Jimmy Jeong/CFL.ca
A great chef can build off a recipe. They add an extra spice or element from that recipe to make a great meal and it’s exquisite!
But first, they need to know the basic recipe.
The Calgary Stampeders now know the recipe for success against the BC Lions.
Despite their opposing 6-12 and 12-6 records, the Stampeders will walk right back into the same stadium, into the same locker room, and run out on to the same field where they defeated the Lions to the tune of 41-16 just two weeks earlier.
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The Stamps were victorious because of two main ingredients; a strong run game and taking away the pass.
Let’s start with the Stampeders defence.
On October 20, the Lions didn’t load the box or come with intricate blitzes to get after Vernon Adams Jr. and later Dane Evans.
No.
They simply dropped as many as they wanted into coverage to try and limit the damage that can come from the Lions vaunted passing game and dared the Lions to do something they’ve refused to do most of the year; run the ball.
For the BC Lions to have played with as many leads late in games as they have, it’s unbelievable to see how far back they are in total called running plays. Look at Winnipeg and Toronto, who are also among the big three who have won a lot more than they’ve lost.
As they put away teams they grind them down with the run game. The Bombers and Argos call run plays 43 and 42 percent of the time respectively.
BC? 30%
So the Stampeders dropped players into coverage and took away their biggest weapons, which so happen to be Alexander Hollins, Dominique Rhymes, and Lucky Whitehead. Keon Hatcher did not play in that game, which is a large hole in the success of the Lions this season.
Vernon Adams Jr. struggled to find his receivers down field and was sacked twice and intercepted once in the first quarter, leading to a quick 10-0 Stampeder lead.
Adams was clearly a bit thrown off by the Stampeders deploying the 3-4 defence, with three down linemen and four linebackers.
The two sacks were on plays where they sent two of those linebackers and dropped seven into coverage, the interception was with nine in coverage.
You have to believe Stampeders defensive coordinator will go with the 3-4 defence again this week. The dynamic of the style of defence is mixing up which linebackers are going into coverage and which ones are coming on the blitz. Because this formation is so rare in the CFL and from the Stampeders, there isn’t a lot of film to find many tendencies for Lions offensive coordinator Jordan Maksymic to pick apart.
It’ll be up to Adams in the moment to make the correct reads. Or it’ll be up to Maksymic to dedicate himself to something he hasn’t this season, running ball, because in a 3-4 defence, you can allow some bigger holes if the offensive line is able to get up field and take out those smaller linebackers in run blocking.
As for the Stampeders recipe on offence, it was the Ka’Deem Carey and Peyton Logan show for the most part.
The running backs touched the ball 26 times, with three receptions. Calgary knows if the game turns into a track meet and they need to go throw for throw with Adams, Jake Maier is unlikely to win that shootout.
Early in the game, Maier made a huge mistake that could have sent the game in a different direction but Garry Peters dropped what was likely going to be an interception for a touchdown. Later in the second quarter, the Lions nearly had another potential big play interception dropped.
Calgary can’t rely on the pass game to win them the game. The Stampeders have lowest completion percentage and quarterback rating among the final six playoff teams.
So the Stampeders simply just gave the ball to Ka’Deem Carey early and as the lead grew, there was no reason to throw the ball.
The run game also chewed up a lot of clock in the first half, which didn’t allow Adams to get much of a rhythm going.
Lions defensive coordinator Ryan Phillips would have used the bye week to not only pick apart the Calgary Stampeders, but his own defence.
The Lions defence has been exposed more often than not in the back half of the season after being a dominant force in the early going of 2023.
It’ll be interesting to see what Phillips throws at Maier, who we remember being pulled in the Western Semi-Final last season against this same Phillips defence.
The Lions clearly had the right recipe last season.
I can’t wait to see what these four coordinators have been cooking up for each other for this Western Semi-Final.
