Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
CFL history was made on a grey Sunday in Montreal; it just didn’t happen to the team we all expected it to.
Sunday was supposed to be a celebration for the Calgary Stampeders. Admit it, we (certainly I!) expected the storyline to be Calgary setting the all-time greatest regular season record in CFL history. Instead, led by Nik Lewis, who passed not one but two all-time receivers, the Montreal Alouettes completely flipped what was supposed to be a predictable script.
Beyond the historical repercussions, the win by the Alouettes has done two things: First, it opens up the debate about whether or not Dave Dickenson did the right thing sitting Bo Levi Mitchell for Drew Tate. But more importantly, it has given us something we haven’t had for ages; uncertainty that Calgary will just steamroll its way to the Grey Cup. Now to be fair, this feeling of doubt is just a mere sliver, a hummingbird’s eyelash, but by losing 19-7 to Montreal, we can at least imagine a scenario where Calgary doesn’t win the Cup.
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Bo Levi Mitchell has an extended break before the Stamps’ Western Final (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
I understand that the team the Stampeders were chasing, the 1989 Edmonton Eskimos, also failed in the post-season but let’s all be honest for a moment: weren’t we treating the 104th Grey Cup as less of a football contest and more of a coronation for Calgary? Of course, any feeling that Calgary is at all vulnerable could easily have been rendered moot if Dickenson had elected to go for it all and had started MOP candidate Bo Levi Mitchell.
Oh, we will have fun debating this between now and the Western Final on Nov. 20th! Player health vs. playing rusty is one of those classic sports debates we so often see surrounding a great regular season team at the end of the year. Dickenson says it was his plan all week to give Drew Tate the start. The problem for Dickenson is there is no right answer and usually in cases like this we play the results. If Calgary wins it all thwn Dickenson made the right move to protect his star quarterback and give his back-up important real game action after having thrown six regular season passes all year. If Calgary loses in the playoffs then Dickenson screwed up — he hurt his team’s “momentum” as Mitchell must have been rusty having gone 29 days without throwing a pass.
Make no mistake, this will be a heated debate. You saw it on the CFL on TSN set during halftime; hell, you could hear the guys bickering about it as they were going to break.
As for the game itself, it certainly looked like Calgary was going to win early on. After one quarter, the Stampeders had gained 102 yards compared to a rather ugly minus-seven yards for Montreal. The Alouettes possessed the ball for less than four minutes and it wouldn’t be until the second quarter that they would move the chains for the very first time. However, the score was only 5-0 after 15 minutes of play, mostly because Drew Tate just had a really bad day.
Whether it was inaccuracy on his part or miscommunication with his receivers, Tate looked out of sync. You could see it on the second Calgary drive when Tate badly overthrew a wide open Kamar Jorden, or on the next drive when DaVaris Daniels was not where Tate expected him to be, resulting in a leaping interception by Khalid Wooten in the end zone. It, of course, wasn’t all Tate’s fault. His second interception was more about a brilliant Montreal blitz scheme with Gabriel Knapton just flooring Tate as he released the ball, but this game would have been so different if Mitchell had been given the start. How could it not have been?
Drew Tate shook off some rust of his own in the Stamps’ season finale in Week 19 (The Canadian Press)
I don’t believe this will hurt Calgary come the post-season. The Stampeders are the most talented in the team with plenty of playoff experience — they know how to win. Big picture, though, I think this was a mistake by Calgary’s coaching staff. On a selfish level I wanted to see Calgary do whatever it took to get the record. Clearly for Dickenson it wasn’t a high priority with his best player reduced to sideline cheerleader.
I’m sure the players will say all the right things about not caring about the record and their only focus being on winning the Grey Cup. But to say players don’t recognize the importance of history is naïve. At halftime, Nik Lewis, who had passed Allen Pitts for fifth on the CFL’s all-time reception list, acknowledged that “now it’s on to Darren Flutie.” I love it when guys admit they know the records and how close they are to setting something special. It sure beats when they pretend to have no idea. Give me authenticity every time. Of Lewis’ eight receptions, my favourite had to be his 18-yard catch in the second quarter where he was practically carrying Joe Burnett and then shrugged off a hit by Joshua Bell. Typical Lewis, turning a six yard catch into an 18-yard gain. That play would put him over a 1,000 yards on the season, first time he has done that since 2012.
With so much of the focus going on to a major record thwarted and Dickenson’s curious decision to not start Mitchell, I want to give a little love to other members of the Alouettes. Yes, the game would have been different with Mitchell under centre, but that should not take away the gusty performances by Vernon Adams Jr. and then Rakeem Cato, who both made big plays when needed (that Cato touchdown pass to Tiquan Underwood was a thing of beauty) and more importantly neither turned the ball over. Knapton was an absolute force right from the start; who gets two sacks against that offensive line?!?
This loss notwithstanding, Calgary will still be a heavy favourite come playoff time. But at least Montreal has helped add a small element of doubt about what will happen in the post-season, which is great for all of us fans. Nothing worse in sports than a feeling a predictable sense of inevitability about whom the eventual champion will be.
Now we just have to wait until Nov. 20 to see how Calgary responds.
