Stamps blow it in loss to Montreal (& eight other thoughts)

Photo courtesy: Calgary Stampeders

Through 30 minutes, everything was going right for the Calgary Stampeders in Montreal.

They had forced two turnovers and led the undefeated defending Grey Cup champion Alouettes in Montreal by a score of 23-12.

After the half, the wheels fell off and the Stampeders fell by a 30-26 margin, dropping to 2-2 on the season.

Here’s what I saw from the couch:

Maier struggles

For the first time this season, Jake Maier looked like the QB from 2023. He would finish with just 106 yards on 18 of 28 passing attempts.

It was checkdown after checkdown all game long. Combine that with the screen passes that were called and the Stamps’ passing attack was as anemic as it has ever been in the Dave Dickenson era.

While there was pressure on Maier at times, he avoided being sacked all night and often had loads of time in the pocket.

Crowd noise was also a factor against the Stamps’ offence, most obviously on a play where veteran centre Sean McEwen snapped the ball to a surprised Maier, who did well to get rid of it quickly rather than take a sack.

TD Tommy takes over

As much as Jake Maier struggled in the game, short-yardage QB Tommy Stevens was incredible.

A third-and-two rushing attempt went for 39 yards in the first quarter to set up the first Calgary score, which he took in himself from the one-yard line. Later in the game, he would complete a 24-yard pass to Marken Michel on another third-and-two gamble.

Stevens would also add another TD plunge in the second quarter, his second of the contest.

Tommy Stevens is the Thanos of short yardage. He is inevitable.

Conversion aversion

I would probably need to go deeper into the record books than I am willing to on a Stampede Saturday night to place this into context, but both teams had issues on point-after tries.

The first mishap saw Mustafa Johnson barrel his way through to block a Rene Paredes attempt, which was scooped up by Kabion Ento. The Alouettes DB went the length of the field to score two points for the home team.

Later, Montreal took a time-count penalty on a two-point attempt when they were nowhere near the line of scrimmage. The resulting attempt from five yards deeper fell two yards shy.

Finally, late in the game, after being burned for two huge plays on the Alouettes’ go-ahead touchdown drive, Tre Roberson intercepted Cody Fajardo with a clear path to the endzone in front of him but was caught by the Alouettes at about the Montreal 35-yard line, rendering all that running moot.

The Montreal block on Paredes would come into play later, as the Stampeders were forced to try for a touchdown rather than what could have been a game-winning field goal due to the three-point swing it created.

Battle of the Philpots

It is hard to believe it has taken this long considering they were drafted in 2022, but this game marked the first time the Philpot twins, Tyson and Jalen, had ever played against each other professionally.

Their careers have taken different paths to this point. Tyson is leading the league in receiving yards at this point in the year, while Jalen has struggled to stay on the field with a variety of injuries that have slowed his development as a key member of the Stampeders’ offence.

It showed again in this game as Tyson was targeted 13 times and caught 12 for 134 yards. On the other hand, Jalen saw two carries as a running back, gaining 11 yards, and was never targeted in the passing game.

In fact, Tyson’s totals for targets, catches, and yards are all higher in this game alone than Jalen’s season totals thus far.

Dickenson has said many times this season that he is easing Philpot back into a role in the offence, but the Stampeders’ brass has to be hoping he eventually matches his brother’s output.

Quick question about penalties

There have been a lot of changes in football over the years, but I’m not sure when defensive backs were issued Matador’s capes.

On back-to-back plays, Stampeders defenders were flagged for Montreal receivers running right at centre mass and falling to the ground as a result.

Is the defender supposed to avoid an oncoming receiver at all costs? Why does the receiver own the field?

I recognize that should a defender get crossed up and entangled, a penalty will be called, but that isn’t what happened here. The receiver just ran straight at, and then into, a defender playing zone and drew a flag.

Worse yet, the first one wasn’t initially called, but Montreal won a challenge affirming it. It’s not really a surprise that the exact same thing happened a play later!

I’m honestly unsure how it can be a defensive penalty when contact is initiated by the offensive player.

Defence runs out of gas

The Stampeders held the best team in the league largely at bay in the first three quarters, allowing just one touchdown and a pair of field goals against the highest-scoring team in the league. In the first half, they intercepted Fajardo and stripped Tyson Philpot, recovering the fumble.

Eventually, the Alouettes would break through to score 15 points in the fourth quarter and win the game.

The Stamps’ defence wasn’t helped by the offence, as they went two-and-out on back-to-back drives to end the third quarter and begin the fourth quarter. The Calgary offence had just six plays, two of which were punts, in over 16 minutes of game action.

It’s not really surprising that the defence wasn’t able to keep up late and allowed that late touchdown score. There was nothing left to give.

Bad news on the injury front

After staying very healthy for the first few weeks of the season, the injury bug came hungry to this week’s roster with Dederick Mills, Cam Echols, and Demerio Houston all out for the Stamps.

In this game, they likely lost running back B.J. Emmons as well, who came up lame and grabbed his hamstring in the last minute.

Emmons had supplanted Peyton Logan on the roster as the every game back-up to Mills, so if neither can go next week in Winnipeg, the Stampeders’ backfield will be very short on bodies.

Speaking of which

Coming into the season with Hamilton, B.C., Montreal, and Winnipeg twice on the first five games of the schedule, fans may have thought a 2-2 record through the first four games would be a solid result.

With Winnipeg looking shakey at best, the Stampeders do have a chance to overcome this nightmare schedule next week and begin the season with a winning record.

They took the best team in the league to their limits and that has to be viewed positively. The ship isn’t completely righted, but there are signs they are trending in the right direction.

Ryan Ballantine
Ryan Ballantine is a lifelong Stamps fan and host of the Go Stamps Go Show Podcast. He has been covering the team since 2008.