Mitchell stays course despite revolving door of receivers
Mitchell a common denominator in Stamps’ dynamic, writes
It doesn’t sound like the coach of the Toronto Argonauts is feeling much relief over the news that receiver Eric Rogers won’t be suiting up for the Calgary Stampeders on Friday night.
You would think Marc Trestman would considering Rogers caught two touchdown passes and had 131 receiving yards the first time the Argos and the Stamps met earlier in the CFL season. So the Torontonians are definitely aware of what he can do.
But they’ve also watched a lot of tape on the Stampeders and they’ve come to realize there probably won’t be much of a drop-off in the offensive arsenal from their hosts at McMahon Stadium, regardless of who is in the lineup.
“They’re just a talented bunch. They play extremely fast and extremely hard, and there’s no better quarterback in the league than Bo Levi (Mitchell),” said Trestman. “He does it all ... extending plays ... you think he’s hitting the backfield, but he finds a way to get loose and drive the ball down the field.
“It all shows up on tape. We’ve seen it. We know we’ve got our hands full.”
With Rogers, DaVaris Daniels and Kamar Jorden all out of the lineup, the Stampeders are going to be fielding a quote-unquote inexperienced group of receivers on Friday night. Combined, the five starters have 116 games of CFL experience.
That’s just 30 fewer than Argos receiver S.J. Green has on his own with 146 CFL games to his credit.
Does that experience actually matter, though?
Reggie Begelton may only have 15 games on his CFL resume, but he’s had at least 150 yards receiving in each of his last two tilts.
Juwan Brescacin has had a mostly limited role in his 34 games with the Stampeders but came up huge when he was called upon in the team’s last game, finishing with 109 yards.
Go back throughout the Stampeders season and there’s been no shortage of receivers stepping up.
The common denominator has been Mitchell, and while it’s not exactly news to say he’s one of the very best quarterbacks in the CFL, the fact that he’s kept up such a high standard while throwing to so many receivers is astounding.
“A lot of it is Bo. I think we’ve got to realize he’s keeping us together,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “We have a good system and understand how we’re going to attack people, but it’s the players making the plays and the coaches getting out of the way. We do have confidence and someone else will step up.”
On Friday, it will be receiver Markeith Ambles who is asked to step up in his first ever CFL start, although the Stamps will be counting on the other receivers in the lineup to come through, as well.
So far this season, the Stamps have had five receivers — Brescacin, Begelton, Jorden, Daniels and Rogers — finish games with 100 yards through the air.
No other team in the CFL has had as many.
Mitchell clearly deserves some of the credit for that, but unlike the head coaches in Friday’s contest, the man himself totally deferred to his receivers when he was asked about have so many guys having big games.
“It’s more me being proud of those receivers. We’ve had some injuries there that you guys know of, and guys have stepped up,” Mitchell said. “It’s not always just me. Those guy lock in and do what they do. Reggie had a 100-yard touchdown last week, and that was me just putting the ball out there and him jumping over a guy and stiff-arming him to the ground and running for a touchdown.
“He made me look good on that. It’s a proud thing, as a quarterback, to see receivers having success, and it’s not just one or two guys like in a lot of systems. We try to spread the ball around as much as possible.”