By Mike Hardiman
Stampeders.com

The Pregame

The Calgary Stampeders welcome the Toronto Argonauts to McMahon as the Stamps play their second-last regular-season game against an East Division team in 2014.

Calgary completed its third straight season sweep of provincial rivals Edmonton with a 41-34 win last week and remains in first place in the West with an impressive 9-1 record.

This is the first time since 2010 that the Stamps have had nine wins in their first 10 games. The Stamps were 8-2 after 10 games last season.

The good ship Argo has been taking on water of late, losing a tough one 14-13 to Hamilton two weeks ago (Toronto had the bye last week) and is currently in the midst of a three-game losing streak.

Toronto is tied with Montreal for first in the East with a 3-7 record and one of those seven losses came at the hands of the Stampeders, a 34-15 loss in Week 3 at home. Calgary has lost three straight games to the Double Blue at McMahon with its last win at home coming back in Week 1 of 2010.

Calgary is 4-1 at home this year and is a perfect 6-0 against Eastern clubs while the Argos are 1-5 on the road and are 2-5 against the West. 

The Kickoff

When/Where: Saturday, Sept. 13 at 5 p.m. MDT at McMahon Stadium in Calgary
Television: TSN, ESPN3
Radio: News Talk 770, SiriusXM 167
Internet: www.newstalk770.com

The Stampeders

The Stamps turned in another typical game in last week’s win over Edmonton from a statistical point of view.

The Stamps totaled 378 yards of offence (compared to their season average of 358 yards per game) powered by 162 yards rushing. Calgary has now averaged 160.3 yards rushing per game over its past three games but the 216 passing yards put up by QB Bo Levi Mitchell was the second-lowest single game passing total of the year.

Mitchell did spread the ball around effectively once again, hitting at least eight different receivers for the second straight game highlighted by SB Marquay McDaniel‘s season-best 124 receiving yards. It was McDaniel’s second 100-yard receiving game this season (he also had two in 2013).

RB Jon Cornish also topped the century mark in rushing — 109 yards — for the second straight week and now sits only 211 yards out of the league lead. Cornish had eight 100-yard rushing games in 2013 including a streak of four straight.

Calgary’s defence did bend a bit, surrendering a season-high 34 points and 376 yards passing and giving up more than 400 yards of total offence for the fourth time.

However, Calgary won the turnover battle again, (plus-2), and were led on defence by CB Buddy Jackson, who led the team in tackles with seven, and DE Shawn Lemon who picked up two more sacks and a forced fumble.

DB Jamar Wall had five tackles as well as two pass knockdowns. Wall and DB Brandon Smith will both be in the spotlight should Toronto’s twin slotback threats of Chad Owens and Andre Durie return to the lineup. 

Who to watch:

Bo Levi Mitchell, QB, #19
2014 stats – 289 attempts, 180 completions, 62.3% completion rate, 2,426 passing yards, 15 TDs, 4 INTs, 100.5 QB rating – leads CFL in QB rating, second in touchdowns passes, third in passing yardage
Last game – 24 attempts, 14 completions, 58.3% completion rate, 216 passing yards, 2 TDs , 0 INT, 116.0 QB rating – Week 11 versus Edmonton
2014 vs Tor. –  24 attempts, 16 completions, 66.7% completion rate, 267 passing yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, 159.0 QB – Week 3 at Toronto

Jon Cornish, RB, #9
2014 stats – 64 carries, 413 yards rushing, 6.5 yard average, 3 rushing TDs – leads team in rushing, seventh in CFL
Last game – 17 carries, 109 yards, 6.4-yard average, 1 TD – Canadian player of the week –  Week 11 vs Edm.; second straight game with more than 100 rushing yards
2014 vs Tor. – did not play due to injury

Marquay McDaniel, SB, #16
2014 stats –  41 receptions, 614 receiving yards, 15.0 yard average,  4  receiving TDs  – leads team in receiving, third in CFL receiving
Last game –  4 receptions, 124 yards, 31.0 yard average, 1 receiving TD – Week 11 vs Edm.; led team in receiving
2014 vs Tor. – 3  receptions, 50 receiving yards, 16.6 yard average, 1 receiving TD – Week 3 at Toronto

Shawn Lemon, DE, #40
2014 stats – 16 tackles, 3 tackles for losses, 6 sacks, 3 forced fumbles – second on team in sacks, tied for fourth in CFL
Last game – 1 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble – Week 11 vs Edm.
2014 vs Tor. – no stats – Week 3 at Toronto

Brandon Smith, DB, #28
2014 stats – 46 tackles, 2 special teams tackles,  2 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 pass knockdown, 1 forced fumble – leads team in tackles, fifth in CFL
Last game – 6 tackles, 1 pass knockdown – Week 11 vs Edm.
2014 vs Tor. – 4 tackles, 1 special teams tackle – Week 3 at Toronto

The Argonauts                                     

Toronto has only three wins this season and turnovers are the main culprit. The Argos’ offensive stats are comparable to Calgary’s, the league’s only nine-win team, and the Argos actually lead the CFL in passing yards per game, but with 29 giveaways in 10 games, Toronto averages almost two turnovers a game more than Calgary.

Toronto had its second best passing and third best total offence totals against Calgary in Week 3 with 363 and 427 yards respectively. QB Ricky Ray (#15) continues to sling the football, passing 50,000 career yards in the loss to Hamilton, but has suffered from a lack of running game and injuries to most of his starting receiving corps.

The Argos have tried three different running backs thus far with Curtis Steele (#29) leading the team but sitting ninth amongst CFL running backs. SB Chad Owens (#2) was leading the CFL in receiving before going down with an injury after Week 3 and averages 8.8 catches per game in only four games played.

The Argos hope to get injured SB Andre Durie (#32) back for this game as well as Owens.

Toronto’s defence is also solid but sits second-last in takeaways and dead last in points allowed per game. Rookie DE Tristan Okpalaugo (#91) leads the team with eight sacks while veterans DB Jalil Carter (#19) and MLB Shea Emry (#41) sit one-two in tackles.

Carter also has five sacks, a league-high for a defensive back. LB Shane Horton (#27) is also having a steady season for the Boatmen, sitting third on the team with 29 tackles. 

Who to watch:

Ricky Ray, QB, #15
2013 stats – 360 attempts, 237 completions, 65.8% completion rate, 2,584 passing yards, 16 TDs,  10 INTs, 90.1 QB rating – led CFL in touchdown passes, second in passing yards
Last game – 29 attempts, 16 completions, 58.1% completion rate, 142 passing yards, 1 TD , 1 INT,  65.3 QB rating – Week 10 vs Ham.
2014 vs Cgy. –  36 attempts, 28 completions, 77.8% completion rate, 292 passing yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 140.3 QB rating – Week 3 at Toronto

Curtis Steele, RB, #29
2014 stats – 59 carries, 338 yards rushing, 5.7 yard average, 3 rushing TDs – leads team in rushing, ninth in CFL
Last game – 2 carries, 6 yards rushing , 3.0 yard average, 0 rushing TDs –  Week 10 versus Hamilton
2014 vs Cgy. – 1 carry, 4 yards rushing, 4.0 yard average – Week 3 at Toronto

Tristan Okpalaugo, DE, #91
2014 stats – 21 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 8 sacks, 1 INT,  3 pass knockdowns, 1 fumble return – leads team in sacks, second in CFL
Last game – 3 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble – Week 10 vs Ham.
2014 vs Cgy. – no stats – Week 3 at Toronto

Stats

The CFL this Week

Friday, Sept. 12,  7 p.m. – Montreal (3-7) at Edmonton (7-3)
Saturday, Sept. 13,  8 p.m. – Winnipeg (6-5) at BC (6-4)
Sunday, Sept. 14,  11 a.m. – Saskatchewan (8-2) at Hamilton (2-7)
Bye: Ottawa