EDMONTON – The Calgary Stampeders are the best football team in Alberta, if that counts for anything.
In case there were any deeply-strange people who remained somehow unconvinced of that very obvious fact after their three previous wins over the Edmonton Elks this season, the Stamps proved it beyond any shadow of a doubt for a fourth time on Saturday night.
This has been a one-sided rivalry all season. At this point, is it even really accurate to call it a rivalry? The Elks seem like less of a rival and more of an irritant to the Stampeders. Like a mosquito that you have to swat away four times before never thinking about it again.
The final 56-28 scoreline on Saturday barely told the whole story.
“From a team perspective it feels amazing to score that many points and it wasn’t just offensively, there was a blocked punt, a pick-six, Tommy Stevens (scored) four touchdowns, couldn’t be happier,” said Stamps quarterback Jake Maier. “To score 56 points on the road, as a team, that’s the biggest thing, it happened as a team. Couldn’t be prouder.”
Maybe after last week’s relatively close Labour Day Classic there was some hope that the Elks (3-10) might manage to actually take another step forward and at least make a game out of it against the Stamps (8-4). Nope, any hope was horribly misplaced.
From the opening kickoff, the Stamps were the better team — by a lot. Like, by so, so much.
There was too much scoring to list it all off, honestly, but there was never any intrigue in this game.
The first time the Elks had the ball in their hands, Taylor Cornelius threw a pick-six that was run back into the endzone by Stamps DB Trumaine Washington.
Yes, it’s true that the Elks responded with a touchdown of their own, but honestly, that was just delaying the inevitable.
The rest of the game was basically just a series of long Stampeders drives that ended with third-string quarterback Tommy Stevens running the ball into the endzone for short-yardage touchdowns.
If that sounds like hyperbole, it really isn’t. Stevens is very good in short-yardage situations, but he had the game of his career at that very specific skill on Saturday. Four times, he was handed the ball deep in Elks territory. Four times, he got into the endzone.Can a third-string quarterback who is being asked to run the ball for a maximum of two or three yards eligible for one of the CFL’s Three Top Performer awards? We’re going to find out this week, apparently.
“Had good opportunities, guys put me in good positions to make plays, just tried to do my part,” Stevens said. “The guys up front took care of most of it for me, the guys on the edges, the receivers, the running backs, they all took care of the hard stuff for me. Just tried to do my part.”
Stevens was far from the only standout performer, though.The Stamps run game in general had its way with the Elks, with Ka’Deem Carey running the ball nine times for 118 yards and a touchdown. The Elks may have done a decent job containing him in the Labour Day Classic, but they had no such luck in the rematch.
Reggie Begelton also had arguably his best game of the season, catching five passes for 112 yards, while Malik Henry continued his hot streak with 98 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Honestly, name a Stampeders player and they probably had a good game.JMaier completed 20-of-26 passes for 287 yards and a touchdown but it’s no knock on him to say the Stamps probably still would have won by a couple touchdowns even if he’d been considerably worse.
The defence was great, too. The Elks may have scored 28, but seven of those points came right after Stamps returner Peyton Logan had fumbled a punt deep in his own territory. There wasn’t much the Stamps D could do about that, and there was a late touchdown that literally did not matter, too.
Shawn Lemon, by the way, continued his exceptional season and picked up two more sacks. His total for 2022 now sits at 10, which is somehow unsurprising because this is Lemon we’re talking about and getting 10 sacks in a season is just kind of what he does.
Special teams did their part, too. Rene Paredes hit both field goals he was asked to kick and Charlie Moore blocked a punt that set up a touchdown.
Ultimately, nobody learned much about the Stampeders on Saturday that they didn’t already know.
While the scoreline was lopsided, it wasn’t even the biggest margin of victory over the Elks that the Stamps have earned this season. When they played in Edmonton in July, the Stamps won 49-6.So yeah, the Stampeders are a way better football team than the Elks. They won’t get a ring for proving that, though. Beating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in November is the top priority and, in the short term, knocking off the B.C. Lions in the back-to-back games they’ve got coming up is absolutely vital.
Win those two games against the Lions and the Stamps will have sole possession of second place in the West Division and the inside track on hosting the West Semifinal when they playoffs get going.
But the Stamps needed to beat the Elks to keep that dream alive, too. As they’ve proven multiple times this season, that’s something the Stampeders are pretty good at.
“As a team, I know we’re happy but we’ll have to be better next week and ultimately just try to improve,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “I knew it was going to be a tough game, I know that human nature takes over when you’ve beat a team a couple times in a row and you’ve got to make sure you show up with that same energy and leave everything out there.”
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