It’s the rubber match between two Canadian Football League heavyweights, both with the punching power of a Mike Tyson and the ‘float-like-a-butterfly, sting-like-a-bee’ grace of Muhammad Ali.

Yes, the Canadian Football League’s West Division Final – featuring the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Calgary Stampeders – figures to be absolutely epic and certainly worthy of a boxing-like billing. ‘The Throw-down in Cowtown’ perhaps?

The Stamps opened this week as 4 ½-point favourites according to oddsmakers after finishing first in the West with a 13-5 record and earning a first-round bye in the playoffs. Incredibly, they will also be making their 10^th appearance in the last 11 West Finals and chasing their third consecutive Grey Cup berth.

The Bombers, 10-8, finished third in the West but are currently on a run that has seen them win six of their last seven – the lone blemish the regular season finale in Edmonton in which a number of regulars did not dress or had their snaps limited. With all that as a backdrop, here’s a West Division Bombers-Stamps Tale of the Tape…

THE BASICS

Regular season records:

Winnipeg: 10-8; third in West Division; defeated Saskatchewan in West Semi-Final.
Calgary: 13-5: first in West Division; first-round bye

Offensive rankings (points for): Winnipeg: 550 (1^st) | Calgary: 522 (2^nd)

Defensive rankings (points against): Winnipeg: 419 (2^nd) | Calgary: 363 (1^st)

Last 6 games: Winnipeg: 5-1 | Calgary: 3-3

The QBs:

Winnipeg: Matt Nichols – 3,146 passing yards; 18 TDs-13 Ints; Bombers 9-5 in his starts, 10-5 including playoffs.

Calgary: Bo Levi Mitchell – 5,124 passing yards; 35 TDs-14 Ints; Stampeders 13-5 in his starts.

MOP candidates:

Winnipeg: Outstanding/Defensive: LB Adam Bighill; Canadian: RB Andrew Harris; Rookie: DB Marcus Sayles; Special teams: K Justin Medlock; Offensive Lineman: Stanley Bryant. Harris (Canadian) Bryant (Offensive Lineman) and Bighill (Defensive) are all West Division nominees for the CFL MOP awards.

Calgary: Outstanding: WB Bo Levi Mitchell; Defensive: DL Micah Johnson; Canadian: Alex Singleton: Special teams: LB Jameer Thurman; Rookie: DB Tre Roberson; OL Derek Dennis.

West All-Stars:

Winnipeg (7): Harris, Bighill, Bryant, OL Sukh Chungh, OL Matthias Goossen, WR Darvin Adams, S Taylor Loffler.
Calgary (6): Mitchell, Dennis, Johnson, Singleton, CB Ciante Evans; WR Kamar Jorden

2018 HEAD TO HEAD

Meeting #1

Date: August 25 – McMahon Stadium, Calgary

Score: Stampeders 39 Bombers 26

The story: The Bombers were 5-4 following a loss to Ottawa, but were still eager to test themselves against the West Division contenders late in the summer. The visitors led 15-12 at the intermission and were down by just a touchdown with 2:04 left before the Stamps buried them with two late scores.

3 Key Plays

1. The Stampeders always seem to deliver the first blow in games against the Bombers, particularly in their own back yard. But the Bombers open the scoring first on just their second offensive snap of the game when Chris Streveler, inserted on a second-and-inches, drops back instead of keeping and finds Ryan Lankford open for a 65-yard score. To put the Bombers up 7-0 before the game is three minutes old.

2. The Bombers and Stampeders are trading punches late into the game when Matt Nichols orchestrates a seven-play drive that is capped with a 23-yard Justin Medlock field goal that pulls the Bombers to within a touchdown at 25-18 with 2:04 left in the game. But on the Stamps next possession, Bo Levi Mitchell connects with Kamar Jorden for a 68-yard touchdown, that not only puts Calgary back up by 14, but helps Jorden set a new club record for receiving yards in a game with 249.

3. Now needing a minor miracle, the Bombers get the ball back at their own 19 when Nichols has a pass intercepted by Stamps D-lineman Ja’Gared Davis and returned 35 yards for the Pick-6. Game… set… match.

Quotable:

“Pretty frustrating. I felt like we came out and did a lot of what we wanted to do: we controlled the ball, we changed field position, put up some points early. Man… pretty frustrating. I felt like we kind of had them against the ropes and had some opportunities at all different positions, including myself, to make plays. We just didn’t quite make them and fell short against a good team.” – Bombers QB Matt Nichols.

Meeting #2

Date: October 26 – Investors Group Field

Score: Bombers 29 Stampeders 21

The story: The win was massive for the Bombers for a few key reasons: it officially punched their ticket to the playoffs and eliminated the Edmonton Eskimos in the process, it ended a nine-game home losing streak to the Stamps dating back to 2009 and meant that they had now beaten every team in the CFL. The Stamps, meanwhile, lost their third straight, but not without some controversy as an apparent TD to Eric Rogers on a third-down gamble with at the three-minute mark is ruled incomplete. Matt Nichols serves up his best game of the year, going 24-of-33 for 358 yards with two TDs and no interceptions.

3 Key Plays

1. Calgary takes a 12-6 lead into halftime when, on their second possession of the second half, Matt Nichols finds Darvin Adams for a picturesque 50-yard touchdown that gives the Bombers their first lead at 13-12.

2. Calgary answers the Adams score with one of their own immediately after. But the Bombers then counter-punch again as Nichols hits Drew Wolitarsky for a 60-yard TD. The two-point convert attempt fails, but the Bombers are ahead again at 19-18.

3. Stamps next possession… On a second-and-22 from their own 13, Mitchell connects Don Jackson on a screen pass, but Adam Bighill forces a fumble that is recovered by Jackson Jeffcoat on the Calgary 19-yard line. That mistake is turned into more points as Chris Streveler keeps from two yards out and the Bombers take a 26-18 lead into the fourth quarter.

Quotable:

“We’ve been working hard all season, but the last five weeks especially, to just go 1-0 every week. I’ve been talking about complete football and today I felt like we really did that… it’s just complementary football.  I’m just so proud of the guys to beat a team like that in that kind of fashion at this point in the season. It’s big for us.” – Bombers RB Andrew Harris.

3 CRITICAL WINS

The Bombers

1. Winnipeg 41 B.C. 19 – July 7^th, Investors Group Field

The Bombers had managed to tread water with Matt Nichols on the shelf and Streveler behind centre, going 1-2 in their first three games. Nichols, to the surprise of many, returned for Game 4 against the Lions and while he threw for one score and just 162 yards, the Bombers got two rushing TDs from Streveler, another from Harris and a Pick-6 from Adam Bighill in his first game against his old club. And just like that, the Bombers were 2-2 and with Nichols at the helm again, had found their mojo again.

2. Winnipeg 30 Edmonton 3 – September 29^th, Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton.

The giant dark cloud which had settled in over the Bombers during a four-game slide from mid-August through the Banjo Bowl had begun to dissipate with a win over Montreal. But beating an Als team that was 3-9 at the time was one thing, doing it again a week later in Edmonton was massive. And it wasn’t just a garden-variety ‘W.’ It was a thorough pummelling that offered more glimpses of the contender many thought the Bombers could be.

The Bombers forced seven turnovers that night – including a Pick-6 by Kevin Fogg – and held Eskimo QB Mike Reilly to just 164 yards through the air.

3. Winnipeg 29 Calgary 21 – October 26^th, Investors Group Field

(See above).

The Stampeders

1. Calgary 26 B.C. 9 – November 3^rd, B.C. Place, Vancouver

The Stamps had lost three straight heading into their regular season finale and needed a win to hold off the Roughriders and clinch first in the West. Bo Levi Mitchell threw for a score; Don Jackson had 91 yards rushing and a TD on just 11 carries while the defence forced Travis Lulay into two interceptions as the Stamps shook off their late-season woes and looked like their old selves again.

2. Calgary 23 Edmonton 20 – September 3^rd (Labour Day Classic), McMahon Stadium, Calgary

The Battle of Alberta rivals the Winnipeg-Saskatchewan annual Labour-Day Classic/Banjo Bowl slugfests and this one delivered. The Stamps got five field goals from Rene Paredes, including a 43-yarder with no time remaining for the win. It was Calgary’s seventh straight Labour Day win and improved them to 9-1, but it came at a cost as Kamar Jorden was injured and lost for the remainder of the season.

3. Calgary 34 Saskatchewan 22 – July 28^th,  Mosaic Stadium, Regina

The Stamps always seem to burst out of the starting gate and the 2018 season was no different. Calgary built up a 24-0 lead on the Riders and then held off a late surge for their sixth straight victory to open the season. They would lose to the Riders a couple of weeks later to fall to 7-1, but with the rest of the West beating themselves up, the early start was a huge reason they were able to withstand the late-season stumble and still secure first in the division.