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Game Notes July 18, 2017

CFL.ca Game Notes: A look at Week 5

Johany Jutras/CFL.ca

TORONTO — There’s extra football for CFL fans in Week 5 as five games are on tap across the country.

To kick the week off, the Montreal Alouettes visit the Ottawa REDBLACKS on Wednesday night. The Alouettes are coming off a big win against the Calgary Stampeders and will be looking to keep the REDBLACKS winless on the season. It took a few weeks to get things going but Darian Durant and Ernest Jackson finally found the chemistry Alouettes fans were hoping to see in Week 4. Keeping their connection hot will be key for a win in Ottawa.

Things then move to Hamilton where the Tiger-Cats host the Edmonton Eskimos on Thursday night. The contest could be considered a must-win for the Tabbies as it is the first of a three-game stretch against West opponents and they are still searching for their first win of 2017. Edmonton’s pass-happy offence will be looking to expose a injured Ticats’ secondary as Mike Reilly and co. look to stay undefeated and on top of the West Division.

Friday Night Football has the Winnipeg Blue Bombers visiting the red-hot BC Lions. The Lions are returning home from a three game eastern road trip with three wins in their back pockets. If Jonathon Jennings isn’t ready to return after leaving last week’s contest against Hamilton, Travis Lulay will gladly step in to lead the charge once again. Lulay will have his hands full with Winnipeg’s ball-hawking defence hungry to keep their league-leading interceptions (six) ahead of the pack. Winnipeg will hope that they can bring the momentum of the win over the Toronto Argonauts last week into enemy territory.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders head to Calgary to take on the Stampeders on Saturday night as they return to the field after a Week 4 bye. Kevin Glenn has impressed in the beginning of the Riders’ season as he sits fourth in the league in passing yards (1,055) and is tied for second with Bo Levi Mitchell in passing touchdowns (seven). Calgary’s pass rush will have to contain Glenn if they want to keep the Riders’ offence in check.

And finally, Week 5 finishes off in Toronto as the REDBLACKS play their second game of the week against the Argonauts. Trevor Harris and co. will have the tough task of taking on Toronto’s stellar defence as they hope four days of rest will be enough to get a win against their East Division rivals. Ricky Ray and his squad will hope to forget the loss against the Bombers last week and keep themselves on top of the East with a win.

Buy Week 5 Tickets

» Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. ET: Montreal at Ottawa
» Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET: Edmonton at Hamilton
» Friday, 10:00 p.m. ET: Winnipeg at BC
» Saturday, 9:00 p.m. ET: Saskatchewan at Calgary
» Monday, 7:30 p.m. ET: Ottawa at Toronto

THIS WEEK IN THE CFL

BIG PLAYS IN THE RETURN GAME

  • Argonauts return man Martese Jackson accumulated 339 return-yards (148 punt return, 191 kickoff return) the most by an Argonaut since 2005 when Bashir Levingston had 345 return yards.
  • Jackson’s 339 return yards in a single game ranks him fourth all-time only trailing: Larry Taylor (428), Bashir Levingston (345) and Marcus Thigpen (340).
  • Ryan Lankford opened the Winnipeg-Toronto game by returning the opening kickoff of the game 105 yards. The last time the opening kickoff was returned for a major was on July 2 2010 when Hamilton’s Marcus Thigpen returned one for 93 yards.
  • It marks the second game through four weeks that a game saw a kick-return touchdown from each team. It also occurred in Week 2 between Ottawa and Calgary.
  • Through four weeks we have had four return touchdowns: Ottawa’s Diontae Spencer (96-yard punt return vs. Calgary), Calgary’s Tunde Adeleke (71-yard punt return vs. Ottawa), Winnipeg’s Ryan Lankford (105-yard kickoff return vs. Toronto) and Toronto’s Martese Jackson (78-yard punt return vs. Winnipeg).
  • This season there have been 17 ‘Big Play’ kick returns (30-yard punt/FGM return and 40+ yard kick returns). Ottawa, Saskatchewan, Toronto and Winnipeg share the lead with three each. BC and Hamilton have not registered a ‘Big Play’ in the kick return game.

COMING OFF THE BENCH, NO PROBLEM

  • 2011 MOP Travis Lulay set a new standard for pivots coming off the bench in a game on Saturday night in Hamilton.
  • Following Jonathon Jennings’ early exit from the game on Saturday, Lulay went on to pass for a career-best and a CFL record for a quarterback coming off the bench with 436 passing yards.
  • Lulay’s stat line included completing 80.6% of his passes, three touchdown passes and running in for another.
  • Hamilton’s Mike Kerrigan owned the record prior to Lulay’s performance. Kerrigan passed for 408 yards coming off the bench in 1987.
  • The BC team record was held by Tim Cowan when he passed for 386 yards in 1985.

Most Passing yards off the bench:

  1. Travis Lulay, BC 2017 – 436
  2. Mike Kerrigan, HAM 1987 – 408
  3. Joe Barnes, TOR 1983 – 400
  4. Rich Worman, CGY 1987 – 388
  5. Tim Cowan, BC 1985 – 386

CHALLENGES

  • Week 4 saw only seven challenges – the lowest amount in any week this season.
  • This season, the average of challenges per game is 2.00. Last year’s average was 2.22.
  • BC has challenged the most this season with six; however, Hamilton has not challenged a single play so far this season.
  • Ottawa owns the best success rate at .750 while Montreal has the worst at .333.
  • Of the 32 challenges this season, 18 have been overturned (56%).
  • Of the 24 penalty-related challenges this year 10 have been for defensive pass interference and nine for illegal contact.

Martese Jackson exploded into Week 4 and earned himself Shaw Top Performer Honours. Can he do it again? (CFL.ca)

WEEK 5 GAME NOTES

The kick is good: Justin Medlock extended his kicking streak to 28 consecutive made field goals after going a perfect 4-for-4 versus the Argonauts. One of his field goals tied a CFL season-long by nailing a 55-yard attempt. That ties Davide Ridgway and Chris Milo for 4th all-time.

Streak over: Sean Whyte’s streak ended at 25 straight which is the seventh-longest streak in CFL history and an Edmonton club record.

Five more catches: Montreal’s Nik Lewis continues to inch closer to notching his 1,000th Following his three receptions versus Calgary, he now only needs five more catches to become the fourth player in CFL history with 1,000.

300+: Ricky Ray is the lone quarterback this season to pass for 300+ yards in each game. His passing yards totals are 506, 323, 366 and 330. If Ray can keep to his pace, he will set a CFL record of 6,881 passing yards in a season. Current record is held by Doug Flutie 6,619 in 1991.

Close games: 11 games this year have been decided by eight points or less.

Shorter games: The average game time has dropped by two minutes (2:49) and averages 155 plays per game.

Low penalties: Week 4 saw the lowest amount of penalties per game at 15.5.

Get a sack? No touchdown: A team that allows a sack during a drive have still not scored a touchdown. There have been 63 drives that a team has allowed a sack, and yet none have scored a touchdown on that drive.

No sack? Risk of a touchdown: When a team does not allow a sack, they have scored a touchdown 19% of their drives (1 in 5.3 possessions).

Sack attack: Montreal Alouettes finally allowed a sack: in Week 4 Calgary’s James Vaughters and Micah Johnson were able to bring down Darian Durant for a sack.