Monday Morning Sentimonies: Slaying the Stamps

Riders 40 – Stampeders 37 (OT)

Saturday was one hell of an emotional ride. It went from we are going to pound them, to we are going to blow this, to maybe we won’t blow this, to we definitely are going to blow this, to a victory that was never in doubt. I could have done without pretty much everything that happened between the halfway point of the second Q and the second OT but the end result was a hard fought road victory and a 2-0 record. For the record in my pre-game write up I did say “I think we can grind out an ugly road win in Alberta.” And “Riders by a Tommy time TD”. 

Had we lost that game, we would have had no one to blame but ourselves. We dominated the first half with the exception of 2 plays. We fumbled on our own 14 yard line and gave up a missed FG return TD to end the half. Take those 2 plays away and we go to the locker-room up 23-0. That should have been an easy win but we decided to make it hard (both on ourselves and my heart). We played a decent 3^rd quarter and then seemed to reward ourselves by taking the 4^th off completely. Fortunately we decided OT was worth showing up for. 

Offense has put up 71 points over 2 games. Most Rider fans can remember times where 71 seemed like a more realistic target for points in an entire season. Harris played another great game. He forced it at times (mostly to the other Johnson for some reason), and overthrew a couple. But other than his customary old man nap in the 4^th you have to be pretty happy with the level he is playing at this season. O-line did very well against a strong Calgary pass rush. Until Ouelette got hurt we had pretty good balance of the run. A healthy Baker remains a dangerous man (he’s on pace for a very realistic 2600 yards this season) and the combination of him, Emilus and Keesean is tough to contain. Mueller and Harris are dialed in on the same page and it leading to great things offensively so far in 2026. 

The fire power our offense displays makes what happened in the 4^th all the more infuriating. We had 4 drives that quarter. In those drives, this high octane offense managed 3 completions, 2 first downs, 18 net yards and 4 punts. One  solitary drive would have sealed that game and we could not manage it. 

Seems counterintuitive to praise the defense when the opponents score 37 but the scoreboard does not do that unit justice. They completely shut down VA and the Stamps in the first half. The only TD’s given up were when Harris coughed the ball up on the doorstep of our own endzone and when our kicker didn’t do his job. Through 3 quarters of play they allowed one FG when given a full field to work with. We got pressure. Linebackers were flying around. They played exceptionally well. Things went down hill in the 4^th but they received zero support from our offense and lost yet another starting HB. They battled their hearts out without our best defensive player. You may look at the stats and lament that we let Mills get over 100 yards rushing but we held him to 30 yards through 3 quarters. He got 62 in the 4^th and 11 more in OT. Much like the offense, D played great in everything but the 4^th quarter. What I find most impressive is that normally Mace’s defense relies on sacks and turnovers. We largely held Calgary’s offense in check without relying on either. Just solid defensive play.

On special teams Letcher is good. Hale is lucky that we like our other American’s on the roster too much to bench them in a favour of a better kicker.

While I do not like all the drama and 4^th quarter disappearing act, what I do like is that this team is built to overcome this. For many years this is the type of game the Riders would have choked away. But under the leadership of Mace and Harris, there is a calm confidence that they can fight through whatever adversity arises. This team believes they can win and won’t just fold when things don’ go their way. They are also blessed with a coach who is not an idiot. Why on earth Dave Dickenson chose to go against the most basic of CFL strategy and take the ball second in OT is beyond me. 

The current pace of sacrificing multiple starters per week to injury list is not going to sustainable for much longer but for now the Riders remain a team that is going to be tough to beat. Starting the year with 2 big division wins is massive. Ugly wins count the same as pretty ones.

Other random thoughts:

-       Sacks may not be there but each week I am more reassured watching our rebuilt D-line. They are consistently getting pressure. Missed tackles have taken a few sacks off the board but then again we have played 2 of the hardest QBs to wrangle to start the season.

-       Love watching Aubrey Miller on special teams.

-       I agree that there was not enough evidence to rule that play in OT a  VA fumble but the only reason that VA was in a throwing motion was that our defenders arm hit his hand in that exact direction.

-       I don’t get how anyone (cough Stamp fans and coaches cough) were mad at that OPI call on Brooks. He literally had our DB in an armbar.

-       Definitely saw the inexperience of Bell in OT. He blew his coverage being too aggressive on trying to make a play. If he can find the righ balance of his natural agressiveness and being smart about when he uses it, he is going to be a solid player.

-       Both BC and Calgary are 0-2 and they play each other next week so one is going to start the season 0-3.