THE SETUP
The Calgary Stampeders (8-7, third place in the CFL's West Division) travel to Regina to take on the 4th place Roughriders (8-8) in what can only be described as the biggest game of the year so far. A win by the Stamps would give them the season series against the Riders and would clinch at least third place for Calgary, relegating the Riders to fight for the crossover spot in the East Division playoffs. Ottawa's 40-32 loss to Hamilton on Friday night ensures the winner of this game at least the crossover spot although Saskatchewan will still not have clinched a Western spot with a win. Calgary is 4-1 in its last 5 games while Saskatchewan is proving once again they are a team of streaks. After losing five in a row earlier in the year, the Riders made the switch at QB to former Stampeder Marcus Crandell and promptly won five in a row under his direction before losing the last two games to Montreal and then Edmonton. Calgary is 1-4 in their last four trips to Regina, their last win coming last year in the first road game of the year, a 33-10 win. Saskatchewan is 5-3 at home in 2005 while Calgary is 4-3 on the road.
The game will begin at 2:00 PM Mountain Time (4:00 PM Eastern time) on Sunday, October 23rd. The game will be featured on TSN so be sure to check your local listings for the channel information and start time. QR77 will also be broadcasting the game on the radio as well as the Internet and they feature the broadcast team of Mark Stephen (play by play) and former Stampeder Greg Peterson (colour commentary). The pre-game radio broadcast begins at 1:00 pm MT on AM 770 CHQR and online at www.am770chqr.com.
THE PLAYERS
For Calgary the biggest addition to the game last week was the return of Stamps' QB Henry Burris to the starting role. Burris showed little rust from his three game absence, completing 66% of his passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns while throwing no interceptions. Burris now has 3,344 yards passing and 17 touchdowns; good enough for 6th in league passing. Burris is averaging 304 yards passing per game, which puts him on pace for 4,560 yards this year; that pace would have seen him throw for 5,470 yards if he had played all 18 games and that would have been the 4th highest total in team history behind only Doug Flutie. Jermaine Copeland passed the 1,000-yard mark for the third straight year in his CFL career with his 4 catches for 67 yards. Copeland now has 1,040 yards on the season and joins fellow Stamp Nik Lewis in the 1,000-yard club. Lewis sits 7th in the CFL with 1,058 yards and Copeland is right behind him at the 8th spot. RB Joffrey Reynolds rushed 20 times for 133 yards to bring his season total to 1,236 yards, good enough for 2nd in the league. He trails Winnipeg's Charles Roberts by 229 yards with three games to go but has a game in hand on Roberts so the chase is definitely still on. Reynolds now has three straight 100 yard rushing games (185 yards versus Ottawa followed by 133 yards versus Montreal) which is only two games off the club mark of 5 straight set by Hall of Famer Willie Burden in 1975 (the league record, in case you are wondering, is 13 set by Mike Pringle in 1998).
On defense, the Stamps were led once again by George White. White was selected as the CFL Defensive Player of the Week for his 12 tackles, one interception and one touchdown performance against Hamilton. It was the fourth time this year that White recorded double-digit tackle totals in a game and it brought his season totals to 91, good enough to remain in 2nd place, 5 tackles behind the CFL leader, Toronto's Kevin Eiben. White also returned an interception 53 yards for a touchdown; this was the second career TD for White, his first came last year versus B.C. when he returned a pick 84 yards for a score. Trey Young also had a strong game with 7 tackles and a quarterback sack, while Sheldon Napastuk and Brain Clark also had sacks (Napastuk now has 7 sacks, good enough for 3rd in the CFL amongst Canadian defensive linemen while Clark is 5th amongst linebackers).
For Saskatchewan three players to keep an eye on are QB Marcus Crandell, LB Reggie Hunt, and RB Corey Holmes. Crandell (#8) took over from incumbent QB Nealon Greene 7 games ago and has gone 5-2 as the Rider starter helping Saskatchewan climb back into the West Division playoff race. Crandell has 2,083 yards passing this year and has thrown 11 touchdowns while limiting his interceptions to just 9. Crandell's job in the Rider offence is to mange the game and not make the key errors that will force the Riders out of their comfort zone, a job that he has done quite well thus far this year. Hunt (#9) is the Riders' most active linebacker and can cover receivers as well as come up and lay big hits on ball carriers coming through the Saskatchewan D-line. Hunt is third on the team in tackles with 52, has three sacks and 3 fumble returns so as you can see, he is always around the ball for the Rider defense. Expect Joffrey Reynolds to see a lot of Hunt if the Stamps' game plan consists of trying to establish their own running game as a way to combat Saskatchewan's ground attack. Holmes (#19) has been the Riders' best player in 2005 and has a shot at being the West Division's Outstanding Player when the nominees are announced in a few weeks. Holmes leads the CFL in combined yards with 3,149 including 808 yards rushing, 467 yards receiving, 721 yards in punt returns (and 2 touchdowns), and 1,112 yards in kickoff returns (and one touchdown). Whatever the Riders ask of Holmes, he delivers and if the Stamps' key too much on stopping Saskatchewan's other running back, Kenton Keith (874 yards rushing), Holmes is capable of taking over the game himself and driving the Rider offence to victory.
THE STATS – LAST WEEK
Calgary climbed above .500 for the second time this year with a 34-17 win over the visiting Hamilton Ti-Cats. The win gave Calgary the season sweep against the Tabbies, the only team so far that Calgary has swept (Calgary has been swept by both Toronto and B.C. in 2005). Henry Burris returned from injury to re-ignite the Stamps' passing attack to the tune of 221 yards and three touchdowns. As expected, Jermaine Copeland was his main target snagging 4 passes for 67 yards and a major score while Nik Lewis and newcomer David Allen caught the other touchdown passes. RB Joffrey Reynolds added 113 yards rushing to his totals as the Stamps rolled up 368 yards of total offence while limiting Hamilton to 307 total yards. Ti-Cat QB Marcus Brady was pulled in favour of veteran QB Danny McManus as Brady could only generate 74 yards passing in three quarters. Rookie RB Jesse Lumsden scored his first CFL touchdown on a 6 yard run and finished with 69 yards rushing on the night.
LAST MEETING
It was a big night all around for the Stampeders last time they played the Riders but especially so for two members of the Red and White. Joffrey Reynolds continued his strong play early on with a season best 150 yards on 18 carries and he also scored two touchdowns, one on a terrific 34-yard run and the other on a 5-yard pass from Stamps' QB Henry Burris. Burris had the breakout game everyone was looking for from him against his old team as he passed for his first 300-yard game of the year and added two touchdowns passing and two rushing. Burris ran effectively for Calgary picking up key first downs to help keep drives alive and collecting 42 yards on the ground. Nik Lewis also had a solid game for the Stamps, hauling in 6 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown. Tyrone Chatman led the team in tackles with 8 while Demetrious Maxie, Sheldon Napastuk and Randy Chevrier all had sacks. Calgary won the game 44-18 before a sold out crowd at McMahon Stadium, the first sell out of the 2005 season.
THIS SEASON
In the Gameplan section we will suggest that stuffing the run will be the key to stopping the Rider's offence. How tough will that be? The Rider offence leads the league in most rushing categories; first downs rushing (141), yards rushing (2,267), average rushing yards per game (141.7), and times rushed (403), They are second in touchdowns rushing with 19 and 4th in average gain per rush at 5.6 yards. They are 3rd is time of possession at 31 minutes and 50 seconds. The Stamps' defense on the other hand ranks in the middle of the pack against the rush with fewest touchdowns rushing allowed being their best stat with only 9 allowed, best in the CFL. They are 3rd in fewest rushing first downs with 97 allowed, 4th in yards allowed (1,542), average yards allowed (102.8) and average rushing gain at 5.2 yards per carry. It won't be easy according to these stats but if successful, it will be a huge advantage for Calgary as Saskatchewan ranks 8th in TDs passing with 17, 9th in average passing yards per game with 235.2 and 9th in average gain per pass with 6.6 yards. In Calgary's 44-18 win versus the Riders in Week 5, Calgary held Saskatchewan to 48 yards rushing while Nealon Greene was forced to throw the ball 35 times for 296 yards, and average of 8.4 yards per attempt, 2 yards higher than the Riders' season average.
THE GAMEPLAN
The game plan on both sides of the ball will revolve around the same goal, taking the Riders out of what makes them successful and forcing them to play the way the Stamps' want them to. On offence, the key to is to score first and build as much of a lead as possible to force the Riders out of their ball control offence. Saskatchewan's offence averages only 6.6 yards per attempt, second lowest in the league and 2.2 yards per attempt less than Calgary. Riders' QB Marcus Crandell has yet to throw for 300 yards as a starter this year and has thrown for less than 200 yards 3 times in his 7 starts. If Calgary can get up by 14 or 17 points by the second quarter, Crandell will have to abandon the run and in his last two losses, he has attempted 70 passes and had 3 passes intercepted. In his five victories as a starter, he averaged only 30 passes per game and only threw 2 interceptions.
On defense, another way to force the Riders' out of their ball control, run dominated offence is to take away the run early and not allow the Riders' to establish any success along the ground. In their recent 5 game win streak, the Riders averaged 161.8 yards rushing per game but that dropped to 117 yards per game in their last two losses. Success rushing means controlling the clock and keeping the Riders in second and short situations, which is exactly what they want to do as an offence. Forcing the Riders out of that offence and into a passing offence plays into the strength of the Calgary defense, their active linebacking crew.
THE TRIVIA
With two road games left and the Stamps road record at 4-3, it still remains to be seen if the Stamps will finish with a road record above .500. One of the benchmarks of good teams, team that make the playoffs, is their ability to win games away from the cozy confines of their home stadiums. The Stamps have made the playoffs in the CFL 33 times since 1948 and they have had a winning record on the road in 25 of those years. The Stamps' winning percentage on the road in playoff years is .557 compared to .231 in years that they have missed the playoffs. The Stamps have missed the post season 23 times since 1948 and have only had a winning record on the road once when they have missed the playoffs, that was 1975 when they finished 5-3 on the road but missed out on the playoffs due to a 1-7 home record. As you would suspect, home success also plays a big role in whether or not you make the playoffs. In the 33 times Calgary has played past the regular season, they have a winning record at home 28 times (with a winning percentage of .683) while in the 23 times that their season ended at the end of the regular season, they have a winning record at home only 3 times (with a winning percentage of only .362). The Stamps are currently 4-4 at home with one game to go. Another quick playoff indicator for you, in the last three years Calgary has missed the playoffs (2002-2004), their winning percentage versus the West is .266 while in the three previous years that they made the playoffs (1999-2001) they had a .616 winning percentage against the West. This year, Calgary is above .500 with a 4-3 record versus the West with three games to go.
