Stamps prepare for potent Bombers
Drew Willy and Winnipeg’s ground game will challenge Calgary defence
Charleston Hughes feigned bewilderment when asked to comment on the guy who’ll be settling in across from him on Saturday.
“Who?” he asked, brows furrowed.
“Oh, Stanley. It’ll be fun facing Stanley Bryant,” the Calgary Stampeders’ defensive end smiled.
“We’ve played against each other at practice for a numerous amount of years, four or five, so it’ll be fun to actually see each other in game action.
“He’s a handful. I taught him everything he knows.”
No doubt, there will be some welcoming words for the left tackle, who as a free agent parlayed an allstar career in Calgary into a bigger pay cheque in Winnipeg. Bryant and his new squad, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, will provide the opposition on Saturday. Game time is 5 p. m. at McMahon Stadium. “No trash talk,” said Hughes. “He knows what I can do and I know what he can do, seeing as I did teach him everything ... all we’ll do is go into the game and display our best performance.”
“They have a good O- line this year, including Stanley Bryant who came from us last year, right, so that’ll be a little personal,” chimed in linebacker Deron Mayo.
“But they bring an experienced offence that has a good run game going. They’ve been clicking.”
The Bombers ( 2- 1) are led on offence by indestructible quarterback Drew Willy, who survived a near decapitation in the team’s loss against Hamilton to come back the following week and sneak past Montreal.
“He brings a lot of excitement to that team,” said Hughes. “They play a lot different when he’s on the field. You can tell they all rally around him and they believe in him, I guess you could say. All you can do is expect the best out of that team when he’s on the field.”
“He gives a spark to the offence,” said defensive back Jamar Wall. “He’s composed in there and he brings it. If he’s under control and getting things done, they just feed off that. He makes things happen with his legs as well, so you have to keep him contained.’’
“He’s pretty patient and comfortable in the pocket,” said Mayo, “and that’s credit to his offensive line as well. As a veteran guy who’s been around the league, understands the game, I’m sure he’ll do his due diligence and study film on us. But he’s able to create plays with his legs, he’s good at reading the defence and making good decisions.’’
In addition to Willy, Stamps’ defenders must we wary of Paris Cotton in the backfield, as well Nick Moore, currently third in the league in receiving yardage. As well, rookie returner Justin Veltung has done a nice job for the Double Blue.
“That’s a good team,’’ added Wall. “They have a good record right now. They’re playing very well as a group. If you look at them on film, they’re flying around, making plays, and they know what they do. We have to come out ready to play or it can be a bad game for us.’’
Monday’s win over Toronto was more like it for this Calgary defence, which has high expectations every week, and they agree to a man there’s more to build on.
“It’s about consistency,” said Wall. “As long as we continue to be consistent and get better every week, the sky’s the limit for us as a whole. If each person takes their responsibility, especially in the short weeks we have coming up, I think we’ll be successful.’’
“Not necessarily where we want to be,’’ cautioned Mayo.
“But we won the game, so we need to build off of last week. The big thing for us was stopping the run game and we’ll be looking forward to doing the same this week. They’ve got a good back, so it’ll be a challenge. We’ll see what we can do, we’ll try to make a statement early.’’