Every year, the CFL punditry is eager to tell you that this will finally be the year that the Calgary Stampeders will fade into playoff obscurity and finally surrender their 17-year streak of consecutive postseason berths.
After four games, the Stampeders were limping into Regina with a 1-3 record. The hometown Roughriders had a chance to put an early boot on the necks of their rival’s playoff hopes by winning the season series and effectively giving themselves a three-and-a-half game cushion in the West Division standings.
The Stampeders haven’t built this streak without adversity, however, and showed the league that reports of their demise may yet be greatly exaggerated, winning 33-31 in front of more than 28,000 fans.
It was a game the Stampeders dominated offensively and defensively, but a few choice plays forced a walk-off field goal from Rene Paredes to seal the victory.
Here is what I heard from sunny Florida, after making my family leave Disneyworld to get back to the hotel in time to listen to the game on an internet radio feed.
Maier’s best game of the year
Jake Maier has looked nothing like the quarterback who supplanted the CFL’s all-time winning percentage leader last season but in this game, he completed 26-of-37 attempts for 315 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
While the interception was an ill-advised throw into coverage that was batted about before being caught, Maier was largely on target in this game. He even threw the ball deep on more than a few occasions, differing from what we’d seen from the offence through the first four games of the year.
“I know the results haven’t been looking the way they should early in the year, but I always felt like we were improving and we are getting to things that we are successful at,” Maier told reporters after the game, continuing to bear responsibility for the team’s record.
“It was always just a matter of making plays. Whether I would miss them, or they wouldn’t come down with them, tonight we came down with just about all of them and if we didn’t, it was probably my fault.”
Maier would find Luther Hakunavanhu and Reggie Begelton on deep throws that turned into vital points for the team. It’s an aspect of the offence that has been missing.
If Maier has begun to develop the chemistry needed to complete the deep ball, Calgary’s offence just became significantly more dangerous. Given their potent run attack, the play-action deep ball could be a substantial weapon going forward.
Maier spreads it around
Another hallmark of Maier’s success in the game was markable on the scoresheet as nine receivers caught passes, an indication that he isn’t locked into any one specific route or pass catcher.
Given his lineage and who he replaced, one forgets that Maier is still developing but if he can duplicate this result week in and week out, the Stampeders coaching staff will be overjoyed.
Mills finds endzone on otherwise quiet day
The passing game was going well enough for the Stampeders that Dederick Mills had fewer touches than he needs to become effective, getting 11 carries for just 36 yards.
Situationally though, Mills did often get the yards required when asked to handle the ball, including a three-yard score in the fourth quarter to put Calgary up 10 early in the fourth quarter.
Mills has arguably been the most successful player for the Stampeders out of the gate this year, and when Ka’Deem Carey comes back, it may shape up to have them both on the field at the same time, something that hasn’t yet been done. This may be made possible because…
Tommylee Lewis is fast, man, like real fast…
The Calgary Stampeders had American receiver Tommylee Lewis on their negotiation list for nearly seven years and saw almost nothing from him in training camp due to injuries. In his first CFL game, he certainly rewarded that patience!
Lewis would secure his first touchdown catch in the second quarter and had a brilliant return touchdown wiped off the board due to a penalty. It was an auspicious debut, to say the least.
Lewis stepping in for Peyton Logan as a return man does offer some intriguing possibilities from a roster perspective and could help get some more dangerous weapons on the field, including the possibility of seeing both Dederick Mills and a healthy Ka’Deem Carey.
Stampeders lead sack parade to seventh heaven
Calgary has spent the past decade or so at or near the top of the league’s sack race, and after the performance the defensive line made in this game, they are back in the conversation.
The Stampeders combined for seven total sacks, including two each from James Vaughters, Mike Rose, and Julian Howsare. Cameron Judge also got in on the action from the linebacker spot.
Pressure on the quarterback was in short supply previously, but the Stampeders’ defence made life miserable for Riders’ quarterbacks Trevor Harris and Mason Fine.
Maier also under pressure
Maier made the most of his opportunities in this game but he was under a lot of pressure of his own. The quarterback managed to avoid getting sacked for most of the game, getting taken down just once, but he did receive several hard hits throughout.
“I did not think our front played well, our O-line and our backs. Jake took too many hits. They looked explosive and were running a certain game, a twist inside we were struggling with,” Dickenson said.
Maier had a different outlook, however.
“You don’t get 300 yards passing without great protection, period. I thought tonight was their best game.”
The offensive line has battled through changing personnel at the tackle and guard positions due to injuries, and as yet has struggled to see consistency in pass blocking. They’ll need to do a better job giving Maier time to check his read progressions and get the ball downfield.
Defence keeps Harris in check
Trevor Harris was forced to leave the game in the fourth quarter with what looked like a pretty ugly injury and obviously, we wish him a fast recovery.
That said, before Harris was forced to leave the game, the Stampeders had stymied the league’s second-best passer this season, holding him to 115 yards on 16-of-22 attempts.
Harris was constantly on the run and when he wasn’t didn’t have much to throw at, forcing him into shallow completions that went nowhere.
The DBs giveth, but fail to takeaway
With the praise the DBs earned for limiting Harris, the flip side of the coin also landed on the final drive of the game for the Riders.
Tre Roberson was called for a 15-yard penalty and shortly thereafter, a desperation heave from Riders’ backup QB Mason Fine effectively hit Jonathan Moxey square in the chest. Instead of just knocking the third-down ball to the ground, Moxey chose to go for the interception, tipping the ball into the waiting arms of Saskatchewan receiver Tevin Jones, who waltzed into the endzone to give Saskatchewan the lead with less than a minute to play.
“You’ve just got to bat it down. I can hear my wife saying, ‘Knock it down, knock it down!’ I can hear Tammy saying that because that’s what you do. You knock it down,” said Dickenson after the game. “I was pissed off and I couldn’t believe it, but the next thing you do is take a breath and go win the game.”
The error could have turned joy into tragedy if not for…
The Greatest CFL Kicker to ever put on a pair of cleats
Rene Paredes is the best CFL kicker ever. Anyone who tries to say anything differently is wrong. Paredes went four-for-four on the night and is still consistently and constantly being asked to hit 50-yard field goals to win games.
Paredes got his team to overtime a few weeks ago and saved his team from a morale-draining loss in this game as he hit another long bomb to get Calgary a victory.
The walk-off buzzer-beater was the 10th of Paredes’ career, more than half of which have come from 43 yards out or more.
Paredes missed his first two kicks of the season and one since, but there is none better when the game is being played, let alone on the line. He is closing in on 2,000 career points and should be a first-ballot hall of famer, without question.
Hakunavahnu means “I’m open!”
Luther Hakunavanhu is rounding into a solid deep threat for the Stampeders, gathering a game-high 94 yards worth of real estate on five catches, including the aforementioned deep ball from Maier to set up a field goal in the second quarter.
Hakunavanhu was back in the lineup after being injured and is showing a nose for the endzone, as he collected a touchdown near the end of the first half. The Canadian was wide open on the play and made no mistake hauling it in.
Drafted in 2021 and forcing his way onto the team with a great training camp that year, Hakunavanhu is only getting better in season three.
Super Mario turns Stamps cover teams into goombas
Mario Alford put up a pair of return touchdowns that made this game seem a heck of a lot closer than it was.
The first score of the game belonged to Alford in the first quarter and forced the Stampeders into a chase position, despite largely keeping the Saskatchewan offence at bay.
Alford would find paydirt again in the second half and breathe further life into a Riders team that was being dominated everywhere but the scoreboard thanks to Mario’s heroics.
Unfortunately for the dynamic returner, given the result of the game, it turns out the princess is still in another castle.
Lies, damn lies, and statistics
The league has taken a beating here and on social media for the broken stats system and it is completely deserved.
The system is getting better, although it lags badly at times, and still has some mighty flaws.
It does provide some comic relief as well, as the Stamps and Riders apparently committed 486 and 2003 turnovers respectively as of this writing — a stunning 60-minute total!
Again, we need to emphasize though, not a failure. Right, Randy?
