ROUGH RIDE IN REGINA
‘It’s good to refocus everybody’
The Calgary Stampeders may have been beaten Sunday night, but they didn’t look like a defeated group Monday morning.
After a late-night flight back to Calgary, the Stamps returned to the field for a rundown at McMahon Stadium.
To a man, every coach and player who spoke with the media insisted a mid-August loss shouldn’t be seen as the end of the world.
“I think it’s good to refocus everybody; the best learning experience is failure,” said Stamps QB Bo Levi Mitchell. “Definitely get out there and I’m going to find out what I can get better at and continue trying to get us out to a fast start.”
Nobody on the Stamps roster is denying they were beat in all three phases of the game against the Riders, who were the better team Sunday night, plain and simple.
But the Stamps are still 7-1 this season after the 40-27 defeat, so it’s probably a little premature to start acting as if the sky is falling.
That’s especially true because after starting the game with two quarters where absolutely nothing seemed to go right, the Stampeders were much more competitive in the second half.
“People are talking like it wasn’t a game, ( but) our guys fought, we were right there,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “We gave up, basically, two touchdowns on a pick-six and a blocked punt. If we don’t give those two up … it’s anyone’s game.
“We battled back, just couldn’t quite get it to that one-possession game and certainly (the Riders) did deserve to win.”
If this all feels like putting too positive a spin on things, the Stampeders are still sitting comfortably atop the CFL’s West Division and have the chance to pull further ahead in their next three games, when they play the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and then line up for a back-to-back against the Edmonton Eskimos.
Win two out of three and the Stamps will be in great shape heading into the business end of the season.
Here are five take-aways from Sunday’s game:
1. Protect Mitchell
The Stampeders had trouble giving Mitchell the time he needed to find his receivers.
The Riders sacked the Stamps QB five times, but he was under pressure a whole lot more than that.
That’s not entirely the offensive line’s fault and the entire offence needs to be better with its blocking than it was on Sunday.
While starting left-guard Shane Bergman left this weekend’s game early, it sounds as if he was dealing with an ear infection and shouldn’t be out long term.
That’ll help and the return to the lineup of starting running back Don Jackson should have an impact, as well, as his blocking was solid earlier in the year.
One way or another, it’s a team effort and the Stamps can’t allow teams to get to Mitchell the way the Riders did.
2. Get to the QB
Conversely, Sunday marked the second-straight game in which the Stampeders didn’t record a sack.
Nobody should be getting too stressed out about the defensive line, which has been terrific all season long, and the defence as a whole did a decent job keeping the Riders out of the end zone.
But the Stamps are at their best when the D -line is making life tough for opposing QBs and keeping running backs frustrated.
With Matt Nichols, Andrew Harris and the Bombers coming this weekend, the D -line is going to have a chance to shut down a dynamic group and remind everyone of their greatness.
3. Build from it
No matter how we cut it, the Stamps lost a bit of their air of invincibility against the Riders.
Some people were treating them as if they were almost unbeatable and that’s just never the case with any team.
Whether you want to call Sunday’s game a wake-up call or just a timely reminder that it’s hard to win football games, the loss should have every player with their noses in the playbooks and putting in that little bit of extra hard work.
Life isn’t going to get any easier between now and the end of the season.
4. Back at it
Both Jackson and corner Tre Roberson were missing in action for Sunday’s game and while their replacements didn’t play especially badly, the return of both guys to the lineup could make a big difference.
Jackson was electric at running back earlier in the season, while Roberson has quietly been excellent at shutting down receivers out wide for the Stamps.
Their absence wasn’t the reason the Stampeders lost, but it will be worth monitoring their progress throughout the week.
5. They’re good
This isn’t about the Stampeders, but it’s worth giving credit where it’s due: the Riders looked pretty good.
The Regina crew has had its stops and starts this season and is only a .500 team right now, but it went out and executed its game plan better than we’ve seen a Stamps opponent do in a long time.
There’s reason to believe the B.C. Lions are improving, too, so the West Division appears every bit as competitive as experts predicted it would be before the start of the season.