It was another frustrating finish for the Calgary Stampeders.
Another blown opportunity, to be sure.
And that frustration boiled over — vocally — in the clubhouse of the CFL club following Friday night’s 37-29 loss to the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders at McMahon Stadium.
“It might be needed … you never know,” said Stamps defensive captain Mike Rose, of a loud three-minute session of verbal sparring that enveloped the dressing room moments after the difficult drop.
“Sometimes adversity creates a little extra (crap),” continued Rose. “But it might have been needed.”
The central combatants were cornerback Tre Roberson and defensive lineman Josiah Coatney during a situation that proved just how this six-game losing skid — and a likely miss of the playoffs for the franchise for the first time in 20 years — is affecting the team.
“The mood in here is what you would think,” said Stampeders quarterback Jake Maier, moments after the heated argument. “It’s super frustrating. It’s a feeling of failure.
“At the end of the day, everybody in here is a great person — a leader in their community and a leader in their family,” continued Maier. “And when you blend all those people together, there tends to be a lot of accountability that comes with that.
“But we don’t like losing, man.
“But it is very healthy for football teams to be frustrated and, at times, maybe even be frustrated with one another. That’s just part of the game and part of life.
“It’s just an unfortunate feeling right now, and there’s no way around it and no way to hide it. We are what we are.”
What they are in earnest — and as proven by the standings — is the league’s worst team.
The loss to the Riders felled them to a 4-9-1 record, putting them now four points behind Gang Green, who — with a 6-7-1 mark — continue to own the third-and-final playoff spot in the West Division.
And with just four games remaining on the regular schedule, the Red and White are rapidly running out of runway.
Really, Friday night’s result has likely crushed the Stamps’ chances of getting to the playoff for a 19th consecutive season.
“It hurts,” said Stamps GM/head coach Dave Dickenson. “You had a path to do what you needed to do, but we haven’t been able to do it. Every time we’ve seen something or we get to something where we need a win or we feel like a win can get us going in the right direction, we lose.
“So that’s a challenge.”
The specific challenge against the Riders was stopping running back Ryquell ‘Rock’ Armstead.
Picked up after the Ottawa Redblacks cut him a few weeks back, Rock was rolling alright for 207 yards on 25 carries.
It’s the second time recently he’s been a Stamps killer on the season. Just last month, while still with the Redblacks, Armstead romped for 120 yards on 11 hauls in a 31-29 winning result over the Horsemen.
Strangely enough, the Redblacks released Armstead a few weeks back — despite being the CFL’s fourth-leading rusher at the time — for committing too many disciplinary fouls. Armstead was ejected from a Week 8 tilt after being flagged for two objectionable conduct penalties and has also been fined two times by the CFL for verbal abuse.
And the Stamps were forced to face him again — this time with the Riders.
“We haven’t stopped him,” said Dickenson, of Armstead. “He’s a good running back — he runs downhill, and he’s big.
“We’ve had a couple of games lately where we’ve given up 200 yards rushing, and you can’t win.”
And when Rock and his teammates weren’t running the ball down the throat of the Stampeders, veteran QB Trevor Harris was a passing machine. In helping the Riders to victory, the longtime leaguer threw for 16-of-18 for 248 yards.
Effective as heck against an enigmatic Red and White defence, which was brilliant in last week’s draw with the Montreal Alouettes and pourous as can be in this one.
“It’s a tough game, man,” said veteran d-lineman Rose. “It’s a tough game. We didn’t play up to the standard, and they had a good game.
“We didn’t play well, plain and simple,” continued the all-star tackle. “We didn’t play well, and they did. You can’t put it on one man. You put it on the entire defence.”
And then you can put it on a couple of mistakes made — again — in the late going by the Stampeders.
With the visitors clinging to a five-point lead late, Stamps special-teamer Tyler Richardson contacted punter Adam Korsak on a punt for a major penalty to keep a Riders’ march alive that ended with a Brett Lauthier 40-yard field goal.
On the next drive and needing a touchdown and a two-point conversion, the Stamps opted to pass on a third-down-and-one-yard gamble instead of bringing in super-sneaker Tommy Stevens, who’s been a short-yardage conversion machine and opened the game with a wowzer 69-yard QB sneak for a TD.
With that, it was ball game, Riders.
“I did think maybe about running the ball there,” Dickenson said. “But I ran a version of a run play earlier on that goal-line play and we weren’t able to execute there.
“Some calls aren’t the best.”
And some endings — too many in the case of the Stamps this year — are tough to swallow.
They were there right to the end, mostly due to second-half success, including two second-half Maier strikes of eight yards each to Clark Barnes and Jalen Philpot.
It was a game — an entertaining one — to be certain.
But again …
“We fought back, but it just wasn’t enough,” added Dickenson. “They beat us. They were more physical. They owned the line of scrimmage.
“Bottom line … they were the better team.”
SHORT YARDAGE
Friday’s decision marked the first post-Labour Day victory for the Riders since 2021, going 1-14 since then … Coatney (knee) started for the Stamps after being labelled a game-time decision … Next up for the Stamps after next week’s bye-week is a visit to Vancouver to challenge the BC Lions (7-7) on Friday, Oct. 4 (8 p.m. MT, TSN, QR Calgary).