Low five: plays that cost Calgary Stampeders a win over Montreal Alouettes

Photo courtesy: Leah Hennel/CFL.ca

You would be forgiven if you clicked this article and wondered, ‘Didn’t I read this last week?’

After all, the Stampeders lost to Montreal again. And again, they had a chance in the dying moments to get a win, despite not playing their best football.

The final score was 38-32 in favour of the visitors on a scorching hot day at McMahon Stadium. Here are the five plays that cost the Stampeders a victory.

Stamps punt for four yards — 9:05 left in Q1

The Stampeders surrendered a touchdown on the opening drive of the game and were trailing by seven when they crossed midfield and faced a tough decision: third-and-a-long-two from the Alouettes’ 49-yard line, facing a stiff wind.

They chose to punt the ball after taking a time-count penalty while trying to draw Montreal offside, but the ball rolled out of the side of the end zone, which netted no point under the new rules instituted this year regarding rouges.

Combine that with an unnecessary roughness penalty on Kelon Thomas during the punt, and the ball was spotted on the Montreal 45.

Attempt and fail on a running play or a sneak instead, and the ball would have been within two yards of where it eventually wound up. If the play is successful, the drive continues.

While I understand you couldn’t predict both the punt going long and the penalty, against a team that is an offensive powerhouse like Montreal, plus territory must turn into points if you want to win.

It’s even worse when you elect to make the safe play, and you don’t move the ball at all.

Sapp it to ’em — 11:56 left in Q2

The whole stadium heard Benny Sapp III hit Travis Theis along the sideline after he gained 15 yards.

It was the kind of hit that you see when you flick the truck stick in a video game.

However, one official saw it as a violent hit to the head, and flagged Sapp for unnecessary roughness. That added 15 yards to the play, bringing the ball almost to midfield.

Stampeders head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson expressed frustration over the call, vehemently during the game and more reasonably afterward. He also suggested that the Replay Centre in Toronto should have overturned the flag.

The next play was a 34-yard scamper down the sidelines again, with Dickenson saying his players were affected by the call on the previous play.

“They are running down the sidelines, and our guys aren’t even sure if they should tackle him,” he said.

Whiff for 40 — 8:16 left in Q2

Davis Alexander is a tough man to bring down. Coming into the game, he had only been sacked four times this season.

While credit has to go in part to his offensive line, Alexander is among the league’s best at escaping pressure. While the Stampeders would get to the Alouettes’ pivot twice, and now have half the sacks surrendered by Montreal this season, there was one miss that stands out.

The play was a second-and-ten play from the Alouettes’ 18-yard line, and Folarin Orimolade was immediately on the heels of a backpedalling Alexander. He retreated all the way into his end zone before giving Flo the slip and heaving the ball downfield for a 40-yard completion. The Stamps came within a whisker of a safety, and instead found the ball on their own 52-yard line.

The Alouettes would still punt a few plays later, but make that tackle, and all of a sudden, the Stamps get the ball with good field position and grab back some momentum in the first half.

Dagger touchdown — 1:18 left in Q4

Everyone in the building assumed the Alouettes were going to grind down more clock and run the ball late in the game deep in Calgary territory.

That was exactly the expectation that Alouettes coach Jason Maas was looking to exploit when he called a deep ball throw to Kaseem Ferdinand for a go-ahead touchdown.

The Stamps had called a timeout before the play in an effort to preserve time on the clock, which also led to the success of the play.

Brooks fumbles — 0:22 seconds left in Q4

Vernon Adams Jr. disagreed with my assessment after the game, emphatically saying this was not the play that caused the team to lose. However, Erik Brooks catching the ball inside the 10-yard line and fumbling did effectively end the game and the chances of the Stampeders completing an improbable comeback from down 22-0 in the first half.

Instead, it was another week of heads hanging low, after yet another loss by less than a score.

The Stamps had gone the length of the field, after a kick through the end zone started them at their 40-yard line. As one of the best teams in the league at converting red zone opportunities into touchdowns, Calgary will be yet again wondering what might have been.

Adams’ assessment may make more sense when context is added, as he said that it was the team’s lack of execution in the first half that was a larger contributor to the loss.

Next Up

The Stamps will head out on the road for the next three games, with a rematch against their Week 1 opponent, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, up first, before matchups with Toronto and Hamilton.

Ryan Ballantine is a lifelong Stamps fan and host of the Go Stamps Go Show Podcast. He has been covering the team since 2008.