The Canadian Football League begins the 2012 season this week and its eight member clubs are all vying for the honour of playing in and winning the 100th Grey Cup game in Canadian football history.
The Calgary Stampeders have been competing for the right to play in the league’s championship game for 67 years, with this season marking the club’s 68th season of Canadian football. Calgary has played in the Grey Cup game 12 times since its inception in 1945 and has won the big game six times (1948, 1971, 1992, 1998, 2001 and 2008).
The Stampeders finished the 2011 season with an 11-7 record and a third-place standing in the CFL’s West Division, the 10th time in club history and first time since 2007 that they have ended the regular season in third spot. Calgary lost the West semifinal in Edmonton by a 33-19 score to end its 2011 season.
Calgary’s head coach and general manager is former Stamps QB John Hufnagel (1976-’79) and the Calgary coach has amassed 47 wins as head coach since taking over in 2008. That total is second all time in club history (behind Wally Buono who has 153 wins). His winning percentage is .652 and Calgary has four straight seasons of at least 10 wins under Hufnagel.
Calgary’s opponent in the season-opener will be the Montreal Alouettes, led by their head coach Marc Trestman who, like Hufnagel, is entering his fifth season. The two are the longest-serving head coaches currently in the CFL.
Montreal finished 10-8, was second in the East Division and failed to make it to the Grey Cup for the first time since 2007, losing 52-44 at home to Hamilton in the playoffs.
Calgary swept the Alouettes last season for the first time since 2008, winning 38-31 at home in Week 9 and 32-27 on the road in Week 18. Calgary is 3-1 at home against Montreal under Hufnagel, the only loss coming in the home-opener in 2009, a 40-27 defeat.
Calgary was 5-4 at home in 2011, its worst home record under Hufnagel, but the Stamps still have a 25-10-1 record in 36 homes games since 2008 for a .694 winning percentage. This is the eighth straight year Calgary has opened the season at home and that, combined with a seven-year stretch from 1997 to 2003, makes it 15 of the last 16 seasons Calgary has played their first game of the season at McMahon.
Calgary is 3-2 in the last five season-openers and is 2-3 in its last five season-openers at home against Eastern opponents dating back to 2005. Calgary lost the 2011 season-opener to the Argos.
This is the fourth time in club history Calgary has played its first game of the year against the Alouettes and Calgary is 0-3 in those games — a 22-18 loss in Montreal in 1985, a 23-20 overtime loss at home in 2003 and the aforementioned 40-27 loss at home to open the 2009 season.
Calgary has played on Canada Day seven times (and this season makes it four straight years) and is 3-4 in games played on Canada’s birthday. The Stamps dropped their Canada Day record below .500 with last season’s opening-week loss to Toronto (they beat the Argos 30-15 in 2010 and lost 22-16 in 2005) and have wins against Ottawa (32-12 in 2003) and Hamilton (21-20 in 1998) to go against losses to Montreal (40-27 in 2009) and BC (40-15 in 1987).
THE KICKOFF
Calgary will open the 2012 season at home and the game is scheduled to get under way at 5 p.m. MDT on Sunday, July 1 at McMahon Stadium. This is Calgary’s first regular-season Sunday home game since 2010 and the Stamps are 3-0 in their three latest Sunday home games dating back to 2006.
Calgary’s first game of the 2012 CFL season will be televised on TSN, which is back once again as the exclusive television broadcaster for the CFL and will broadcast all 72 regular-season games as well as the playoffs and Grey Cup.
The game can be heard on the radio at QR77 (AM 770 on the radio dial and am770chqr.com on the Internet) and on SIRIUS Satellite Radio on the Score Satellite Radio, Channel 158. The game is also available on ESPN3 in the U.S.
THE OFFENCE
Calgary’s offence underwent its biggest facelift to start a season since 2005 as the club begins the year without QB Henry Burris (the club’s all-time leading passer), RB Joffrey Reynolds (the all-time leading rusher) and SB Ken-Yon Rambo.
It’s not as big a change from the end of last season however as all three players saw reduced roles with the team as the 2011 season progressed. QB Drew Tate (#4) begins the 2012 season as the starter after he threw for 1,346 yards and had a 94.5 rating in three starts last season, all of them wins including a 32-27 victory in Montreal.
Calgary acquired QB Kevin Glenn (#15) to back Tate up and Glenn is an 11-year CFL veteran with more than 30,000 career passing yards to his credit and was the CFL runner up for Most Outstanding Player in 2007 with the Bombers.
RB Jon Cornish (#9) finished last season with 863 yards and an incredible 7-3-yard average per carry after replacing Reynolds as the starter mid-way through the year. Cornish is looking to become the first Canadian born 1,000-yard rusher in club history. LaMarcus Coker (#1) will see more action at running back as well after he showed flashes of brilliance in limited action in 2011 while Rob Cote (#26) is back for his sixth season as fullback.
Rambo missed six games due to injury (including four in a row in October) and, in his place, SB Landan Talley (#84) managed 19 receptions for 317 yards and three touchdowns. Tate will still have nine-year veteran SB Nik Lewis (#82) to rely on as well as veterans Romby Bryant (#83 — 51 catches, 632 yards, five TDs) and Johnny Forzani (#80 — 41 catches, 761 yards, five majors) to throw the ball to this year.
Lewis is second in club history (behind the great Allen Pitts) in yardage (9,232) and receptions (636) and was named to his second straight CFL all-star team in 2011 as well as his fourth West all-star team.
Newcomers Marquay McDaniel (#16) and Chris Bauman (#89) will look to add to an already deep receiving corps that features Canadians Jabari Arthur (#81), Arjei Franklin (#87) and Anthony Parker (#86).
Calgary’s o-line is intact for the most part with Jon Gott (#63) battling new acquisition Mark Dewit (#53) to take over the centre position full-time from the departed Tim O’Neill.
Tackles Stanley Bryant (#66) and Edwin Harrison (#62) and guards Steve Myddelton (#59) and Dimitri Tsoumpas (#67) are all back in their familiar positions. Tsoumpas is the anchor of the line after being named to his second consecutive Canadian and third straight West all-star teams.
Calgary’s offence finished second in the CFL in 2011 under offensive coordinator Dave Dickenson, scoring 511 points, 51 touchdowns and averaging 386.3 yards of offence per game. It was the seventh straight season Calgary’s offence was ranked in the top three in the league.
THE DEFENCE
Calgary’s defence finished in the middle of the pack last season, ending up fifth in points allowed (476) , third in offence allowed (338.2 yards per game) but last in touchdowns surrendered at 49. Long-time coordinator Chris Jones bolted for Toronto in the off-season and was replaced by former Bombers and Eskimos coordinator Rick Campbell.
Up front, DE Charleston Hughes (#39, 16 starts — seven sacks, 40 tackles), DE Chris McCoy (#90), DT Brian Bulcke (#94), DT Torrey Davis (#98) and DT Corey Mace (#99) are all returning to a line that was unchanged for consecutive games only four times last year. DE Junior Turner (#23) is also a returning player and is joined by newcomer Ken Pettway (#36) to round out the D-line.
Calgary collected 27 sacks in 2011 (last in the league), 17 of them from the D-line. The linebackers also went through many combinations in 2011, fielding eight different sets through the year. Juwan Simpson (#12), the top defensive player in the West in 2010, is back for his fifth season as well as LB Malik Jackson (#11), back for his fourth year. Simpson was second on the team with 55 tackles while Jackson had 32.
Newcomers Deron Mayo (#42) and Chris Randle (#33) hope to make an impact while former safety Demetrice Morley (#31) did play the pre-season at linebacker.
The secondary has also gone through some changes after playing as the same unit for 14 of 18 games last year with 2011 West all-star Keon Raymond (#25, five picks, 47 tackles) moving out to corner and rookie safety Keenan McDougall (#24) looking to make his CFL debut in Week 1.
DB Brandon Smith (#28) led the team in tackles in 2011 with 65 and is back at the defensive half position for his fifth season and is joined at the DH spot by second-year veteran Quincy Butler (#0).
Calgary had 16 interceptions last year (fifth best) with the secondary accounting for all but three of them.
THE SPECIAL TEAMS
The biggest change in 2012 to coordinator Mark Kilam’s unit is the absence of longtime punter Burke Dales, who signed with Edmonton in the off-season.
Former place kicker Rob Maver (#6) will handle the punting chores and Maver averaged 43.2 yards per punt in the two pre-season games.
K Rene Paredes (#30) is back after scoring 158 points and hitting on 77.8 per cent of his field-goal attempts in his rookie season.
LB Akwasi Antwi (#47) led the team in special-teams tackles with 17 followed by S Eric Fraser (#7) with 13. Calgary got its first return touchdown since 2009 thanks to KR Larry Taylor’s (#2) 122-yard missed field goal return in Week 15 but the team is still looking for its first punt-return major since 2007 and first kickoff-return major since 2009. Taylor was fifth in the CFL in combined yards with 1,984 yards.
THE OPPOSITION
Montreal finished second in the East in 2011, winning only 10 games for the first time since 2007. Offence was not the problem though as Montreal led the CFL with 515 points and featured the league’s leading passer, receiver and rusher, the first time in CFL history one team had all three offensive leaders in the same season.
QB Anthony Calvillo (#13) led the league with 5,251 passing yards and 32 touchdowns, SB Jamel Richardson (#18) led the league with 112 catches for 1,777 yards and 11 majors and RB Brandon Whitaker (#2) led the league in rushing with 1,381 yards on 226 carries. SB S.J. Green (#19) is Calvillo’s other main target as he was sixth in the CFL with 87 receptions for 1,147 yards and four TDs.
Montreal’s defence was only fourth in points allowed with 468 and allowed 41 touchdowns and 359.1 yards of offence per game (fifth). The defence was hit hard by injury and, as a result, has had a makeover for 2012. Veteran DT Aaron Hunt (#99) was brought in to bolster a D-line now missing John Bowman (injured) and Anwar Stewart (released).
LB Chip Cox (#11) is the mainstay at linebacker and will be buoyed by the return of MLB Shea Weber (#41) from injury and the addition of LB Rod Davis (#12) from Edmonton. The secondary lost four starters last season to injury but has most of them back except for veteran Mark Estelle, who was not re-signed. Former Stampeder Dwight Anderson (#33) and CB Billy Parker (#17) are the leaders while veteran S Kyries Hebert (#34) was added at safety and should make and impact.
THE OTHER GAMES
The opening week of the 2012 CFL schedule starts off with a Friday Night Football doubleheader as the Riders visit Hamilton to take on the Tabbies, followed by a Grey Cup rematch with the Bombers playing the Lions at B.C. Place Stadium.
The Argos come west to play the Eskimos at Commonwealth on Saturday, a game that features the return of long-time Eskimo QB Ricky Ray to Edmonton, this time as an Argo.
NEXT UP
Calgary heads out for the first of a two-game road trip as the Stampeders visit Toronto to take on Ray and the Argos on Saturday, July 7 at 5 p.m. MDT. Calgary was 0-2 versus Toronto in 2011, losing the game in Toronto by a 31-29 score in Week 16.
— Mike Hardiman