CFL Canadian Football League

This Week in the CFL

Published on September 15, 2015 under Canadian Football League (CFL) News Release


HEATING UP

The playoff race is heating up: last weekend's Winnipeg win, BC loss and Montreal bye made the potential race for the final playoff spot in the West even tighter

Montreal, 4th in the East, is tied with BC and Winnipeg at 4 wins (the Als host the Bombers this Sunday)

Since the adoption of the crossover rule in 1996, no eastern club has ever crossed over and taken away third place in the West Division

Edmonton's win over the Stamps on Saturday brought them within one game of first place in the West

Hamilton's win over Toronto gave the Tiger-Cats a four-point cushion in first place in the East (the Tiger-Cats host Edmonton Saturday)

The last time Hamilton led the East Division by two clear games was at the halfway mark of the 1992 season when they were 6-3 and Ottawa and Winnipeg were both 4-5

Offences are also heating up: Week 12 produced 663 yards per game, an increase of 18% over the previous 8-game span

Last week's games averaged 46 points per game, led by Hamilton with 35 and Ottawa with 31. Every team ran off at least one TD drive

Speaking of hot, Hamilton QB Zach Collaros now leads the CFL in passing yards (3,286), TD passes (24), passing efficiency (113.2), completions over 30 yards (20), TD percentage (7%), yards per attempt (9.4), net offence per drive (29 yards) and second down conversion passes (82)

RED AND BLACK, NIGHT AND DAY

Ottawa's impressive 31-18 win in Vancouver - the REDBLACKS' second road win ever and their first against a Western opponent - underlines how far the expansion team has come in their second year

After posting only a single victory at this point last season, and two wins in all of 2014, the REDBLACKS are 6-4 and riding a two-game win streak

41:15: That was Ottawa's time of possession Sunday night

That's the third-highest time of possession since 1995, when the league started keeping this stat (Calgary had the ball 42:14 versus Toronto in July, 2010 and BC controlled it for 41:57 versus Calgary in July, 2005)

The REDBLACKS blanked the Lions in the second half, a first for the young franchise

Ottawa has outscored opponents 21-3 and 17-0 in their last two second halves

They start slow but finish strong: their first half point differential is minus 80 (91-171) but their second half differential is plus 42 (140-88)

Ottawa has a chance to go three games over .500 for the first time since July 2, 2004 (3-0) and just the second time in 36 years (October 14, 1979 when they got to 7-4-2)

The REDBLACKS' record after 10 games is an Ottawa best since an 8-2 mark in 1978.

Their win on the west coast was the first for an Ottawa team since the Rough Riders beat the Lions on October 6, 1990. That's a drought of 9,109 days, or just under 25 years.

Until Sunday, Ottawa had gone 1-22 in games in Vancouver since 1974, a span of 41 years

The Lions hope to rebound Friday night in Calgary

IT AIN'T OVER

Despite their loss in Winnipeg, the 1-10 Riders remain in the playoff hunt

Still, the road is very steep: the fewest wins by a playoff bound club in the "cross-over" era was by Edmonton in 1999 (six victories)

Winnipeg (2000), Calgary (2007), and Edmonton (2012) each got in with seven wins, but no other playoff team since 1996 has had fewer than eight wins

To get to seven wins, the Riders would have to go 6-1 the rest of the way

The Riders host the REDBLACKS Saturday

NOT ALL BIG PLAYS ARE OFFENSIVE

Blue Bomber Khalil Bass's "pick six" against the Riders brought the total of defensive TDs to 26

The league remains on pace for 44 defensive TDs this season, just ahead of the record of 43 set in 2004

Tiger-Cat David Caldwell's blocked punt brought the total number of kicks turned into a turnover or missed scoring opportunity this year to 10

Hamilton has had three blocked kicks and a deflected punt

PENALTIES

Last week's games averaged 25 penalties, continuing a month-long trend that seen the weekly average fall between 23 and 26 calls per game

We've averaged 24.85 penalties per game in 2015, up from 22.25 in 2014

"Preventable" fouls such as offside and procedure account for 43% of all infractions, technical fouls such as holding and illegal block account for 41%, and roughness fouls including horse collar tackles and roughing the passer account for 16%

Coaches have "won" 21 of their 63 challenges this year, for a success rate of 33%, identical to a year ago

NEW RULES, NEW RECORD

BC's Richie Leone kicked the longest one-point convert in CFL history when penalties pushed his attempt back to 48 yards out

A rule change has pushed one-point converts back to the 32 yard line and other changes apply penalties to the convert instead of the ensuing kick-off

Overall, kickers have made 87% of one-point convert attempts this season

HOW TO WIN

Play at home: 30 of 48 games (62.5%) have been won by the home team

Lead going into the fourth quarter: the team with the lead going into the final stanza has won 34 of 45 games (76%)

Don't allow big plays: the three teams allowing the most big plays this year are a combined 9-23 (BC, Winnipeg and Saskatchewan)

The CFL defines big plays as rushes over 20 yards, passes over 30 yards, punts and missed field goal returns over 30 yards, and kick-off returns over 40 yards

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Canadian Football League Stories from September 15, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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