CFL Previews, Week 18, Part A

Montreal at Toronto,

Toronto could in theory host a playoff game, but they have to win. Montreal has nothing to play for. Toronto's quarterback is Cleo "the Party" Lemon. Montreal has some injuries. Toronto is at home. Montreal probably wants to play at least some decent football before the playoffs. Montreal looked awful last week against the Ticats, but they got behind early after some bad breaks and no incentive to bust their asses to get back in the game. I would expect more from Calvillo this week and Toronto's offence is crime against humanity.

Montreal 27, Toronto 19

Hamilton at Calgary,

The Ticats have been hot, winning their past three games. Calgary has been more tepid lately and already have captured their division and losing last week. Hamilton could lose the right to hold a playoff game, but they would have to suck pretty hard. How hard will the Stampeders play in this game? If the Hamilton front four comes after Burris hard what happens. I get the feeling that Hamilton has no desire to let up going into the playoffs, although missing Arland Bruce this week hurts. I'll go with the Cats in a squeaker, with Stevie Baggs making the difference.

Hamilton 33, Calgary 32

Ticats Lose Morencie off Practice Roster to Winnipeg

A bit of a strange story here from the Windsor Star, about Ticats offensive lineman Matt Morencie getting picked up off of the practice roster by Winnipeg. Sad to lose a young offensive lineman, although the Cats could have moved him to the active roster if they wanted to keep him bad enough. Did the bad behaviour at the Windsor Lancer game affect the Cats decision? Maybe, although Winnipeg being totally out of it gives them more roster flexibility for the last couple of games. Interesting that Morencie is a J.P. Metras award winner for best university offensive lineman in the CIS, but still only practice roster material.

CFL Power Rankings, Week 17

1. Calgary

Sure they lost to BC at home, but it was close. They sort of had something to still play for, which is a bit disturbing, but it is only one week.

2. Montreal

The Alouettes getting spanked 40 to 3 in Hamilton shouldn't mean too much, considering the game meant nothing to them, plus they had some injuries. But, Calvillo was in there for a lot of the game and losing by 37 points is something bad teams do to good teams. Can Montreal do anything the last two weeks of the regular season?

3. Hamilton

The Ticats are probably the hottest team in the league right now. The addition of Stevie Baggs on the defensive line has been one of those rare midseason NFL signings that has worked out well. Signing Hebert gives the Cats even more depth on defence.

4. Saskatchewan

Bumbling and stumbling. Injuries have laid the once excellent Riders low. Losing to Edmonton without Ricky Ray is pretty pathetic. At least they will have a home playoff date no matter what else happens in the regular season.

5. Toronto

Probably the worst 8 and 8 team in recent years. Still led by arguably the worst starting quarterback in the CFL Cleo "the Party" Lemon, the Argos have a good running back, special teams and defence (especially the front four). That'll get you a few wins this year in the CFL.

6. BC

Managing to beat Calgary at home is impressive. Getting rid of Casey Printers was addition by subtraction. Still a mediocre team.

7. Edmonton

Things are looking up the Eskimos. No longer the worst team in the CFL and still in the hunt for a playoff spot winning against the Riders with their backup quarterback Zabransky. Maybe they're better without Ray.

8. Winnipeg

Officially the Bombers can't do better than last year's Mike Kelly coached squad. What use are the Bombers if they're going to have a dull coach and do worse. Now their top two quarterbacks are injured. Getting spanked weekend by Argo quarterback Cleo "the Party" Lemon has to hurt.

After yesterday's post about what the Hamilton municipal elections would mean for the Ticats, there was an article about Bratina from Sportsnet.ca and another article on Jason Farr from the Spec. Certainly Bratina sounds pretty Ticat friendly from that article.

The Eskimos signed quarterback Kerry Joseph, who hasn't played since last year. Doesn't show a lot of confidence in Jason Maas, but I guess you need a third quarterback when you still have the slightest glimmer of playing at home in the Grey Cup.

What Does Hamilton's Election Mean for the Ticats?

Well Bratina won, which pretty much confuses things. Bratina came out relatively early against the West Harbour and thus a plan for fixing up a brownfield in his own ward. After the East Mountain deal hit the skids, Bratina came out for West Harbour in dramatic fashion, removing his jacket to show a West Harbour Tshirt at a rally at Hess Village. Now it seems he wants Confederation Park, probably the worst site for HSR public transit back as a site for the Pan Am stadium. Since he's only one vote on council, that seems unlikely. Who knows what will happen with the CP Rail site with Bob as mayor. Besides the stadium issue, one would assume that Bratina will be relatively Ticat friendly.

The other result of interest was Jason Farr, radio guy, Cable 14 guy and Ticat announcer winning the Ward 2 race slightly ahead of local activist Matt Jelly. I've heard that Farr was involved with the Go East Mountain rally for the East Mountain site, which frankly perplexes me as to how he got elected as councillor for Ward 2. As a Ticat fan and Ward 2 resident who's interested in getting the brownfields in the ward cleaned up, someone running who was for the Cats moving far away from the downtown and building on a greenfield doesn't seem like a viable candidate. But Hamilton has a long, sad history of electing media types so perhaps that's the explanation. Besides the stadium, one would have to expect Farr to be very friendly to the Ticats, based on past behaviour and employment as opposed to a candidate like Matt Jelly. It will be interesting to see if he continues as the stadium announcer after council is sworn in, in December.

With regards to what's next for the stadium, who knows. Although if there was any flicker of hope for West Harbour, that's done now.

Best Defence in the CFL?

Look which team has only given up 372 points after sixteen games, the best in the league. That's right the Hamilton Tiger Cats. The Cats are fourth in offence with 436 points scored. I will also point out that the Argos are dead last in points scored with only 313. Bizarrely the Argos have given up 401 points yet still have a 500 record at 8 and 8.

I've noted in the past that the CFL is the ultimate home field advantage league. Currently the only team with a winning away record is Calgary at 5 and 3.

Cat Victory Aftermath

The Cats winning 40 to 3 was impressive, especially without having Bruce for a lot of the game, but really the game meant little to Montreal. Statwise Glenn had a great game going 22 for 31 for 371 yards and two TDs. Bruce only picked up one reception for 12 yards, leaving him at 1303 yards for the season, still good for the league lead, but a ways away from Tony Champion's Ticat record.

Stala caught four catches for 35 yards leaving him at 955 yards and still an excellent shot at 1000 yards. McDaniel caught 2 passes for 32 yards leaving him at 918 yards overall. 1000 is still easily possible.

Bauman had six catches for 147 yards and two TDs. Where did that come from? Oh yeah, he's a free agent at the end of this year. I say he signs in TO.

Cobb had nine rushes for 30 yards and a TD, which is pretty sucky average wise, but then he grabbed four passes for 73 yards so you can't really fault him. A yard is a yard.

Excellent effort overall. The Cats went for the jugular when they got ahead like good teams do. The Cats can wrap up a home playoff spot if they can beat Calgary on the road this week. One wonders if Bruce will be playing.

Nice article from the Montreal Gazette on Stevie Baggs. Over the Bob Young era, there's been some midseason NFL signings that didn't really go anywhere. Printers and Keith certainly come to mind. Baggs looks like the real deal. The $400,000 over the life of the deal is interesting. I'm guessing that's the rest of 2010, 2011 and 2012, for an average of $133,000 per year. The Cats probably had a chunk of salary cap room left for 2010 and used it for Baggs.

CFL Predictions, Week 17, Part B

Winnipeg at Toronto,

This is a bit biased considering I'm writing this after the BC Calgary game last night, which pretty much screwed the Blue Bombers. Fulling expecting BC to lose, Winnipeg really needed this game, whereas Toronto not so much, especially with Hamilton winning this week as well. Knowing all this, I'll go with the Argos. They find weird ways to win this year, whereas the Bombers have massive skills in losing close games. Admittedly the Argos are still starting Cleo "the Party" Lemon, who may go down as the year long starting quarterback with the worst stats in CFL history. Steven Jyles isn't really that good either.

Toronto 22, Winnipeg 15

Saskatchewan at Edmonton,

This is a hard one. BC has won, putting pressure on Edmonton to step things up. Calgary losing makes this game more important for the Riders, trying to take the division for two years in a row. Saskatchewan has some injuries, Edmonton sucks. The Riders have some pride and aren't likely to go into this game half-assed like Alouettes into Ivor Wynne last night. I'll pick the Riders.

Saskatchewan 33, Edmonton 28

Ticats Game Day, Alouettes Edition, We've Got a Shot!

Tigercatatonia is stuck on another continent and hoping to get some sort of internet feed of tonight's game against the Alouettes. The spread is down to 2 points in favour of the Als, no doubt due to Vegas realizing that the game doesn't matter much to Larks and are sending out some scrubs.

On to the starting Ticat offensive line. Gauthier and import Jimenez as the tackles, Dyakowski and Rottier as the guards and Hage as the centre. Surprise surprise.

Mann and Bruce are the wideouts, with non-import Stala and McDaniel as the slots. Glenn in at quarterback, Cobb as the running back and San Diego State product Steve Schmidt as the starting fullback. Darcy Brown what happened to you? Deangelis kicks and Wilbur punts.

The defensive ends are Hickman and Baggs, with Bolden and McIntyre in the middle. Knowlton, Floyd and Johnson are the linebackers.

Non-import Hinds and Smith are the corners with Dennis and Tisdale as the defensive backs. Non-import Barker starts at safety, provided he doesn't suddenly quit to join the fire department. So the Cats end up starting eight Canadians again.

The Alouettes start an all Canadian offensive line, Bourke and Perrett as the tackles, Woodruff and Flory as the guards and Brodeur-Jourdain as the centre.

Bratton and Green are the wideouts. Richards and non-import and Mormon Cahoon are the slots. Note that Cahoon only has 618 yards so far this year. Cobourne is listed as the running back and I don't think that's right. Non-import Carter is the fullback, with Calvillo obviously starting. That's seven Canadians starting on offence right there.

Bowman and Stewart are the defensive ends, with Wilson and McElveen in the middle.

Guzman, non-import Emry and Cox are the linebackers.

Dix and Estelle are the corners. Parker and Brown are the defensive backs, with non-import Proulx as the safety. That's nine total non-import starters.

The backwardsly named import Colt David punts and kicks in place of the injured Duval.

Hopefully the Cats can take this one and step closer to locking up the home semi-final. If the Cats win and the Argos lose, the Cats marketing department can start selling and maybe Bob Young buys the rights from the league for the game. With the Argos as the opponent, that should mean a few more opposing fans will come to the game than last year's tilt with BC. I'm not sure the Cats will get quite as many home fans as last year, which was close to a sellout, but it is possible. Hopefully they don't set the prices at a crazy level that keeps the casual fan away.

CFL Previews, Week 17, Part A

Montreal at Hamilton,

The Alouettes are favoured by 2.5 on the road and have beat the Ticats both previous games and in fact are riding a six game win streak against the poor Tabbies. Both are riding two game win streaks. The Alouettes are only 4 and 3 on the road as opposed to 7 and 1 at home, so they are almost two different teams. The Cats are 4 and 3 at home, which isn't particularly impressive considering they went 6 and 3 at home during the regular season last year. There is some hope for the Cats though in this late season engagement. The Alouettes have already locked up home field for the East division final so they don't really have a lot to play for and won't take many chances injury wise. The Alouettes won't have running back Avon Cobourne, linebacker Diamond "the Pimp" Ferri nor kick returner Tim Maypray and still no Kerry Watkins nor kicker/punter David Duval. It helps to have a veteran booting the ball late in the season at Ivor Wynne.

The Cats on the other hand still need to beat out Toronto to host the East semi, so they should actually care somewhat. The Cats also picked up linebacker Kyries Herbert (who I was shocked to learn was actually in the NFL the past couple of seasons with Cincinnati) who probably won't do much apart from special teams this week. Stevie Baggs should make things more difficult for Anthony Calvillo, who probably is on a pretty short leash anyways, being pretty crotchety and all.

Hopefully the Cats can get a decent crowd out this game, as the Cats should beat the Alouettes this week. However the Cats could end up sucking as usual versus Montreal.

Ticats 29 Montreal 25

BC at Calgary,

Calgary, unlike Montreal hasn't quite locked up the Western final home field advantage. Calgary, unlike Montreal is also at home this week. Plus BC is a lot worse than Hamilton. So it isn't really a surprise the Stampeders are favoured by 9.5 points. The Lions are a surprising 3 and 4 on the road, but the Stamps are 6 and 1 at home. BC has lost 2 while Calgary won last week. In theory BC should be desperate, considering they are life and death with Edmonton and the Peg for the final spot in the West, but they are a bad team starting the mediocre Travis Lulay who apropos of nothing reminds me of former Hamilton quarterback Timmy Chang. Barring a small Brother Andre sized miracle, the Stamps easily take it , even covering the spread.

Stampeders 31, BC 22

Hamilton Ticats Noteworthy Stats for 2010

Bruce still leads in receiving yards with 1291 and is in second with 85 receptions. With three games to go Bruce has a shot at breaking Tony Champion's 1656 yard receiving record although he needs 365 yards to do it. Bruce is already in the top ten for single season receptions since three were tied at 8th with 80. Darren Flutie holds the record with 98 in 1998. So Bruce only needs 15 in three games to break that Ticat record.

Dave Stala is tenth in receiving yards with 920 and looks pretty likely barring injury to break 1000 yards receiving. I have no idea what the Ticat non-import receiving record is. Could be held by Mike Morreale with 1076 yards in 1998, could be held by something else. The tenth best year was 1213 yards and I don't think any of the top ten is held by any non-imports so the record must be less than that. Stala is also tied for fourth in receptions with 74.

McDaniel has 886 yards so also has a really good shot at 1000 yards receiving. When have the Ticats last had 3 1000 yard receivers. Tigercatatonia has no idea. Some year with Danny Mac?

Cobb already has 1030 yards rushing, breaking the 1000 mark twice now (barring losing a ton of yards over the next few games). Tenth all time for the Ticats is Jimmy Edwards with 1046 yards, so Cobb is pretty much guaranteed to move up the top ten list. Troy Davis' 1628 yard mark in 2004 is in no danger, but Ronald Williams' third overall mark of 1,264 in 2000 is. Porter is second this year with 227 yards rushing for the Cats.

So some things to watch offensively over the last few regular season games of the year. Maybe a marketing opportunity for the Cats for the last game against BC.

CFL Team Google Hits

In yesterday's post, I looked at the number of hits resulting from doing a Google search of a CFL city together with the team name as a proxy of popularity. Obviously there's some issues with that methodology, but I thought why not do it anyways for all the the teams. I searched with quotes and used whatever seemed to get the most hits, i.e. "toronto argonauts" rather than "toronto argos".

1. "Saskatchewan Roughriders" 463,000

2. "BC Lions" 361,000

3. "Edmonton Eskimos" 291,000

4. "Calgary Stampeders" 263,000

5. "Toronto Argonauts", 210,000

6. "Hamilton Tiger Cats" 203,000

7. "Montreal Alouettes" 191,000

8. "Winnipeg Blue Bombers" 172,000

Probably the biggest surprise for me is the BC Lions coming in second. I would have thought middle of the pack tops, but the Lions are solidly in second. Winnipeg coming in dead last was a little bit of a surprise. Is low internet usage in Manitoba responsible? The Alouettes coming in second last also a bit of a surprise considering they have the entire province as a fan base. Maybe I should have searched with an accent in Montreal, but I'm pretty lazy.

The Cats didn't do too bad, considering the population of the area they draw from. The Riders kicking ass is also no surprise.

For laughs I also looked at "Ottawa Rough Riders" (16,100) and "Ottawa Renegades" (9,110). Better than nothing I suppose and also more than the "Atlantic Schooners" with 2,470. Well 2,470+1 after this post.

Not particularly scientific, but interesting nonetheless.

CFL Power Rankings, Week 16

1. Calgary

Beating another good team in Saskatchewan is further indication that the Stamps are the team to beat this season.

2. Montreal

Sure they beat Calgary recently, but only winning by three at home to Winnipeg? That's not that impressive and these power rankings are pretty biased towards what has been achieved lately.

3. Hamilton

A solid bitch slapping of a decidely medicore Argo team and two good games in a row is enough to bump up the Cats. Are the Cats hot or is this blog biased? We'll know on Friday.

4. Saskatchewan

Losing to Calgary is one thing, but losing to Cleo "the Party" Lemon and the Argos the week before shows that something is amiss. Fortunately there's a lot of worse than mediocre CFL teams out there.

5. Toronto

Embarrassing themselves against the Cats. Why is Lemon still starting? Any tool can hand the ball off to Cory Boyd and mooch off of good special teams play. Somebody has got to be better at getting the ball to Jermaine Copeland. Also how do you start an all import receiving corps and have fuck all receiving yards?

6. Edmonton

The Eskimos are hot! One win in a row against a self-destructing team hot, but hot nonetheless.

7. Winnipeg

Gave their best shot against Montreal, with a playoff spot on the line and came up short. Time to start thinking about next year unless they are really lucky.

8. BC

Smelly, smelly team. Sure there's no more Casey Printers, but that's not enough. Maybe time for Buono to give up the coaching chair, although I pity the chump who has to work under him as GM.

I received an email addressed from Stevie "Shakespeare" Baggs (huh?) to season ticket holders saying every seat in the stadium is available for 50% off, plus free youth tickets. I don't mind these offers being focused at season ticket holders as opposed to wild spamming of tickets. This is just semi-wild.

One thing I wonder about when I hear about how much merchandise the Riders sell, especially in relation to other teams is how the Cats rank and how the amount sold has changed over the years. Googling "Hamilton Tiger-cats" gets you 300,000 hits while "Toronto Argonauts" gets you only 266,000. Conversely looking at the "Saskatchewan Roughriders" on the Google gets you 491,000 hits.

Ticat Game Day: Argos Edition

For this week's game at Toronto, the offensive line doesn't change, Gauthier and import Jimenez at the tackles, Dyakowski and Rottier as guards and Hage is the centre. Mann and Bruce start as the wideouts, with non-import Stala and McDaniel as the slots. Glenn is the quarterback, big surprise however the starting fullback this week is non-import Schmidt, listed ahead of Darcy Brown. Cobb is the running back and is set to go over 1000 yards if he doesn't totally suck this week. That's six starting Canadians on offence.

For the defensive line, Hickman and Baggs are the ends, with McIntyre and Bolden in the middle. Knowlton, Floyd and Johnson are the linebackers. Non-import Hinds is one of the corners and Smith is the other. Dennis and Tisdale are the defensive backs. Barker is the non-import safety. So that's two starting Canadians on defence, so eight total, one above the minimum.

For the Argos on the offensive line, it is import Murphy and Mac product as Van Zeyl as the tackles, with Gagne-Marcoux and Robertson as the guards and Picard as the centre. Robinson and Owens as the wide receivers, with Copeland and McNeil as the slots. Boyd and non-import Durie are the starting running backs/fullbacks, with Lemon starting as quarterback. That's five non-import starters on offence.

On the defensive line it is all imports, with Buzbee and Flemons as the starting ends. Huntley and Taylor are the tackles.

Younger, and non-import and Mac product Pottinger and non-import Eiben are the starting linebackers.

Middlebrooks and Parker are the starting corners, with McCoullough and Shell as the defensive backs and Willie Pile as the starting safety.

The recently traded for non-import Prefontaine is the kicker and punter.

CFL Previews, Week 16, Part A

Hamilton at Toronto,

Both teams sport 7 and 7 records, but as I posted yesterday there's a big difference in points for and against, with the advantage for the Tigercats. The Cats are favoured by a slim 1.5 points away, with Hamilton having a 3 and 4 record away and the Argos having a 4 and 3 winning record at home. Both have one game winning streaks. Hamilton's secondary is still banged up, but the Argos are starting Cleo "the Party" Lemon, who one would be lying about if described as mediocre. The Cats already hold the Harold Ballard trophy after winning both the previous games against the Argos. The question boils down to, can the Cats front seven stop the Argo's running back Cory Boyd. The answer is yes. Plus after last week's Argo win powered by several trick plays, the Cats will be ready for them.

Hamilton 29, Argos 21

Edmonton at BC

Battle of the ass teams. The good thing about these two teams is that one of them has to win (barring a tie) which is to their advantage concerning the Bombers crossing over. Edmonton is 4 and 10 which is pretty sad and BC isn't much better at 5 and 10. The Eskimos are 1 and 6 on the road, whereas the Lions are 2 and 5 at home. The Lions last week were leading before losing in overtime whereas the Eskimos were thumped last week by Hamilton. BC should be a little better this week by releasing quarterback Casey Printers, but I don't have a lot of faith in Travis Lulay. I'll pick the Eskimos to tighten up the race in the West even though the Lions are favoured by 5.5 points.

Edmonton 29, BC 26

Points For And Against Weirdness

After fourteen games, looking at the points for and against for the various team, there's some weirdness. Hamilton at 7 and 7 has scored 366 points and had 366 points scored against, which is unsurprising. Toronto however, also 7 and 7 has scored 283 points while giving up 363 points, which is certainly unusual. Perhaps even stranger, Winnipeg with a 4 and 10 record has scored 392 points while giving up only 385 points. BC at 5 and 9 has scored 356 points while giving up 366.

BC releasing Casey Printers isn't that surprising after his history in Hamilton. Doubtful that any CFL team will bother to pick him up. Just too much baggage there. That doesn't mean I have a lot of faith in Lulay as the Lions starter. At this point I would bet against BC locking up the final playoff spot, but when your competition is Winnipeg and Edmonton, anything is possible.

CFL Power Rankings, Week 15

1. Montreal

Hammering Calgary at home by a healthy 27 points is enough to move up to the top and certainly makes the Alouettes the favourites in the East.

2. Calgary

Sure they lost, but even great teams will have a poor performance now and then.

3. Saskatchewan

Somewhat disturbing losing to the Argos, but apart from the trick plays the Riders would have won.

4. Hamilton

Beating the Eskimos isn't that much of an accomplishment, but handily beating them shows some improvement.

5. Toronto

Finding ways to win with special teams is enough considering the mediocrity of the rest of the league.

6. BC

Sure they lost to Winnipeg this week, but the Bombers were lucky at the end.

7. Winnipeg

They finally win another game in rather stirring fashion. They still suck this year.

8. Edmonton

Honking it up but inexplicably still on the hunt for a playoff spot. The CFL desperately needs an expansion team.

Barker Sack, Edmonton at Hamilton

Barker Sack, Edmonton at Hamilton
Originally uploaded by philinator

Here's a set of photos from the Edmonton game, including this photo of Ticat safety Dylan Barker about to sack Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray. This photo of the boxes at Ivor Wynne shows TSN commentators Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor with their green screen behind them if you look closely enough.

CFL Predictions, Week 15, Part B

Calgary at Montreal,

Montreal is favoured by 3.5 points at home in the premier matchup in the CFL this week, which means the odds guys think Calgary is the better overall team. I think this is a fairly safe assumption, although Calgary only has one more win this year. The Alouettes are 5 and 1 at home, while the Stamps are an excellent 4 and 2 on the road. The Alouettes are still a great team, but I'm going to go with Henry Burris' better mobility (and not his lingerie choices) compared to Anthony Calvillo.

Calgary 33, Montreal 28

BC at Winnipeg,

This is pretty much a must win game for the Bombers if they have any hope of beating out BC for the crossover. Considering Winnipeg is two wins behind and has to have more points than BC to cross over, it isn't likely even if they do win. BC is 3 and 3 on the road and Winnipeg is 3 and 3 at home. BC has won the last two games while the Bombers have lost three in a row. I'm going to go out on a little bit of a limb and say the Bombers win this one. They're kind of due and they are OK at home. The Lions I just don't trust this season. Sadly the Bombers look unlikely to beat their record with Mike Kelly last year.

Saskatchewan at Hamilton

Saskatchewan at Hamilton
Originally uploaded by philinator

Here's a few photos from the Saskatchewan at Hamilton game, including this one of the Carling beer race on the Jumbotron.

CFL Predictions: Week 15, Part A

Toronto at Saskatchewan,
The Argos are 2 and 4 on the road, have lost two games in a row and are apparently starting Cleo "the Party" Lemon again (how he started 12 games for Miami is a mystery for the ages). The Riders are 6 and 0 at home and have won three straight. Not surprisingly, the Riders are 11 point favourites.

The Riders beat Toronto 27 to 16 last week in Dead Ted's Dome, so one would have to think the Riders are heavily favoured. The Argos have running back Cory Boyd playing so they shouldn't totally embarrass themselves, but the Riders non-import based receiving corps will be just too much for them.

Riders 30, Argos 21

Victory!

The Cats laid a relative 36 to 11 beating on the below mediocre Edmonton Eskimos last night, avenging their close loss last week. Probably the big difference this week was the secondary, with Edmonton only passing for 224 yards with two picks. The Eskimos also only rushed for 35 yards.

Glenn had a decent night, going 22 for 32 for 339 yards with 3 TD passes and no interceptions. Cobb had 49 yards on 16 carries with a TD, which is pretty poor average-wise. Cobb already has 980 yards, which seems strange because he's perceived to have had a bad season. Bruce had 142 yards on six catches with a TD, putting him at 1237 for the season and pending the rest of the games this weekend, the league lead. Stala had seven catches for 92 yards with a TD, putting him at 853 yards for the season, which looks good for cresting the 1000 yard plateau. Mann caught four passes for 75 yards and Schmidt caught a single pass for a yard. Way to go.

Bo Smith had eight tackles to lead the team. Maybe he's not as sucky as people thought.

Sad to see only 20,791 in the crowd last night, but Edmonton is not a particularly great draw and the Cats now seem to draw better in the summer. Thankfully it wasn't raining. The Cats should still be ahead of last year's total.