By Mike Hardiman
Stampeders.com

The Pregame

The Stampeders play host to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Halloween, looking to continue the Riders’ scary season and keep alive their own hopes of hosting the Western Final in three weeks.

Calgary (12-4, second place in the West) is coming off of its second bye week and won its last game 27-15 on the road over Toronto.

The Riders (2-14, fifth place in the West) looked good early at home against the Eskimos, jumping out to a 21-3 first-quarter lead but couldn’t keep up the pace and lost 35-24.

Calgary and Saskatchewan met in Week 9 in Regina, with the Stamps pulling out the 34-31 win. Calgary is currently enjoying a seven-game winning streak in regular season play against the Riders at McMahon dating back to 2010 and has scored over 40 points in five of those wins.

The Stamps are 6-2 against Western teams and hoping to match last year’s mark of eight divisional wins with two division games to go. The Riders are winless on the road at 0-7 and have only one win against Western teams against eight losses. 

The Kickoff

When/Where: Saturday, Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. MDT at McMahon Stadium in Calgary
Television: TSN, ESPN3
Radio: Newstalk 770, SiriusXM Channel 167
Internet: www.newstalk770.com

The Stampeders

Stamps fans will get their first look at newly acquired running back Jerome Messam this week as the big running back will get the start for the injured Jon Cornish. Messam is second in CFL rushing and could provide Calgary with an extra dimension out of the backfield as he leads all running backs with 47 catches for 464 yards.

Calgary Stampeder running backs have 60 catches combined so far with Cornish leading the way with 19 grabs.

Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell will be facing the CFL’s ninth-ranked passing defence, a unit that is also last in sacks. Mitchell has averaged 265 yards passing over his past five games and has seven TD passes to only three interceptions. Mitchell threw for 303 yards in the Week 9 win over Saskatchewan, one of his six 300-yard passing games in 2015.

Calgary’s defence will have to contend with the league’s top rushing attack, one that piled up 144 yards against Calgary back in Week 9. That was the last time the Stamps defence gave up a 100-yard rushing game and one of only three surrendered on the season.

The Riders have given up the most sacks in the CFL at 56 while Calgary has been hot of late, collecting 15 sacks in the past four games, including six in the Week 17 win over Toronto.

Linebacker Deron Mayo continues to lead the team in tackles with 69 while halfback Jamar Wall is fourth in the CFL among defensive backs with 64 tackles. 

Who to watch:

Jerome Messam – RB, #33
2015 stats – 135 carries, 826 rushing yards, 6.1 yard average, 2 TDs; 47 catches, 464 receiving yards, 9.9 yard average – second in CFL rushing, leads CFL in yards from scrimmage
Last game – 5 carries, 8 rushing yards, 1.6 yard average, 0 TDs – Week 16 at Hamilton
2015 vs Saskatchewan – did not play, was with Roughriders        

Bo Levi Mitchell – QB, #19
2015 stats – 526 attempts, 343 completions, 65.2% completion rate, 4,304 passing yards, 23 TDs, 13 INTs,  94.8 QB rating – second in CFL in passing yards
Last game – 28 attempts, 21 completions, 75.0% completion rate, 266 passing yards, 2 TD, 0 INTs,  128.0  QB rating –  Week 17 at Toronto; seventh game with a QB rating of 100 or more, third in last five games
2015 vs Saskatchewan – 35 attempts, 23 completions, 65.7% completion rate, 303 passing yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs , 97.7 QB rating – Week 9 at Saskatchewan

Eric Rogers – SB, #80
2015 stats – 76 receptions, 1,261 receiving yards, 65.0 % reception percentage, 16.6 yard average, 8 TDs – leads CFL in receiving yards, passing plays over 30 yards
Last game – 4 receptions, 91 receiving yards, 22.8 yard average, 0 TDs – Week 17 at Toronto
2015 vs Saskatchewan – 7 receptions, 105 receiving yards, 15.0 yard average, 1 TD – Week 9 at Saskatchewan; led team in receiving

Keon Raymond – DB, #25
2015 stats – 39 tackles, 3 special teams tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 4 INTs, 4 pass knockdowns, 1 fumble return, 1 TD – leads team in interceptions, third in CFL interceptions
Last game – 1 tackle, 1 special teams tackle – Week 17 at Toronto
2015 vs Saskatchewan – 2 tackles – Week 9 at Saskatchewan        

Freddie Bishop III – DE, #95
2015 stats – 41 tackles, 1 special teams tackle, 4 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, 1 pass knockdown, 1 forced fumble – leads team in sacks, third in CFL sacks, eight sacks in last eight games
Last game – 4 tackles, 2 sacks – Week 17 at Toronto
2015 vs Saskatchewan – did not play due to injury                       

Brandon Boudreaux – DE, #98
2015 stats – 5 tackles, 1 special teams tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 3 sacks, return, 2 forced fumbles, – five games played, one start
Last start – 3 tackles, 2 sacks – Week 10 at Winnipeg
2015 vs Saskatchewan – did not play

The Roughriders     

At 2-14, the Riders are trying to avoid setting a club record for most losses in a season.

They are currently the only team in the CFL officially eliminated from the post-season and, as such, have made player moves with an eye to the future. Gone are veterans such as Jerome Messam, Kevin Glenn and Paul McCallum.

The Riders are playing two rookie quarterbacks in Brett Smith (#16) and QB Keith Price (#19) but do still have veterans in receivers Weston Dressler (#7), SB Rob Bagg (#6) and Chris Getzlaf (#89) to lean on in the passing game. Running back Anthony Allen takes over from Messam behind a veteran o-line. The Riders lead the league in rushing at 120 yards per game and had 137 in the loss last week to Edmonton.

The Riders are last in most major defensive categories including takeaways and sacks. Defensive end John Chick (#97) leads the D-line with 10 sacks but the next active player has only four.

Linebacker Macho Harris (#3) leads the team with three interceptions but the Riders have just 10 total all season and only six of those have come from the secondary. One bright spot for the Riders defence has been the play of linebacker Jeff Knox Jr. (#49). Knox has 101 tackles so and is looking to set a new CFL record for tackles by a rookie (121).

Former Stampeders kicker Tyler Crapigna (#14) will play his second CFL game, his first road game being back where he spent most of the 2015 season as a Calgary practice roster player. 

Brett Smith – QB, #16
2015 stats – 192 attempts, 118 completions, 61.5% completion rate, 1,544 passing yards, 12 TDs, 9 INTs, 88.1 QB rating – seven starts, leads team in touchdown passes,
Last game – 15 attempts, 11 completions, 73.3% completion rate, 191 passing yards, 1 TD, 0 INT,  138.5 QB rating –  Week 18 vs Edmonton
2015 vs Calgary – 24 attempts, 13 completions, 54.2% completion rate, 181 passing yards, 3 TDs 1 INT – Week 9 at Saskatchewan

Naaman Roosevelt – SB, #82
2015 stats – 20 receptions, 408 receiving yards, 20.4 yard average, 64.5% reception percentage, 4 receiving TDs – eight games played
Last game – 5 receptions, 101 receiving yards, 24.2 yard average, 1 TD – Week 18 vs Edmonton; led team in receiving, first career 100-yard receiving game
2015 vs Calgary – did not play

Jeff Knox Jr.  – LB, #49
2015 stats – 101 tackles, 9 special teams tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 INT, 1 pass knockdown, 2 fumble returns, 1 blocked kick  – leads team in tackles, second in CFL tackles
Last game – 6 tackles – Week 18 vs Edmonton
2015 vs Calgary – 8 tackles, 3 special teams tackles – Week 9 at Saskatchewan

Stats (through Week 18)

Week 19 in the CFL

Friday, Oct. 30, 5 p.m. – BC at Toronto
Sunday, Nov. 1, 11 a.m. – Ottawa at Hamilton
Sunday, Nov. 1, 2 p.m. – Montreal at Edmonton

Bye: Winnipeg