By George Johnson
Calgary Herald

That opening march on Friday conjured up wistful Montreal memories of the old, magisterial might. Chillingly comprehensive, undeniably ominous; carrying all the authority of Caesar’s conquest of Gaul. Eight plays and 81 yards of ransacking and resistancecrushing under the iron-willed direction of General Anthony Calvillo.

“They sure did hit us in the mouth on that first one,” whistled Calgary Stampeders’ strong-side linebacker Keon Raymond at the recollection. “A real kick in the teeth.”

Defensive back Keon Raymond had a team-leading six tackles against Montreal on July 12.

Momentarily dazed but most assuredly unbowed, the Stamps’ defence proceeded to pick up its lost dentures up offthe Percival Molson Stadium turf and bite back. Somewhat obscured by quarterback Kevin Glenn’s ongoing revival show, and the clinical right leg of Rene Paredes, was the visitors’ win 22-14. Stifle Calvillo and that stumbling Als’ attack in a similar suffocating manner come Saturday and the doubleheader rematch at McMahon Stadium, and you’ve got to fancy Calgary’s chances.

“I thought,” said Calgary defensive co-ordinator Rick Campbell on Tuesday, “that we tackled really well the other night. We always talk about not giving up what we call ‘free money.’ We understand that they get paid to make plays, too, but we want to make sure that whatever plays they do make, they earn everything they get.

“No handouts.” Right now, that’s an out-of-sync Alouette attack desperately in search of a little charity. Just a bit of spare change, please. Calvillo and Co. have produced only two measly touchdowns over the past couple of starts, one at the tail end of a listless home loss to Winnipeg and then the impressive, if solitary, opening drive on Friday.

Other than that, pffffffft! A.C., the game’s all-time leading secondary shredder, has tossed for a sparse (by his standards) 326 yards in those back-to-back home losses, the running game has stuttered, and now perennial all-star offensive lineman Scott Flory, Calvillo’s most trusted bodyguard, has been ruled out for the season after tearing a bicep muscle.

So if you thought the old maestro was experiencing a recurring bout of ‘happy-feet’ in a rapidly collapsing pocket the last three weekends …

“Calvillo wears his emotions on his sleeve, so sure you can tell if he’s upset or agitated,” said Stamps’ super-sized D-lineman Kevin Huntley. “But he does a good job of getting his guys back on track. He’s not a guy who gets all uptight and then his game goes downhill. He’s just on his guys more to execute and play better.

“They’re used to having the perennial best offence in this league and right now they’re struggling, but they still have all the weapons to be great.

“You can’t be writing anybody off after three games.”

The pieces of the once-vaunted Als’ attack remain virtually the same. What’s different is the way new offensive co-ordinator Mike Miller is arranging them and setting them out on the game board. And the Friday, for instance, Calvillo and his two super slots, Jamel Richardson and S.J. Green, looked as if they’d only just then been formally introduced. Richardson snared two passes for – wait for it – six whole yards. Green fared only slightly better: Three catches for 36.

“We just,” explained Stamps’ defensive back Brandon Smith, making it sound as easy as turning on the faucet in the tub, “just went and covered. Stayed in their hip pockets. Gave them the minimum of free-release routes. Just be bugs in their ears, make them fight us offwhen they’re running their routes.

“They’re big, physical receivers. They’re vets. They’re pros. They know their system well and they know how to get open so you just try to go out, be hard on them and not give Calvillo open looks.”

This makes back-to-back unhappy weeks in Montreal, a place used to piling up the points, and winning games, particularly at home. You need to sift back to 2007 to pinpoint the last time the Als dropped their first two on familiar soil.

Defensive end Charleston Hughes got his fourth sack of the season on Anthony Calvillo on July 12.

So that offence remains very much under the gun. And the screws are tightening. The last two starts, it’s seemed a pale imitation of the high-octane unit CFL are so used to seeing, and the head-scratching seems to be on the verge of epidemic proportions (“It’s hard to say,” a stumped Calvillo admitted earlier this week, “why it’s not working.”) Yet the Stamps remain understandably wary.

“They also,” reminded Campbell, “scored 37 points in their first game. People conveniently tend to forget that. We’ve all only played three. Sometimes, especially early in a season, people tend to overreact, in either direction. All I know is they scored 37 in one of their three games. So, it’s not as if they’re completely lost. And you saw them on the first drive against us. They moved the ball pretty well, wouldn’t you say? “So people can say what they want, write what they want.

“I’m not buying into any of that stuff.”

Neither is Brandon Smith. “Sure it’s got to be frustrating for them, the last couple of games,” said the sixth-year DB. “But you look at the talent they have and the history they have and the things they’ve accomplished. One of these weeks, they’re going to explode.

“You just don’t want to be around when it happens.”