Stamps hobble into rematch with Esks
No fewer than six lineup changes are expected in wake of Labour Day injuries
Five days ago, the Calgary Stampeders received a remarkably clean bill of health heading into the Labour Day Classic. Their good fortune didn’t last. Heading into Monday’s win over the Edmonton Eskimos, the Stampeders fielded an unchanged lineup from the one that beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers a week earlier.
The team that takes the field at Commonwealth Stadium Saturday for the rematch against the Eskimos looks very different.
In total, six players have been replaced on the active roster. In and of itself, that’s not especially unusual.
But it’s a group that includes some big names who do big jobs for the Stamps.
All-star corner Ciante Evans is out of the lineup along with starting running back Don Jackson, leading receiver Kamar Jorden, starting centre Ucambre Williams, as well as special teams dynamos Michael Kashak and Charlie Power.
The replacements are ready to go, but it has been a tough week.
“It’s one of those tough turnarounds. It hurt us, it seems, with some of our best players,” said Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson. “We lost, basically, our top special teams guy Charlie Power, we lost our running back, our top corner. They lost some guys, too. It’s one of those thing where we need to play back-to-back so fast that the body can’t heal.”
There’s really no way of getting around the fact the Stampeders are beat-up heading into Saturday.
Key players at key positions are missing and while the likes of Romar Morris at running back, Reggie Begelton at receiver and Tay Glover-Wright at corner are absolutely capable of doing the job, they shouldn’t be expected to perform at the all-star levels the guys they’re replacing were playing at.
While he might not play quite as high profile a position as the others, Williams’ absence may hurt just as much as any of the others.
While the Stamps knew there was a good chance most of the guys who have been removed from the active roster wouldn’t be available for Saturday’s game, Williams was available until the very last second.
“Ucambre was very unexpected,” Dickenson said. “He got hit on the knee yesterday at the end of practice and it just swelled up, so this morning we showed up and we had a little insight that it might be a problem, but he got ruled out at 8:28 (a.m.) and we started our day at 8:30, so it’s been a bit of a wild ride that way. I thought he was our best guy last week, I thought he played well.”
In Williams’ place, Spencer Wilson will be starting at centre on the offensive line, while 2018 firstround draft pick Ryan Sceviour will get his first action as the sixth man in the unit.
Over the last couple seasons, Wilson has been the ultimate utility man for the Stampeders and has essentially played every position, including centre.
“Against Edmonton, too, which is interesting,” Dickenson said. “It’s a tough matchup. They’ve got great size and strength in there and they’re also very low to the ground … Spencer’s got his hands full.”
As far as the long-term implications of the injuries, Jorden is done for the season after having surgery on his injured knee Thursday, but Jackson and Evans were both fighting to be in the lineup this week and were placed on the one-game injured list, while Williams’ immediate future is unknown until the results of his MRI are known.
SCEVIOUR GET HIS SHOT
As far as Sceviour goes, he has been included on the roster for every game this season, but has been inactive on game days.
The former University of Calgary Dinos standout was selected eighth overall in the draft earlier this year and while he has had to fight for a job behind a group of established veterans, that doesn’t mean he’s not ready to contribute.
“He’s chomping at the bit,” Dickenson said. “When the guy that played the best last week is the guy that’s not in there, that’s certainly not going to make your team better, but we’ll adjust. One man’s opportunity is another man’s injury.”
DON’T EXPECT IT
Eskimos head coach Jason Maas is insisting the Eskimos won’t be going after Glover-Wright or any of the guys who are stepping in for injured Stampeders.
It’s a line of thinking that has been repeated around the Eskimos team this week and Maas explained why Friday.
“The thing I always say about players is this: when the backup goes in, there’s a reason the starter was in there to begin with, but everyone was a backup at some point,” Maas said. “Sometimes the best players in our league just need a chance.
“I’ve seen it happen before where you go after one person and he turns out to be better than the guy who was the starter.”