Sewell doubles down on prediction, says it’s not ignorance, it’s fact

Three days after throwing some gas on the Western Semi-Final fire, Almondo Sewell doubled down.

“I mean it’s not coming out of ignorance. It’s based on pure facts,” Sewell said in regards to the strong words he gave the Winnipeg Sun on Thursday, predicting that his Eskimos would beat the Bombers here in Winnipeg on Sunday.

“That’s what we’re prepared for. We’ve all been here a pretty long time. I’ve been here since 2011, came back in 2012. The same group’s been around for so long. We’ve got confidence in ourselves. if you ask me if we’re going to win I’m not going to say we’re going to lose. I’m being blunt when I’m saying that. Yeah, we’re going to win.”

Some highlights from that Thursday story by Paul Friesen:

“We’re the favourites. We’ve got a better team than Winnipeg. We’re hitting on all cylinders right now. I believe we are the better team.”

“Everybody could see our injury report. We were on our fifth-string linebackers at one point. But those guys all stepped in…we got our starters back when we needed them back.”

The Eskimos do hold some statistical advantages over their opponents. Their net offence is 406.8 yards per game, tops in the league, compared to Winnipeg’s 355.6 per game, which is seventh. Edmonton’s defence is the third-best in the league, while Winnipeg’s is eighth. Despite the defensive differences, Winnipeg is third in giveaways/takeaways, though, at plus-12. Edmonton breaks even at zero, and sits at fifth.

The stat the Bombers care about is their 2-0 season series win over the Eskimos.

On Sunday under the bright lights of the pre-game availability, Sewell stood by what he said.

“In our locker room, whatever goes on in there it’s not speaking out of arrogance,” he said. “It’s just confidence in the room that we have.”