West Showdown - Leos vs. Eskimos
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 6:55 am
Our Leos, coming off their fourth victory in a row take on the undefeated Edmonton Eskimos in a West showdown on Friday night.
Both squads feel that a special season will be about to unfold if they can win this football game.
Our Leos are coming off a wild and crazy win over Winnipeg A very late Ronnie Yell interception in Bomber territory led to Buono's decision to run the football twice and kick a field goal to put our Leos ahead by three points. We then hung on and hoped, as Medlock's 50 yard attempt died just short of the posts to win our first game of the season at home.
But our Leos are not the only CFL team to have won a lot of games in the fourth quarter this season. Jason Maas's Eskimos have also relied on Mike Reilly leading them to fourth quarter come from behind victories. The Eskimos have won four of their games by a combined total of 12 points. The Eskimo record for this type of feat goes back to 1976, when they won five games by a combined total of 19 points.
This game pits our B.C. Lions as the CFL's best offensive team so far this season against the CFL's best defensive team so far in 2017. Our Leos are tied with the Ottawa Redblacks for most points scored so far this season.
Our Leos lead the CFL in possession time, rank third in both rushing and passing yards. Somehow we've led the CFL in points scored while giving up the most quarterback sacks in the CFL.
Nick Moore is our leading receiver so far. He ranks 6th in CFL receiving and Bryan Burnham follows closey behind Moore, ranking 7th in CFL receiving so far this season. Nick \Moore also ranks 2nd in the CFL in average yds. per reception (an impressive 17.9 yds. per catch)
Brandon Zylstra has been the Eskimos go to receiver so far this season. He ranks 5th in CFL receiving and no other Edmonton receiver ranks close to his production. He must be given special attention in this game.
We've also won four games in a row while being only the CFL's 6th rated defense, in terms of points scored against. Our Leos defense is tied for 3rd place in the CFL in sacks and interceptions but we've given up a lot of big plays or allowed the opposition to score too frequently.
The Eskimos offence only ranks 6th in the CFL going into this contest, having only scored 79 points so far this season, less than 20 points per game.
But Mike Reilly leads the CFL in quarterback proficiency. He has a 115.1 quarterback efficiency average. To put that in perspective, Travis Lulay, coming off two 400 yard games has a quarterback proficiency average in those two contests of 106.5
On special teams Ty Long leads the CFL in kickoff average and is third in punt average and if he had punted an average of 1/2 yard more per punt he would be leading the CFL - not too shabby for a guy who didn't punt in college.
But our Leos rank 7th in punt return average and 4th in kick return average while having the CFL's best returner in Chris Rainey, as our Leos blocking on punt returns has been mediocre, to say the least and only average on kick returns.
WRAP
It should be quite a contest - two vet quarterbacks in Reilly and Lulay an d both playing very well, two squads who play their best under pressure in the fourth quarter, and two very motivated teams vying for 1st place in the CFL.
Both squads feel that a special season will be about to unfold if they can win this football game.
Our Leos are coming off a wild and crazy win over Winnipeg A very late Ronnie Yell interception in Bomber territory led to Buono's decision to run the football twice and kick a field goal to put our Leos ahead by three points. We then hung on and hoped, as Medlock's 50 yard attempt died just short of the posts to win our first game of the season at home.
But our Leos are not the only CFL team to have won a lot of games in the fourth quarter this season. Jason Maas's Eskimos have also relied on Mike Reilly leading them to fourth quarter come from behind victories. The Eskimos have won four of their games by a combined total of 12 points. The Eskimo record for this type of feat goes back to 1976, when they won five games by a combined total of 19 points.
This game pits our B.C. Lions as the CFL's best offensive team so far this season against the CFL's best defensive team so far in 2017. Our Leos are tied with the Ottawa Redblacks for most points scored so far this season.
Our Leos lead the CFL in possession time, rank third in both rushing and passing yards. Somehow we've led the CFL in points scored while giving up the most quarterback sacks in the CFL.
Nick Moore is our leading receiver so far. He ranks 6th in CFL receiving and Bryan Burnham follows closey behind Moore, ranking 7th in CFL receiving so far this season. Nick \Moore also ranks 2nd in the CFL in average yds. per reception (an impressive 17.9 yds. per catch)
Brandon Zylstra has been the Eskimos go to receiver so far this season. He ranks 5th in CFL receiving and no other Edmonton receiver ranks close to his production. He must be given special attention in this game.
We've also won four games in a row while being only the CFL's 6th rated defense, in terms of points scored against. Our Leos defense is tied for 3rd place in the CFL in sacks and interceptions but we've given up a lot of big plays or allowed the opposition to score too frequently.
The Eskimos offence only ranks 6th in the CFL going into this contest, having only scored 79 points so far this season, less than 20 points per game.
But Mike Reilly leads the CFL in quarterback proficiency. He has a 115.1 quarterback efficiency average. To put that in perspective, Travis Lulay, coming off two 400 yard games has a quarterback proficiency average in those two contests of 106.5
On special teams Ty Long leads the CFL in kickoff average and is third in punt average and if he had punted an average of 1/2 yard more per punt he would be leading the CFL - not too shabby for a guy who didn't punt in college.
But our Leos rank 7th in punt return average and 4th in kick return average while having the CFL's best returner in Chris Rainey, as our Leos blocking on punt returns has been mediocre, to say the least and only average on kick returns.
WRAP
It should be quite a contest - two vet quarterbacks in Reilly and Lulay an d both playing very well, two squads who play their best under pressure in the fourth quarter, and two very motivated teams vying for 1st place in the CFL.