On a night that saw Wally Buono finally take his rightful place on the Calgary Stampeders Wall of Fame, the home team beat his other former squad 25-24 to remain undefeated at home. Below are my thoughts on the game.
Maier making moves
Through the first third of the Stampeders season, Jake Maier has been — at times — both fantastic and below average.
Maier threw for 307 yards against the Lions, completing 25-of-32 pass attempts for a 78.1 percent completion rate, which was especially impressive as he threw two passes away.
With three games with over 300 passing yards and three under 255 — including a 106-yard performance against Montreal two weeks ago — Maier has had his share of ups and downs. Interestingly, the Stampeders are 1-2 when Maier crosses the 300-yard benchmark, which is the opposite of what one might expect.
Against the Lions, though, Maier looked solid. Despite being sacked twice, he was unflappable in the pocket and consistently delivered the ball to his injury-depleted collection of receivers.
Most importantly, he delivered three touchdown passes and no interceptions. There were also no passes that could or should have been intercepted, either. He certainly outduelled front-runner M.O.P. candidate Vernon Adams Jr., who threw two interceptions and could have had at least two more if Calgary players had squeezed the ball.
Maier had no issue spreading the praise to his teammates after the game.
“When you look at the top three teams in the CFL right now, that’s the theme,” Maier said about what it takes to beat a team like the Lions. “Special teams make a play, the defence makes a play, or they put the game away with a big completion. It wasn’t just one guy and that is the beauty of it. That’s what has this locker room feeling so good right now. Everyone contributed to win late and, early in the season, maybe that wasn’t the case.”
New Canadian Air Force?
The Stampeders have spent many draft picks on receiving talent during the Dave Dickenson era.
Based on a gruesome early injury to Erik Brooks, whose arm hung limply after a clear break, the Stampeders were forced into a Canadian-heavy passing attack as there were no import backups on the roster.
That seemingly mattered very little as the trio of Clark Barnes, Jalen Philpot, and Cole Tucker combined for 176 yards on 11 catches. Philpot and Barnes also found the end zone during the game, joining Reggie Begelton on the scoreboard.
The catch from Philpot, who is becoming a larger part of the offence every single week, was a toe-tapper that took the command center to confirm after it was initially ruled out of bounds and incomplete.
If you didn’t see it live, you likely saw the highlight, and it won’t be the last time either, as this catch is an absolute lock in the plays of the year conversation.
Defences must look out if Philpot is finally healthy and dialled enough to match his potential.
Interesting choice
On the final play of the third quarter, facing third and goal from the two, head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson chose not to rely on a Tommy Stevens plunge, instead leaving Maier in the game to get into the end zone.
Maier completed a pass to Marken Michel but the play ultimately fell short after T.J. Lee made an incredible tackle, taking the receiver down at the half-yard-line to turn the ball over on downs.
Earlier in the game, it was mentioned that Stevens is perfect this season when asked to take the ball for a few yards, so it was a little surprising to see Dickenson call for the pass.
The Stampeders best drive of the night, taking 14 plays and covering almost 90 yards, ended up without a point.
However, it ended up working out because…
Defence stands tall
Immediately following the turnover on downs, the Stampeders defence was able to score a few points of their own as Josiah Coatney was dragged down for a holding call in the end zone, which awarded the Stampeders a safety.
The play from Coatney highlighted a fantastic gameplan from Stampeders defensive coordinator Brent Monson, who again held Adams to less than 300 yards through the air. The veteran quarterback was held to just 192 yards and a 17-of-31 completion rate.
The two worst games of the season for Adams have come against Calgary’s defence, the only unit that’s really been able to slow him down this season. No other team has held V.A. below 330 yards, while his high against Calgary so far this season is just 277.
Adams was intercepted twice in crucial situations late on the clock in both the first half and the fourth quarter.
It was clear the Stampeders were well prepared for the balls Adams was going to throw, as the defenders were often in the right place deflecting or defending passes despite not being able to secure the ball on a few possible interceptions.
Everyone gets a flag!
Another testament to the Stampeders defence is that they held the Lions to just 23 points despite surrendering 180 yards on 12 penalties.
Whether it was no yards penalties on special teams, pass interference penalties on defence or the odd procedure call on the offence, all three phases got in on the action.
This performance will likely see them go from being one of the least penalized teams in the league to one of the highest from a yardage standpoint.
On the flip side, the Lions had almost just as many flags with 11 infractions, though they cost them just 70 yards of real estate in the process.
Rough night for Grace
As many times as I have celebrated Cody Grace in this space, this was far from his best effort and was hampered by a coaching call that certainly didn’t help his average.
With the Stamps near midfield, they elected to try and hang a punt in the air with two players onside as the ball was kicked.
A resulting no yards penalty on the return left the Stampeders with a net punt of just six yards and gave the Lions prime field position near midfield.
Another kick was shanked out of bounds at the B.C. 40-yard line.
A strong wind was at play, but Grace had an atypical performance.
Logan’s runs
Peyton Logan hasn’t been the normal returner for the Stampeders this season as he’s been the backup running back and the team doesn’t want to also expose him to the risk of returning the football.
That risk was proven out when Erik Brooks broke his arm.
The ensuing performance served as a perfect reminder of how electric he can be as he gained 107 yards on four punt returns for a 27-yard average.
I know why he doesn’t return kicks, but it sure was nice to be reminded of how he broke into the league.
Wally Night
In addition to being the beat writer for the Stampeders here at 3DownNation, I am also celebrating my 30th year as a season ticket holder in Calgary.
I even received a nice pin with the logo and a golden circle around it that reads “Loyalty.”
It warmed my heart when I got it alongside a handwritten card from the team thanking me for my years of dedication.
I say all that to add context to what happened at McMahon Stadium on Wally Buono’s special night.
Wally Buono bobbleheads, which were prominently featured on the TSN broadcast, were only handed out to people who purchased tickets to a $90 pre-game reception or had season-long Stamps House passes.
Given that the bobbleheads presumably cost between $3 and $5 to make — which is admittedly more than most giveaways teams do — I had trouble understanding why they weren’t given out to all fans in attendance.
I have a Jon Cornish bobblehead. It was free.
I have a Joffrey Reynolds bobblehead. It was free.
For a team that is struggling to get fans back in seats, the lure of a free Wally bobblehead may have drawn enough extra ticket sales to cover the entire cost of the giveaway.
Get the people in the building once, and they might just come back in the future.
Drawing just over 20,000 for the game celebrating one of this franchise’s true greats, and the first name up on the wall in a decade, was an embarrassment. That it came the day before the team’s parent company puts shovels in the ground on a billion-dollar arena for its other teams is even worse.
While the ceremony itself was everything you wanted it to be, the commitment to rewarding the fans for attending was lacking.
Storming the Capital
The Calgary Stampeders (3-3) will visit the Ottawa Redblacks (4-2) on Friday, July 26 with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m. EDT.
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