Hamilton Tiger-Cats (4-3) vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-1)
Game 8 | Friday, August 26 @ 8:00 p.m., EST
Canad Inns – Winnipeg, Manitoba
BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV BROADCAST: TSN featuring Rod Smith (play-by-play) and Duane Forde (analyst)
RADIO BROADCAST: AM 900 CHML featuring Rick Zamperin (play-by-play) and John Salavantis (analyst)
THE MATCH-UP
Friday’s game will be the second of three regular season meetings between the Tiger-Cats and Blue Bombers in 2011. The Cats and Bombers kicked off their respective campaigns against each other back on July 1 at Ivor Wynne Stadium in the first match-up of the season series. The Ticats jumped to an early lead in the Canada Day contest, leading 16-9 at the break, but the Bombers scored 14 unanswered points in the second half, thanks in large part to four Hamilton turnovers, eventually winning the game 24-16. Friday’s match-up will be the 101st meeting between the two teams since 1950. The Bombers hold a 55-45 edge in the series.
The Ticats are coming off of their bye week, winning four out of their last five games before the break. This is a confident Cats squad who, after a slow start to the season, has been on a roll of late. Kevin Glenn and the influx of young, talented receivers around him have developed a winning chemistry and the Black and Gold defence has stepped up when it has mattered most. The Tiger-Cats will ride the momentum from their 37-32 win at home against Toronto before the bye week, in their quest to finish the season strong as one of the premier teams in the East.
The Blue Bombers have shocked and silenced all of their critics, who labeled this squad as a ‘re-building team’ before the season. Quarterback Buck Pierce has stayed relatively healthy and the offence has done just enough to get by from week to week, but the big story coming out of Manitoba is the play of the Bombers defence. Winnipeg comes into Friday night with the best ranked ‘D’ in the league, only giving up 285.1 yards of offence per game to their opponents. With the Cats coming to town, Canad Inns is sold out and Blue Bombers management has added 500 temporary seats for the game to meet the demand from fans. Expect a raucous crowd and an even better game.
This will be the sixth meeting all-time between head coaches Marcel Bellefeuille and Paul LaPolice. Bellefeuille has a career record of 23-28 as a CFL head coach in the regular season and holds a 5-5 record against the Blue Bombers. LaPolice has a career record of 10-15 as a CFL head coach in the regular season and holds a 2-3 record against the Ticats.
2011 STATISTICAL RANKINGS
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 |
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Total Offence Per Game |
346.4 (5th) |
328.6 (8th) |
|
Rushing Offence Per Game |
93.6 (6th) |
108.7 (2nd) |
|
Passing Offence Per Game |
262.6 (6th) |
235.7 (8th) |
|
Total Defence Per Game |
375.7 (7th) |
285.1 (1st) |
|
Rushing Defence Per Game |
97.6 (4th) |
95.6 (3rd) |
|
Passing Defence Per Game |
296.6 (7th) |
223.6 (1st) |
|
Points Per Game |
27.0 (3rd) |
26.0 (4th) |
|
Opponents Points Per Game |
25.1 (5th) |
18.6 (1st) |
2011 INDIVIDUAL STATISTIC LEADERS
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| Passing | K. Glenn: 141/227, 1759 yds, 12 TD, 5 INT | B. Pierce: 113/172, 1511 yds, 8 TD, 6 INT |
| Rushing | A. Cobourne: 91-459, 4 TD | F. Reid: 123-496, 2 TD |
| Receiving | C. Williams: 29-424, 3 TD | T. Edwards: 21-393, 5 TD |
| Tackles | J. Johnson: 38 | J. Hefney: 39 |
| Sacks | J. Johnson / J. Hickman: 3 | O. Willis: 8* |
| * = League leader |
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Kevin Glenn #5 / QB / Hamilton
Glenn’s first game of the 2011 season against the Bombers did not go according to plan. The eleven-year vet went 18-for-31 with 187 yards passing, one touchdown and three interceptions, finishing the game with a 46.0 efficiency rating. In the week one loss, KG and his receivers were not on the same page, with two of his interceptions coming as a result of overthrown balls. Since the defeat to Winnipeg, Glenn has flourished, throwing for eleven touchdowns and two interceptions over a six week span with a 102.9 quarterback rating in the process. Friday’s game is a chance for redemption for Glenn, as he’ll be out to prove that the Bombers secondary getting the best of him on July 1 was merely a fluke. It is also important to note that Glenn is only 25 yards away from moving into 13th all-time on the CFL passing list.
Jamall Johnson #28 / LB / Hamilton
To say that Winnipeg’s offence will be monitoring where Johnson is lining up before every snap on Friday night, might be an understatement. By now, every Ticat fan is familiar with the weak side linebacker’s devastating sack on Buck Pierce on Canada Day. Johnson came unblocked off the edge and annihilated the Bombers pivot, temporarily knocking Pierce out of the game and firing up the Ivor Wynne crowd with the sack. Johnson finished the game with seven tackles and two of the Ticats five sacks in the game. Jamall, who is always in the hunt for the league lead in tackles, will head the Tiger-Cats pass rush Friday night, and the mere presence of Johnson should keep Pierce distracted.
Fred Reid #32 / RB / Winnipeg
Reid is the Blue Bombers work horse, plain and simple. The five year veteran comes into Friday’s game second in the league in rushing yards (496) and first in rush attempts (123), the type of back that thrives under a heavy workload. In fact, in 2010, Reid led the CFL in rushing yards (1,396) and in 2009 he led the league in attempts with 238, so it is no mystery that we’ll see a heavy dose of the CFL All-Star on Friday. Last time the two teams met, Reid rushed for 87 yards on 16 attempts, posting his best yard-per-rush average on the season to date, with 5.4 yards per carry. This week at Ticats practice, Renauld Williams, Justin Hickman and the rest of the Tiger-Cats defence stressed the importance of getting to Reid and wrapping him up, eliminating the threat of a Winnipeg run game. With Reid in the Bombers backfield, this is a task that might be easier said than done.
Odell Willis #40 / DE/LB / Winnipeg
If the
Blue Bombers defence calls themselves ‘Swaggerville’, defensive end Odell Willis is their self-proclaimed mayor. With 21 sacks in his first two years in the league, Willis is in sole command of the sack leaderboard in 2011, with eight. The vocal Willis has been dominating opposing offensive lines and wreaking havoc on enemy quarterbacks this year, riding a six game tackle / sack streak to start the season, before being held off of the stat sheet in British Columbia in week six. Expect Willis to come out hungry on Friday night after the Bombers bye week, re-energized and ready to get after Kevin Glenn.
KEY MATCH-UP
Hamilton’s Offensive Line vs. Winnipeg’s Pass Rush
Unfortunately for Kevin Glenn, Odell Willis isn’t the only player on the Winnipeg defence who can get to the opposing quarterback successfully. Coming into Friday night’s contest, the Bombers have the most sacks in the CFL, with 29. By comparison, that’s 17 more sacks than the Cats defence has been able to muster up this season. In addition to Willis’ league leading eight, defensive end Kenny Mainor has six, tackle Doug Brown has three, and linebacker Joe Lobendahn, and defensive linemen Dorian Smith and Don Oramasionwu each have two. Needless to say, the Bombers boast a fast, aggressive and effective front seven. Fortunately for Kevin Glenn, the five offensive lineman protecting him are some of the best in the CFL. Led by veterans Marwan Hage and Peter Dyakowski, the Ticats line has allowed the least amount of sacks in the league this year, only giving up nine through seven games, including an 89 play streak without a sack earlier in the season. Something has to give in the trenches of Canad Inns Stadium Friday night.
