Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca
WINNIPEG — Friday Night Football offers a battle between the league’s top offence and defence from a yardage standpoint.
No team has amassed more yards per game than the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (395.6), while no team has allowed fewer yards per game than the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (319.0) in the first 11 weeks of the season.
That means a plethora of enticing matchups all over the field with both squads featuring incredible playmakers.
CFL.ca brings you three matchups to watch on Friday Night Football.
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Shemar Bridges vs. Tyrell Ford
Every time the Bombers play on Friday Night Football this column highlights Tyrell Ford as a matchup to watch. That’s because the defensive back has been nothing short of spectacular in his return to Winnipeg. After making the Honour Roll for Week 11, the standout National defender is making a case for Most Outstanding Defensive Player with a weekly lockdown coverage, including an interception against Nathan Rourke and the BC Lions.
In comes Bridges and his 746 receiving yards, good for fourth among all players in the CFL. The first-year player has hit the ground running for the Tabbies as their main option in the passing game. He’ll have veteran pivot Bo Levi Mitchell throwing to him on Friday as Taylor Powell continues to rehab from an injury suffered in Week 11. Mitchell leads the league in passing yards (2,816) and passing touchdowns (19), but lost his starting job to Powell amidst a Black and Gold losing streak.
Greg Bell vs. Bombers’ run defence
Adam Bighill is out for the Bombers, which means they’ll be without their lead tackler as they face Bell and the Ticats rushing offence. The tailback is coming off a game where he rushed for 85 yards and a touchdown over 12 carries, good for an average of 7.1 yards per attempt.
The Ticats as a team rank last though in yards per game (76.5), while Winnipeg is also last in yards per game allowed (110.9). Something has got to give here.
Hamilton’s secondary vs. Winnipeg’s receivers
We have grown accustomed to seeing the Bombers light up the skies with their aerial offence over the last few years. That hasn’t exactly been the case in 2024 though, as injuries to key players such as Dalton Schoen and Kenny Lawler have slowed down Winnipeg’s passing game. With Lawler now back in the lineup and an emerging Ontaria Wilson adding explosiveness back into the offence, Zach Collaros is starting to look like his old award-winning self.
They’ll be facing a Hamilton secondary that has allowed 279.4 yards per game through the air over the first half of the season. The team has a new senior defensive assistant in former Edmonton Elks head coach Chris Jones, who joins the team in hopes to improve the play of a defence that features talented names like Jamal Peters and Casey Sayles.
