LABOUR DAY CLASSIC

Stampeders prepare to take on Eskimos

Up by 10 points and with less than five minutes on the clock last weekend against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, it would have been completely understandable if the Calgary Stampeders had decided to run down the clock.

Instead, they decided to try to put the Bombers down once and for all. The aggressive approach paid off, as the Stampeders put up 14 points in the final couple minutes of the game and walked off the field at the end of the fourth quarter with a 39-26 victory.

“I think it’s good, it’s something we’ve been needing to do, finish the job,” said Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell. “Take that dagger, that killshot, and kind of finish a team off.”

Around McMahon Stadium this week, there’s been a consensus among the Stampeders players that they’re excited by the decision to get aggressive in the fourth quarter.

It’s the sort of exciting approach players love.

“It’s always fun knowing you’ve got a coach that’s willing to take chances and willing to live with the outcome,” said Stamps receiver DaVaris Daniels. “That makes football fun. In the fourth quarter of a kind of grind-out game, you take a shot.

“That’s (Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson) for you, and I love him for it. I think guys love that attitude.”

Not every game is going to call for an aggressive fourth quarter, of course, although the fact that the Stampeders are outscoring their opponents 65-29 in the fourth quarters of games at McMahon Stadium this year suggests Calgary fans can usually expect their team to take a shot at home.

COULDBEOUT

It’s not especially unusual for the Stampeders to give Micah Johnson a day-off when he needs one this season.

From the sounds of it, though, it might be worth monitoring Johnson’s health over the weekend.

The Stamps defensive tackle has been a dominant force in the middle of the d-line all year, but sat out Friday ’s practice at McMahon Stadium and it’s not 100 per cent clear whether he’ll be able to play in Monday’s Labour Day Classic. “He tweaked a hip, so gets the other guys extra work,” Dickenson said. “Hopefully he can play, but if he can’t, we’re moving on.”

If Johnson is unable to play, the combination of Junior Turner and Derek Wiggan would be most likely to line up next to one another in the middle of the Stampeders’ defensive line.