Green and White defence anticipates the challenge of shutting down Mitchell

CALGARY Ed Gainey is looking forward to reconnecting with Calgary Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell.

The veteran Saskatchewan Roughriders’ defensive back hasn’t played a regular-season game against Calgary’s QB since 2018.

Mitchell was on the sideline dealing with a pectoral injury when the Stampeders defeated Saskatchewan 37-10 on July 6 at Mosaic Stadium. Nick Arbuckle made his first start for Calgary in Mitchell’s absence.

However, Mitchell will be back in his familiar spot when the Stampeders play host to the Riders in Friday’s West Division showdown at Mcmahon Stadium.

“I love competing against Bo Levi,” Gainey said with a smile. “He’s a quarterback that trusts his arm too much. He’s going to give me and all of the defensive backs a chance to make plays on the football.”

Mitchell also likes the challenge of competing against a veteran of Gainey’s status.

That’s especially true when it comes to Gainey’s ability to pick off passes. Gainey started slowly in terms of interceptions this season, but he has picks in back-to-back games to increase his season total to two.

“He’s very good at making plays and, once that ball is in the air, he’s a receiver,” Mitchell said. “He showed it in (2017) when he had (10) picks.”

Mitchell was complimentary toward all of the Riders’ defensive backs. He said they are physical and can hit, especially safety Mike Edem.

“Edem understands everything like the quarterback does,” Mitchell said.

“He reads routes, understands concepts and what you’re trying to do. Everyone on that team sees your eyes. They all do a very good job of reading your eyes so you have to do a good job of mixing things up and trying to look guys off.”

Mitchell was sidelined for seven games due to injury. He returned on Sept. 2 against the Edmonton Eskimos and led the Stampeders on a four-game winning streak. The string was snapped by the Montreal Alouettes, who beat the visiting Stampeders 21-17 on Oct. 5 despite Mitchell throwing for 464 yards.

“Bo makes a difference because he does different things (than Arbuckle),” Riders’ defensive tackle Micah Johnson said.

“The team plays more confident with Bo and Bo is more confident because he can make all of the throws.”

The Riders respect Mitchell, who has a career 8-3 record in 11 regular-season games against them while completing 19 touchdown passes against 11 interceptions.

“He’s not cocky, he’s confident,” Gainey said. “He knows what the defence is trying to do and he takes what it gives him. I’m just going to take what he gives me.”

Mitchell is excited about Friday’s game because there is so much on the line.

A Saskatchewan win would give the Riders (10-4) a two-game lead over the Stampeders (9-5) in the race for first place in the West Division.

Calgary could move into a tie for first with a win and would have the edge in terms of playoff tiebreakers because they’d have won the two-game series.

“If they beat us, they will be two games up on us with three to play and that will be very hard to come back from,” Mitchell said. “If you want to win this division and have a chance at having a bye week in the first week (of playoffs) and playing the (division) final in our house, this is a game that we have to win.”