By Stampeders.com staff
Here’s a closer look at Friday’s 31-24 road victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders:
Stamps take first step
Even before they had taken the field at Mosaic Stadium on Friday, the Stamps had taken a small first step to their ultimate goal in 2014.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ loss in Ottawa allowed Calgary to clinch a berth in the post-season, with at least a crossover into the East Division playoffs being assured.
By going ahead and beating the Riders, Calgary upgraded that worst-case scenario to third place in the West Division, which meant no long trips to the other side of the country to face one or two of the improving East Division clubs in order to try and get to the big game.
The Stamps have qualified for the playoffs in each of John Hufnagel’s seven seasons as head coach and general manager and overall their active streak of making the post-season stands at 10.
That’s the second-longest streak in franchise history, surpassed only by the 13 straight playoff appearances by the Stamps from 1989-2001.
Heading into the 2014 season, only the BC Lions and Montreal Alouettes had longer active streaks of making the playoffs than Calgary.
Longest current active streaks of playoff appearances:
- Montreal – 18 (1996-2013)
- BC – 17 (1997-2013)
- Calgary – 10 (2005-2014)
- Saskatchewan – 2 (2012-13)
- Toronto – 2 (2012-13)
Drew’s double-double
Drew Tate on Friday became the second player this season to throw for touchdowns and run for two more scores in the same game.
The other just happens to be teammate Bo Levi Mitchell, who accomplished the feat on Sept. 6 in the Labour Day Rematch against the Edmonton Eskimos.
Tate shares the league lead in CFL rushing touchdowns with Winnipeg’s Nic Grigsby as both players have reached the end-zone eight times. The difference is that Tate, who was used as the goal-line quarterback even before taking over for the injured Mitchell as starter, has done it in 34 carries compared to 162 for Grisgby.
The 16 combined rushing touchdowns by Tate, Mitchell (four) and Jon Cornish (four) are the most by a trio of teammates this season.
Cornish cracks top 25
Though he sat out much of the second half for precautionary reasons after a minor injury, Jon Cornish achieved another significant career milestone on Saturday as he moved into the top 25 all-time among CFL rushers.
With 5,957 yards, he moved past Willard Reaves (5,923) and into 25th spot. Sean Millington (6,086) is the next player in Cornish’s sights.
Cornish also took over the CFL rushing lead with 817 yards as he moved 53 yards ahead of Montreal’s Brandon Whitaker, who is on a bye this week.
Rolling on the road
Friday’s win was the Stamps’ sixth on the road this season, matching the best total of away victories during John Hufnagel’s administration. Calgary has previously won six road games under Coach Huff in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2013.
The Stamps have two chances (Oct. 18 in Winnipeg and Nov 7 at BC) to tie or even surpass the franchise record of seven road victories in one season. The mark was first set by the 1948 Stamps and tied by the 1995 edition of the Red and White.
Calgary has 39 road wins since the start of the 2008 season. That’s the most of any team in the CFL and more victories than no fewer than four clubs — Hamilton, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto — have managed at home during that same period.
Immovable object halts irresistible force
Friday’s game was a matchup of the club that had recorded the most sacks in the CFL so far this season (Saskatchewan with 52, an average of almost five per game) and the team that had allowed the fewest (Calgary with 18).
Score one for the immovable object as the Stamps held the Roughriders to just one sack by Tearrius George while keeping individual sack leader John Chick in check.
The Stamps, meanwhile, recorded four sacks including two by Shawn Lemon to move into third place in the team stats with 39 bagged quarterbacks this season.
Keon’s happy returns (continued)
With a 39-yard interception return on Friday, Stamps defensive back Keon Raymond brought his career interception-return yards total to 553 and allowed him to move past Ray Odums (526) and into fourth place in Stamps history.
The only players ahead of Raymond are Larry Robinson (717 yards), Frank Andruski (676) and Darrell Moir (563).
The battle for the team lead in interceptions rages on as Raymond and Jamar Wall, who also had a pick against the Riders, share first place with four picks while Fred Bennett, who also got in on the interception act Friday, has three.
In case you missed it . . .
Here is more coverage from Friday’s game
Articles:
>> Game story
>> Locker-Room Blog: Rob Cote
Stamps TV:
>> Recap
>> Wall pick sets up TD
Photos:
Other: