks to snap their six-game losing streak.
Heading into Saturday the first game features the Toronto Argonauts making their way down to Tim Hortons Field to take on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The winner in the game will own the season-series. Kickoff is scheduled fort 6:30 p.m. ET.
To complete Week 15 the Edmonton Eskimos host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in pivotal West Division clash beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET. With four points separating the two teams, it’s a big swing game for the winning team.
ARGONAUTS’ WILD THING
Toronto Argonauts running back James Wilder Jr. has had an incredible two week span. Week 13 versus the Edmonton Eskimos, Wilder Jr. compiled 257 combined yards (190 rushing, 67 receiving) and a touchdown. In Week 14 versus the Montreal Alouettes, Wilder Jr. notched 218 combined yards (141 rushing, 77 receiving) and a touchdown.
His first CFL touchdown in Week 13 was the longest in the CFL (76 yards), but in Week 14 he exceeded the mark with an 85-yard touchdown.
The FSU product’s 331 rushing yards in the last two games are the most in the Argos modern era surpassing Cory Boyd’s 290 yards over a two-game stretch in 2010. Former Alouettes RB Mike Pringle holds the CFL record for rushing yards over two games with 425 yards in 1994.
During Wilder Jr.’s recent surge the Argonauts are riding a two-game winning streak and lead the East Division.
1,000 YARDS
Ottawa’s Greg Ellingson and Toronto’s SJ Green continue to be the only players to record 1,000 receiving or rushing yards.
Four receivers are nearing the benchmark; Edmonton’s Brandon Zylstra (982), Winnipeg’s Darvin Adams, Saskatchewan’s Naaman Roosevelt (929) and Ottawa’s Brad Sinopoli (921).
Last season saw 15 receivers reach 1,000 yards; the record for the most in a season is 19 set in 2005.
A 1,000 yard receiving yards season has now occurred 445 times by 175 players.
On the rushing side, Calgary’s Jerome Messam is 103 yards away from reaching a 1,000. It would be his fourth time reaching 1,000 yards and third second straight season doing so.
Last year only Messam (1,198) and Brandon Whitaker (1,009) rushed for over 1,000 yards.
Rushing for 1,000 yards has happened 222 times by 106 players.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back is on pace for 1,109 rushing yards and 956 receiving yards. In order for Harris to become the only player to record 1,000 rushing and receiving yards he would need to average 61 receiving yards per game and 44 rushing yards in his final six games.
QUICK SLANTS
Winnipeg has scored 409 points in 12 games this season. They are on pace for 614 points, the most since 1994 when they scored 651 points, a franchise record.
Brad Sinopoli is 17 receptions from 100 this season. He would become the first Ottawa player to record 100 receptions.
Hamilton’s victory over BC last week marked the first time since 2011 that the Tiger-Cats won in Vancouver. Since Jeremiah Masoli was named the Tiger-Cats starting quarterback the team has gone 3-1.
56% of games this season have been decided in the final three minutes.
In the last three calendar years dating back to September 2014, the Calgary Stampeders have lost just nine times. Of those nine defeats, the Montreal Alouettes have accounted for four of them. Montreal beat Calgary in Week 4 this year.
With six weeks to play there have been 24 defensive return touchdowns, the same amount as all of last season.
In 13 games, Calgary has only allowed 15 sacks this season (1.2 per game). The next best team is Edmonton and they have allowed 20 sacks (1.7 sacks per game).
Toronto and Calgary lead the league in sacks with 38 each. The next best team is Edmonton who are 10 sacks behind the leaders with 28.
Bye Weeks: Teams coming off a bye this year are 8-4. The Edmonton Eskimos are coming off a Week 14 bye to host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers who are four points in front of them in the West Division standings.
With a Calgary victory and an Edmonton loss, Calgary will clinch a home playoff date.
This marks the 13th consecutive season the Calgary Stampeders have clinched a playoff berth.
In the last 12 seasons, Calgary has hosted a playoff game on ten occasions. Calgary has hosted a home playoff game the last five seasons.
The second quarter is where the most points are scored: 16.4 points (31%). The lowest is the first quarter with 9.6 points (18%).
Saskatchewan has the highest average yards on first down with 7.4.
Kevin Glenn will attempt to get his 100th career win as a starter. Ricky Ray is the active leader with 109 wins as a starter.
This season kickers are 16/25 (64%) from 50+ yards out. Hamilton’s Sergio Castillo and Winnipeg’s Justin Medlock each have hit four each – however, Castillo is a perfect 4/4. Castillo has the highest field-goal average length at 36.5.
Sack Race: It’s a four-way tie for the sack lead. Victor Butler, Charleston Hughes, Micah Johnson and Craig Roh each have eight sacks this season.
When a sack occurs on a drive a team has gone on to score a touchdown 2% of the time or one in every 46.6 drives. When a sack doesn’t occur teams score a touchdown 20% of the time or 1 in 5 drives.
(Paulo Senra/CFL.ca)
