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What: Probably bad football When: rn Why: Thursday Night Football! Join me in half hearted jokes, puns, and just general putdowns on two terrible football teams!

CFL.ca CFL Game #48 Team Notes – Edmonton at Hamilton: - Coming off a Bye since 2011: Since 2011 Hamilton has had 12 games coming off a bye week but are just 3-9 .250 (including a 1- 6 .143 mark since 2015). Their .250 winning pct. in post-bye games is the lowest in the CFL in that time. Overall teams have played 107 times after a bye since 2011 and CFL-wide they have gone 61-46 .570 and thus have taken advantage of the extra rest. - Mike Reilly 300+: Reilly is tied for #10 all-time (with Sam Etcheverry) with 39 games of 300+ yds. He needs just 84 passing yards to go by Condredge Holloway (25,193) into #18 all-time and is just 25 completions away from 2,000. In 87 starts he is 51-36. - 1st half vs 2nd half: There has been a distinct difference in these two teams' results in the 1st half of games vs 2nd halves, especially in passing where 14 of Edmonton's 19 TD throws have been before half-time. Of Edmonton's 15 T/Os, 11 are in the 2nd half. - Hamilton Home vs Road: The Ti-Cats have relied on home field advantage more than any other club in the CFL recently. Since 2011 they have won 35 games at home vs just 24 on the road - almost 60% of their 59 victories. BC is next with 57% of their wins. Reilly TDs: He has 8 touchdowns thus far on pace for 16. The CFL record by a QB is 14 by Doug Flutie in 1991. Note: Jackie Parker had 17 TDs in 1957 but played only half of that season as a QB (8 starts at QB, 8 at receiver with 5 TD receptions). - Hamilton receiving I: Jalen Saunders left their last game in the 1st Quarter and did not return after picking up just one catch for 26 yards. Combined with Luke Tasker and making up their #1 & #2 receivers from 2017 (180 receptions in total), they accounted for just two catches last week. - Edmonton #1 & #2 receivers: The Esks can make it twice in 3 years with the CFL's Top Two receivers ('16, '18). That has occurred just 6 times since 1958. Winnipeg 1961 & 1971, Edmonton 1979, Calgary 1999, Edmonton 2001, & Edmonton in 2016. - Brandon Banks: Now has a 22-game receiving streak, 12 clutch 2nd down catches in his last 3 games, and 100+ yards in 11 of his last 14 games. Since Sep 4/17, he is the CFL's leading receiver with 1,677 yards over the 18 games since then: 1. Banks HAM 1,677 2. Saunders HAM 1,451 3. Walker EDM 1,450 4. Tasker HAM 1,074 5. Arceneaux BC 1,063 - Hamilton Offence #2: The Tiger-Cats come in with the #2 ranking for Net Offence at 403.5 yards per game in 2018. They have gone over the 500-yard mark twice already, something they did just once across all of the 2016-2017 seasons. The last time that Hamilton averaged over 400 yards per game was back in 2004 at 405 per game. - Sean Whyte up to #2 at 86.2%: With his current streak of 13 made FGs in a row, Whyte has passed Justin Medlock for the #2 ranked FG% of all-time. Whyte is now 288-of-334 in his career for an 86.2% success rate. Medlock sits at 316-of-367 86.1% and they both trail all-time leader Rene Paredes (327/375 87.2%). - Red Zone Defence: The Ti-Cats have stopped opponents 15 times out of 23 Red Zone chances, #1 in the CFL at just 35%. They have forced opponents into 6 Red Zone Turnovers, #1 in the CFL. - EDM last 4 games gap in Field Position: In the last 4 games, Edmonton opponents have started 12 drives inside the Eskimos' half of the field compared to just 4 by the Edmonton in the opponents' end. On average they have had to start at their 31-yard line vs the opposition's average start at the 42-yard line - a gap of 560 yards worth of field length. - Most penalized club: The Eskimos reached 1,000 penalty yards last week with their 6th game of 100+ yards or more this year. - 536 Net Yards: Last week Edmonton gained 536 yards of Net Offence, their most in almost 4 years since Nov 1/14 (550 vs BC). - J.C. Sherritt: Has a Sack in 3 of his last 4 games after getting none in the first 5 games. He now has 476 career Def. Tackles. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

GAME DAY NOTES CFL.ca Eskimos vs Lions: BC has dropped their last four meetings with Edmonton who won both visits to B.C. Place Stadium last year. BC's last win at home over the Esks came on Oct 22/16 with Jonathon Jennings at QB. - BC consecutive reception streaks: Emmanuel Arceneaux 108 straight games (of 109 career GP - held without a catch only on Nov 6/09); Bryan Burnham 53 games (all 53 of his career CFL games). - Travis Lulay: Lulay will be making his 4th straight start and he comes in averaging 311 passing yards per game. Since the start of 2017, the Lions are 4-3 when Lulay starts and 5-12 with Jonathon Jennings at QB. Lulay is #1 in the CFL having thrown just two INTs in 112 attempts. TD:INT Ratio - 2015-17: 1.26 to 1 (24:19); 2018: 2.00 to 1. Travis needs just 210 passing yards to become the CFL's 35th player to reach 20,000. - Manny Arceneaux 8,002: Became the third Lions' receiver to go over 8,000 career yards last week. He trails only Geroy Simon (14,756) and Jim Young (9,248) as the #3 receiving yardage leader in club history. In CFL history, he now ranks #45 all-time. - 2-4 Start: BC is trying to avoid dropping to 2-5 for the first time since 2011, and to be three full games out of 3rd place in the West. After 7 games last year, BC had started off 5-2 and since then have gone just 4-13 .235 ahead of only Montreal (1-16 .059). - Since October 2017: The Eskimos finished 2017 strongly with a 5-0 mark in October-November and a 12-6 record. Since that point Edmonton is 10-2 .833 overall behind only Calgary - Mike Reilly: Led the Eskimos to a 4th Quarter comeback victory, the 21st late game-winning drive of his CFL career. Reilly leads the CFL with 2,320 passing yards on pace for a career-high 5,965 yards. Reilly has 14 TD passes in 2018 and 131 in his career; his overall ratio is 131 TDs to 72 INTs, a ratio of 1.82 to 1. Reilly leads the CFL with 24 completions on throws of 20+ yard depth. - Chris Rainey: Did not play last week snapping a consecutive games run of 41 in a row and 50 of the last 51 games. - Edmonton comebacks: A common theme in the last 4 Edmonton wins ... they were not leading after the 1st Quarter. They lead the CFL with 3 wins when trailing after the 1st Quarter. In fact, all 5 Edmonton wins this year have required comebacks. - Long Edmonton TD drives: The Esks have 22 TD drives this year - those drives have averaged 74.9 yards or from their own 35. They have engineered 8 TD drives of 80 yards or more. Last Week's CFL Notables: - McLeod Bethel-Thompson: Led the Argos to a 42-41 victory over Ottawa. Here are a few superlatives from that game 1) From 24 down I: The Argo comeback matched the 8th-largest in CFL history, just 3 points short of the CFL record from 27 points. 2) From 24 down II: 2nd-largest in Argos' history, one point less than their 25-point recovery of Oct 2/94 (11-36 to HAM, won 39-36). 3) Half-time deficit: They trailed by 21 at half-time and won matching the 3rd-largest in CFL history after 30:00 of play. 4) 4 TD pass debut: One of six players with 4 TD passes in their 1st career start. CFL record: An incredible 8 TDs by Joe Zuger 1962) (Ricky Ray 2002, Matt Dunigan 1984, Condredge Holloway 1975, and Ron Reeves 1983 also had 4 TD debuts) 5) 2nd Half Passing: Bethel-Thompson passed for 233 yards and 4 TDs in the 2nd half alone. 6) Q4 game-winning drive: Drove 86 yards on 11 plays in 1:44 going 5-of-7 for 60 yards with completions to four different receivers. 7) 0:01 Left: Hit Armanti Edwards with a 23-yard TD pass with just 0:01 left on the clock on 2nd-&-10. - Johnny Manziel: Saw his first action making a start without having thrown a pass previously in the CFL. His 4 INTs were two short of the all-time record by a CFL debut QB starter (Tom Maudlin Sep 7/63 for Edmonton). Montreal made a Turnover on 5 of the first 6 possessions that Manziel ran and that included interceptions on 4 of his first 15 pass attempts. Manziel was pressured on virtually every throw however and was forced out of the pocket frequently. - Jorden/Mitchell: Kamar Jorden raised the CFL season-high for receivers to 185 yards in Calgary's 7th straight win, matching their best start since a 10-0 run to begin 1993. Mitchell raised his record to 63-10-2 in his 75th career QB start; he threw for 370 yards. - Hamilton +28 after Q1: The Ti-Cats 28-0 lead matched the largest in CFL history after 15:00 of play. - Calgary +14: Stamps tied a CFL record at 7 games in a row with at least a 14-pt lead matching the 1982 Bombers and 2011 Lions. - Edmonton: Drew the largest attendance for any CFL game this year with a crowd of 35,623. - Lewis Ward: Extended his 2018 CFL-best FG made streak to 19 and within two of the all-time record for a 1st-year player (L.Congi) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

GAME DAY NOTES  Duke Williams 100+ in 4 straight: Williams' current run of consecutive 100-yard games has reached 4 in a row. With one more this week he can to a level that has been reached only 9 times in CFL history covering 1950 to 2017. The last player to extend that streak to at least 5 games of 100+ in a row was Jamel Richardson in 2011 (6 straight). The Edmonton record is held by Brian Kelly at 5 games in row set in 1983.  Overall Standings & Parity: Through the first 5 games for all clubs with the byes now having evened out for all but Winnipeg, Calgary has dominated at 5-0 with two teams at 1-4. However, league-wide there are SIX clubs with either 2 or 3 wins in a season of parity in the middle and thus not far from early playoff contention. Every team has at least one victory to date.  Lack of Win Streaks: There have been only THREE clubs thus far able to win back-to-back games over the first six weeks. Only Calgary (5), plus Hamilton and Saskatchewan have managed to win at least two games in a row.  Turnovers even more prominent: There has been just ONE team that has been able to overcome a T/O deficit and win their game in 2018. Only Edmonton on June 29th in a 41-22 victory over BC was negative on Giveaways with 3 against the Lions' 2 that day. Overall, teams with fewer Turnovers are at 18-1 .947 in 2018 compared to 55-13 .809 in 2017 and 57-10 .851 in 2016. Scoring at 46.5 ppg: Games are averaging just 46.5 points in 2018 vs 53.0 over the past two full seasons (2016-17). In 2018, there have been 10 games in which the point total has been 42 or less.  Rushing up by 17% in 2018: The focus in 2018 has been a return to rushing the football with yards averaging 217 per game, the highest per game yardage since 2010. Teams who have won the rushing battle in 2018 are 17-6 .739. Winnipeg leads the CFL at 173 yards per game which is the best average by any club since Edmonton in 1991 (185.3 per game). - Montreal Career Rushers: Tyrell Sutton moved up to #4 all-time for the Als last week by passing Brandon Whitaker. He is just 370 yards away from the #3 spot in club history. His per carry average is exactly the same as all-time leader Mike Pringle at 5.6 yards. Deep passing contrast: Edmonton leads the CFL in throwing deep this year with 16 completions where the receiver was more than 20 yards downfield. By comparison, Montreal is tied for last having just 8 connections of 20+ yards downfield. Six of Edmonton's 9 TD passes have been of the 20+ depth variety. MTL Roster changes from Week #1 to Week #7 - 42% Turnover: Of the 24 players that STARTED for the Als in their season opener, 10 of them (42%) either did not start last week or have since been traded away including Jamaal Westerman and Chris Williams. - 14th MTL QB Starter / 25 Week-to-Week changes:The following players have started at QB for Montreal since Anthony Calvillo's last start on August 17, 2012 - Josh Neiswander, Tanner Marsh, Troy Smith, Alex Brink, Jon Crompton, Rakeem Cato, Kevin Glenn, Brandon Bridge, Vernon Adams Jr., Darian Durant, Drew Willy, Matthew Shiltz and Jeff Mathews. Even more important perhaps, Montreal has been forced to make 25 week-to-week changes in their starting QB in the 89 games since August 2012. Edmonton has changed their QB starter week to week just 9 times over that span. - 1-15 in the last 16 games / 7 in a row at home: The Alouettes have won just once in their last 16 games - that matches the previous poorest 16-game stretch in their history, 1-15 from Oct 6/51 to Oct 18/52 almost 66 years ago. They come in having lost their last 7 home games - the longest home losing streak in Montreal history. - Edmonton vs Montreal: The Eskimos have won the last 8 meetings against Montreal, one short of their best run vs the Als. They won 9 consecutive meetings with Montreal across the 1978 to 1983 seasons. The current 8-game streak comes on the heels of exactly the same 8-game winning run that the Als had over Edmonton (2010 to 2013). The last Montreal win over Edmonton? Oct 5/13. - Slow starts: The Eskimos have scored a total of just 3 points in the 1st Quarter over their last 3 games. They have been behind after the 1st Quarter in each of their last 4 games and come back to win two of them. - Edmonton scoring: The Eskimos averaged 31.7 points per game over their first 3 contests, but have scored 16 and 15 points in their last two games respectively. Over the last two outings they have just built just 3 TD drives in 23 possessions. - Mike Reilly: Has been the Esks' #1 QB since 2013 and has now started 48 of their last 49 games. Edmonton has gone 33-16 .673 in that 49-game span with Reilly missing a start only on Nov 5/16 at season's end. Reilly has 300-yard games in 3 of his 5 starts in 2018 (36 career) and in 65% of his starts since 2015. Sutton as a receiver: Tyrell Sutton is on pace for 76 receptions for 659 yards (he has 21 catches for 183 thus far) - that would be more yards and catches than in the last two years combined (71 for 518 across 2016-17). - Boris Bede 14 FGs in a row: Has yet to miss a placement kick of either type in 2018 - 8/8 FGAs and 6/6 converts. He is just one short of his all-time career long run of 15 in a row set in June-July 2017 and has made 17 consecutive 32-yard converts. - Montreal flagged: The Als committed 44 penalties over their first 3 games (incl. declined) – in their last 2 games just 14 penalties. - Sean Whyte: Did not attempt a field goal last week and thus far has been called upon only 9 times. He is 7-of-9 in 2018. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

CFL.ca GAME NOTES - Consecutive ties: In all of CFL history and going back 111 years to 1907, two teams have played to a tie at the same site in consecutive seasons only three times. The current 2016-17 Ottawa vs Calgary situation is even more unique in two other ways: 1) That this has occurred in the OT era which makes ties even rarer (14 times in exactly 2,500 games or .6% of the time) 2) And that for the first time it involves CONSECUTIVE GAMES at the same site  Trevor Harris 300+: Last week, Harris threw for 342 yards and 3 TDs, his second 300+ game of the year and #21 of his career. That means he has gone over 300 yards in 47% of his career starts (21 of 45)  Ottawa Rushing Record/ CFL Pace: William Powell leads the CFL in rushing with 355 yards averaging 118.3 yards per game.  Greg Ellingson #1: Greg Ellingson has been the CFL's reception & receiving yardage leader since the start of the 2015 season  Fastest to 60 QB wins: Bo Levi Mitchell's career winning % is now 59-10-2 .845 with a 3-0 .900 mark in 2018 (first time at 3-0 off the top since 2014). This week Mitchell faces Ottawa who are 1-6-2 against Calgary when he starts.  Calgary 16-0 Off a Bye (10-0 Road): Calgary's record coming off a bye is remarkable and they are 16-0 since 2005. Their last loss after a bye came on Jul 1/05 vs TOR and that was in Wk #2 when they had yet to play that season. Calgary is 10-0 in those post-bye games on the road.  Recent OTT v CGY matchups: Calgary has won the last 2 meetings including a 24-14 win in Wk #3. Since 2014 the REDBLACKS have defeated Calgary once though they have earned two OT ties at TD Place. These ties occurred in the most recent meetings in Ottawa. Ottawa's last win over Calgary was on Jul 24/15 - Calgary in four visits to TD Place are just 1-1-2. - Brad Sinopoli: Posted career-highs of 11 receptions and 15 targets in gaining 148 yards last week in the win over Montreal. His 148 yard total was the 2nd-highest of his career (156 on Jul 22/16 v SSK). 20K / 89.7 Rating BLM: Bo Levi Mitchell (20,221) has surpassed the 20000-yard mark becoming the CFL's 34th QB to do so. He trails #33 David Archer (20,671) who is next up the list 450 yards ahead. He leads the CFL with a 103.9 pass efficiency mark and is #2 with an overall 89.7 CFL Quarterback Rating (right behind Mike Reilly at 89.8). His 13.9 yard average throw depth is #1 in the CFL. - 35/11.7 Pts Allowed: The last time that Calgary allowed fewer than 35 pts in their first 3 games was 47 years ago (9 PA in 1971). Their pace of 11.7 per game is the lowest by any CFL team since the 1964 BC Lions at 10.5. Calgary's club record is 18.5 in 1970. - Field Position Last Meeting: In their game two weeks ago, Calgary started 3 drives deep in Ottawa territory and cashed them all into TDs. The Stamps began drives at the Ottawa 17, 37 and 23 yard lines for 21 of their 24 points. - Sacks Allowed: The Stampeders rank #1 in the CFL allowing just 3 Sacks in 3 games and have a current streak of 17 straight possessions without allowing any at all. They have ranked #1 in the CFL in 4 of the last 5 seasons in Fewest Sacks Allowed. - Leading After Q1: If Calgary gets up after 15:00 they usually win. They are 1-0 in 2018, and 65-12 since 2011 when up after Q1. - 2nd Dn Conversion: Something will have to give in this game as Ottawa is #2 in allowing Opponents to convert at just 40% on 2nd down plays vs Calgary at #2 on Offence (54%). Ottawa also ranks high on Offence at #4 (53%) vs CGY whose defence is #3 (41%). - Combined FG kicking - 16 in a row: Rene Paredes and Lewis Ward are a combined 14-of-15 this year - Paredes has now made 16 straight and 34 of his last 35 tries dating back to Sep 4/17. - Don Jackson 80+: Jackson has at least 80 rushing yds in each game - the last Calgary RB to do that? Jon Cornish Sep 1-13/14. - Michael Wakefield: Recorded two Sacks last week and is one of only three players with at least three Sacks thus far. - Leading After Q1: If Calgary gets up after 15:00 they usually win. They are 1-0 in 2018, and 65-12 since 2011 when up after Q1. - Eric Rogers: Leads the CFL with 3 TD receptions - all of them in the last 2 games in which he has 10 of his 11 catches. - Greg Ellingson 30 straight: Last week extended his consecutive game streak with a reception to 30 games in a row. - Leone & Maver: Have combined for 5 punts where the opposition was forced to start inside their own 10-yard line. CFL Record Performances & Trends in Brief:  Jeremiah Masoli 300+: Has tied the CFL record with 9 consecutive 300-yard passing games matching Sam Etcheverry (1956) and Kent Austin (1991) who each made it to 9 games in a row 62 and 27 years ago.  Long FGs?: In 2018, there have been just 4 field goals attempted from beyond the 50-yard line. Sean Whyte, Lirim Hajrullahu have made from 50+ while Justin Medlock missed from a season-high 59 yards. The tendency to go for 50+ kicks has been falling steadily since 2016 when there were 44 tries from 50+ yards, and only 33 in 2017. The 2018 pace? Just 20 tries from 50+.  Long kick returns?: In 2018, there has been just 14, a pace for only 71 big plays all year. In 2016 there were 107 long returns.  2-&-Outs Up?: In 2018, there have been 9.9 per game compared to just 8.7 last season. Net Offence overall is down by 2%.  Converts at 93%: In 2018, there have been just 4 misses for a 93% mark. The highest % since the distance moved out to 32 yds._____________________________________________________________________________________________