CFL Previews - Playoff Week 1 - November 15th
From The Sports Network By Gregg Xenakes, Associate CFL Editor Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - BRITISH COLUMBIA LIONS (8-10) AT HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (9-9) DATE & TIME: Sunday, November 15, 1 p.m. (et).
GAME NOTES: The Hamilton Tiger-Cats try to continue their recent strong play this weekend as they welcome the British Columbia Lions for the East Division Semifinals at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
Since losing four straight games heading into the third week of October, the Tiger-Cats ran off three straight victories to get to an even 9-9 record on the campaign. Since Montreal had decided first place in the division quite a long time ago, it was only a matter of figuring out whether Hamilton would be facing an opponent from the same division in the playoffs or not. As it turns out, both Winnipeg and Toronto failed to score enough points to make the cut, which is why British Columbia is jumping over from the West Division to compete this weekend.
As for BC, it is limping into the postseason having lost three in a row. Because of the slide the Lions missed out on finishing any higher than fourth in the division as each of the last three defeats came against a division opponent (Saskatchewan, Calgary and Edmonton).
Nevertheless, the Lions are in the playoffs for the 13th straight season and are searching for their sixth Grey Cup title. The team last hoisted the trophy back in 2006 when it finished the regular season with a record of 13-5, set down Saskatchewan with a 45-18 rout in one round and then took care of Montreal, 25-14, in the championship game.
Meanwhile, Hamilton's history dates all the way back to 1869 and is one of only two professional sports franchises (the Montreal Canadiens) that can claim a championship in every decade of the 20th century. Unfortunately, since logging their 32-21 win over Calgary in the 1999 Grey Cup, the Tiger-Cats have not only failed to play for another title, they missed the playoffs altogether four straight years leading up to this campaign.
The club has claimed eight Grey Cup trophies since 1950 and 15 overall dating back to 1912, tying them with Toronto for the most among current members of the CFL.
As far as the season series between these two teams is concerned, Hamilton won both of the early-season meetings, first taking a 31-28 decision on the road and then posting a 30-18 victory at home at the end of July. The winner of this matchup faces Montreal in the East Division Championship at Molson Stadium, for the right to compete in the 97th Grey Cup at McMahon Stadium on November 29.
Of the six teams that made the cut for the playoffs this season, British Columbia is the one with the most enigmatic passing attack. Several players have taken their shot under center for a team that has 27 touchdowns through the air, but also 26 interceptions and that's why the club has a pass efficiency rating of 81.94 after 18 regular-season outings.
In the final game of the regular season versus Edmonton, Casey Printers, Buck Pierce and Zac Champion all tried their hand at quarterback for the Lions and the threesome went a collective 11-of-28 for only 105 yards and two interceptions, both tossed by Champion.
What BC needs is a strong effort by Martell Mallett to try and keep the offense from tripping over itself.
Mallet finished fourth in the league in rushing with his 1,240 yards on 214 attempts, but even with all those opportunities he still made it into the end zone just six times. Then again, expecting the running back to have more favorable finishes is a stretch given that BC was averaging just 23.9 ppg this year.
From a defensive perspective, the Lions permitted the most yards of any CFL team on average, surrendering 370.6 ypg, so it is easy to see how and why this group was second-to-last in scoring defense at 27.9 ppg allowed.
Hamilton, on the other hand, had the second-best scoring defense in the league behind only Montreal, giving up just 23.8 ppg. The Ti-Cats give up just 347.1 ypg to place third in the league, but that stat can be somewhat misleading since Toronto was in second place in that category.
Kevin Glenn, who shared time under center with Quinton Porter earlier in the campaign, emerged as the starter and ended up throwing for 3,077 yards and 18 touchdowns for the Tiger-Cats. More importantly, the signal-caller issued just seven interceptions on 389 attempts and that's why he finished with the third- best quarterback rating (94.6).
The most curious player on the Hamilton roster is obviously Arland Bruce who, despite changing teams early on in the season and missing some time on the field because of the transition, still came up with 88 catches for 1,242 yards and 10 touchdowns, all three numbers among the best in the league.
Without a definitive force at the quarterback position these days, it is difficult to give the Lions a fighting chance in this meeting, but never say never should be the motto of the CFL.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Hamilton 31, British Columbia 20EDMONTON ESKIMOS (9-9) AT CALGARY STAMPEDERS (10-7-1) DATE & TIME: Sunday, November 15, 4:30 p.m. (et).
GAME NOTES: The Calgary Stampeders begin the journey to try and repeat as Grey Cup Champions as they welcome the Edmonton Eskimos for the West Division Semifinals at McMahon Stadium this weekend.
Last season, the Stampeders finished with the best record in the league at 13-5, earned a bye into the West Division Final and defeated British Columbia in a narrow 22-18 decision. From there the squad advanced to the title game and dismissed Montreal with a 22-14 victory. The Cup was the sixth in club history and the first since 2001 when the team actually had a losing record during the regular season (8-10) but still finished second in the division and somehow managed to bring home the hardware.
This year, the Stampeders finished in a tie for first place in the West Division with Saskatchewan, but a 30-14 loss to Saskatchewan on November 7 pushed the Roughriders to the top of the heap and left Calgary with an extra round of playoffs to run through. Calgary heads into the postseason having had mixed results in the last month or so, winning twice, losing two times and tying the Roughriders back on October 17 by a score of 44-44.
As for the Eskimos, they needed a strong finish to the regular season and managed to achieve that with back-to-back victories and wins in three of the final four games. Crucial in that run was the regular-season finale versus British Columbia, a game that turned in favor of the Eskimos by a score of 45-13.
The victory put Edmonton in third place in the division and pushed the Lions into a playoff game with Hamilton over in the East Division this weekend.
Edmonton, which has a history that dates back to the late 1800's, has won 13 Grey Cup titles since 1949, including an incredible five straight between 1978-1982. The team last won it all in 2005, but after that the club failed to make the playoffs for two straight seasons and then lost in the East Division Semifinal in 2008, 36-26, versus Montreal. One of the most successful clubs in the history of the league, the Eskimos hold the record for most consecutive playoff seasons with 34 in a row.
The winner of this affair faces Saskatchewan in the West Division Championship at Taylor Field next week for the right to compete in the 97th Grey Cup at McMahon Stadium on Sunday, November 29.
Edmonton's offense is again driven by quarterback Ricky Ray this season. The signal-caller finished the 2009 regular season as the most productive thrower in terms of yardage with 4,916, completing 67.3 percent of his attempts along the way.
Averaging better than eight yards per completion, Ray tallied 22 touchdowns and kept his mistakes to a minimum with just 12 interceptions on 596 chances.
The Esks had the best of both worlds when it came to running the ball and catching it further down the field. Arkee Whitlock burst onto the scene with his 1,293 yards and scored 12 touchdowns on the ground, second only to Avon Cobourne for Montreal who had 13 TDs. Fred Stamps handled the receptions part of the offense as he recorded a league-high 1,402 yards and scored eight times on 85 catches.
Over on the other side for the Stampeders, Most Outstanding Player nominee Joffrey Reynolds logged his ninth 100-yard rushing effort in the finale versus Saskatchewan.
Reynolds led all players in the league with his 1,504 yards on the ground, averaging close to six-and-a-half yards per carry and eventually making his way into the end zone 11 times. In terms of yards from scrimmage, there was no one better than Reynolds who registered 1,935 yards, while Whitlock for the Eskimos was third on that list with 1,685 yards.
But what makes Whitlock differ from Reynolds is that the Edmonton back did a little bit more for the Eskimos and ended up second in the entire league with his 2,082 combined yards, a stat in which Reynolds placed fifth in the league (1,989 yards).
The wild card in this matchup will be Calgary quarterback Henry Burris who showed last season that he has what it takes to guide the Stamps on to glory. Burris was second in the league in passing yards with 4,831 and tossed 22 touchdowns like Ray, but he also suffered four more interceptions (16) which lowered his efficiency rating to 88.0. In his four meetings against Edmonton this season, Burris threw for a season-high 479 yards in one contest and had eight passing scores overall, although he also suffered three picks in one of those decisions as well.
During the regular season, Calgary defeated the Eskimos in three of four meetings, the only setback coming in a 38-35 final back on August 13.
Both of these offenses have the potential to be lethal, but in Calgary's case it is not only has Burris who knows the road to success from last season, but also Reynolds who continues to buck trends and pick up significant [ground] gains in a league where running the ball is a distant second.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Calgary 35, Edmonton 27 Overall Season Record: 37-34-1; Last Week's Record: 1-3.
11/11 12:23:46 ET
