Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
WINNIPEG — Twice was nice for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders, but for the heated prairie rivals, a third meeting will be required to settle the score in 2017. At least until the playoffs…
With nothing separating the two western foes this season (they’ve split the season series while the Riders hold a slim 78-67 scoring margin), the winner of Saturday’s Banjo Bowl takes, in addition to bragging rights, the season series, a key edge in the tie-breaker and, finally, another step towards contending for the wild West Division.
For two teams that have combined to win nine of their last 11 games, something has got to give. We look at what could make the difference on Saturday afternoon.
Fast Riders
The Riders have become notorious fast starters over their current three-game winning streak, outscoring opponents 53-3 in the first quarter since Aug. 13. That’s carried over to the second quarter, too, because in their previous three first halves, the Riders have outscored opponents 34-16 (Winnipeg), 26-6 (Edmonton), and 29-0 (BC), a total margin of 89-22.
Winnipeg has dug an early hole twice this season against the Riders and in last week’s Labour Day Classic, it was too deep to climb out of as the Riders scored on three straight drives in the first quarter and on four out of five possessions. The Green and White rolled up a club season-high 309 yards in the first half, the second-highest for any team at halftime this season, while their 24 first-quarter points tied an all-time club record.
Suffice to say, avoiding an early deficit will be key for both clubs, more so than usual.
Pedal to the Metal
While scoring early will be important, both teams will look to an old and tired cliche to find success in Saturday’s Banjo Bowl as trylook to put together four solid quarters.
That’s especially key for the Riders, who jumped out to multi-possession leads in both meetings with Winnipeg but fizzled in the final 30 minutes. Last week, after scoring 34 points in the first half, the Riders were outscored 8-4 in the second half and almost coughed up the lead — just like in their Week 2 meeting, when the Bombers erased a 17-3 first-half deficit before going on to win 43-40 in overtime.
RELATED
» Depth Charts/Game Notes
» Writer Picks: Week 12
» Marquee Matchup: SSK at WPG
» Weekly Predictor: Rivalry week arrives
The Bombers and Riders meet for the third and final time in Saturday’s matinee (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
No team has been more difficult to put away this season than the Bombers, who lead the CFL in comebacks after trailing through 15 minutes (a 4-3 record in those situations on the season). The Riders, in the same circumstance, are just 1-2 this season.
In contrast to this trend is the historical anomaly in recent Banjo Bowls – each of the last three and five of the last six Banjo Bowls have all
been won by the team that trailed after the first quarter.
In football, often times it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
Hello again
Call it a convenient coincidence that Weston Dressler returned from the six-game injured list just in time to play in last week’s Labour Day Classic. The 5-foot-7 veteran loves playing against his former team, last week returning to the tune of six catches for 64 yards in a strong losing effort.
In four games against the Riders, Dressler has never caught fewer than six passes, totaling 26 receptions for 400 yards and two touchdowns (including a shiny line of 6-124-2 in the first game at new Mosaic Stadium).
Not only will Dressler aim to burn his former team on Saturday, the 10-year veteran also has a chance to make history. He needs just 42 receiving yards to pass Jim Young and move into the top-25 all-time.
Last week, after a slow start, Dressler made four receptions for 63 yards in the final 10:00 of the game.
Clash of the quarterbacks
They aren’t the big names you were accustomed to coming into the new season, but Kevin Glenn and Matt Nichols have been among the very best players in the league in 2017. It’s no coincidence, then, that their teams are both in contention for the highly-competitive West Division.
The two starting QBs have risen in the rankings as their teams have gone up the standings, specifically looking at the new quarterback ranking method, QUAR. Nichols leads the CFL at 87.0 out of 100 while Kevin Glenn is fourth at 83.3, barely trailing Mike Reilly and last year’s Most Outstanding Player, Bo Levi Mitchell.
At age 38, Kevin Glenn is on his way to a career season, on pace for 38 TDs (Arthur Ward/CFL.ca)
In one sense, both quarterbacks have spent the 2017 season altering perceptions and assumptions.
When Nichols came to Winnipeg, he was considered a spot-holder, a journeyman and a game-manager, but has since emerged as one of the CFL’s top playmaking and winningest quarterbacks. Nichols threw 47 passes last week, one short of his career high of 48 (Sept. 20, 2015 vs. Montreal). As a starter for Winnipeg, Nichols is now 17-6.
Glenn, meanwhile, has been thought of as an insurance policy — a reliable backup not good enough to lead his team to a Grey Cup. But the 38-year-old is on pace to throw a career-high 38 touchdown passes and 5,460 yards.
Both quarterbacks are strong candidates, at this point, to win Most Outstanding Player come November.
The Century Club
Speaking of Kevin Glenn, a week after recording his 200th career start — a win in the Labour Day Classic — Glenn has a chance to notch career victory 100 in the Banjo Bowl. It’s fair to say both would be major milestones for the 17-year CFL veteran.
For career victories, Glenn ranks ninth all-time among quarterbacks, tied with Tom Clements:
1. Anthony Calvillo – 167
2. Damon Allen – 163
3. Ron Lancaster – 158
4. Henry Burris – 118
5. Tracy Ham – 115
6. Ricky Ray – 107
7. Danny McManus – 103
8. Matt Dunigan – 100
9. Tom Clements – 99
10. Kevin Glenn – 99
Harris Chasing History
While Andrew Harris didn’t do most of his damage until late in the Labour Day Classic, the Bombers’ hometown hero put in yet another productive day against the Riders, rushing for 29 yards but adding 72 through the air. The bump in receiving yards puts the league’s second-leading rusher on pace for something no CFL player has ever done: 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season.
Only one player, Robert Drummond (Toronto, 1997) has ever had 800-plus rushing and receiving yards in the same year.
How good has Harris’ season been catching the football? The Bombers’ RB currently ranks third in the CFL in receptions with 64 and is on pace for 115 in 2017, 13 ahead of the CFL record for a running back in a single season set by Craig Ellis at 102 in 1985 (min. 75 rushing attempts to qualify as a running back).
Andrew Harris has been exactly the type of back the Bombers envisioned when they signed him (The Canadian Press)
At his current pace, Harris would finish with 1,078 rushing yards and 1,012 receiving yards. In 1997, Drummond, the closest to achieve the feat so far, rushed for 1,134 yards and added 840 receiving yards. This season, Harris is averaging 56.2 receiving yards per game and would need to maintain a pace of 54.8 receiving yards per game (in eight remaining games) to reach 1,000.
In two games against the Riders this season, Harris has totaled 16 catches for 110 yards.
Ball Security is Job Security
While the Bombers made a late surge, it was a 3-1 difference in turnovers that helped the Riders hang on for a 38-24 victory in the Labour Day Classic. In Week 2 when these clubs met, the Bombers’ 2-1 edge in that department helped them escape with a 43-40 overtime win.
For two teams that know how to play takeaway, protecting the football will be key. The Riders and Bombers rank second and third in the league respectively in takeaways (Saskatchewan 21, Winnipeg 20), while they’re also only two of three teams in the CFL with a positive turnover differential this season (Calgary +16, Saskatchewan +9, Winnipeg +3).
While the Bombers are notorious for their playmaking defence, no team has forced turnovers at a higher rate the the Riders of late. Chris Jones’ defence has forced 16 turnovers in the last three games – as many as they forced in the previous 11 games dating back to 2016.
The Riders’ turnover ratio in these last three games is plus-12, compared to a minus-three mark in the first seven games. Finally, over those three recent games, Saskatchewan has scored 57 of its 133 points (43%) after recording a takeaway.
The Riders’ defence has scored four TDs in the last three games, three by interceptions and one via a fumble return. They are tied with Hamilton for the CFL lead in defensive touchdown returns.
Ed Gainey, Takeaway Machine
Speaking of turnovers, no one has forced more turnovers than second-year Rider Ed Gainey. Gainey made up the 14-point difference on his own in last week’s win, intercepting Matt Nichols to set up a Rider touchdown in the first quarter before taking away a potential fourth-quarter touchdown from Clarence Denmark.
Gainey leads the CFL with six interceptions and has all six in the last three weeks, adding a seventh takeaway with a fumble return as well.
In addition to a five-takeaway game, Ed Gainey had two interceptions in Week 11 (Arthur Ward/CFL.ca)
Only one Roughriders player has led the CFL in interceptions in the last 37 years dating back to 1981. That was James Patrick in 2010 with nine and before that, Ken McEachern back in 1980 with 10 picks.
The Bombers, of course, have plenty of playmakers on their defence as well, including T.J. Heath, second in the league in picks (four) and Chris Randle (three), tied for third.
Kevin Glenn and Matt Nichols have combined for 15 interceptions this season but are well below the league average in interception percentage.
All About That Action
Crazy things are sure to happen when the Bombers and the Riders meet in the Banjo Bowl. One thing on Saturday, however, is almost guaranteed: You can expect a track meet.
The Bombers and Riders come into Week 12 as the second- and third-highest-scoring teams. Last week, the Riders stopped Winnipeg’s club record run of 33 or more points in seven straight contests, holding the Bombers to just 24 points. For the Blue and Gold, that was for sure an anomaly.
The Bombers still average 33.2 points per game (second in the CFL), while last Sunday’s contest was only the second time they failed to cross the 30-point plateau. Remarkably, the Bombers have gone over 40 points three times this season — and remarkably, their opponent in each game also crossed the 40-point mark, amounting to three 80-plus point games.
One of those games was on Canada Day, when the Bombers needed overtime to win 43-40 over these very same Saskatchewan Roughriders.
While the Bombers can score points in spades, the Riders look to keep their streak going this week. They’ve scored 38 points or more in three straight games, something they haven’t done since 2006.
The red-hot Riders
With the Bombers’ five-game winning streak vanished, the CFL’s second-hottest team behind Calgary is now the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Riders will either continue their red hot run or have it ended on Saturday.
The Green and White have won three straight games — impressively, all against West Division opponents — and outscored their opponents 133-63 in those victories. The 133 points by the Riders in a three-game span is the most by any Riders team since 2006. It’s also the most points scored by any team league-wide since Calgary in 2010 (156: 56, 48 & 52 consecutively).
Mosaic Stadium is pictured before last week’s Labour Day Classic. Week 12 shifts to IGF (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
Perhaps most impressive about the Riders’ recent streak is that all of their victories have come wire-to-wire, a feat they have not accomplished since July-August 1993 when they defeated Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa without ever trailing. The club record is five consecutive wire-to-wire wins set in 1964.
The Riders thus have now gone a span of 180 minutes without trailing and over that time have led for 160:33 of the game clock.
For the Bombers, scoring early and breaking that streak will be important.
