By Murray McCormick, Leader-PostOctober 15, 2009
CALGARY — BY THE STANDINGS: The Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders head into Week 16 tied for first in the West Division with 8-6 records. The Riders hold the early edge in the season series, one of the league’s playoff tiebreakers, on the strength of a 24-23 victory on Aug. 1 in Calgary.
CALGARY — BY THE STANDINGS: The Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders head into Week 16 tied for first in the West Division with 8-6 records. The Riders hold the early edge in the season series, one of the league’s playoff tiebreakers, on the strength of a 24-23 victory on Aug. 1 in Calgary.
GOT TICKETS? MAYBE: By late Friday afternoon, there were approximately 2,000 tickets remaining for today’s game. McMahon has been expanded from 35,650 to approximately 47,000 seats for the 2009 Grey Cup game. A total of 40,029 of those seats are available for Saturday's game.
OFFENSIVE WOES: Calgary hasn’t scored a touchdown in nine quarters. Jeremaine Copeland scored the major in the third quarter of a 27-18 victory over the B.C. Lions on Sept. 18. Quarterback Henry Burris has one touchdown pass and has been intercepted four times over the last four games. On Friday, Calgary head coach John Hufnagel challenged the Stampeders to play better on offence.
ROAD WARRIORS: The Riders, with a 4-3 mark, are the only West Division team with a winning record on the road. The Stampeders are 5-2 at home.
BRYANT ROLLING: Romby Bryant, whom the Stampeders acquired from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers through a trade on Sept. 20, is coming off his best game of the season. He had six receptions for 118 yards in Calgary’s 32-11 loss to the Montreal Alouettes on Monday.
LIFE WITHOUT DRESSLER: The Riders play their first game of the season without Weston Dressler, who is sidelined with a broken fibula and a sprained right ankle. Rob Bagg steps into the void as the slotback. Rookie Johnny Quinn is slated to start on the wide side of the field instead of Bagg. Gerran Walker remains as the strong side wide receiver. Andy Fantuz and Chris Getzlaf starts as slotback. Veteran Jason Clermont is also expected to see more action at slotback.
REWIND: Riders quarterback Darian Durant and Getzlaf hooked up on a 65-yard touchdown pass with 1:27 remaining in the fourth quarter in the Riders’ win on Aug. 1. The touchdown was set up by a 55-yard missed field-goal return by Dressler. Getzlaf finished with five receptions for 101 yards and two touchdowns.
HE’S BACK: Strong-side linebacker Sean Lucas returns to the active roster after missing one game with an ankle injury. Lucas leads the Riders with 63 tackles and is tied for the league lead with four fumbles. He also adds more passion to a team that has a number of enthusiastic leaders.
JONES ON THE LINE: Defensive end Kitwana Jones has been part of the rotation at defensive tackle with Marcus Adams and Keith Shologan. Jones is small for the role but adds speed to the line. He also drops back at times to assist in coverage.
BUMP AND GRIND: The Alouettes were able to control Calgary’s receivers with close coverage and bumping them at the line of scrimmage. The Riders tend to drop back in coverage. The Stampeders feel confident they should be able to find more room under the Riders’ defensive scheme.
PRESSURE ON CONGI: Saskatchewan’s Luca Congi is among the league’s best placekickers. He has been forced into carrying the additional duties of punting and kickoffs with the neck injury to Jamie Boreham. Congi averged 26.8 yards on his five punts in the Riders’ 32-22 win last week over the Argos. He averaged 54.1 yards on seven kickoffs but the Riders were also offside on three kickoffs. Rookie Ryan Elaschuk has been added to the 46-man roster and might be added to the 42-man roster for insurance.
OFFENSIVE POWER: The Roughriders are second in the league with 401 total points. The Stampeders, despite their offensive woes, are third with 398. Montreal leads all teams with 445 points.
SACK ATTACK: Calgary’s offensive line has struggled this season but is still third in sacks allowed with 25. The Riders are fifth with 32 sacks allowed. The Riders, paced by John Chick and Stevie Baggs with nine sacks each, are fourth in the CFL with 31. Calgary is fifth with 21. Calgary didn’t have a sack in the loss to the Alouettes and gave up two. The Riders have three sacks in their last three games and gave up two in the win over Toronto.
No comments:
Post a Comment