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November 23, 2019

Game Preview | 107th Grey Cup

Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros, left, and Janarion Grant chat during practice for Sunday's CFL Grey Cup football game in Calgary, Friday, Nov. 22, 2019.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

107th GREY CUP | WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS (13-7) vs. HAMILTON TIGER-CATS (16-3)

THE 4-1-1

Kickoff: 5 p.m. CT Sunday; McMahon Stadium, Calgary
TV: TSN, RDS, ESPN2, BT Sports ESPN
Radio: TSN 1290
The Calgary weather forecast: Sunny with a high of +3C and a low of -7C.
Vegas line: The Ticats are favoured by 3 ½ points.
Streaks: Winnipeg: 3W; Hamilton: 7W.
Head to head, 2019: The Ticats are the only team the Bombers didn’t beat in the regular season. Hamilton ended Winnipeg’s five-game winning streak to open 2019 with a 23-15 victory at Tim Hortons Field in late July. The two clubs met again in late September and punched early, racking up 338 yards of offence by halftime in a 33-13 victory in which QB Dane Evans threw for three touchdowns while Simoni Lawrence set a new league record for tackles in a single game with 17.
Playoff history: This will be the 11th time dating back to 1935 when the two clubs were known as the ‘Winnipegs’ and ‘Tigers’ that these two teams will be pitted against each other for the Grey Cup. Winnipeg has a 6-4 record in championship games against Hamilton, including wins over the Ticats during the glory years of the late 50s-early 60s in 1958, 1959, 1961 and 1962. The two teams also met in the 1957 and 1965 Grey Cups during that era, with those two games won by the Ticats. The last Grey Cup featuring these two teams was in 1984, with the Bombers ending what was then their longest championship drought, at 22 years. Interestingly, the 1958 cup win over the Ticats also ended what was at the time the longest Grey Cup drought in the Bombers history, covering 17 years dating back to 1941.
FYI: The Bombers will wear their road white jerseys, the same uniforms they have worn in playoff wins in Calgary and Saskatchewan. Winnipeg will be the home team.


3 STORYLINES

1. THE DROUGHT X2

Let’s hammer away at this for one more segment before kickoff Sunday…

The 107th Grey Cup has been dubbed ‘The Drought Bowl’ because it features the two CFL franchises with the longest current championship droughts – Hamilton’s dating back to 1999 and Winnipeg’s to 1990. Not surprisingly, Winnipeg has come alive in the last few days as fans start to get wrapped up in Bomber fever, all of which can really hit home for a hometown guy like Nic Demski.

“It’s not a distraction… I like everybody who reaches out,” said Demski Friday when asked if the texts and phone calls could interfere with his prep. “It means that much more to me, whether it’s friends, people I grew up with, family, even just people in the community. I’ve gotten stopped at grocery stores before with people just basically giving me the whole history about the drought.

“It’s good, man. It adds to the motivation to see fans who really believe in us and are passionate about this process and see how hard we work. It’s going to mean a lot to them when we bring that Grey Cup home on Sunday.”

Bombers fans understand, however, that a ticket to the final doesn’t guarantee glory. The Bombers have been to five Grey Cups since last winning in ’90 – Calgary has been to 12 during that same stretch, followed by Montreal (8), Toronto and Edmonton (6), with B.C. and Saskatchewan also at five appearances since ’90, Hamilton (4), Ottawa (3) and the now-defunct Baltimore Stallions (2).

But in those five Bomber appearances two of them – in 1993 and 2007 – featured the back-up quarterbacks at the controls due to injury; Sam Garza for Matt Dunigan in ’93 and Ryan Dinwiddie for Kevin Glenn in ’07. And the 14-4 Bombers that lost to the 8-10 Stamps in ’01? One word: Yeesh.

A couple facts worth noting here: Winnipeg has now tied Edmonton with the most Grey Cup appearances in the championship’s history with 25. And a loss on Sunday would tie Saskatchewan with the most losses, at 15.

But let’s not go there. Instead, another nugget:

In 1958 the Bombers knocked off the Tiger-Cats to end a 17-year Grey Cup drought, then the longest in franchise history. In 1984, the Bombers knocked off the Tiger-Cats to end a 22-year Grey Cup drought, then the longest in franchise history. And in 2019, the Bombers and Tiger-Cats are meeting again in the Grey Cup with Winnipeg in the midst of its longest drought, now at 28 years.

Fate, or wishful thinking?

2. THE QB MATCHUP

Winnipeg vs. Hamilton was a popular Grey Cup prediction back in June when the curtain lifted to start the 2019 season. But back then the script had Matt Nichols and Jeremiah Masoli leading the Bombers and Ticats to the big dance.

Instead, for the first time since 1980, the Grey Cup game will feature teams minus their original starting quarterbacks. Back in 1980 the Eskimos started the season with veteran Tom Wilkinson as their starter and finished with Warren Moon at the controls, while the Ticats began their campaign with Bruce Lemmerman taking the first snap and finished with Dave Marler leading them into the Grey Cup.

In Hamilton, Dane Evans was pushed into the spotlight as the starter when Masoli was injured in the game against Winnipeg in late July. Evans, a former star at Tulsa, had thrown all of 42 passes in his career before sliding behind the wheel of a Grey Cup calibre team and then helped lead the team to a 9-3 mark in the regular season and a win last week over the Edmonton Eskimos in the Eastern Final. His numbers were gaudy, as he threw for 3,754 yards with 21 TDs against 13 interceptions.

Zach Collaros, meanwhile, is the third starter the Bombers have used this season, following Nichols (7-2 in his starts) and Chris Streveler (3-5). Collaros won his first start, a victory over Calgary in the regular season finale, and then helped lead the Bombers to playoff wins over the Stamps and the Saskatchewan Roughriders to get this team to the Grey Cup.

In short, what Collaros has done after parachuting into Winnipeg so late in a season is astonishing.

“I can speak from experience, from getting traded late in the year and having to play a few weeks later,” said Bombers QB Buck Pierce, who was traded from Winnipeg back to B.C. in September of 2013. “It is hard mentally when you’re traded. At first it’s like, ‘Alright, I’ve got a new start… I’m going to go in, ease my way in and be ready to play when they need me to play.’

“Zach came in the right way with the right mindset. He was excited to have this breath of fresh air and to learn and be himself and learn from Matt (Nichols), from Chris (Streveler), from myself and LaPo (offensive coordinator Paul LaPolice) of what we’re doing. He dove right in and did it. He’s done a fantastic job of coming into the room and fitting in and listening to the other guys around him. Listening is a big thing.

“It’s like a funnel of information at first. It’s this big playbook with all these new words, all these new terms. You just funnel it down and as coaches we learn about what he likes and what he’s good at because you spend a lot of time together you get a feel for his personality. Our job as coaches is to help get our stuff to fit him. It’s a two-way street.”

3. STOPPING THE M-O-P & CO.

Hamilton’s Brandon ‘Speedy B’ Banks is the CFL’s most dangerous, most electrifying player and he was so honoured Thursday night by being named the Most Outstanding Player. Standing 5-7 in his cleats and weighing just 150, he is an explosive receiver in the open field and an absolute nightmare to cover in space. Pair him with the Ticats’ other main threat – Bralon Addison – and the two combined for and incredible 207 receptions covering 2,786 yards and 20 TDs this year.

Banks was especially effective in Hamilton’s two wins over Winnipeg, pulling in 14 passes for 161 yards and a TD; Addison had seven catches for 108 yards and a TD.

And so the key to stopping those two?

“Do your job,” began defensive back Nick Taylor with a shrug. “Do your job and let everything play out. Be in the right place and then make a play on the ball before they make a play on the ball. That’s how we’re going to play them. We’re going to roll with that.

“We’ve definitely got to respect them, they’ve earned it. They’ve got the MOP over there. I remember just a couple years ago he was on the outside looking in and then (former Ticats head coach/offensive coordinator) June Jones came in and since then he’s gone crazy.

“We don’t fear them, but we definitely respect them.

THE QBS

  • Winnipeg’s Zach Collaros is 35-32 in career regular season games as a starter – 1-0 this year for the Bombers – and is 3-1 in his career in playoff games (not including Grey Cups) after last week’s Western Final win.
  • Hamilton’s Dane Evans is 9-3 in his career as a starter, all but one of those starts coming this year. He won his first playoff start in last week’s Eastern Final win over Edmonton.

ROSTER SHUFFLE

The Bombers are making just one change to their 46-man roster from last week’s Western Final win in Saskatchewan. Coming on board is veteran safety Jeff Hecht, with OL Geoff Gray moved to the one-game injured list.

3 BOMBERS TO WATCH

#9 Justin Medlock, K: ‘Money’ has hit 20 straight field goals going into Sunday’s game and also connected on his last 13 playoff field goals dating back to a miss in last year’s Western Semi-Final. He is 8-for-8 through two postseason games this year.

#1 Darvin Adams, WR: Over the last three games in particular, Adams has emerged as the all-star deep threat he had established himself as with back-to-back thousand-yard seasons in 2017 and 2018. In his last three games – all with Collaros at QB – Adams has 10 catches for 218 yards and two touchdowns.

#25 Nick Taylor, DB: The four-year CFL vet, scooped up after his release from Edmonton earlier this year, has now started six consecutive games at halfback – the last four of the regular season and two in the playoffs. His experience has helped steady the Bombers secondary and he has two interceptions in his starts, including a Pick-6 against Montreal. Still, expect the Ticats to come at him.

X FACTOR

#5 Willie Jefferson, DE: The CFL’s new Most Outstanding Defensive Player has been held off the stats sheet in both playoff games. So, question is: have teams figured out a way to neutralize this ferocious game-changing force, or does he have an epic performance in him to wrap up 2019? If it’s the latter, the Bombers chances of winning increase exponentially.

CRITICAL NUMBER : 0/+7

The Bombers did not turn the ball over in either of their two playoff wins, the Western Semi-Final victory in Calgary and last Sunday’s Western Final in Regina. Winnipeg has a +7 turnover ratio the two playoff games and has only one turnover in the three starts with Collaros at the controls.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Winnipeg has won its last five postseason games against Hamilton since a loss to the Ticats in the 1989 East Final.
  • The Ticats posted a franchise-best 15-3 record this season. Of note: five of the last six 15-win teams that made it to the Grey Cup also won a title: Baltimore (1995), Toronto (1996 and 1997), Montreal (2009) and Calgary (2014). The 1995 Stamps are the only 15-win team not to finish the deal during that stretch.
  • It’s been stated before, but the Bombers are looking to become the first third-place team to win the Grey Cup since the 2005 Edmonton Eskimos. Since 1953 third-place teams are 5-4 in Grey Cup games, with the winning teams being the Eskimos (’05), B.C. Lions (’00, ‘94), Saskatchewan (’89) and Montreal (’70). The 1953 Bombers finished third in the West, but fell to the Ticats 12-6 in the Grey Cup.
  • In their two regular season meetings this year, the Ticats out-scored the Bombers 41-19 in the first half – 21-7 in the two first quarters and 20-12 in second quarters. In the two second halves, Hamilton has a slight 15-9 edge. Related to that, in the two games played this season, the Ticats led for 99 minutes and 58 seconds; the Bombers just 3:58.
  • Hamilton defensive end Ja’Gared Davis will be playing in his fourth consecutive Grey Cup after playing three in a row with the Stampeders.

QUOTABLE:

“What I love about this team is it’s so easy to come to work. Some days I don’t even need an alarm clock because I’m so ready to get to work and see Marty (Costello, O-line coach) or see what LaPo (offensive coordinator Paul LaPolice) has dialled up this week. That’s what drives me – just coming to work. It doesn’t even feel like work because I love it so much. The guys make it so easy to get better and make it so easy to not get complacent.” – Bombers right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick.