Marquee Matchup: Mack, Schoen to lead through the air?

WINNIPEG — The Montreal Alouettes don’t known what means to lose a game since dropping their Week 6 contest to the Toronto Argonauts, same week the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have tasted defeat for the last time, against the Ottawa REDBLACKS.

It’s a matchup between two teams riding a four-game winning streak on Thursday night to open Week 12. The similarities between the two squads don’t end there. Both teams are welcoming the return of their starting quarterbacks as Cody Fajardo and Zach Collaros will feature in their teams’ lineups after missing time with a shoulder and neck injury respectively.

It’s also a battle between two of the top receivers in the CFL with Austin Mack (773) and Dalton Schoen (715) as first and third in receiving yards in 2023. The pass catchers are also first and second in 30+ yards receptions as their teams continue to rely on them to produce explosive plays.

Something else these two teams have in common is the fact that they are coming off narrow wins on the road in Week 11. The Blue Bombers beat the Stampeders in Calgary 19-18 despite not scoring an offensive touchdown while the Alouettes put together a last-minute comeback against the REDBLACKS in Ottawa to keep their streak alive.

It should be an exciting matchup between two defences that have a knack for turning the ball over. Bombers’ defensive back Demerio Houston leads the league in interceptions with seven, including the first pick six of his career that scored the only major in the win against the Stamps. Als’ defensive back Kabion Ento has two picks in his last three games and always seem to be around the ball as well.

Winnipeg is hoping to move to win its ninth game and continue to hold the pole position in the West Division while Montreal is looking for its seventh triumph to keep pace with the Argos on the East.

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• Montréal 7-1 on the Road Run – Best in 20 Years: Montréal has won seven of their last eight road games – their best stretch away from home in 20 years. Across 2002-03 they won eight road games in a stretch of nine contests.
• Five in a Row?: Montréal rides a four-game win streak and looks for their first five-game winning run since 2014. One of the main reasons is that they lead the CFL in fourth Quarter scoring with 85 points.
• Seven games in a row: Winnipeg’s offence has outgained their opponent in a great run of now seven games in a row.
• A Game with No Offensive TDs: Winnipeg defeated Calgary 19-18 last week in a game without an Offensive TD. It was the second CFL game of 2023 without any at all and was won by the Bombers on the strength of Demerio Houston‘s 10th Takeaway and his 45-yard TD interception return.
• Brady Oliveira: Leads the CFL with 783 rushing yards for an average of 78.0 yards per game, a pace for 1,409 in 2023. That puts him on track to record the fourth-highest rushing total by a Canadian in CFL history:
  

  Player	Year	Tm	Att	Yards	Per GM	2023 Rushing
  Jon Cornish	2013	CGY	258	1,813	106.6
  Jon Cornish	2012	CGY	259	1,457	80.9
  Norm Kwong	1956	EDM	232	1,437	95.8
  Brady Oliveira (Pace)	2023	WPG	252	1,409	78.3	140 for 783
  Andrew Harris	2018	WPG	239	1,390	77.2	Harris’ 1,390 yards is a Bombers’ record by a Canadian player

• Perfect Day: Tyler Snead was targeted seven times last week … and caught all seven for a career-high 98 yards.
• Starting QBs: Caleb Evans has led Montréal to two straight wins moving his career record to 5-10. while Dru Brown came off the bench to lead one win and started the next for the Bombers’ 4th win in a row overall. Each club’s #1 QB may return this week however as Cody Fajardo and Zach Collaros are 4-3 and 7-2 this year.
• Austin Mack: The first-year player leads the CFL with 773 yards – he has a 30+ reception in the last three and six of their nine games thus far. The Montréal record for yards by a first Year receiver is ____. Mack is averaging 85.9 receiving yards per game and is on pace for 1,546 yards. That would surpass the CFL record for 1st Year players set by Matt Clark with 1,530 in 1991.
• Bombers Above .500: Winnipeg at 8-2 .800 is on track for a seventh straight season above the .500 mark. They have only done that twice before – from 1956 to 1962 and from 1980 to 1987 (the club record of eight years in a row).
• Caleb Evans: In his two starts Evans ran for 111 yards on 18 carries (seven of those were scrambles from the pocket) and accounted for six of Montreal’s seven offensive touchdowns when you include his three TD passes.
• Demerio Houston: Has an interception in five of his last six games and leads the CFL with 10 total takeaways (three fumble returns). His seven interceptions is the most by a Blue Bomber since 2019 (Winston Rose nine).

It’s anyone’s guess as to who will take this one in this week’s Pick ‘Em Marquee Matchup. Who are you siding with?

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