STAMPS REFOCUS
Calgary ‘hungry’ after loss to Esks
A stunning loss at home, late in the regular season, has a certain amount of deja vu for the Calgary Stampeders.
It was almost a calendar year ago that the fifth-place Winnipeg Blue Bombers came into McMahon Stadium on an ugly Week 19 night and beat the Stamps 18-13.
From that point on — one regular season visit to Vancouver and two playoff games — the Stamps were a runaway freight train, rolling to the seventh Grey Cup championship in team history.
This year, after dropping a 15-11 decision to the Edmonton Eskimos on a blustery Saturday evening we’ll see if it has the same effect on this team. Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell summed it up in one word.
“Refocus,” the 2014 Grey Cup MVP said. “Not only that, it makes you hungry, so it’s perfect to happen at Thanksgiving.
“The guys know we could have won the game. Not to say we should have because they made the plays and we didn’t. We just didn’t make the plays. It will refocus us and make us hungry again. We will go out there and keep fighting. That’s what we want going into these last three games, knowing it will be a tough time down the stretch.”
There are two main differences between last year and this year. There are three regular-season outings left in the 2015 schedule, and the Stamps haven’t locked up first place in the West Division.
Now it’s not even up to them whether they host the West final. They need some help from other CFL teams to finish first for a thirdstraight season.
With the season series locked up, the Eskimos are listed in first right now despite both teams hold- ing identical 11-4 records. Unless Edmonton stumbles in the final month — they have home games against B.C. and Montreal with a road trip to Saskatchewan — the Stamps can run the table and still finish second. The Stamps have a more difficult final month — road trips to Toronto (this week) and B.C. with a home game against Saskatchewan — but that doesn’t change the goal: a perfect month.
“Hopefully this is our last loss,” said defensive back Jamar Wall. “We are feeling like, ‘Yeah we lost this one, but it’s better to get it out of the way now and then focus on getting back on track.’
“We focus on the positives and not the negatives. We have a few more injuries this year, but it doesn’t matter. It’s the next guy in there and we’re still shooting for the same goal.”
In the final three games, the Stamps have a chance to sharpen up and eliminate some of the problems they ran into against the Eskimos. Facing the CFL’s top defence, the Stamps didn’t have much going offensively, as many drives stalled well before they got into scoring range.
Outside of a 30-yard TD strike from Mitchell to receiver Eric Rogers, the Stamps didn’t get close to the Eskimos end zone until a final drive that ended in an interception.
The final offensive play summed up the loss perfectly. Mitchell’s pass to Marquay McDaniel was a tad high, causing a tip that was picked off. Close but just a bit off, and they paid the price for it.
There were enough good things from the loss that the Stamps aren’t really worried the wheels have fallen off. The defence al- lowed just one touchdown and managed to limit Mike Reilly and the Eskimos enough that the team was within striking distance in the final minutes.
“We have three games left and there’s time left to create some things, find some things we’re good at,” Mitchell said. “The main thing is finding ways to win football games. We have three good opponents coming up. One here and two away. That will prepare us for whatever we face in the playoffs. We’re in control of what we can control right now and that’s staying tied in first place. We can’t control what happens on the other side.
“If we don’t win (the division), we will take that home game in the first week and go into that one feeling pretty good.”