REGINA — Although the Calgary Stampeders are enjoying their best start to a season since 1995, head coach Dave Dickenson knows there is still a long way to go before the team reaches its full potential. Calgary stormed out to an early 24-0 lead against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday night but almost led the lead slip away.
“We had the big punt return, then we started making a lot of mistakes,” Dickenson said after the 34-22 victory. “Some of it was communication. It’s just very difficult assignment-wise to make sure everyone is on the same page in this building.”
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While Bo Levi Mitchell threw for three touchdowns on the night, it was the Stamps’ defence and special teams that stepped up to secure the win. Despite losing momentum on offence, Dickenson was happy with the way the entire team got things back on track.
“We weren’t sharp mentally a little bit,” Dickenson said. “The noise got us, but we kept our poise though. We regrouped, we found a way to get a touchdown there and ultimately I felt like we deserved to win.”
“I didn’t feel like we lost our desire and our passion, we just lost a little bit of the details and the focus of our plays,” Dickenson added. “That’s going to happen throughout a game anyway, but we had that cushion. We needed it and we took advantage of it to get the win.”
Linebacker Alex Singleton led the way for Calgary on a night where the defence recovered a pair of fumbles and contained Saskatchewan’s passing and rushing attack for four quarters. Singleton led the Stamps with seven tackles.
“We had to make plays,” Singleton told TSN after the win. “We had to get off the field and give the ball to the offence as much as possible. To see the guys fly around and just keeping getting better week in and week out is what we want to do.”
Singleton knows the team will face some challenging tests in the West as the season moves forward, but he’s confident they will be ready.
“We’re going to play every game as hard as we can,” Singleton said. “It’s important to win the West, that’s the most important thing. We got a lot of games left, so we’re going to go in every week and bring our best.”
The next test for the Stamps comes on Saturday night when the team hosts the BC Lions in Week 8 action.
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