Grey Cup - Game Week Thread

[Geebrr]

Just now, Jesse said:

I didn't have any problem with that call. 

It was a penalty but Adams sold it hard. 
 

He won’t do it again. 

[MOBomberFan]

3 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

Didn't he have a pretty blatant roughing the passer call?

He did and if it cost us it would have been terrible but it didn't really cost us anything in the end. The vindictive side of me sees it as a delayed response to the Adams helmet swing. Revenge is a dish best served cold... and in a playoff game with little time on the clock!

[TrueBlue4ever]

20 hours ago, Noeller said:

random DT stat-nerd stuff.....

 

So @DTonOB led me down the rabbit hole with this tweet, and I dug up the stats in the CFL (1958 and beyond) era. There have been 28 teams to lose a regular season game by 30 or more points and then play in the Grey Cup that same year. Those teams are 12-16 in the Grey Cup game.

The Cup winners are :

1988 Wpg (lost 36-3 to B.C.)

1989 Sask (lost 49-17 to Edm)

1990 Wpg (lost 55-11 to Sask - the 44 point loss is the largest ever for a same season Grey Cup winner)

1993 Edm (lost 53-11 to Wpg and 52-14 to Winnipeg - the only CFL team to ever lose 2 games by 30 points and then win a Grey Cup the same season)

1994 BC (lost 62-21 to Cal)

1999 Ham (lost 52-19 to Mtl)

2000 BC (lost 35-2 to Cal)

2004 Tor (lost 58-20 to Mtl)

2007 Sask (lost 42-12 to BC)

2010 Mtl (lost 40-3 to Ham)

2011 BC (lost 42-10 to Ham)

2022 Tor (lost 44-3 to BC)

Winnipeg has the best winning percentage, having won 2 Cups and losing zero in a year where they lose a game by 30+ in the same regular season, while Ottawa is 0-2 in Grey Cups where they lost a game by 30+ points that same year. BC is 3-1 in that situation for the most GC wins. Hamilton is the worst at 1-7. Incidentally, Montreal is 1-4.

As an aside, on 9 prior occasions, a team has lost by 30 points or more to a team and then met that same team in the Grey Cup that same year (which is the scenario we have this year). Those losing teams are 2-7 in the Grey Cup. Winnipeg has been involved in both of the  scenarios where the 30+ point loser later won the Cup against the same team:

1988 Wpg lost in B.C. 36-3 in the season opener, beat them 22-21 in the Grey Cup

This one stings - as mentioned above the Bombers beat Edmonton twice in 1993 by 30+ points in the regular season, then lost to them 33-23 in the Grey Cup (with Matt Dunigan injured)

Also, 4 times a team has lost multiple games by 30+ points and still made it to the Grey Cup. Other than Edmonton in 1993, all those teams would lose the big game. Sask in 1997 lost to Winnipeg 43-12 and 55-10 in the regular season before losing to Toronto in the 1997 Cup, and Hamilton did it twice, losing the 1980 Cup to Edm after losing 53-18 to Edm and 49-10 to Mtl earlier that season, and then in 2013 when they lost 37-0 to Sask and 36-5 to Mtl before succumbing to the Riders in the Cup game.

On the flip side, Winnipeg won a game by 45 points over Sask this season. There have been 17 teams to win by 45+ points in a regular season game and then play in that year’s Grey Cup. Those teams are 9-8 in the championship game. Edmonton holds the record for biggest margin of victory by a team that went on to win that year’s Grey Cup, beating Toronto by 54 points (61-7) in 1981. They also beat Mtl 62-11 that year, becoming one of only two teams to win multiple games by 45+ and then win the Cup later that same year. More on the other team at the end (hint, 1999 Hamilton).

Calgary beat Hamilton 60-1, and that 59 point spread is the largest for a winning team that would later lose that year’s Grey Cup, in 2017. Incidentally, that Calgary squad won a second game by 45+ points, beating Mtl 59-11, to become the only team to lose a Grey Cup in the same season that they won multiple games by 45 or more.

And there are teams have have been on both ends of the spectrum, winning by 45+ and losing by 30+ in the same year and going on to play in the Grey Cup. BC has done it twice and won the Cup both times (1994 lost to Cal 62-21 and beating Shreveport 67-15 before defeating Baltimore in a home Grey Cup, and in 2000 lost to Cal 35-2, beat Tor 51-4, and won the Cup over Mtl), Sask did it once in 2009 and lost the Cup (lost 43-10 to Mtl, beat Wpg 55-10, then lost the “13th man” Cup to the Als).

And the one other team to be on both sides of the big win/big loss  coin is the fascinating 1999 Hamilton Tiger-Cats squad. That year they had 3 margins of victory greater than 45 points and also lost a game by more than 30, and ended up winning the Grey Cup over Calgary at season’s end. They are the only club to register 3 wins of that margin in a Grey Cup year. Beyond that, the first two wins (54-8 over Edm and 63-17 over Sask) were in consecutive games, so the combined margin of +92 in back-to-back games is a single season CFL record as best I can tell. Then later that same season, after losing 52-19 to Mtl, they beat Wpg the next week 65-15, and the 83 point swing in consecutive games is also a record in the CFL era.

And now you know…..the rest of the story.

[Geebrr]

That 1993 team would have beat the piss out of Edmonton if Dunigan was playing. 

[Booch]

26 minutes ago, MOBomberFan said:

We didn't see him make much of an impact filling in for Biggie. At least he didn't stand out in any bad ways. It's our Dline that is going to take over this game I think; Gauthier or whoever else fills in for Biggie just needs to stick to their assignment and the rest will take care of itself

We did last game...and last few games of the year a lot of 3 man fronts with Cole and Clements as edge rushers...or at the line then dropping off....so expect much the same again...

[rebusrankin]

Nye picked the Als because their D is going to make more plays than ours. Good omen for us.

[Geebrr]

Just now, rebusrankin said:

Nye picked the Als because their D is going to make more plays than ours. Good omen for us.

Nothing to do with him playing to his stupid base. 
 

Our defence has been better in basically every possible way. Also coming off a 9 sack 2 interception game. 
 

So of course their defence will be more impactful because Chad Kelly made incomprehensibly terrible throws. 
 

Fajardo is an interception  and or sack waiting to happen. 
 

 

[Booch]

Just now, Geebrr said:

Nothing to do with him playing to his stupid base. 
 

Our defence has been better in basically every possible way. Also coming off a 9 sack 2 interception game. 
 

So of course their defence will be more impactful because Chad Kelly made incomprehensibly terrible throws. 
 

Fajardo is an interception  and or sack waiting to happen. 
 

 

also on a 5 game heater that nobody is mentioning....But the Als are on a 7 game one tho...with only real team beaten was last week

[Noeller]

1 minute ago, Geebrr said:

Nothing to do with him playing to his stupid base. 
 

Our defence has been better in basically every possible way. Also coming off a 9 sack 2 interception game. 
 

So of course their defence will be more impactful because Chad Kelly made incomprehensibly terrible throws. 
 

Fajardo is an interception  and or sack waiting to happen. 
 

 

I can already picture his pouting and palms up and it's delightful....

[Geebrr]

2 minutes ago, Booch said:

also on a 5 game heater that nobody is mentioning....But the Als are on a 7 game one tho...with only real team beaten was last week

Are they an 8 win in a row team? 

I don’t think so.  I honestly don’t think it matters who we are playing Sunday. This team is not leaving without the Cup. 

[Noeller]

3 minutes ago, Geebrr said:

Are they an 8 win in a row team? 

I don’t think so.  I honestly don’t think it matters who we are playing Sunday. This team is not leaving without the Cup. 

Last year opened eyes... won't happen again. 

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

1 hour ago, Geebrr said:

It was a penalty but Adams sold it hard. 
 

He won’t do it again. 

Almost as hard as Rhymes' last play. That was one of the funniest things I have ever seen... 

Upon watching the replay- "Just stop you sad whiney little *****."

[Mark F]

very good photos of Bomber practise in Hamilton.  brady is thick

 

https://www.cfl.ca/through-the-lens-bombers-practice-thursday-at-thf/

Edited November 16, 2023 by Mark F

[Wideleft]

38 minutes ago, Geebrr said:

Nothing to do with him playing to his stupid base. 
Our defence has been better in basically every possible way. Also coming off a 9 sack 2 interception game. 
So of course their defence will be more impactful because Chad Kelly made incomprehensibly terrible throws. 
Fajardo is an interception  and or sack waiting to happen. 

Bombers D is better in almost every major defensive category.  

But feast on this:

• Montreal passes over 20 yards - 30/74 40.5%, 1,030 yds, 9 TD, 9 Int
• Winnipeg passes over 20 yards -  55/113 48.7%, 1,957 yds, 21 TD, 3 Int

I think we can all agree that it's much easier to defend against a one-dimensional team.  Yet another reason to be very optimistic.

https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-GN-Gm-95-Grey-Cup-Preview-2.pdf

Edited November 16, 2023 by Wideleft

[Noeller]

3 minutes ago, Mark F said:

very good photos of Bomber practise in Hamilton.  Brady is thick.

 

https://www.cfl.ca/through-the-lens-bombers-practice-thursday-at-thf/

we were watching the '21 GC the other night and commenting on the difference between Brady and Harris's body types. I remember when AH33 got hit with the PED scandal, and Doug Brown laughed it off saying that Harris had a "Dad Bod", and man, when you compare Harris to Brady O, it's nuts. I don't know how Harris was able to compete with such a comparatively frail body. Brady O is thick in the lower half.... insane legs. You watch those videos he posts of him doing squats the day after a game... it's bonkers. 

4 minutes ago, Wideleft said:

Bombers D is better in almost every major defensive category.  

But feast on this:

• Montreal passes over 20 yards - 30/74 40.5%, 1,030 yds, 9 TD, 9 Int
• Winnipeg passes over 20 yards -  55/113 48.7%, 1,957 yds, 21 TD, 3 Int

I think we can all agree that it's much easier to defend a one-dimensional team.  Yet another reason to be very optimistic.

https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-GN-Gm-95-Grey-Cup-Preview-2.pdf

Faj can't throw deeper than 10 yards... his wide side outs are embarrassing. Just begging to get picked off. The only thing he's got are the high percentage short throws and timing routes....

[greenrider55]

14 minutes ago, Noeller said:

we were watching the '21 GC the other night and commenting on the difference between Brady and Harris's body types. I remember when AH33 got hit with the PED scandal, and Doug Brown laughed it off saying that Harris had a "Dad Bod", and man, when you compare Harris to Brady O, it's nuts. I don't know how Harris was able to compete with such a comparatively frail body. Brady O is thick in the lower half.... insane legs. You watch those videos he posts of him doing squats the day after a game... it's bonkers. 

Faj can't throw deeper than 10 yards... his wide side outs are embarrassing. Just begging to get picked off. The only thing he's got are the high percentage short throws and timing routes....

Every throw the Faj makes, it looks like he has to put his entire being into it.

[kelownabomberfan]

10 minutes ago, greenrider55 said:

Every throw the Faj makes, it looks like he has to put his entire being into it.

just floating lame ducks.  Even that short pass to Snead in the EF for a TD was a wobbler.  I really hope the Jeffs make Cody cry.  Want to see that look of a spirit crushed on his face like we saw on 2019 half time Dane Evans....you knew that game was over when you saw that Dane had just given up.

Edited November 16, 2023 by kelownabomberfan

[Goalie]

DBs need to be ball hawking but feel our DL owns their OL 

[JohnnyAbonny]

Not surprised a lot of media doing mental gymnastics to pick against the Bombers. 
We are the bad guys after all. 

[greenrider55]

18 minutes ago, kelownabomberfan said:

just floating lame ducks.  Even that short pass to Snead in the EF for a TD was a wobbler.  I really hope the Jeffs make Cody cry.  Want to see that look of a spirit crushed on his face like we saw on 2019 half time Dane Evans....you knew that game was over when you saw that Dane had just given up.

Banks too. That was hilarious.

 

[Mark F]

36 minutes ago, greenrider55 said:

Every throw the Faj makes, it looks like he has to put his entire being into it.

 

found some footage of faj, earlier in career.

 

 

Edited November 16, 2023 by Mark F

[wbbfan]

14 hours ago, Mark H. said:

I would take the 2019 team over the 2022 & 2023 teams - simply because they performed better in the cup.  You didn't hope they'd win, you knew they'd win. 

I get that. I’d take the 21 team. I think the cats slept on us in 19.  No one slept on us in the last two gcs. If Toronto slept on us last year like they did to mtl we’d be going for 4 gc wins in a row. 
 

8 hours ago, Deiter Fan said:

No, but he did throw the ball away a lot. Not sure I’ve ever seen a qb throw the ball out of bounds as much as Nichols did. 

Thats true. Certainly not in 3 down football too. 
 

tf is Matt Nichols a hot topic? That was years ago and we’re in a gc!

[Wideleft]

33 minutes ago, wbbfan said:

tf is Matt Nichols a hot topic? That was years ago and we’re in a gc!

Muscle memory.

[Mark H.]

1 hour ago, wbbfan said:

I get that. I’d take the 21 team. I think the cats slept on us in 19.  No one slept on us in the last two gcs. If Toronto slept on us last year like they did to mtl we’d be going for 4 gc wins in a row. 

Yes, the Cats took the Bombers were granted - but plenty of people were taking notice of the 2019 Bombers - including BLM

The Bombers were underdogs, but they were not, say, the 2001 Calgary Stampeders

Actually, I see a lot of that 2019 team in the 2023 edition -especially when they play bully ball

[17to85]

Yeah 2019 was a team that just never got over the hump before but some key changes gave them the pieces to have a dominant defense and the rest is history.