Hungry Ticats playing for their lives
Stampeders expect riled-up Tiger-Cats after pummelling Hamilton 60-1 in July
Forget 60-1. Flush it down the toilet. Leave it in the past. Pretend it never happened.
The Calgary Stampeders (12-1-1) may have decimated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (4-10-0) by that score July 29, but nobody around the McMahon Stadium locker-room this week was placing even an ounce of significance in the result as they prepare for Friday’s tilt in southern Ontario (5 p.m., TSN).
The Ticats have a new head coach in June Jones, a new starting quarterback in Jeremiah Masoli and will be fighting for their playoff lives when they step onto the turf at Tim Hortons Field.
“We didn’t mention that score once this week, it means nothing,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “It will have no impact on the game on our end or their end, in my opinion, (although) they might want to come back and (avenge) something out there.
“The game is so far long removed anyways. The season, every team just kind of progresses one way or another. We’ve gotten better, too. We’re a better team than we were at 60-1, but the score will not be in that realm.”
With the Ticats knocking off the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last weekend, they’re unlikely to sneak up on the Stampeders. If a team’s beating the No. 2 seed in the West, nobody’s going to treat them like pushovers.
It’s not just last weekend’s big win, either. Since taking over from Kent Austin, Jones has led the Tiger-Cats to a 4-2 record. If his team wins Friday, Jones’ .714 winning percentage will be the best for a coach who took over at mid-season since Adam Rita took charge of the B.C. Lions in 2002.
All of that is secondary, though, to the fact that if the Ticats lose and the Ottawa Redblacks win this weekend, Hamilton will be eliminated from the playoffs.
They’re going to be playing desperate football and the Stamps know it.
“I think we know what we’re facing,” said Stamps QB Bo Levi Mitchell. “We’re facing somebody desperate and somebody who has something on the line and wants to take everything they can from you.
“We don’t have anything wrapped up or anything like that right now besides just a playoff position. We have to answer with that same physicality, that same desperation, that same passion and want to get out there and get a W. It can’t just be because you want to win, there’s things out there riding on the line.”
The Stampeders are going to need to get used to playing desperate opponents over the next couple weeks, so Friday’s game should act as a litmus test to how they respond.
While the Stamps are closing in on locking up first place in the West Division — a win combined with a Bombers loss will clinch it — the rest of their schedule features games against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Edmonton Eskimos and Bombers. All three teams are scratching and clawing for high seeds in the playoffs.
On paper, those are all games the Stamps should win and so is Friday.
The Stamps are leading the CFL in both points scored (33.1 per game) and points allowed (17.3 per game), while the Ticats have scored the second fewest points (21.9) and have allowed the most (32.9).
But the numbers don’t tell the full story and even with the Stamps getting running back Jerome Messam and receivers Kamar Jorden and DaVaris Daniels back, they’re not expecting any sort of blowout.
“It will be a tight ball game in my opinion,” Dickenson said. “It will be a physical game, one that should be an exciting game the fans should look forward to.”