GREY CUP WIN OR LOSS?
McDaniel could make the difference
OT TAWA Kahlil Carter is protective of his guys.
The Calgary Stampeders defensive backs coach’s unit was the CFL’s best this year. They allowed the least passing touchdowns in the league. Opponents threw for fewer yards against the Stamps than any other team.
By any objective measure, Carter coached a group that deserved to be recognized as the most talented and dominant group in the league.
Then, the CFL divisional all-stars were announced and — somehow — Ciante Evans was the only Stamps DB to get a nod.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who allowed more opposition passing yards and touchdowns than any other team in the entire CFL, somehow had three times more DBs on the West Division All- Star list than the Stamps.
“When I saw the list, I was very confused and baffled,” Carter said. “It was frustrating to me. I coach those guys to be the best at their positions. I expect them to handle things professionally and maturely, and I was kind of heartbroken for them. It seems like Calgary kind of gets a little bit of shade because we’ve been so good historically.”
Looking back on the season as the Stamps prepare to play for the Grey Cup on Sunday against the Toronto Argonauts, it’s genuinely bizarre that several more Stamps DBs weren’t given all-star nods.
The team’s staff will happily point out that Tommie Campbell and Brandon Smith combined to allow a grand total of zero touch- downs on the boundary this year.
Neither guy is eager to pump his own tires too, too much, but they’ll happily talk about why the other deserves to be an all-star.
In general, the explanation for why Smith and Campbell didn’t get all-star honours is that they’re so good that opposing quarterbacks won’t throw the ball their way, meaning they get fewer interceptions than lesser players on other teams.
“If you’re not getting the opportunity, and Tommie went like, seven games without getting a ball, how can you make a play when that happens?” asked Smith.
It’s an assessment Campbell agreed with.
“You’ve got to actually watch the games. You can’t go on paper. We’re not a paper team,” Campbell said. “Maybe this guy had seven tackles and one interception, but the guy gave up seven catches to make those tackles, you see what I’m saying?”
It’s not just Campbell and Smith who should be feeling snubbed, defensive co-ordinator DeVone Claybrooks said.
The Stamps defence was historically great for most of the season, and if the numbers slipped a little bit towards the end of the regular season it was largely because the team had already clinched first place in the West Division with a month left before the playoffs began.
If they took their feet off the gas, that’s understandable, but they also still finished atop almost every single defensive category.
“A lot of guys in our back-end, like Josh Bell, his stats are never going to be that way, but he’s quarterbacking the best defence in the league,” Claybrooks said. “You put him on any receiver and he’s as physical as any safety in the league and is an extension of the coaching staff.”
Fortunately for the defensive back group, they’ve got an oppor- tunity Sunday to prove everyone who voted against them wrong.
The Argos are a team they’ve done a solid job of limiting, too. While Ricky Ray was a most outstanding player candidate this year and the Argos averaged 320.9 passing yards a game, they were way less successful against the Stampeders.
In the teams’ first matchup at BMO Field in August, Ray threw for only 220 yards in a 23-7 Stampeders win. The next time they played, this time at McMahon Stadium, he threw for only 139 yards, while backup Cody Fajardo added 75.
The Stamps can shut this highoctane Argos passing attack down, and there would be no better way to stick it to all-star voters who ignored their accomplishments this season.
“The guys they tried to put in front of us are at home, and we’re at the Grey Cup,” Campbell said. “That’s the point.”