Scene setter:
The Blue Bombers and Lions meet for an October showdown in Vancouver which could ultimately determine first place in the West Division. Both clubs are 11-4 and have split the two previous meetings in Winnipeg, leaving this one as the potential tiebreaker. They have also both secured home playoff games, with the second-place team ultimately settling for hosting the West Semi-final.
The Blue Bombers have a bye next week, followed by a home date with Edmonton and a regular-season finale trip to Calgary. The Lions are in Hamilton next week and home to Calgary before enjoying their final bye in the last week of the season.
The Basics
Kickoff: Friday, 9 p.m. CDT; B.C. Place, Vancouver, B.C.
TV: TSN 1/3/5
U.S. and international live streaming: https://www.cfl.ca/plus
Radio: 680 CJOB
Last meeting: The Blue Bombers declawed the Lions 50-14 at IG Field back on August 3rd, avenging a 30-6 beatdown administered by B.C., also in Winnipeg, back on June 22nd.
PlayNow odds: The Lions are favoured by 1.5 points. For more betting options on this game, click here.
Take note: The Lions are now calling their Thanksgiving weekend home game the ‘Gravy Bowl’, with an expanded tailgate party. The University of Washington Husky Marching Band will also be performing pre-game and during halftime. The Lions announced Wednesday that with less than 1,000 lower-bowl tickets remaining for Friday’s game, some upper-deck seating would be made available.
The QBs
- Winnipeg will start Zach Collaros behind centre. He is 71-40 in his CFL career and 10-3 vs. the Lions all-time in the regular season.
- B.C. lines up Vernon Adams, Jr. at QB. He is 31-17 in his career all time and 3-1 all-time vs. Winnipeg. Of note: Adams, Jr. did not start the Blue Bombers win in August as he was injured and listed as the third string pivot behind Dane Evans and Dominique Davis.
The Coaches
Winnipeg: Mike O’Shea has a career won-lost record of 93-62. O’Shea’s 93 wins as Blue Bombers head coach now ranks him second all-time in franchise history behind only Grant (102). O’Shea’s teams are 14-7 vs. the Lions all-time.
B.C.: Rick Campbell’s career won-lost-tied record is 72-81-2. He is in his third year with the Lions and has a record of 28-19. His teams are 7-12 vs. Winnipeg all-time in the regular season.
Blue Bomber Roster Notes
- The Blue Bombers have made just one roster change for this week but it’s a significant one. Coming aboard is ace kick returner/receiver Janarion Grant – the club’s all-time leader in kick return touchdowns – while headed to the one-game injured list is CB Demerio Houston.
- Jamal Parker will start in Houston’s cornerback spot opposite Winston Rose. The reserve defensive backs are Canadian safeties Nick Hallett and Jake Kelly, although the club also has options with dime backs Redha Kramdi and Kerfalla Exumé in the secondary as well.
- The six-game injured list includes LBs Shayne Gauthier and Jared Beeksma, dime Alden Darby, Jr. FB Mile Miller, and receiver Jeremy Murphy.
Blue Bomber Spotlight: Janarion Grant, kick returner/receiver
He can be a game changer for the Blue Bombers and is itching to get back in the lineup after being out since the fifth game of the year. For what it’s worth, some interesting numbers from the CFL with respect to average field position and the kick return and kick cover units: in the first five games of the year that Grant dressed the Blue Bombers average field position was their own 37.6 yard line and in three games the club’s average field position was better than the opponent, with one game tied (the lone game in which they did not have superior field position was the loss to B.C. in June).
In the 10 games since, the average field position is… exactly their own 37.6-yard line, with the opponent having better field position in six of those 10 games.
Scouting the Lions
The Lions are on a four-game win streak dating to late August and a loss to Hamilton – their lone defeat at B.C. Place this season. In their last victory – a 33-26 decision over Saskatchewan – Adams, Jr. threw for a CFL season-high 458 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Alexander Hollins. Those numbers pushed Adams, Jr. over the 4,000-yard mark in passing and he leads the league at 4,005. Collaros, FYI, is at 3,738, ranking behind Adams, Jr, and Calgary’s Jake Maier at 3,820. Adams, Jr. has 28 TD passes, second to the 30 Collaros has thrown this year.
Here is Mike O’Shea when asked about the play of Adams, Jr. this year:
“He seems to be running their offence very efficiently and effectively. He’s productive. He’s putting the ball where it needs to be put for guys to score, putting it in their playmakers’ hands, he can make plays off schedule as we’ve always seen. He’s protecting the football more than he probably has in the past, but for one game he’s been very good with that. He seems very comfortable, and I imagine the offensive coordinator is putting them in good positions.”
B.C.’s dangerous receiving corps already features two 1,000-yard receivers in Hollins (1,019) and Keon Hatcher (1,103), who ranks second in the league to Dalton Schoen (1,136). B.C.’s ground game is paced by Taquan Mizzel (750 yards), but Adams, Jr. (302) is also a dangerous running threat when he opts to tuck the ball away and skidaddle.
The Lions’ D ranks second to Winnipeg’s in points allowed at 20.2 and in opponents net offence at 313.1 yards per game. That unit is led by defensive end Mathieu Betts, who has a league best 15 sacks and the Lions 49 QB takedowns is tied with Toronto for top spot in the CFL.
Key Matchup
Blue Bombers tackles Stanley Bryant and Jermarcus Hardrick vs. Lions defensive ends Mathieu Betts and Sione Teuhema. Betts and the Lions feasted on the Blue Bombers in their June win, racking up seven sacks – three of them by Betts and a fourth by Teuhema. Betts, as mentioned above, leads the CFL with 15 sacks, while Teuhema has five and defensive tackle Woody Baron is at seven.
In the second game, the 50-14 Blue Bombers win, the Lions had just one sack, that coming from Bo Lokombo.
Bryant on facing Betts:
“It’s about us as an offensive line winning our one-on-ones. When we get a chance to go against Betts, Baron, any of those guys, we’ve just got to try and be physical. The first time we played them we didn’t do a good job of winning our one-on-ones. The second game we did a great job of winning our one-on-ones and were able to push guys around.
“(Betts) has grown over the years. From Edmonton (where he started his career) to B.C. you can see he’s transformed his body and has become a better athlete. He’s very fast, quick off the ball and a competitor. He’s non-stop. You see him on special teams and he’s flying around. He’s one of those guys you have to have your hands on at all times.”
Notable
- Nic Demski needs 37 yards receiving to reach the 1K mark for the first time in his career. The uniqueness of having Demski and Brady Oliveira – two Canadians, two Winnipeggers from the same high school reaching the 1K mark in rushing and receiving in the same season – would be a CFL first.
- Oliveira’s 1,359 yards rushing has him on a pace for 1,631 yards – a total which would be the second highest by a Canadian in league history to Jon Cornish’s 1,813-yard season with Calgary in 2013.
FYI
- Collaros is at 28,085 career passing yards, just 13 shy of passing Kerry Joseph (28,097) and moving into the CFL’s Top 20 list all-time.
- Oliveira’s 1,358 yards rushing is the 13th highest in franchise history and should he crack the 1,400 mark he’ll move up into 9th spot on the Blue Bombers Top 10 single-season rushing chart. Robert Mimbs holds the club record with 1,769 yards, set in 1991.
Quotable
“There is something about a loud crowd and being booed and all that other good stuff. I think going on the road is always good; teams enjoy that, especially close teams. The bottom line is I don’t think it matters where guys play. You could probably say that about every team. They get to play a game, ‘OK, tell me where. Do I get a helmet? Alright, let’s go.’” – Mike O’Shea on playing an important game in enemy territory.
