NO JOHNNY, NO DRAMA
Stampeders don’t quite look like champs yet, but they beat Ticats as Manziel sits out
It looked like an early-season CFL game.
For all the talk of the Calgary Stampeders (1-0) beginning their quest to avenge their loss in last year’s Grey Cup and about whether Johnny Manziel would play for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (0-1), Saturday night’s tilt between the two teams did not deliver much drama.
The Stampeders won 28-14, and that’s the main takeaway from the game.
Manziel didn’t play, and the Stampeders looked like a team that was understandably working its way into form and trying to integrate a number of new players into their system.
In the end, the Stamps shut the Ticats out in the second half and put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter when quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell found Kamar Jorden in the end zone with 9:58 left in the game.
The touchdown came on the Stamps’ sixth trip to the redzone, with four of their previous opportunities deep in Ticats territory ended with Rene Paredes field goals and Mitchell threw an interception on the other.
To his credit, Mitchell and his receivers connected for some spectacular highlights throughout the game.
The Stampeders came out of the gates looking like a team that was itching to run over the Ticats the way they did in last year’s meeting at McMahon Stadium, when the Calgarians embarrassed their visitors by a 60-1 score.
Mitchell’s very first pass was a 38-yard bomb to Reggie Begelton, who finished with 60 yards by the end of the drive.
The Stampeders defence also managed to keep the Ticats off the scoreboard for most of the first half, but the offence could only put up two field goals.
That meant that when Masoli connected on a 76 yard pass to Mike Jones — who beat rookie corner Tre Roberson down the sideline — and then trotted the ball into the end zone himself, the Ticats carried a 7-6 lead into the second quarter despite the Stamps having been objectively more effective on both sides of the ball.
Then, the game slowed down for a while, although a spectacular one-handed catch from Juwan Brescacin will surely be on many season-ending lists of the year’s best highlights.
Both teams moved the ball and Masoli started finding his feet — he looked like a starter who would keep Manziel glued on the bench — but finding the end zone proved tough, and the Ticats held an 11-9 lead at halftime.
Both teams made adjustments before returning for the second half, but it was the Stampeders who came out more effective.
While Masoli threw for 219 yards in the first half, he finished the game with only 297 yards and no touchdowns. The tough second half all but guarantees that the talk is not going to quiet down about Manziel potentially taking over as the team’s starter.
The Stampeders, meanwhile, locked-in on defence — although there were penalties that they’ll want to clean up. Tunde Adeleke, Brandon Smith and Emanuel Davis had notably good games, while in the second half they finally began to find some rhythm on offence.
Jorden picked up four catches for 77 yards and a touchdown, while Marken Michel had five catches for 67 yards.
Fans had been eager to see Eric Rogers back in a Stampeders uniform, and while he didn’t play much he did have a highlight-reel 13-yard catch that reminded the CFL what he’s capable of.
The Stamps’ running backs didn’t quite impose themselves for most of the game, but rookie Don Jackson added a 44-yard touchdown in the final minutes that made the score 28-14 and brought his rushing total to 84 yards on 11 carries.
For the Ticats, a trip to Calgary was always a tough assignment to start the year. They’re integrating a new system and it shouldn’t surprise anybody if it takes a couple games for them to hit their stride. For the Stamps, there were moments that suggested they really could be something special this year, although there’s work to do.
All things considered, after one game they’re 1-0, and that’s better than last year, when they opened their season with a frustrating tie against the Ottawa Redblacks.