Preview Calgary Stampeders at B.C. Lions
Friday August 19, 2016 10:00 PM
VANCOUVER — It’s showtime on the Pacific coast.
The nightcap of Friday Night Football’s Week 9 doubleheader features the BC Lions and the Calgary Stampeders, two teams locked in a battle for first place atop the West Division standings.
After beginning the year as a defensive juggernaut, the Lions have kicked into another offensive gear the past two weeks en route to 83 points and a pair of victories, while Calgary’s more than kept pace with a pair of wins, 35-15 and 19-10, against last-place Saskatchewan.
It’s been an emotional roller-coaster the past few weeks for the Calgary Stampeders.
Amidst a myriad of off-field back-and-forths with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Stamps claimed a pair of decisive victories the past two weeks to retain their lead in the West at 5-1-1.
This week Calgary travels to BC seeking to exorcise any lingering demons from a Week 1 loss at BC Place and, more importantly, strengthen its grasp on first place in the West.
“It’s probably, at this point, the biggest game of the year,” said Stamps full back Rob Cote. “It’s rare to see a game this big, but it’s not going to make or break either team’s season — we still have a lot of games after that.”
Cote highlighted big plays — see BC return maestro Chris Rainey’s Week 1 return for more details — as a major swing point in the season series.
“We’ve given up a couple of bad plays against the team we’re playing this weekend,” said the fullback. “We’ve got to eliminate those, and we should be alright.”
The Stamps offence will be gunning for a bigger performance than the 18-point, 283-yard one they put in back in a Week 1 defeat on the coast.
“It’s going to be a close football game that will come down to a few plays,” predicted Calgary head coach Dave Dickenson. “We started off poor (on the road) in BC, and we’ve had some challenges — Ottawa (and) Winnipeg were loud crowds — but we handled it last week in Saskatchewan.”
The first-year head coach admitted his first-place football team has a lot of growing to do before earning the “championship contender” moniker it’s already being tabbed with by media and fans alike.
“I like our record (but) think we can play a lot better,” said Dickenson. “I give these guys a lot of credit — they know how to win — (but) we’re nowhere close to where we could or should be.”
The Stamps head coach respects the quick turnaround underway in BC.
“I didn’t pay attention too closely to what they did in the off-season, but they’ve gelled quickly,” said Dickenson. “Obviously Wally (Buono) knows what he’s doing, with 270-something wins, they’ve definitely taken a step forward and they’re going to be a team to be reckoned with going forward.”
The Stamps will look to star quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell for success on offence Friday; the Eastern Washington alum has thrown for 2,194 yards and a league-high 12 touchdowns.
Slotback Marquay McDaniel, Mitchell’s favoured receiver with a team-high 57 targets, leads Calgary in all receiving categories and will be a major factor in the success or failure of the Stamps offence on Friday.
The Stamps’ receiving corps — without main man Joe West since Week 3 — could be bolstered by the insertion of rookie DaVaris Daniels, a former Notre Dame wideout with NFL tools. Friday’s game will be Daniels’ professional debut; the 6-foot-1 receiver spent time on the Vikings’ and Patriots’ practice rosters during the 2015 NFL season but saw no action.
In BC, meanwhile, times are good.
The Leos, 5-2, are just two wins shy of matching their win total from a disappointing 2015 season, and we’re still in August.
Jonathon Jennings has found another level with a pair of 300-plus-yard performances in his last two games, vaulting up in the quarterback index and over the 2,000-yard mark on the year.
“We’ve learned from our mistakes (in) the first couple games of the season,” Jennings, who’s propelled himself to third in the league in passing yards (2,048) and touchdowns (11), told BCLions.com. “We expect ourselves to be this type of team, our goal each week is to be 1-0 and that’s what we’re striving to do.”
Despite running numbers being down across the league in 2016, the Lions have found a way to make their ground attack count, boasting three of the league’s top 10 runners in Jeremiah Johnson (256), Anthony Allen (194) and Jennings (163).
“Sometimes it’s tough to run the ball, teams want to take that away, so they’re leaving a lot of space underneath and giving you and opportunity to get five or six yards underneath on first down,” said Jennings. “You go with the game flow, and that’s (the trend) going on across the league.”
Three games above .500, the Lions appear to be a playoff team and then some as we approach the halfway point of the regular season — a position that few outside of the organization foresaw.
“Coming out of training camp, I felt like we were going to have a pretty good football team,” said Head Coach Wally Buono. “I’ve been very pleased with the rapid improvement of our club — we play a very fast, very exciting game of football, whether it’s offence, defence or special teams.”
In terms of excitement, it doesn’t get much better in the CFL than BC return man Chris Rainey’s wheels.
The former Florida Gator’s returned two punts for touchdowns this season — both against Calgary — and is one of the league’s top return men with a 17.3-yard average punt-return.
“We’re not boring,” chuckled Buono. “You’ve got to be explosive in all three facets.”
The Leos are once again led defensively by a front seven featuring 2015 CFL tackle-leader Adam Bighill and his 49 tackles, and veteran Solomon Elimimian (36 tackles, four sacks).
BC wideout Emmanuel Arceneaux’s season to-date can be easily divided into two segments: pre- and post-bye week. Prior to the Lions’ Week-5 bye, Arceneaux had 237 receiving yards and a solitary TD reception in four games. Since BC’s bye, the Alcorn State alum has hauled in 303 yards and four touchdowns in three games.
