Jul
Calgary: D must be better
Courtesy Calgary Herald:
F or around 44 minutes of game action Wednesday night at McMahon Stadium, the Calgary Stampeders defence was the stifling unit that fans had come to expect after it evolved into the Canadian Football League’s best last season.
Trouble was, it was the last 44 minutes of the Stamps’ season-opening 40-27 loss to the Montreal Alouettes.
The first 16? Yikes.
“That was definitely one for the ages. I mean, we give up 200 yards of offence, it’s 20-0. Oh, man,” whistled Calgary defensive end Mike Labinjo on Thursday after the Stamps spent the morning reviewing the carnage.
“Everyone was mad at each other. It was definitely a position we haven’t been in before. But I think we did a good job of regrouping after that and settling down. But the damage was done. You can’t go down like that right out of the gate, especially against a team like Montreal.”
The end result of those 16 minutes: 201 yards of Alouette offence and 20 points on the scoreboard in four drives. The rest of the night for the Alouettes produced just 199 yards and one offensive touchdown.
“They wanted it more than us in the first quarter, and it showed,” said Stamps linebacker Shannon James. “They ran the ball at will. But once we got settled down, we started to control it.
”That was by far the most frustrating first quarter I’ve played since I got here. It was 17-0 before I blinked. They were gaining five, six, seven, eight yards a pop against us.”
What was especially interesting– or galling, from the Stamps’ perspective– was the way Montreal running back Avon Cobourne was able to shred Calgary’s front seven. He managed just 23 yards on five attempts in his lone regular-season appearance against the Stamps last year, but he galloped for 107 yards on 19 carries Wednesday, with more than half of his yardage racked up on those first four drives.
In total, Montreal rushed for 176 yards, the most Calgary has given up since late in the 2007 season.
“It wasn’t what we wanted. Certainly, we’ve got to do a better job of stopping the run,” said Stamps defensive co-ordinator Chris Jones. “But you have to give (the Alouettes) a lot of credit. They did a good job
demetris summers’s injury may spell his end with stamps, says allen Cameron.
with the game plan they came in with to enable them to move the ball in the first quarter. They came up with a good scheme, and I told Scott (Montreal offensive co-ordinator Scott Milanovich) that as we walked off the field.
”That being said, I do like the way our team fought back. We scratched and clawed and gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game.
“We’re not going to change what we do. We’re going to get better at what we do. That’s the approach we’re taking.”
While the defence was licking its wounds, Calgary’s offence was still ruing the one that got away. Calgary had the ball inside Montreal’s 30-yard line three times in the final 10 minutes of the fourth quarter and didn’t get a point.
“It definitely sucked, big-time,” said Stamps quarterback Henry Burris. “As bad as we played, we had many opportunities to win the game. It shows we’re a team that when we get to a point where we’re playing the type of ball we’re supposed to play, we’ll be pretty good. But when we go out there and we do the little things in the wrong way like we did (Wednesday), that will happen to you 100 per cent of the time.”
EXTRA POINTS: RB Demetris Summers’ hamstring injury could keep him sidelined for up to three weeks, said Stamps coach and GM John Hufnagel, who admitted Summers’ injury issues are becoming a factor. “It’s unfortunate, and there will come a time when a decision will have to be made, but I’m not prepared to say anything about that right now.” . . . R Titus Ryan, whose 104-yard kick-return touchdown electrified the crowd, is having a knee injury assessed and is questionable for the July 10 game in Winnipeg . . . OL Jeff Pilon and R Ken-Yon Rambo are expected to return to practice Sunday . . . Hufnagel said the Stamps are planning to add a Canadian receiver to the roster. No names were mentioned.
