The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Montreal Alouettes square off for the second and final time this season on Friday night at Investors Group Field.
Be sure to catch all the action on 680 CJOB with Bob Irving, Doug Brown, and the broadcast crew beginning at 5:30 p.m. with the pre-game show.
Ed Tait of bluebombers.com has compiled this handy list to help you get ready for what amounts to a “must win” scenario for the Blue and Gold.
5 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
1. The Bombers are coming off the second of their three bye weeks this season and trying to stop the bleeding from a four-game losing streak.
Winnipeg dropped both games of their annual Labour Day Classic/Banjo Bowl doubleheader with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and hasn’t
lost five straight since the last three games of 2015 and two losses to open the 2016 season.
2. Head coach Mike O’Shea confirmed earlier this week that veteran Matt Nichols will get the start for the Bombers despite his recent struggles.
Nichols was intercepted three times in the first half in the Banjo Bowl, with two of those picks not only coming in the score zone, but then
returned for long touchdowns by the Riders in a game the Bombers lost by five points.
Nichols has a quarterback-efficiency rating of 78.9; last year he led the CFL in that department with a rating of 103.8.
3. The big news out of Montreal this week is the Alouettes decision to start Johnny Manziel at quarterback. Manziel earned the nickname
‘Johnny Football’ during his college days at Texas A&M, when he became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy in 2012.
A first-round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2014, Manziel has grabbed a lot of headlines for the wrong reasons in the years after,
but has cleaned up his act since coming to the CFL — first with Hamilton before he was traded to Montreal.
The Als are winless in his two starts this year.
4. Andrew Harris lost the CFL rushing lead during the bye week to Ottawa’s William Powell, who had 148 yards along the ground in the
RedBlacks win over Saskatchewan. Powell now leads Harris by 10 yards, at 994 to 984 with both players having six games left this season.
5. The Bombers have won four straight against Montreal, dating back to dropping their 2016 season opener to the Als. The two teams met in
Week 2 this year in Montreal, with the Bombers winning 56-10.
NOTABLE:
The Bombers will add Melvin ‘Fritz’ Hanson to their Ring of Honour on Friday. Hanson helped Winnipeg become the first team based in Western Canada to win the Grey Cup in 1935. He also was part of two other Grey Cup championship teams in Winnipeg and is a member of both the Canadian Football and Winnipeg Football Club Halls of Fame.
Friday is also Teachers Appreciation Night, presented by the Manitoba Teachers Society.
And September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month — the club will be honouring some special families at the game. The players will also be wearing blue and gold ribbons on their helmets to show support for children battling cancer.
NEXT:
The Bombers are on the road for two straight weeks after Friday’s game, with trips to Edmonton on Sept. 29 and Ottawa Oct. 5.
The team is back home again Saturday, Oct. 13 against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, with a 1 p.m. start.
For tickets, call: 204-784-7448 or click here.
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