Game Day HQ | Blue Bombers vs. Argonauts

• The Blue Bombers starting QB tonight is 14-16 as a starter, including 4-3 in Winnipeg colours and has a career TD-to-interception differential of 51:27.

• His career best TD total in a single game is five, set against the Argonauts last summer as a member of the Ottawa RedBlacks

• And he could bust every CFL single-game passing record known to man tonight against the Argos and there would be zero flexing, chest-thumping or taunting an opponent, with a celebratory reserved only for in the Blue Bombers locker room around his teammates.

Yup, cocky he is not.

"I like to get excited with our guys," explained Brown during his media conference on Thursday. "I love the game because it's hard and it takes all 12 on offence to do their job to allow the plan to come to fruition.

"I don't necessarily feel the need to go at the opponent or anything because it just doesn't matter to me. To me, that would take you outside of the frame of mind that you need to be in.

"But," he added, "I do like celebrating with the guys because it is difficult and any time that you have success in doing something hard, you should celebrate it."

Part of this is the job requirement, yes -- although there are some outwardly emotional QBs in this league, like Montreal's Davis Alexander, for example -- but Brown said he grew up watching pivots who preached poise.

And that carries over into how he operates inside the huddle.

"I want the guys to hear the play exactly how they've heard it a million times, whether that's in a meeting, in practice," he said. "Obviously, if we were away you have to kind of scream it. I like them to hear the rhythm in which I speak just like we do in the meeting rooms, so it doesn't sound different to them.

"And, also, I don't think anyone needs any extra anxiety or worry about the tone in which something is said because I know that that can trigger people into stress. So, I just try to be me and that's just rhythmic with certain people just making eye contact with them. and then post huddle communicating certain things that I feel in that moment need to be communicated."

Again, his moments of joy are reserved for those who matter most -- his teammates -- and behind the locker room doors.

"Maybe it's just the era I grew up in and observed as a kid," he said. "But I see a lot of guys who are very focussed on what they need to do and are really good communicators with the guys on their team to be able to execute.

"Now, that doesn't mean there's not some spontaneity at times but I usually try to just stay pretty level-headed throughout the whole thing and then when we get in the locker room, you're able to take the cape off and have beers with the guys and talk about what just happened."

Brown, FYI, is 3-1 vs. the Argos in his career with 11 TDs against two interceptions with a QB rating of 128.0. He has thrown for 300+ yards in every one of his four starts against Toronto, including going 25-of-31 for 339 yards with a TD and an interception against them earlier this year.

You can watch Brown's full media conference here:

ICYMI, here is our Game Preview:

And what follows are this week's collection of notes and quotes in a Banjo Bowl edition of Game Day HQ...

BLINDERS ON...

We spoke in the Game Preview of the crazy West Division race for playoff spots and how some players are handling that excitement. And then there's rookie defensive end David Reese, who offered his honest take:

"I ain't going to lie," he began in a chat with bluebombers.com this week, "I don't know too much about it. My mindset is: if we win, we're good. Just keep winning and eventually we're going to get to the 'ship.

"I did see Toronto clinched a home playoff game last week, but I'm still learning about the crossover and all that type of stuff. If you start worrying about this team or that team and everybody's schedule... at the end of the day, when your game is scheduled, just go win your game."

One more from Reese, who is a product of Fort Pierce, Florida and played his college ball at Florida, Syracuse and Cal and the prospect of lining up against Argos' QB Chad Kelly again...

"I grew up watching Chat at Ole Miss. It's funny, one of my teammates from Florida, Drew Chatfield, is in Toronto now and I went to a lot of (Argos) games last year because I was playing at Syracuse and it was close.

"(Kelly) was hurt all last year but I saw him in the locker room and asked Drew, 'Is that Chad Kelly?' and I got a picture with him. It's crazy for me to even be playing against him."

NOTABLE

• Sergio Castillo is on a career-best run of 26 consecutive field goals. That's the 12th-longest streak in league history and just two shy of tying Justin Medlock's Blue Bombers record of 28 straight, set over 2016-17.

• Tanner Cadwallader will be playing in his 100th career game tonight.

• Brady Oliveira leads the CFL in rushing with 1,084 yards - his fifth consecutive season over the 1,000-yard mark. He joined a small CFL group with at least five 1,000-yard rushing seasons in a row: Johnny Bright (1957-61), George Reed (1964-1969 & 1971-75), Mike Pringle (1997-2001), Kelvin Anderson (1996-2003), Charles Roberts (2002-07), Troy Davis and Joffrey Reynolds (2005-10).

• Tim White has a team-leading 820 receiving yards this season and is on track to reach 1,000 receiving yards in 2026 (1,135) for a fifth straight season. Interestingly, he has yet to record a 100-yard receiving game this season and only one player has ever posted a 1K receiving season without at least one game of 100+ yards -- Calgary's Vince Danielsen (in 1997 with 1,174 yards.

• In Toronto's win over Edmonton last week the Argos finished with a rushing total of -1 yard and had the ball for just 21 minutes and 15 seconds -- a league record for the lowest time of possession in a victory. They were also the first CFL team to win a game with negative rushing yards since 1995 when the Birmingham Barracudas won with -2 yards.

REQUIRED READING

The Blue Bombers are honouring the 1988 and 1990 Grey Cup championship teams at halftime tonight, with both teams being added to the Winnipeg Football Club's Hall of Fame.

Check out these stories on those teams:

-We spoke to Mike Riley, who coached both those squads, earlier this season.

-This story from 2017 and Grey Cup week in Ottawa on the 1988 team, which won its championship in the nation's capital.

-And this piece offers a look at 10 Facts about the 1990 team.

ICYMI:

Sam Calvert sat down for a quick preview of tonight's game vs. the Argos in this week's edition of Game Day -1: