Calgary crew takes on Grey Cup champs looking to measure up early in 2024 campaign
The Calgary Stampeders of 2024 …
Could they be the Montreal Alouettes of 2023?
Surprising Grey Cup champs and all?
“It’s a new year,” said Stampeders quarterback Jake Maier, with a you-never-know tone in his approach to such a bold thought.
“Yeah … I think we’re in a similar boat (to what the prognosticators thought of the Alouettes for most of last CFL season),” continued Maier. “I mean … we weren’t given the most expectations in the world.
“So there’s a few parallels there.”
They can find out just how many first-hand Saturday, when Maier and the Stampeders (2-1) take on the defending Grey Cup-champion Alouettes (4-0) at Montreal’s Percival Molson Memorial Stadium (5 p.m., TSN, QR Calgary).
Even if you think a CFL championship seems like too much of a long-shot for the Red and White this year, there’s at least the curiosity of how the early success of the Calgary crew measures up to the reigning kings of three-down football.
“It’s early,” said Stamps GM/head coach Dave Dickenson. “We want to get better as our team. Every chance we get on the field, it’s an opportunity to showcase what you’re about.
“When people are saying, ’They’re the No. 1-ranked team, and you’re playing them on the road,’ we know it’s a big challenge,” continued Dickenson. “But it’s something we’re looking forward to it.
“And it’s tough — we get it. But we do want that challenge. We do want to see how good this team can be. And we do want to see if we can go out there and get a win against them.”
That sounds like the Alouettes last year, when they came into the season looking to improve after a few years of middling football.
It was hit and miss early with a 2-3 record that turned into a 6-7 mark by Week 15. Then they got hot to win eight-straight games to capture the crown and the Grey Cup amid all the talk of the BC Lions, the Toronto Argonauts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers being the teams to beat.
“They really were the definition, in my opinion, of a team getting better as the season went on,” said Maier of the Alouettes. “You hear that cliché thrown around a lot of, ‘Hey, we just want to get better every week.’
“That’s really hard to do, and I felt like they accomplished that and I felt like they kind of blueprinted that last year.”
And this year?
Well … you don’t have to look further than their unbeaten record to get an idea of where the Alouettes stand in CFL circles.
“I think they’ve earned the right to be considered the best team in the league right now,” Maier said. “All three phases on their team are exceptional.”
“They’ve got a lot of continuity right now,” agreed Dickenson. “They’ve basically got the same team and the same coaches, as well, and they’re running it back. They didn’t really lose anything there.”
Continuity is what Dickenson is aiming to find with his own club.
That was certainly missing in the six-win 2023 campaign.
So getting back to that is paramount.
A strong showing against the Grey Cup champs — especially on the road — would help in that regard.
“It’s going to be a helluva challenge for us,” Maier said. “But we’re looking forward to it. I think it’s always fun to go on the road and try to do something together as a group, especially when the outsiders looking in don’t believe in you. I’m very much looking forward to that. They’re a great, great team, and I look forward to the challenge.
“It has to be (something you look forward to),” continued Maier. “Because if you think any other way, then what’s the fun in that. You want to be able to believe that the work that you put in yourself and your gameplan and the group that you’re with has the ability to do anything when you step on the field.”
And that leads to continuity and then — maybe — to the Alouettes type of success of last season.
“Everybody has good talent in the CFL,” added Dickenson. “It’s how you gel and how you come together and how tight are you — how tight is your bond?
“And then it’s, honestly, your best players have just got to be your best players. The guys who you think are your all-stars, if they’re playing at that level, they’re the ones that lead you to victory.
“We know we’ve got good players here, too.”
SHORT YARDAGE
The Stamps head into Saturday’s affair without a couple of big names. DB Demerio Houston (ankle) and RB Dedrick Mills (oblique) are sidelined after playing last week, as are WR Cam Echols (calf), DL Elliot Graham (hamstring) and DB Nick Statz … Into the lineup after not playing in the win over the Bombers are Sanders, RB Peyton Logan, DL Kelon Thomas, DB Kaylyn St-Cyr and DB Tyler Richardson, who gets the starting job at boundary corner on the weak side in place of Houston … Sanders slots back into the starting safety spot.