By Geoff Crane
Stampeders.com

Two weeks into the CFL’s 2015 regular season and the Calgary Stampeders are feeling restless with their 1-1 start – a nail-biting victory over the vengeful Hamilton Tiger-Cats and an uncharacteristic thumping at the hands of the Montreal Alouettes and rookie quarterback Rakeem Cato.

This coming Monday, the competition doesn’t get any easier as another young upstart pivot — Trevor Harris — visits McMahon Stadium with the hot-out-of-the-gate Toronto Argonauts.

Harris, who has already made a very good Edmonton defence appear average and was a participant in last week’s barn-burner in Saskatchewan, has caught the attention of the Stamps defence and grabbed headlines.

While the man tossing the ball for the Double Blue may be on a hot streak, Calgary’s defence is looking forward to the opportunity to not only steal a bit of his thunder but remind the early-season doubters they are still a great unit with their best yet to come.

“We’re moving on,” says cover-man Buddy Jackson when asked about last week’s tough loss.

For Jackson, the best medicine is to come out and have a great game against a hot quarterback to earn back the public’s confidence.

“Basically, we just do what we always do and that’s worry about us,” says Jackson. “We want to be making sure we are executing our plays and just limit his success early. We want to get after him early and let him know that those two weeks are over. It’s a new ball game. They haven’t seen the Calgary Stampeders defence yet, so we’re going to go out there and play football.”

The Red and White will have their hands full trying to limit the ability of the week one top performer who has thrown for seven touchdowns in his first two starts of 2015 along with 614 yards passing and only one interception while sporting a nifty 140.2 QB rating.

Stampeders veteran and middle linebacker Deron Mayo knows Harris is not a one-man show.

“The thing about him, he’s got a great supporting cast,” says Mayo, noting Toronto’s offensive parts such as Chad Owens and Brandon Whitaker.

“He also makes plays himself. We’ll just have to pull together as a defence and be ready to face what they’re game-planning for.”

While Mayo admits it’s not easy to study up on a pivot who has very little film to show this early in his career, he and his teammates are confident they can quickly catch on.

“Every quarterback has their certain tendencies, things they like to do,” says Mayo.

“(Harris) loves his check-downs and short throws. We’ll be trying to limit that and our defence is contingent upon not giving up deep plays. So this week, we’ll focus on that and force him to try and beat us.”

For Jackson, Monday evening’s tilt comes down to being a professional athlete and doing your job regardless of who is on the field.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s Ricky Ray or Trevor Harris, regardless of who is out there,” says Jackson. “We have to go out and execute our game plan to be successful.

“Win, man.  Go out there and win. That’s the easiest way to kill the headline and all the talk that is going on — just go and win.”

Mayo agrees with his defensive brother and boils down the Stampeders’ recipe for defensive success.

“Like Stubes (defensive coordinator Rich Stubler) says, we’re looking to hold them to one point less than the offence, that’s it,” he says.

Come Monday, this restless crew of Stampeders will have their opportunity to right the ship after last week’s loss and hopefully provide some humble pie for a hot quarterback looking to steal the show at Calgary’s Fan Appreciation night.