STAMPS IN A BATTLE OF THE BACKUPS
No question, it would have been an unpleasant viewing experience.
Watching game film this week and seeing Noel Devine chug into the end zone? Blame surely would have been funnelled onto Fred Bennett’s shoulders.
Bennett, as the kickoff-team safety, has no lanes to fill. His sole responsibility — making sure his employers are not scalded for a touchdown.
And that nightmare could have easily become reality Saturday at McMahon Stadium. As Bennett well knows. “The player that I am, I would have taken it upon myself to go to the coach and let him know that it was my fault,” says the Calgary Stampeders defensive back. “I know I’m the last line of defence and that’s my job. I know I just couldn’t let (Devine) get into the end zone. That was my whole mentality.”
So instead of a video session filled with cussing and barking, punctuated by humiliating rewinds and painful pauses, Bennett can expect to hear a chorus of hooting. In a good way. By now, everyone has taken note of Bennett’s heroics — racing into the picture as Devine sprints down the sideline, reeling in the Montreal Alouettes’ return man, dramatically slugging the ball out of his grasp, allowing teammate Alvin Bowen to pounce on the loose cargo.
“My first mindset was just to catch him,” says Bennett. “I knew I was gaining ground. I actually couldn’t believe it. Because the player that it was? I know he’s a burner. Once I got close and I saw the ball exposed, I just knew I had to take that shot. It was a winlose situation. If I was to miss that ball, he probably would have scored because I really wasn’t thinking tackle.”
“I was thinking, ‘Get that ball.’ Fortunately for me, I felt I made the right decision,” Bennett continues. “It was a successful play. Just a good little play.”
Good little play? His handiwork is garnering Bennett all manner of attention. Much more than he expected. “A whole lot of reaction, a whole lot of text messages,” says Bennett, smiling. “That was nice — get back in that locker-room and see all those texts. Yes, I’m very shocked ... everybody else is putting more emphasis on it than I am.”
Indeed, only four weeks into the CFL season, some observers have already declared it the play of the year.
“I appreciate it, but it’s kind of weird,” says Bennett. “Honestly? I just thought it was a play. But I realized it was big when I turned around and saw all my teammates running off the bench ... then you can’t help but feel good about it.”
Not that he’s some slouch who got lucky. In 49 appearances in the National Football League — including 40 on behalf of the Houston Texans — Bennett registered four forced fumbles and five interceptions. But this sequence, saving a touchdown in the middle of a record-breaking comeback, does stand out.
Even the man himself can admit that.
“I’ve got a lot of great highlights over my career,” he says, “but this one right here? A game-changer, a momentum-changer and it helped lift this team. I consider that to be the top play.”
Growing up, Bennett never took football as seriously as basketball. Hoops was — and is — his first love.
On the gridiron, however, he had been good enough to play for the University of South Carolina. Good enough to be drafted in the fourth round of the NFL’s draft. Good enough to ring up 62 tackles as a rookie.
But after a 2010 stint with the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Diego Chargers, he was done with the American game. And, apparently, the American game was done with him.
“I got tired of sitting around, waiting on NFL teams to call,” says the Manning, S.C., native.
“I knew I had a lot of football left in me. I didn’t want it to go to waste. I didn’t want to have no regrets. I got a phone call from Canada and I jumped on it.”
So here is Bennett — 29 years old, in his second campaign with the Stamps, and, as always, the target of much ribbing.
Teammates, believe it or not, natter at the six-foot-one, 194-pounder, poking fun at his lack of giddy up.
“Guys always give me slack that I’m slow,” he says. “I keep telling them, ‘I can run.’ And they’re, like, ‘Nah, you’ve just got a long stride, this and that.’”
After Bennett’s recent display of dash, consider their tune changed.
“That proved to them that I can run.
“I guess I had to show them.”