It’s an important early-season divisional game this week for the Calgary Stampeders as they play host to the West-leading Saskatchewan Roughriders at McMahon.
Calgary (1-2, fourth place in the West) is back in the friendly confines of its home field after a two-game road trip in which they dropped both games by a total of four points. Calgary lost 39-36 to the Argos in Week 2 and, last week, suffered a heartbreaking 33-32 loss to the Montreal Alouettes.
The Riders (3-0, first place) come in riding high as the CFL’s only unbeaten club after they knocked off the defending Grey Cup champions BC Lions 23-20 at Mosaic Stadium.
For Calgary, the 1-2 start is its worst since 2009 when the Stamps also started 1-2. The Riders begin the season 3-0 for the first time since 2010. In that season, the Riders also came into McMahon in Week 4 undefeated and were beaten soundly by the Stamps 40-20.
There are four new head coaches in the CFL this season (three of them rookies) and one of them is Riders head coach Corey Chamblin, who spent three seasons with the Stamps (2008-10) as defensive backs coach, winning a Grey Cup in 2008.
Calgary swept the Riders in 2011, winning all four games played between the two teams. Calgary won the two games at McMahon by scores of 40-3 in Week 14 and 25-13 in Week 17 and the Stamps have a 4-2-1 record at home against the Riders under head coach/GM John Hufnagel.
Saskatchewan actually went winless against the West in 2011, losing all 10 games played within the division. As part of their impressive turnaround this year, the Riders have already improved on that stat as they are 2-0 against the West and 1-0 on the road.
This is Calgary’s first game against a Western team and the Stamps are 1-0 at home so far this season. Across the CFL in 2012, home teams have won 11 straight games and have built up an impressive 11-1 record after three weeks of play with the Riders earning the only road win so far (43-16 over Hamilton in the first game of Week 1).
THE KICKOFF
Calgary is back home for Week 4 and will kickoff their matchup with the Riders at 7 p.m. MDT on Thursday, July 19 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary. The game will be televised on TSN (subject to local blackout) and can be heard on the radio at QR77 (AM 770 on the radio dial and www.qr77.com on the Internet) and on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, channel 157 and channel 160 for XM subscribers.
Fans in the U.S. can the game live via webcast on ESPN3 (www.espn.go.com). The game will also be seen the next day at www.tsn.ca on TSN’s video-on-demand page.
THE OFFENCE
Calgary continues to lead the league in points scored with 106 in three games (an average of 35.3 points per game) and have scored over 30 points in all three contests (38, 36 and 32).
Calgary leads the league in first downs with 70 but is fourth in total offence at 354.3 yards per game. The Stamps rank near or at the top in some other key stats such as red zone scoring percentage (80 per cent, second best), second -down conversions (53 per cent, best in the league, well above the league average of 44.3) and touchdowns (nine, second best).
The Stampeders have 10 first-possession points (to lead the league) and are running a balanced offence with a 55-to-45-per cent pass/run split.
The Stamps’ average starting field position for offensive drives is their own 39 yards line, third best. All this adds up to an offence running smoothly at this point in the season and QB Kevin Glenn will be in charge of it for the foreseeable future due to the injury to Drew Tate. Glenn finished the game last week completing 72.2 per cent of his passes for 267 yards after a slow start in the first half.
The former Roughriders QB (2001-’03) has passed for 478 yards and two touchdowns and leads the league in completion percentage at 75.9.
SB Nik Lewis hauled in six passes for 64 yards to once again lead the team in yardage (and is now third in the CFL in receiving with 25 catches for 264 yards) while Glenn’s former teammate in Hamilton, SB Marquay McDaniel, is now second on the team after only two games with eight receptions for 147 yards after back-to-back four-catch games.
WR Romby Bryant is second on the team in catches with 11 and is third in yards with 119 after he caught a season-high seven passes in last week’s loss. It was his highest total since Week 4 in 2010 against Saskatchewan.
One area of the Stamps’ offence that has room for improvement is the running game. After averaging over 122 yards per game in each of the last seven seasons (and finishing first or second in each of those years) the Stamps average only 91.0 yards per game this year and rank fifth overall. Calgary also averages only 4.3 yards per carry after finishing at six yards per carry or better over the past six seasons.
RB Jon Cornish is still looking for his breakout game and ranks fifth in the CFL with 161 yards on 35 carries. Cornish’s game totals so far this year are 86, 39 and 36 yards.
Backup QB Bo Levi Mitchell scored the first two touchdowns of his CFL career, both rushing majors of one yard, in the Week 3 loss.
THE DEFENCE
Calgary’s defence surrendered 33 points in the loss to Montreal, marking the second straight week the Stamps have given up over 30 points. The Stamps rank fourth in points allowed at 27.3 per game, third in touchdowns allowed (eight) and fourth in net yards allowed (339.0 yards per game).
Calgary completely shut down the Alouettes running attack last week, limiting the Als to just five yards along the ground the entire game. It was the lowest total allowed by the Stamps since Labour Day 2010 (also five yards). Calgary now leads the CFL in run defence, allowing just 54 yards per game and only 3.4 yards per carry.
Calgary did not have an interception for the first time this season but did register four sacks, a season best, and The Stamps now third in the CFL in that category with six.
DT Torrey Davis collected one of the sacks to go along with his three tackles while MLB Juwan Simpson (12 tackles on the year) also had three stops and a sack. Calgary’s six sacks are spread amongst six different players.
Rookie CB Fred Bennett leads the team in tackles with 13, tied with LB Malik Jackson who also leads the team in tackles for losses with three.
THE SPECIAL TEAMS
KR Larry Taylor racked up another 205 all-purpose yards in Week 3 with 152 of them coming on kickoff returns. Taylor now has 795 combined yards (second in the CFL to Toronto’s Chad Owens) and is on pace for over 4,700 total yards. Taylor now leads the CFL in kickoff returns with 17 for 429 yards and a 25.2-yard average.
K Rene Paredes scored nine points to run his season total to 26 (fourth best) and was perfect in three field-goal attempts to leave him at 83.3 per cent on the season in six attempts. The 2011 team leader in special-teams tackles, LB Akwasi Antwi, leads the team once again this year with five tackles, third best in the CFL.
THE OPPOSITION
Two of the main keys to the success of the Riders after three weeks have been the lack of turnovers and the play of the defence. The Riders are plus-8 in turnover ratio to lead the league and amazingly have yet to turn the ball over.
In 2011, teams that turned the ball over more than their opponent won only six of 72 games (two of 12 so far in 2012).
On defence, the Riders lead the CFL in fewest points allowed (12.3 per game), fewest touchdowns (three) and fewest plays from scrimmage (212). Saskatchewan is third in total offence allowed (334.0 yards per game). If the Riders have a weak point, it would be rushing yards allowed as they are seventh in that stat, allowing an average of 108.7 yards per game. They are dead last in average gain per rush allowed at a whopping 8.0 yards per rush.
QB Darian Durant (#4) is fourth in passing with 745 yards, third in touchdowns with four and second in the CFL in QB rating at a career-best 106.0. Rookie RB Kory Sheets (#1) has been an effective weapon for the Riders, ranking second in the CFL in rushing with 245 yards, a 6.0-yard average and three touchdowns. The Riders rank third in rushing with an average of 113 yards per game, part of an offence that ranks fifth in both total offence (351.7 yards per game) and points scored (27.7 points per game).
SB Weston Dressler (#7) is Durant’s main target and he sits fourth in league receiving with 21 catches for 245 yards and three touchdowns. SB Chris Getzlaf (#89) is the other main cog in the Riders passing attack with 12 receptions for 213 yards and one major score. The two slotbacks account for 52 per cent of the Riders’ 63 completions thus far in 2012.
On defence, the Riders have plenty of new faces including two rookie linebackers and two rookie corners but also have some familiar names to watch such as DE Odell Willis (#11), who led the CFL in sacks with 13 for the Bombers in 2011, S James Patrick (#14, All-Canadian in 2010), MLB Shomari Williams (#99, the first pick of the 2010 CFL draft) and DT Tearrius George (#93, a former Stampeder).
KR Tristan Jackson (#38) scored the Riders’ first kick-return major in five years last week when he returned a missed-field goal attempt 129 yards for a major, one of seven kick return TDs so far this season.
THE OTHER GAMES
Week 4 gets an early start with the only Wednesday night game of the 2012 schedule as the Argos (1-2) play host to Winnipeg (0-3). The Bombers are finishing off a four-game set of road contests to open the season.
Edmonton (2-1) takes its show on the road to Vancouver for a date with the Lions (2-1) on Friday Night Football and Montreal (2-1) will take on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1-2) at Ivor Wynne on Saturday night to close out the week.
NEXT UP
Calgary remains at home for a second straight week as the Stamps entertain the defending Grey Cup champions, the BC Lions, at McMahon on Saturday, July 28 at 7 p.m. MDT. The Stamps lost two of three meetings with the Lions in 2011, including a 32-19 loss at home in Week 12.
— Mike Hardiman