Defend the house.
That’s the answer from Calgary Stampeders boss Dave Dickenson when breaking down the next two games — a home-and-home set with the Toronto Argonauts — of their CFL schedule.
And as simple as it sounds, it’s the best way to approach such a pivotal part of the calendar for the sub-.500 franchise.
“What I do on any back-to-back opponents is try to make sure you win at home,” said GM/head coach Dickenson. “That’s the hardest thing, because if you do that, you’re OK. You know when you’re good is when you win them both.
“But you’ve got to try to protect your own house. You’ve got to try to make sure when you’re on your home turf that you get that win. For us, that’s that means this week. We’re first at our place.”
Indeed, the Stampeders (3-4) host the Argonauts (4-3) on Sunday at McMahon (5 p.m., TSN, QR Calgary).
Then it’s a short week — another one with just four days between games — with a visit to Toronto to rematch the host Argos on Friday night.
“Just focus on this week — you have to,” Dickenson said. “Same opponent, though.”
So the Boatmen are in the same … ahem … boat.
However, it’s not like it was between Weeks 7 and 8, when the Stamps came off an upset of the BC Lions and then lost ugly to a well-rested Ottawa Redblacks squad. That was a game at home and four days between another on the road, as well.
But any quick turnaround is rough on the football body, although the Red and White prefer to shrug off the tough scheduling in search of success on both ends of the coming short week.
“It’s going to be fun,” said Stamps veteran linebacker Micah Awe. “I think that’s what makes the CFL so special. I mean … you might win the first game, but then it’s like you’re playing the team the second time right away again. Are you gonna use the same gameplan? Are you not?
“It’s so strategic in the CFL.”
Maybe the most important piece of strategy is how to manage personnel in the weeks ahead of both contests.
Even though the focus is on the game directly in front of them, there’s certainly some prep that goes into working toward both tilts, especially since practice time is limited in the hours between battles.
So what Dickenson hopes happens is a great week of practice spills over into game action come Sunday and onward from a win into next week’s tight timetable.
“Honestly, we needed it,” said Dickenson of the solid practice sessions the last three days. “Last week, we didn’t even really get a full day of practice (during the short week before losing 33-6 to the host Redblacks). And it’s probably best to not look back any more on it … because it just wasn’t us. That was a game we need to wash and flush. We did learn from it, and now how do we respond?
“We will see.”
The answer is one win they need, for sure.
And a second one would really be bonus against an Argos crew that is rising from the turmoil of a turbulent off-season.
But two losses to fall to 3-6 would badly mar what’s been a cautiously optimistic start to the 2024 season.
“That 3-6 is a tough position to be in,” Awe said. “It is really less about the 3-6 part and more about, ‘OK, we lost three games in a row.’ I mean … the whole thing about CFL is you’ve got to keep getting better. You’ve got to keep getting better, because — as nuanced as that seems — when you roll around to October and November, you want to be hot. You want to be winning games — you want to be at the top of your game.
“So us losing three in a row is the worse part than being 3-6.”
Good thing they’ve won three in a row — all three this year — at home
“We don’t do that much different than when we’re on the road,” added Dickenson, of being perfect at home and winless on the road. “But you sleep in your own bed, maybe eat your own food that you’re used to … Canada’s a big country, so there’s a lot of travel. Still, there’s really no reason why it should be that way.
“A lot of those games could go either way, so I’m not gonna say that they couldn’t. Let’s start out by playing good at home against a great opponent … and see if we can stack another home win.”
SHORT YARDAGE
RB Dedrick Mills (personal) missed Friday’s practice for the Stamps, with Dickenson saying he hopes to have more information on his main ball-hauler before Saturday’s active roster is revealed for the Week 9 contest … Earlier this week, the Stamps released American defensive back Rodney Randle Jr. and American linebacker Diego Fagot. Randle, who joined the Stamps during the off-season after CFL tours of duty with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Montreal Alouettes, was a mainstay in the secondary and recorded 18 defensive tackles and two special-teams stops. Fagot spent three weeks on Calgary’s practice roster after being signed July 8 … Rookie DB Kenyon Reed and second-year DB Tyler Richardson have been taking reps at the spot — field-side halfback — occupied by Randle for the first seven games of the schedule.
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