Low five: plays that cost Calgary Stampeders against Winnipeg (& possibly beyond)

Photo: Samantha Keen/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

Coming into Winnipeg on a three-game winning streak, the mission was simple for the Calgary Stampeders: win and you are in.

Instead, they dropped a 33-28 decision against the Blue Bombers and suddenly found themselves needing help to secure a spot in the CFL playoffs.

Here are the five plays that, in my never-humble opinion, decided the game.

Stamps forced to settle — 5:27 left in Q1

Calgary moved the ball well throughout the game and dominated time of possession, having the ball for over 36 minutes.

On this first-quarter drive, they killed six minutes of clock over 10 plays, methodically moving down the field until Vernon Adams Jr. hit Jalen Philpot for a touchdown.

Unfortunately for the Stampeders, the play was nullified by a holding call, and the Stampeders had to settle for a field goal.

Despite being the league’s best team at converting red-zone opportunities into touchdowns prior to this game, Calgary being held to field goals became a recurring theme throughout the contest.

Zach chucks it — 4:09 left in Q1

Speaking of recurring themes, on the Bombers’ ensuing drive Zach Collaros leaned back and heaved the ball downfield for a 52-yard completion to Dorian Singer. On the next play, the Bombers would finish the two-play drive in the endzone.

It was the first of five catches on seven targets for Singer, who bailed out Collaros on several occasions and piled up 166 yards in the process. Three of those catches came on second down.

Singer has played five games as a rookie and has collected 380 yards and a pair of scores as a late-season revelation for the Bombers’ offence.

Paredes misses — 13:22 left in Q2

As has happened so many times this season, the Stampeders lost by less than a touchdown. As a result, plays like this one, where future first-ballot Hall of Famer Rene Paredes put a 46-yard field goal attempt off the upright, get magnified.

It was just the second miss of the season for Paredes, who missed the first 10 games due to injury. Winnipeg would capitalize on the miss and secure a field goal of their own a few plays later after another long completion from Collaros to Tim White, this time for 41 yards.

Paredes announced his pending retirement this week and will end his career as a top 10 scorer in CFL history.

Vaval makes a house call — 15:00 left in Q3

While the Stampeders kept their streak of scoring points inside the final three minutes of a half alive, they came out in the second half trailing by eight points.

That’s when disaster struck.

Trey Vaval would take the Paredes kickoff to open the second half all the way to the end zone for the score.

Vaval’s score was both his first of the season and the second kick return touchdown the Stampeders have surrendered this year, despite coming into the weekend leading the league by almost two full yards in return average surrendered.

While there is never a good time to surrender a return TD, already trailing by eight in a playoff-clinching scenario is likely one of the worst.

Adams stuffed — 0:52 left in Q3

This being the final play I chose might indicate the fourth quarter had no meaning, but what it did was leave the Stampeders in a chase position rather than putting them on even footing.

The Stampeders had just scored a touchdown to get within two points. They chose to try to tie the game on the conversion.

Adams scrambled for a moment as the pocket collapsed before trying to run into the endzone for the tie. He was stopped short of the goal line, and the Stamps never got closer than this two-point deficit the rest of the way.

A trio of Winnipeg field goals had the Stamps chasing touchdowns instead of keeping pace, which affected the play calling and meant they needed to take more offensive chances than they might have otherwise.

The Stamps would also fail to score on a later two-point conversion with little time remaining, hoping for an onside kick recovery that also failed.

So what now?

It doesn’t take Dr. Strange with a time stone to see all the ways Calgary can still miss or make the playoffs, but it feels like there are a great many scenarios available.

With the remaining games left on the schedules of the Roughriders and Blue Bombers, the Stampeders could potentially be in the playoffs already if both teams lose out, eliminated with a loss next week if both teams win at least one more game, or eliminated even with a win next week if Winnipeg wins once and Saskatchewan wins at least twice.

All they can do is watch and hope.