So you’re saying there’s a chance!?!
Some way … somehow … the slumping Calgary Stampeders — winless in their last five games and owners of just one win in their last seven contests — still have a shot at making the 2024 CFL playoffs.
“If we can get into the playoffs, that means we’ve created some momentum,” said Stampeders ever-optimistic GM/head coach Dave Dickenson, knowing his 4-8-1 crew needs to find winning form over its final five games of the regular schedule in order to have a chance at reaching the post-season.
“But we haven’t really been winning,” continued Dickenson. “So we can say all we want.”
Indeed, it’s only the winning that counts.
The bite and not the bark, so to speak …
Although there hasn’t been a whole lot of bark to bring to the yard, either.
That’s why the Stamps need anything positive to give them at least a little confidence.
“I loved the way that we practised (this week),” said Stamps QB Jake Maier. “I think we have a really positive outlook on how this season is going to play out for us. What are the outcomes going to be? We’ll find out. But I really do like the headspace that the locker room is in, and everybody really believes that we can still do this.”
‘This’, in particular, is digging themselves out from last place in the CFL West Division and vaulting both the Edmonton Elks (5-8) and the Saskatchewan Roughriders (5-7-1) with just five games remaining for each of these teams on the regular schedule.
Fortunately, they do control their own destiny with two games left against the Riders — current owners of the West’s third-and-final playoff spot and visitors Friday to McMahon Stadium (7:30 p.m., TSN, QR Calgary) — and one versus the Elks.
And neither the first-place Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7-6) nor the second-spot BC Lions (7-7) — both just five points up on the Stamps — are home and clear yet in the tight post-season race.
“Yeah, it’s crazy how the West is shaking up,” said Stamps linebacker Micah Teitz, who signed with his home-town team after spending six previous seasons with the Riders. “It seems like since I’ve been in the CFL, the Calgary-Saskatchewan games are always very close and mean a lot at the end of the year.”
That happened last year, for sure, with the Stamps pulling out a Week 19 26-19 victory in their leap-frog of the Riders to reach the playoffs, giving the Red and White even more reason to believe they can do the same this season.
“We kind of experienced that last year,” said Maier, of needing late-season victories to make the post-season. “And I would say that I probably wouldn’t believe that the difference between first place and fifth place would be that close. That is something new for all of us. I think it’s kind of a strange year in that regard.”
Strange was how last Saturday’s game went down in a 19-19 draw with the Montreal Alouettes.
All the mistakes aside in that tilt — and there were entirely too many timely ones — the Stamps can take positives from the fact they played well — on many fronts — against the defending Grey Cup champions.
Defensively, they were stout, including Teitz with an early forced fumble and recovery that led to a Stamps touchdown.
The running game, with workhorse Dedrick Mills back up to snuff, was big in the moment.
And Maier himself managed the game well enough to impress Dickenson a week after being benched for the Labour Day Replay.
“I like the way we played football last week outside of maybe how we finished the game,” Maier said. “It’s just understanding the situations at the end of the game when we put teams away and less about necessarily the Xs and Os, because the Xs and Os will take care of themselves. That’s all just read and react.”
The return of offensive lineman Zack Williams from a multi-week calf injury to the roster has Maier & Co. more upbeat, to boot.
Maier called the 306-lb. Canadian the team’s “best interior lineman” and a key man in the attack.
“He’s somebody that just has such a physical presence,” said the QB of his left guard. “And anytime you add that, your equation for your run game becomes better.”
It’s yet another positive they can take into a game they desperately need to win against a team that desperately needs that win, as well.
“It’s two teams that are fighting for their season to continue,” added Maier. “I think it goes without being said this is pretty much a playoff game.”
SHORT YARDAGE
OL Bryce Bell (calf) remains out … Defensively, DB Bentlee Sanders (hamstring), the Stamps’ starting safety, returns to the lineup Friday, while DL Josiah Coatney (knee), the team’s starting right defensive tackle, is a game-time decision to return … Also in is WR Rysen John … Stamps sitting out after playing last game are WR Cole Tucker, OL Kyle Saxelid, and DL Charles Wiley and LB Darius Williams.
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