The Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders lock horns in a West Division battle with playoff implications as the CFL nears the halfway point of the 2012 season.
Calgary (3-4) dropped its second straight home game last week, a 22-14 clunker to the Toronto that resulted in an Argos sweep of Calgary for the second straight season. The Riders kept pace with the Stamps, however, and lost a chance to climb out of the West cellar by losing to the Lions 24-5 in Vancouver.
After starting the season 3-0, the Riders have now lost four straight contests and a loss this week would see Saskatchewan lose even more ground in the race for the third and final playoff spot in the West.
It was Calgary that began the Riders’ slide back in Week 4 with a thrilling 41-38 come-from-behind overtime win that saw the Stamps overcome a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit.
Saskatchewan lost all 10 divisional games in 2011 en route to its last-place finish and, after starting 2-0 in 2012 within the division, has now lost three straight games to Western teams. Calgary is 1-1 against the West and play the Riders only three times this season so a win this week would give the Stamps the season series against Saskatchewan and a leg up on the Riders should the teams be tied at season’s end.
Calgary is currently riding a six-game winning streak overall against Saskatchewan and are on a three -game winning streak at Mosaic after wins of 45-35 and 22-18 last year and 34-26 in 2010.
Calgary is 1-2 on the road this season (the win coming in Week 7 in Hamilton) while the Riders are 2-1 at home, the only loss coming in Week 5 to Hamilton. This is Calgary’s first road game against a divisional foe in 2012.
THE KICKOFF
Calgary and Saskatchewan will kick off their match at 1 p.m. MDT on Saturday, Aug. 25 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. The game will be televised on TSN and RDS2 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 see 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
The Stampeders’ offence sputtered for the second straight home game last week as the Stamps dropped to 2-2 at McMahon. Calgary has scored its two highest point totals (38, 41) of the season at home and its two lowest (8, 14).
The Stamps are now 0-2 when scoring less than 30 points in a game and 3-2 when scoring more. Calgary is actually more consistent in terms of scoring on the road with point totals of 36, 32 and 31 in the three games played away from McMahon.
The Stamps rank third in points scored (28.6 per game) and sixth in total offence (358.3 yard per game). The Stampeders have had more than 350 yards of offence in three games this year (two on the road) and are 2-1 in those games.
The Stamps have averaged 34.5 points per game in the past six contests against the Riders and have scored more than 40 points in three of those games (33.6 points per game in the last three games played at Mosaic Stadium).
The run game was once again an issue last week with only 61 yards gained along the ground, the fifth time this season Calgary has finished with less than 100 yards. Calgary is 2-0 when rushing for more than 100 yards and 1-4 when failing to do so.
Calgary is 0-3 when having less than 30 minutes of time of possession as the Stamps did in last week’s loss.
RB Jon Cornish had only 43 yards and a 3.6-yard average against the Argos and has rushing totals of -1, 170 and 43 yards in his past three games. Cornish had one catch for 28 yards as part of a passing attack for Calgary that saw 10 different receivers catch at least one pass, a season high, after only four receivers caught balls the game before, a season low.
QB Kevin Glenn passed for 292 yards, his second highest passing total of the year, and one touchdown. Glenn is sixth in league passing with 1,541 yards, eight touchdowns and a rating of 95.1.
SB Nik Lewis once again led the team in receiving with six catches for 68 yards, the sixth time in seven games he has had at least six receptions in a game. SB Marquay McDaniel had six catches for 70 yards after being shut out against the Lions and now has at least five receptions in three of his last four games. Combined , Lewis and McDaniel account for 47.1 per cent of their team’s completions, the highest total of any duo in the CFL.
WR Romby Bryant was the only other receiver to have multiple catches as he finished the night with three catches for 50 yards. Bryant is tied with Cornish for third on the team with 18 receptions each while Cornish is the only Stampeder other than Lewis to catch a pass in all seven games this season.
THE DEFENCE
Calgary’s defence was solid again in the loss to the Argos, holding the Boatmen to 22 points and one touchdown. It was the third time Calgary has held an opponent to less than 30 points. The loss dropped Calgary’s record to 2-1 when accomplishing that feat.
The 423 yards allowed marked the third time that Calgary has surrendered more than 400 yards of offence (twice to Toronto) and the Stamps are now 0-3 when that happens.
Calgary gave up 119 yards rushing and 316 yards passing to the Argos as well as 31:30 minutes of possession. That marked the third time Calgary surrendered more than 100 rushing yards, 300 passing yards and 30 minutes of possession in the same game (second time to Toronto). The Stamps are 0-3 in those games.
Calgary sits fourth in total defence, allowing 363.1 yards per game, fifth in points allowed (28.0 per game) and fifth in touchdowns allowed (19).
S Eric Fraser led the team in tackles with seven, his second straight game of setting a career high in tackles (16 in his last three games). MLB Juwan Simpson was next with five — as well as a fumble recovery — and continues to lead the team with 33 tackles (18 in his last three games).
DT Demonte’ Bolden made a splash in his Stampeders debut with four tackles and a sack while DE Chris McCoy took over the team lead in sacks with his third of the season. McCoy also chipped in a forced fumble.
Calgary was held without an interception in the game and is now 0-3 when failing to pick off an opponent’s pass.
THE SPECIAL TEAMS
K Rene Paredes kicked two more field goals to run his streak to 11 and raised his field-goal accuracy rate to a league-leading 93.3 per cent. Paredes is in a tight race for the scoring lead, sitting in fifth place with 60 points, but only 10 points separate the top five scorers.
P Rob Maver hit seven punts and averaged 48.7 yards per punt (the third time he has topped 48 yards in a agme) to bring his season average to 45.6 yards, third best in the CFL.
KR Larry Taylor was quiet, totaling just 56 yards on returns, his lowest total of the year. Calgary is 0-2 this season when Taylor is held to less than 100 yards on combined returns.
LB Deron Mayo took over the team lead in special-teams tackles and is tied for fifth in the CFL with eight.
THE OPPOSITION
As mentioned, the Riders started the season 3-0 but have dropped four straight games to see their record fall to 3-4.
One of the main reasons for the recent drop-off has been turnovers, a key stat for all teams in the CFL this season. After 28 games, the team committing more turnovers has won just three times while the team committing fewer has won 20 (five games have been even in turnovers).
The Riders fit very well into this stat — after three games (all wins) the Riders had not turned the ball over once and were plus-8 in turnover differential. In the next four games, (all losses) the Riders were minus-8 and turned the ball over 11 times.
The top four teams in the CFL in terms of records are also the top four teams in the CFL in turnover differential.
The Riders offence is fifth in league scoring, averaging 25.7 points per game and scoring 17 touchdowns. The Riders are also fifth in total offence but second in rushing with an average of 100.3 yards per game.
QB Darian Durant (#4) is fourth in passing yards with 1,935 yards, fifth in TD passes with eight and sixth in QB rating at 88.9. Durant has not thrown a touchdowns pass in his last two games and has thrown seven interceptions in his past four games.
RB Kory Sheets (#1) leads the CFL in rushing with 468 yards and a 4.8-yard average (six touchdowns). Sheets averaged 5.9 yards per carry after three games but has seen that average fall to 4.2 yards over the past four games while his pass-catching has increased from seven receptions for 76 yards in his first three games to 13 catches for 216 yards in his past three games.
Sheets is third on the team in receiving behind Saskatchewan’s two slotbacks, Weston Dressler (#7) and Chris Getzlaf (#89). Dressler sits sixth in the CFL with 44 receptions for 539 yards and four touchdowns and is on pace for his fourth 1,000-yard season in the past five. Getzlaf has 28 catches for 428 yards (on pace for his second straight thousand-yard season) and is second among Canadian receivers.
Saskatchewan’s defence is solid, ranking third in yards allowed (361.7 per game) and points allowed (23.6) and fourth in touchdowns allowed at 16.
DE Odell Willis(#11) leads the teams in sacks with four and forced fumbles with two while S Craig Butler (#28) leads the team with two interceptions.
The Riders’ rebuilt linebacking crew members are 1-2-3 in tackles on the team with LB Abe Kromah (#52) leading the way with 36 followed by LB Tyron Brackenridge (#41) with 29 and Canadian MLB Shomari Williams (#99) with 25 stops.
THE OTHER GAMES
Week 9 starts Thursday with the suddenly slumping Hamilton Ticats (3-4) in a tough one in Montreal facing the Alouettes (4-3).
Friday Night Football sees the BC Lions (5-2, first place in the West) travelling to Winnipeg to face the Bombers (2-5, fourth place in the East) and the week concludes with a rare Monday night game in Toronto featuring the Argos (4-3) hosting the Edmonton Eskimos (4-3).
NEXT UP
The Annual Labour Day Classic is next up for the Stampeders at home against the Edmonton Eskimos on Monday, September 3rd. Edmonton won last year’s big game by a 35-7 score and have actually won eight of the last 13 Labour Day games against Calgary.
— Mike Hardiman
You can catch all the action on the 17-foot TV wall at Shark Club Deerfoot Meadows, the site of the Stamps’ official tweets-ups for every road game