CFL.ca Game Notes: A look at Week 7

TORONTO — We’re a third of the way through the 2017 season and so far we’ve seen close, nail-biting, exciting games each and every week and Week 7 is sure to keep that trend rolling.

The week gets started in Toronto on Thursday night when the Calgary Stampeders pay a visit to the Argonauts. Ricky Ray has impressed early this season, throwing for over 300 yards in every game so far and sits on top of the league in passing yards (2,282). Anthony Coombs has emerged as a threat in the Argos receiving corps over the past few weeks and combined with S.J. Green, the Stamps’ defence will have their hands full trying to contain them both. Charleston Hughes will be looking to add to his sack total by pressuring and taking down Ray as much as possible. Bo Levi Mitchell, too, has a tough task of figuring out a stingy Argonauts defence as he and his team look to move into first in the West.

Things then move to Ottawa for the first half of Friday night’s doubleheader. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers travel east to the nation’s capital to take on the Ottawa REDBLACKS hot off a last-minute victory over the Alouettes last week. Keeping the momentum going this week will be key to the Bombers’ success. Ottawa, on the other hand, have still just one win to their name so far this year. Trevor Harris will hope his dangerous receiving corps – Greg Ellingson, Brad Sinopoli, Josh Stangby and Diontae Spencer – can power over the Winnipeg defence that leads the CFL in interceptions.

The second half of the doubleheader heads west as the Edmonton Eskimos play host to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Hamilton is still searching for their first victory of the 2017 and will be looking to put last week’s loss against the Stampeders in the rear view mirror. Edmonton, on the other hand, have yet to lose a game this season and remain the only undefeated team in the CFL.

Week 7 ends in BC where the Lions host the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Chris Williams is set to make his BC Lions debut this week after missing the first quarter of the season recovering from an ACL injury. Getting the speedster into the game early could change the dynamic of the Lions offence for the better. As for the Roughriders, Kevin Glenn will be looking to build on his team’s performance from last week after throwing four touchdowns in the win. Duron Carter will be a point of interest for the Lions secondary after he caught two touchdowns last week – including a spectacular one-handed grab.

Buy Week 7 Tickets

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

THIS WEEK IN THE CFL

COMEBACK FOR THE AGES

• On Thursday night, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers stormed back late in the game to beat the Montreal Alouettes 41-40.
• In the final 48 seconds of the game Winnipeg was able to score a touchdown, recover an onside kick and score another touchdown with zeros on the clock.
• The closest parallel to last week’s comeback was also executed by Winnipeg over Montreal on Oct. 17, 1999, when Winnipeg scored 13 points in the final 0:59.
• Since 2005, there have been five occasions where the final play of the game was a game-winning touchdown:

MILESTONES

• Nik Lewis (1,011) is now seven receptions shy of sole possession of second place on the all-time receptions list. He needs six catches to tie Ben Cahoon (1,017) and 18 to catch Geroy Simon (1,029).
• Kevin Glenn (50,427) is 109 passing yards away from passing Ron Lancaster (50,535) for sixth all-time. Fifth on the list, Danny McManus, is 2,828 yards ahead of Glenn.
• Ricky Ray (16,634) has become the Argonauts’ all-time passing leader surpassing long-time record holder Condredge Holloway (16,619).
• Ray also became the Argos’ all-time leader in passing attempts 2,020) surpassing Holloway (1,989) and is only four touchdown passes away from becoming the club’s outright all-time leading passer.
• Andrew Harris has made 37 receptions in five games – he’s averaging 7.4 per game and is on pace for 133 for the season. That is far ahead of the CFL record for running backs: 102, set by Craig Ellis in 1985.
• Darian Durant (30,247 yards passing) needs only 62 more yards to pass Tom Burgess (30,308) and join the Top 15 all-time; Durant needs 135 more yards to pass Sam Etcheverry (30,381) for #14.

ONE EMPIRE UNDEFEATED

• Edmonton is the lone undefeated team in the CFL. They became the 25^th team in history to start the season 5-0 and this is the fourth time (1961, 1980, 2011 and now 2017) they have done so.
• Since 1948, 24 teams (one in ever 25 teams, or just 4%) have started the season 5-0.
• A team that has started 5-0 has NEVER missed the playoffs; seven of these teams (29%) went on to win the Grey Cup.
• The cumulative season-ending record of those 24 teams is 285-107-4.725
• 14 of the 24 teams to start the season 5-0 were able to extend their streak to 6-0.
• Calgary has started 5-0 the most in the CFL, doing so six times (1948, 1949, 1971, 1991, 1993 and 1995).

Can Ricky Ray continue his streak and throw for over 300 yards again this week? (Argonauts.ca)

WEEK 7 GAME NOTES

Close Losses: In Ottawa’s four losses, the combined margin of loss is 10 points (2.5 points per game). They have had five games decided by four points or fewer. The record for most games decided by four points or fewer in a season is nine, achieved twice by Edmonton and once by Ottawa in 1993.

Run the Ball: Montreal’s 183 rushing yards in Thursday’s game against Winnipeg was the second-most for a team in a single game. They had three rushers with 40+ yards: Brandon Rutley (76), Stefan Logan (48) and Jean-Christophe Beaulieu (42). Calgary trumped this record on Saturday night after they rushed for 188 yards led by Jerome Messam’s 91 yards on the ground.

Streaks Ended: Calgary’s Marquay McDaniel’s streak of 78 consecutive games with a reception ended on Saturday night. His streak began on August 25, 2012 versus Saskatchewan. Winnipeg’s Justin Medlock’s streak of 50 straight made field goals from inside the 40 ended after missing a 37-yard attempt in the fourth quarter. Mike Reilly’s streak of 220 consecutive pass attempts dating back to 2016 ended with two interceptions against the BC Lions in Week 6.

Canadian Touchdowns: Andrew Buckley’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Parker was the first in his young career. It marked the first touchdown pass by a Canadian university product since Larry Jusdanis (Acadia) did it for Hamilton in 1996. It was also the first-time in CFL history that one Calgary Dino had thrown a touchdown pass to another.

On Record Pace: Ray extended his streak of games with 300+ passing yards to six after passing for 386 yards versus Saskatchewan. His throwing totals are: 506, 323, 366, 330, 367 and 386. Ray is on pace for 6,846 passing yards. That would be an all-time record passing Doug Flutie’s mark of 6,619 set in 1991.

Returns: Roy Finch’s 97-yard punt return on Saturday was the second-longest in Calgary franchise history. It was the fourth punt-return touchdown in the CFL this season.

Rushing for 100+: Cameron Marshall rushed for 110 yards on 18 carries (6.1 yards per carry) against the Argonauts. It marked the fourth game this season a player has rushed for 100+ yards. Jerome Messam, Travon Van and John White are the other players to eclipse the 100+ yard mark.

Big Play Cunningham: Montreal’s BJ Cunningham is among the top 25 leaders in receiving yards and owns the largest average per catch with 18.3. He is the only player to average over 18 yards per reception.

Head-to-Head: This week’s Toronto vs Calgary game feature’s the top offences going head-to-head. Calgary averages 420.2 yards of net offence per game while Toronto averages 401.5.