The Calgary Stampeders are being careful not to complain about the challenge the CFL schedule-makers have presented them this week.
The Stamps beat the B.C. Lions on Sunday evening at McMahon Stadium and barely had a second to breathe before they were packing up their bags and flying to Ottawa on Thursday for a Friday evening tilt with the Redblacks.
That’s hard on the body. It’s a challenge, mentally, to implement a gameplan.
And there are a lot of people who think it’s just plain stupid from a scheduling perspective.
Linebacker Micah Awe, though, is trying to see the bright side.
“Honestly, I like it,” Awe said. “As soon as the game was over I was like, ‘OK, we’ve gotta play Ottawa in five days,’ and I’m always ready to play again.
“It kind of brings it back to when I first started football in seventh grade and it’s like, I had that kind of nervous feeling. I played fullback so I got the ball a lot, so I always wanted to play the game, but now I’m on defence and I honestly think I didn’t have a great game last game. I made enough mistakes where it’s not up to my par, so I want to go out there and not make the same mistakes and put that on film.”
There are probably more negatives than positives to the Stampeders having to play two games in such rapid succession.
They had one practice scheduled for this week and it was wildly disrupted by the forest fire smoke that has enveloped all of Calgary. Maybe that means their legs will be slightly more fresh than they’d have otherwise been, but that’s the only advantage you might be able to find about a no-practice week — and we’re stretching to say it’s a positive.
At least the Stamps are coming off a big, momentum-building win, though. The vibes are good around the dressing room at McMahon Stadium right now after the Stamps survived a thrilling 25-24 win over the dangerous Lions.
After dropping two straight down-to-the-wire games, that win provided a big boost.
Hopefully, it’s a boost that can carry them forward against a Redblacks team that has surprised a lot of people early in the season and has won its last two games.
“It’s better to come off a win, especially the two previous games were very, very close losses and I just felt the guys needed to be rewarded for playing aggressive, physical, good football and get the win,” said Stamps GM/head coach Dave Dickenson. “Tough to play a new opponent on five days and on the road, but I told the guys, it’ a unique challenge, it’s done in other leagues so let’s make sure we go after it and play our best game.”
As far as injuries go, the Stamps received some good news and bad news this week.
Their six-game injured list remains lengthy — with 12 players out long-term — but they will get defensive back Demerio Houston back against the Redblacks, as well as starting defensive end Julian Howsare, wide receiver Cam Echols and DB Ben Labrosse.
They did, however, have to add receiver/kick returner Erik Brooks and versatile DB Nick Statz to the six-game injured list, so the challenge is definitely real going forward.
Beat the Redblacks, and the Stamps will be well-positioned to go on a late-season run that should separate them from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Edmonton Elks at the bottom of the West Division standings.
Lose, and … well, there are definitely built-in excuses because of the schedule.
The Stamps won’t be using them, though.
“To me, it’s fun and it’s also tough,” Awe said. “They might have an extra day or two, but that’s even better for us. If we can beat them when we only have four days, what happens when we get to the playoffs and have equal amount of rest or get to the Grey Cup and have equal amount of rest, who’s better?
“I don’t know, it sucks on the body and I know people are going to hate this, but honestly, it’s what we signed up for and there’s a lot of people out there who would do anything to be in that situation to put their bodies on the line.”