CFL.ca Game Notes: A look at the division finals

TORONTO — A berth in the 106th Grey Cup presented by Shaw is on the line this Sunday, as four teams square off in the division finals in Calgary and Ottawa.

The day begins in the nation’s capital, where the Ottawa REDBLACKS play their first game of the Grey Cup Playoffs against the surging Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The visiting Ticats are coming off an eye-opening 48-8 win over the BC Lions, while the REDBLACKS are well-rested on the heels of an 11-7 season that earned them a third division title in four years.

There’s certainly no love lost between these two rivals, who meet for the fourth time this season and the third time in the last month. Ottawa swept the season series, including a home-and-home sweep that determined the division champion in Weeks 19 and 20.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.

Buy Division Final Tickets
» Sunday, 1:00 p.m. ET: Hamilton at Ottawa
» Sunday, 4:30 p.m. ET: Winnipeg at Calgary

The action picks up in the prairies later that afternoon, where the Winnipeg Blue Bombers visit the Calgary Stampeders in the Western Final. The second half of Sunday’s double-header features the team with the top record (Calgary, 13-5) against the CFL’s top team of late, the Bombers entering play with wins in six of their last seven games.

Winnipeg is coming off an impressive 23-18 road win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, spoiling the Riders’ first playoff game at new Mosaic Stadium. The Stamps have taken advantage of the much-needed rest, suffering through an injury-ravaged second half of the season that saw them go 5-4 following an 8-1 start. The season series was an even 1-1 split.

Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET.

MIRACLE ON BANK STREET

– Sunday marks the first playoff meeting between the Ticats and REDBLACKS since the 2015 Eastern Final, a thrilling 35-28 win by Ottawa at TD Place. It will forever be known as the ‘Miracle on Bank Street’ thanks to Greg Ellingson‘s late 93-yard touchdown on second-and-long, sending the REDBLACKS to their first Grey Cup appearance since their return as a franchise.

– Since the league switched to single-game playoffs in 1972, Ottawa and Hamilton have met in the post-season only three times (1976, 1981 and 2015), but have met on 12 occasions since 1951. They played against each other five years in a row in the East title game in the 1960s.

– The home team has always had the edge in Eastern Finals, winning four years in a row and eight of the last 10. The only exceptions were Hamilton in 2013 and Toronto in 2012. The last second place East Division team to win in the Eastern Final and reach the Grey Cup was Toronto in 2012.

YOU NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST

– Sunday will mark the first divisional final for Trevor Harris, who joins 11 previous Ottawa quarterbacks to play in the Eastern Final over their history dating back to 1945.

– Harris has played some of the best football of his career of late, winning four of his last six contests while completing a spectacular 76.6 per cent of his passes for 1,895 yards (315.8 per game). He’s thrown 11 touchdowns to just two interceptions over that span, averaging an elite 9.7 yards per attempt.

– The REDBLACKS’ quarterback has especially liked playing against Hamilton. Throughout a three-game sweep of the Ticats, Harris completed 72 per cent of his passes for 836 yards and four touchdowns. He hasn’t thrown an interception on 97 attempts, while he was sacked only three times, all by Ticats defensive tackle Ted Laurent.

NOT HIS FIRST RODEO

– This will be the sixth career playoff start for Bo Levi Mitchell and he is 4-1 to date, averaging 302 yards per game started (note that playoff stats are separate from Grey Cup stats). His TD:INT Ratio is 6:1 (12 TDs, 2 INTs) and the second-highest in all of CFL playoff history, trailing only Mike Reilly. Mitchell will be trying to lead his club to a playoff victory for the fifth year in a row.

– Having led the Stampeders to a playoff win in each of the last four years, Bo Levi Mitchell is trying to join an elite group with at least one playoff win in each of the last five years (1963 to present):

– In 2018 the Stamps became the first team to ever have a 5,000-yard passer without the help of a 1,000-yard receiver. Bo Levi Mitchell has overcome major injuries to Kamar Jorden, DaVaris Daniels, Reggie Begelton, Marken Michel and others to throw for 5,124 yards this season, the second-highest total of his career.

STARTING FAST

– One of the biggest factors in Sunday’s Western Final will be which team can get off to a quick start. Calgary and Winnipeg are a combined 35-6 when leading after the opening quarter and 9-13 when they aren’t. The Bombers have won just one game all season when trailing after the opening 15 minutes.

– Starting fast is especially critical for the Bombers, who lean on the run a CFL-high 42 per cent of the time. The Bombers average just 30.0 passing attempts per game this season, and are at their best when they’re able to play with the lead and dictate the pace of the game.

– Case and point, 126 of Andrew Harris‘ 153 rushing yards last week vs. Saskatchewan came in the second half, as the Bombers were able to remain patient in their game plan, handing the ball off to their bell cow back 12 times in the second half compared to just seven handoffs in the first.

– All 10 of the Bombers’ wins this season came after leading going into the fourth, while in nine of their wins they led the game after every quarter.

NICHOLS AND DIMING

– Matt Nichols continues to take care of the football for the Bombers, his team getting through last weekend’s 23-18 win over Saskatchewan without a single giveaway. The victory evened Nichols’ playoff record as a starter to 2-2, marking his first as a Winnipeg Blue Bomber.

– After throwing 12 interceptions in his first nine games of the season, Nichols has thrown just one interception over his last six starts. The Bombers have won all six of those, while his 8:1 touchdown to interception ratio is his best over a prolonged stretch since his 12:1 ratio over his final eight starts of 2017 including the playoffs.

– Including last week’s playoff win, Nichols is enjoying a stretch of 109 passing attempts without throwing an interception, his longest such run of 2018. Nichols has a history of long stretches without an interception, however, as his current streak marks only the fifth-longest of his career:

– Nichols has carried this over into the post-season, last week completing his fourth playoff start without an interception, pushing his post-season run to 133 consecutive passing attempts without an interception. Mike Reilly holds the playoff record, attempting 194 consecutive passes without an interception from 2014 through 2017.

– Turnovers, of course, have been a key ingredient in the Bombers’ recipe for success. The Bombers tied for the league lead with Calgary in turnover ratio (+13) and takeaways (49), while leading the league outright with 151 points off turnovers.

QUICK HITS

– With five games of 100-plus yards this year, Andrew Harris now has 21 in his regular season career in 128 starts. Only ONE of those (Nov. 1, 2013) has come against Calgary, however. The Stampeders have held Harris to under 60 yards rushing in 13 of the 18 starts he has made against them. In 2018, he was held to under 100 yards combined in the two games (13 and 86 yards).

– Weston Dressler enters Sunday as the leading active playoff receiver with 865 yards on 53 catches, good for 13th all-time. He has made at least one reception in all 10 of his career playoff games, adding four catches for 50 yards in the Western Semi.

– The only two wins that the Bombers have in Calgary recently have come AFTER the Stamps have clinched first place (2014, 2017). Since 2003, Calgary is 14-2 at home vs. Winnipeg; with Bo Levi Mitchell starting they are 4-1 vs WPG.

– Winnipeg and Calgary were first and second in 2018 in scoring, fewest penalties, fewest big plays allowed and tied for the sacks lead.

– The Ticats’ 48-8 victory over BC last weekend was the team’s second-highest playoff margin in its history. The record remains a 45-0 win over Ottawa back in 1963.

– Ottawa ranked last in the CFL in rushing despite having William Powell, who led the entire CFL at 85.1 yards per game and was second in the league with a total of 1,362 in only 16 games. Powell led ALL CFL players with the greatest percentage of his club’s total rushing yards (1,692) at 80.5 per cent. By comparison, Andrew Harris had only 57 per cent of Winnipeg’s rushing yards.

– The Ticats scored on their first three possessions last week in the 48-8 win over BC, becoming the first CFL team to do so in a playoff game since Nov. 17, 1985 (Hamilton vs. Montreal in a 50-26 win). Last week, the Ticats scored on four of their first five possessions with TD drives of 90, 41, 81 and 42 yards.

– After ranking second-last in the CFL with just 31 takeaways (1.7 per game), the Ticats took the ball away six times in last week’s win over BC. Of the Tabbies’ 48 points, 31 came off Lions’ turnovers. The Ticats had just 81 points all season off takeaways, ranking sixth in the league.

– Sunday will mark Ottawa’s third Eastern Final in the last four years – the last time they did that was in 1979, 1981 and 1982. Overall, this will be the 37th time that a club from Ottawa will play in the Eastern Final – they are 16-20 since 1908, and a perfect 2-0 under the REDBLACKS’ banner since 2014.

– Jeremiah Masoli enters his second career Eastern Final having started for Hamilton in 2015 vs the REDBLACKS. He finished up with a 30-of-42 performance for 349 yards, one INT and 2 TD passes in the 35-28 loss. He is now 2-1 in playoff starts after last week’s win.