MONTREAL — At 15-1-1, the Calgary Stampeders are on the cusp of one of — if not the — greatest season in CFL history. The team’s players understand they are on the edge of completing a remarkable, historic regular season.
It seems like every week we write the same thing about the Calgary Stampeders: Dave Dickenson’s team is efficient, relatively healthy, organizational, or career milestone, and hasn’t lost since June.
All of the above ring true entering the Stamps’ Week 19 trip to Montreal for a date with the resurgent Alouettes. Dave Dickenson’s team is relatively healthy, does have a series of milestones within grasp, and still hasn’t lost since June.
“It’s going to be a tough opponent,” Dickenson told Stampeders.com ahead of this afternoon’s tilt. “We’re going to be pretty close to our normal roster — obviously whether we play everybody full-time is what we’re going to see.”
Let’s start with those milestones. Calgary is looking to become the first team since the ’09 Montreal Alouettes to score 200 more points than it allowed. More importantly, the Stamps can set the single-season CFL record for points currently held by the 1989 Eskimos (32).
“We don’t have a lot of subs right now, so we’re just going to try to play everybody that’s suited up,” explained Dickenson. “When you’re out there, you have to show me you’re playing well, to get more opportunities.”
As for facing Jacques Chapdelaine and the Als for the second time in three weeks, Dickenson admits there are no secrets at this stage of the season.
“We expect to see some different fronts, I’m sure they’ll have some stuff prepared for us,” said the Calgary head coach. “We have an idea what he’ll come at us with, he had success last time by mixing in a lot of different things.”
Stamps safety Joshua Bell says that, while Calgary’s 22-8 win over the Als two weeks ago was certainly a solid defensive performance, there is always room for improvement.
“We’re really focusing on ourselves, trying to correct what we did last game,” said Bell, a Los Angeles native with 32 tackles to his name this season. “They scored eight points, (so) you’ve got at least eight reasons to correct — our communication can get better.”
The Montreal Alouettes have had a bizarre final third to say the least. Since delivering a 38-11 beating to the Toronto Argonauts in Jacques Chapdelaine’s Week 15 coaching debut, the Als have had their collective lunch handed to them twice and beaten a surging Saskatchewan team on the road.
Montreal will hand the ball once again to Vernon Adams Jr. this week. The Oregon alum was 11-for-24 for 177 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in his first start last week at Saskatchewan.
In a startling statistic, Adams became the Als’ starting ninth quarterback since Anthony Calvillo’s last start in 2013. The trip down memory lane that is that list includes names like Josh Neiswander and Jonathan Crompton.
On the defensive side of the football, the Als will be looking to Jovon Johnson for any big plays that come out of the secondary. Johnson, formerly of the Ottawa REDBLACKS and Winnipeg Blue Bombers, has registered a career-high six sacks this season while playing within coordinator Noel Thorpe’s aggressive defence.
“It starts with practice and leads up to gameday,” Johnson told MontrealAlouettes.com. “You get in the film room, get back in the playbook, and get ready to go — I think we’ll be fine this week.”
While Montreal is expecting another solid atmosphere at Molson Stadium on this afternoon, the team’s performances have left something to be desired: Through eight of their nine 2016 home games, the Als are 2-6. Three of those six losses have been by more than two scores.
