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After a 43-16 win last night for the Calgary Stampeders over the Hamilton Tiger Cats, you can’t help but ask this question: were the Stamps really good or were the Ticats just that bad? And while it’s a combination of both, I don’t believe you can take any credit away from the Calgary Stampeders.
Was Casey Printers unbelievably terrible at quarterback last night? Absoloutely. And while he was bad on his own, he wouldn’t have looked nearly as bad if it wasn’t for the stellar play of the Stamps on the defensive side of the ball. For the second game this year, they made a scrambling quarterback look like awful…and that’s because of the impressive pursuit of the Stampeders front 4. Charlseton Hughes was a monster, and especially notable off the line last night. After Printers was under pressure, he was unable to use his legs to create time and space due to the outstanding containment off the ends and into the outside linebackers. JoJuan Armour was on a mission last night…I thought he was the best defensive player on the field.
What do you do with Casey Printers? Rick and I are going to throw it around on the Big Show today, because that’s 6 games in a row he has yet to throw a touchdown pass. Yikes.
The Stampeders offence was balanced and on the mark right from the get go. Henry Burris was on, and was helped out by lots of time and space from the guys in front of him. Hank was accurate and smart…the Ticats defence was seemingly committed to playing a deep zone, so Burris just kept exploiting the soft spot underneath the Mike LB as he shaded back. Other than consecutive drops in the 3rd quarter from Copeland and Rambo, the receivers were on and Joffrey was Joffrey. For the first time in his CFL career, he runs for 3 TD’s in a game and ran for an 8.7 ypc average.
With the way the Stamps were clicking, I believe they could have had similar results against a lot of other CFL teams…maybe not 43 points, but certainly a sizeable victory. So if you’re asking yourself “was it more the Ticats being bad than the Stamps being good?” I’d say not by a long shot.
Yes, Printers didn’t look good last night. But after seeing the rest of the Ti-Cats up close I can’t say that I was impressed with any of them, except Nick Setta. The offensive line couldn’t keep Calgary’s front 7 away from Casey and the defense left gaping holes that Calgary’s passing and rushing game plans took advantage of. I’d say Hamilton suffers from lack of good playmakers on both sides of the ball and a coaching staff that doesn’t look too impressive at this time.
- Bob in the Abbey