Claybrooks, Stamps prepared for rejuvenated Ticats

Chris O'Leary

Senior Writer

@olearychris

Eleven weeks later, the Calgary Stampeders look at these Hamilton Tiger-Cats and are confident that there won’t be a repeat beatdown.

“The only thing that’s the same about them is the uniform,” Stamps QB Bo Levi Mitchell told reporters in Hamilton on Thursday.

The CFL season is a roller coaster ride for most teams at some point every year, but few have dipped as low and managed to significantly climb their way out like the Ticats. That 60-1 loss on July 29 was loss five of eight to start the season. Since then, under the guidance of interim head coach June Jones, the Ticats have done what seemed like the unthinkable. They’ve won four of their last six and are likely feeling as confident as they have all year, coming off of a huge win over Winnipeg last week at Investors Group Field.

After Jeremiah Masoli took apart an excellent Bombers defence in that win (27-33 passing for 338 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 48 yards), Stampeders’ defensive coordinator DeVone Claybrooks left all memories of his team’s lopsided win in Calgary before he got on the team’s charter Thursday morning.

“You’ve got to remember, BC was 0-5 (in 2011) and went on to win the Grey Cup,” he said.

“It’s all about runs in this league, playing and peaking at the right time. Right now they’re playing good football at the right time. At the end of the year is when you want to play your best football. We know what type of challenges they’re going to present and what we need to get accomplished.”

From June Jones now running the show on the sideline to Masoli under centre and the re-ignition of receiver Brandon ‘Speedy’ Banks — he’s gone over 100 yards in his last two games and is now at 498 yards on the season — Claybrooks knows that this is a very different team he’s facing.

“I think they’re more well ordered, more well balanced,” he said. “Masoli is doing a good job of managing the game. He’s not putting them in adverse situations.”

Masoli hasn’t thrown an interception in his last three games.

“I think it’s crazy what attitude and belief will do for you,” Claybrooks said. “You believe in your system and trust in it and you have guys with a good attitude and guys that buy in. I think they’ll be fine and that’s what those kids are doing.”

Claybrooks can admire what they’re doing, but he’s also tasked with directing all of the pressure that his defence can muster on Masoli on Friday. He’ll hope that the pressure leads to bad decisions and that interception streak being broken. As well as the Ticats have played in the second half of the season, they’ve still allowed a league-worst 117 quarterback pressures. The Stampeders are second in the league in pressures, with 101, just one behind league-leading Ottawa. It’s the kind of stat that thrills the second-year coordinator and brings a smile to the face of the former five-year CFL d-lineman.

The Stampeders defence is ready to tackle Jeremiah Masoli and his offence head on this week in Hamilton (The Canadian Press)

In the defence, he sees a little bit of his old playing self out on the field.

“Being around kids and being around that environment, they have no choice but to take on the personality of the coach and the coordinators,” he said. “I think that we do a good job off being really even keeled and when it’s time to strike it’s time to strike.

“When we have to do what we have to do, to put ourselves in a situation to win games we’ve been able to do that. The guys have a belief system in the calls that I call and they execute them at a high level. I can’t ask for a better group of kids.”

For the second year in a row, Claybrooks’ defence is dominant. The Stamps are allowing 17.3 points per game this season, with Ottawa in second at 24 allowed per game. They’re second in sacks, at 41, behind Toronto’s 45, and second in interceptions with 17, just one behind the Bombers. Claybrooks said it starts with GM and team president John Hufnagel and head coach Dave Dickinsen trusting him.

“They allow me to do my thing and I have the best staff in the league. We work hard, we work together. We’re all good friends, we all like each other,” he said.

“When we come to work it’s not like we’re doing work. Thats the best thing about it is our whole work environment, our whole staff we’re cohesive. We don’t think we have all the answers and if we don’t we try to figure them out all together. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. The players trust and believe in the system. They play fast and they to execute at a high level.

“We’ve had a great defence since I was a player in Calgary and when I was a (d-line) coach and now I’m the coordinator. You expect no difference with what you deal with and the guys that you deal with. (Everyone) understands the commitment it takes. They put in the extra meeting time, the extra walkthrough time. When you get those things in players that eager to be great, then it’s kind of easy.”

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