Aug
Edmonton: The ring’s the thing
Courtesy Edmonton Journal:
Fred Stamps has never been on a championship team, so when he looks at some of his teammates’ fingers and sees their 2005 Grey Cup rings, he’s both envious and motivated to get one for his own finger.
“I’ve never won a championship,” the speedy slotback said Monday, four days after his best game of the young CFL season.
“Maybe in Pop Warner, but nothing like where you have a ring. When I see these guys walking around here with the big rings, that’s what I want.”
Stamps came close last year when the Eskimos, who meet the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton on Saturday, lost in the East Division final to the Montreal Alouettes.
That left a bad taste in his mouth and made him more determined than ever to get to the Grey Cup.
“I came into training camp with a whole new mindset, probably the whole team did; whatever it takes to get to the Grey Cup. If I don’t catch a ball, if I only catch one ball, whatever, as long as I make a block to spring one of the other receivers, I feel better as long as we win.”
The problem through the first four games was that the Esks were only 2-2 and Stamps had just 11 catches for 152 yards and no touchdowns.
In what may turn out to be the team’s turnaround game — the Eskimos’ come-from-behind 38-33 win in Regina two weeks ago–Stamps had just one catch for 16 yards.
“You always want to get off to a great start but, sometimes, it doesn’t work like that,” said receivers coach Jason Tucker, one of the most prolific receivers in Eskimos history.
“So you just try to chug along, keep doing your job, and hope those games will come. And, last week, it came for him.
“Freddie has probably the best set of hands at receiver that we have out here. Anywhere he goes, he can snatch it. As a quarterback, it’s like just get him the ball, he’ll catch it no matter where it is.”
Last week, in a huge victory over the previously unbeaten Alouettes, Stamps came alive with four catches for a game-high 109 yards and his first two touchdowns of the year.
“You just have to stay focused on whatever you have to do,” said Stamps, who had 50 catches for 751 yards and six touchdowns in 14 games last season.
“When you see Maurice Mann take a screen 35 yards, it comes from a big block by one of the receivers. It doesn’t matter if you catch the ball.
“Every receiver wants the ball, but if you catch 100 passes for 1,500 yards or whatever, you don’t make it to the playoffs or the Grey Cup, how would you feel? So I’m going to do whatever it takes to get there.”
Quarterback Ricky Ray said Stamps became his primary receiver on some plays against Montreal simply because of the defence the Als were playing. On his two touchdown passes, however, Stamps wasn’t the No. 1 target.
“To be honest, that first touchdown catch, he was probably my third thought when we put the play in because we were expecting zone coverage,” said Ray. “So he was holding the high defender and we were trying to hit some guys underneath.”
But the defence played man-to-man, Stamps got behind his coverage and Ray hit him with a perfect 28-yard over-the-shoulder strike.
“The second one was something we had been setting up early in the game with a receiver screen, where he fakes like he’s going to block for the receiver screen and then he gets behind the guy.”
It worked perfectly and Stamps was wide open for a 48-yard TD.
The thing with Stamps, said Ray, is he’s always where he’s supposed to be, and he’s a well-rounded receiver with good speed who can make the tough catches.
“We see it out here in practice all the time … so you know as a quarterback you just need to put it in the area and he’s going to be able to make a play on it.
“You try to make it accurate, but when you’re not, he can make a one-hander or a tough catch over somebody.”
