Stampeders out-classed by Elks in all places on the sector, and season is hanging within the steadiness if enhancements do not come quick
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Earlier than the sport, it felt like the great previous days.
The parking heaps round McMahon Stadium had been filled with tailgaters. The F-18s that flew above town had been as exhilarating as at all times. There have been 28,467 followers within the stands.
It was the Labour Day Basic. You possibly can’t beat it.
Sadly, as soon as the sport began, it was nonetheless 2024.
And the 2024 Stampeders usually are not a throwback to the nice groups of the 2010s or the Nineties.
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No, this Stampeders (4-7) group has misplaced 4 of their final 5 video games after placing in a very uninspired efficiency towards their Alberta rivals and falling 35-20.
The Elks (4-8), it must be famous, are the last-place group within the CFL’s West Division. They’re the one group beneath the Stampeders within the standings, however that’s a little bit deceiving.
The Elks are surging. They’ve gained four-of-five, with their solely loss coming to the best-in-class Montreal Alouettes.
Let’s name a spade a spade right here. The Elks are a greater group than the Stampeders and totally deserved their win within the Labour Day Basic. This was not an underdog beating a favorite. The higher group gained.
The true query is whether or not you might confidently say the Stamps are higher than anybody within the CFL proper now.
Possibly you’d say the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are worse, however a minimum of the East Division’s backside dwellers gained their very own Labour Day contest, knocking off the Toronto Argonauts earlier within the day.
The Stamps, in the meantime, appear to be regressing.
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Quarterback Jake Maier appeared utterly out-of-sorts on Monday, throwing 4 interceptions. To the blind eye, all of them gave the impression to be into double-coverage.
You merely won’t ever win skilled soccer video games turning the ball over that many occasions. The cheers from Stamps followers that greeted backup Logan Bonner’s entrance into the sport with a minute left had been no shock.
Calgary soccer followers are annoyed.
“There’s no technique to positively paint 4 interceptions, there’s actually not,” Maier mentioned. “And we obtained what we deserved due to it.”
The offence’s continued incapacity to remain on the sector and put collectively 4 quarters is a function, not a bug, and the truth is that they date again to 2023 and arguably even 2022.
It wasn’t simply Maier, though you must ponder whether a change at quarterback is coming. There have been psychological errors by receivers, together with on the second offensive play of the sport for the Stampeders, and the group rushed for a grand complete of 18 yards.
“The primary two offensive performs we had psychological errors and I don’t perceive it. We went over it and so they even knew the calls,” mentioned Stampeders GM/head coach Dave Dickenson. “It’s mind-boggling to me and we simply weren’t enjoying onerous sufficient. They bodily out-did us and ran tougher and energy’s simply not sufficient. It gained’t ever be sufficient. We’ve obtained to scrub it up and can most likely need to make some adjustments.”
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This group’s points go effectively past the quarterback and the offence, although.
The Stamps defence permitting extra dashing yards per-game than any group within the league.
The Elks didn’t must run the ball a lot on Monday, although. They had been completely content material to throw the ball many times. And why wouldn’t they’ve been?
Quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson picked aside the Stampeders at-will, finishing 25-of-36 passes for 486 yards and three touchdowns.
The Stampeders performed their half in making him look good. They put the Elks QB beneath little-to-no strain for lengthy stretches and their DBs obtained repeatedly beat.
“It’s embarrassing,” Dickenson mentioned when he was requested about how his group was picked aside by way of the air. “That’s all I can say. It’s embarrassing.”
It was embarrassing, and the Stamps now face a scenario the place they’ll need to battle for his or her playoff lives the remainder of the best way. They’ve obtained a return date towards the Elks on Saturday and that’s completely a must-win sport.
So was the Labour Day Basic, although, and that sense of urgency didn’t convey out one of the best within the group.
To date, nothing has.
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And proper now, it seems like this season is getting away from the Stampeders. The playoffs are nonetheless a risk, however they gained’t be if the group doesn’t discover a technique to be loads higher than they had been on Monday afternoon.
In the event that they don’t, there’ll certainly be wholesale adjustments this low season.
“I’m very annoyed,” mentioned Stamps linebacker Cam Choose. “There’s nonetheless time to appropriate it, after all, so I’ve obtained to channel that frustration the best manner and attempt to get on the blokes as a lot as I can.
“Are you at house watching movie? I don’t know. Are you engaged on the issues you could work on? I don’t know. Professional soccer, you’ve obtained to have the maturity and hopefully guys are doing it.”
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