By Mike Hardiman
Stampeders.com

The Pregame

The Stampeders renew acquaintances with their division rival BC Lions, with each team looking to bounce back from losses last week.

The Stamps (10-2) travelled to Montreal where the Alouettes defeated them by a 31-15 score. The loss snapped Calgary’s six-game winning streak overall, their nine-game winning streak against Eastern teams and spoiled their perfect 5-0 road record.

The Lions (7-5) were upended at home by the Argos by a 40-23 score and the loss ended the Leos’ modest two-game winning streak. This is the first of six straight games against Western teams to round out the season as Calgary plays two games each against the Lions, Riders and Bombers.

This is also the second time Calgary has played the Lions at home this year as the Stamps lost the first one 25-24 back in Week 6.

The teams have split the last six games played at McMahon dating back to 2011, with this year’s loss coming after three straight wins by Calgary over the Lions. Calgary is 5-1 at home (tied for the best home record in the CFL) and 3-1 against the West while the Lions are 4-1 on the road and 3-3 against teams from the West Division. 

The Kickoff

When/Where: Saturday, Sept. 27 at 7:30 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 suffered their second loss of the season last week, producing the second-lowest point total of the year.

Calgary had been scoring at a decent clip before last week, averaging 34.8 points per game over the previous six games including two games in which the Stamps cracked the 40-point plateau. Calgary is now 9-0 when scoring 25 points or more in a game and 1-2 when scoring less than 25 points.

The Stamps also lost the turnover battle for only the second time this year (minus-3 on the day) and dropped to 0-2 in those games. Calgary is 7-0 when winning the turnover battle and 3-0 when tied in turnovers.

QB Drew Tate, in his first start of the season, passed for only 152 yards in the loss. Calgary has now passed for 220 yards or fewer in three straight games and has finished a game with fewer than 250 yards six times.

The running game is still churning however, with 120 yards along the ground against Montreal, 88 of which came courtesy of RB Matt Walter. Walter now has 237 rushing yards for the season, just seven yards away from a career high.

The Stamps defence gave up 31 points to Montreal and has now given up more than 30 points in three straight games. Calgary has given up 11 touchdowns in those three games, two more than the team had surrendered in the previous nine games combined.

The Lions had 385 yards of total offence back in Week 6, scored three touchdowns, and only had one turnover.

DB Quincy Butler added six more tackles to his total in his second game back while DB Joshua Bell chipped in with five stops. DE DeQuin Evans had a strong game for the Red and White with five tackles while DE Shawn Lemon had three. 

Who to watch:

Drew Tate, QB, #4
2014 stats – 39 attempts, 24 completions, 61.5% completion rate, 261 passing yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 87.7 QB rating
Last game – 30 attempts, 15 completions, 50.0% completion rate, 152 passing yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT,  51.0 QB rating –  Week 13 vs Mtl.
2014 vs BC –  1 carry, 1 rushing yard, 1.0 yard average, 1 rushing TD –  Week 6 at Calgary

Jon Cornish, RB, #9
2014 stats – 75 carries, 587 yards rushing, 7.8 yard average, 4 rushing TDs – leads team in rushing, fourth in CFL
Last game – 11 carries, 174 yards, 15.8 yard average, 1 rushing TD –  Week 12 vs Tor.
2014 vs BC – did not play due to injury

Maurice Price, WR, #17
2014 stats – 15 receptions, 262 receiving yards, 17.5 yard average, 1 TD – fourth on team in receiving
Last game – 4 receptions, 54 receiving yards, 13.5 yard average, 0 TDs – led team in receiving
2014 vs BC – did not play due to injury

Keon Raymond, DB, #25
2014 stats – 18 tackles, 1 special teams tackle, 1 tackle for loss, 2 INTs, 3 pass knockdowns, 1 TD
Last game – 6 tackles – Week 13 vs Mtl.– tied for team lead in tackles
2014 vs BC – 7 tackles, 1 special teams tackle, 1 INT, 1 TD – Week 6 at Cgy. – tied for team lead in tackles

Deron Mayo, LB, #42
2014 stats – 37 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 sack, 3 pass knockdowns, 2 fumble return – fourth on team in tackles
Last game – 6 tackles, 1 sack – Week 13 versus Montreal – tied for team lead in tackles
2014 vs BC – 7 tackles, 2 pass knockdowns – Week 6 at Cgy. – tied for team lead in tackles

The Lions                                  

The Lions gave up 40 points to the Argos in their surprise loss last week, the most points BC has surrendered all season.

The Lions have the No. 2 defence in the CFL in terms of points allowed and were allowing just 13.2 points per game in the previous four games before last week. BC has allowed 20 points or fewer six times so far and has a 5-1 record in those games.

The Lions defence has a good mix of veterans such as LB Solomon Elimimian (#56), who is on pace to set a CFL record for tackles, LB Adam Bighill (#44), DT Eric Taylor (#79) and DB Ryan Phillips (#21) and younger players like DE Alex Bazzie (#53), who leads the team with eight sacks, DB Ronnie Yell (#25) and LB Josh Johnson (#23).

The Lions offence has struggled a bit in comparison, scoring 20 points or fewer five times in 12 games and losing four of those.

QB Kevin Glenn gets the start, and has the dual threat of RB Andrew Harris (#33) and RB Stefan Logan (#10) to work with in the backfield. Harris is third on the team with 40 receptions behind SB Emmanuel Arceneaux (#84) and the now-injured SB Courtney Taylor. Taylor’s replacement, Byron Burnham (#16), had a strong game in his debut, catching five passes for 90 yards and a touchdown last week.

KR Tim Brown (#7) is a threat on returns with one punt-return TD so far and a league-leading 471 punt returns yards to his credit. 

Who to watch:

Kevin Glenn, QB, #2
2014 stats – 318 attempts, 202 completions, 63.5% completion rate, 2,703 passing yards, 13 TDs, 12 INTs, 88.3 QB rating – leads CFL in interceptions, third in passing yards
Last game – 35 attempts, 21 completions, 60.0% completion rate, 291 passing yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 93.9 QB rating – Week 13 vs Tor.
2014 vs Cgy. –  32 attempts, 22 completions, 68.8% completion rate, 277 passing yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 103.3 QB rating

Emmanuel Arceneaux, SB, #84
2014 stats –  44 receptions, 734 receiving yards, 16.7 yard average, 7 receiving TDs –  leads CFL in receiving touchdowns, second in CFL in receiving yards
Last game – 9 receptions, 119 yards, 13.2 yard average, 1 TD – Week 13 vs Tor.
2014 vs Cgy. – 3 receptions, 27 yards, 9.0 yard average, 0 TDs – Week 6 at Calgary

Solomon Elimimian, LB, #56
2014 stats – 98 tackles, 7 special teams tackles, 37 tackles for losses, 3 sacks, 1 fumble return, 2 forced fumbles –  leads CFL in tackles
Last game – 10 tackles –  Week 13 vs Tor.; led team in tackles; sixth game of 10 or more tackles
2014 vs Cgy. – 10 tackles, 1 special teams tackle – Week 6 at Calgary; led team in tackles

Stats

The CFL this Week

Friday, Sept. 26,  5 p.m. – Montreal (4-8) at Ottawa (1-10)
Friday, Sept. 26,  8 p.m. – Saskatchewan (9-3) at Edmonton (8-4)
Saturday, Sept. 27,  4:30 p.m. – Hamilton (4-7) at Winnipeg (6-6)
Bye: Toronto