Ultimately, Dave Dickenson decided he could rotate his team a little bit.
When the Calgary Stampeders take the field against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday night at McMahon Stadium (6 p.m., TSN/770 CHQR), a couple of key starters will be resting on the sideline.
Conversely, there’s a couple of expected starters who are returning to the lineup.
In total, there are 10 players coming on to the roster and 10 players who were in the lineup for last weekend’s game against the Riders who are sitting this one out.
The Stampeders aren’t just throwing this one away, though.
“I’m honestly trying to get our team ready to play winning football, Stampeders football,” Dickenson said. “I want to be fair to the guys. We’re competing, we’re trying to win a football game. But another goal is to make sure we show up, play sound football, do our jobs and we’ve always preached that we’re a team. Whoever gets their number called, go out there and the standard’s the same.
“We’ll have more opportunity to see guys who haven’t played as much normally, but the standard’s the same.”
Saturday night’s game is meaningless in the standings. The Stampeders are locked in to third place in the West Division and will be travelling to Vancouver next weekend for their first-round playoff matchup with the B.C. Lions. The Roughriders are eliminated from playoff contention.
In a similar situation last year in their final regular-season game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Stamps played safe, conservative football. They wound up winning the game, but it was not one anybody is ever going to want to revisit.
And while seeing the likes of defensive end Shawn Lemon and running back Ka’Deem Carey sitting out this weekend might seem like a signal that we could be in for another similarly dull game, Dickenson insisted that’s not the case.
“I’m not resting that many healthy guys,” Dickenson said. “Some could play, but I don’t think it’s smart. Ka’Deem’s situation, I know he could play. He has been banged up, he’s been a total warrior and wants to play. Lemon, he’s had a great year and is fighting for awards. Not the young guy, but certainly a guy I feel could play.
“Both of them bought in and said ‘I want to play, but I’ll do what you need me to do’. “
Defensive end Folarin Orimolade will also be sitting out on Saturday and that is a situation that Stamps fans will want to monitor closely next week. He’s dealing with a muscle pull that Dickenson said would have kept Orimolade out of this weekend’s game regardless of how much was at stake.
Orimolade has been excellent this season and the Stamps will absolutely want him back in the lineup in time for next weekend.
On the bright side, though, the Stampeders are getting a couple crucial reinforcements back on Saturday night.
Both receiver Kamar Jorden and defensive back Titus Wall are returning to the lineup after extended spells on the six-game injured list, as is corner Natrell Jamerson.
You would expect Jorden and Wall to be surefire starters next weekend against the Lions, while Jamerson may be in contention, as well.
NOT SURE HOW IT SHAKES OUT
The Stampeders will be starting Jake Maier at quarterback, but it’s entirely unclear how the rest of the game will play out at the position.
There has obviously been a lot of focus on whether the team will give Bo Levi Mitchell an opportunity to play in front of Calgary fans in what is likely his final home game in a Stamps uniform, but Dickenson would also like to get a long look at third-stringer Tommy Stevens.
“Basically, I’m going to start Jake and let it roll from there,” Dickenson said. “I’m not really committed to seeing all three, if it happens, it happens. I am hopeful that Tommy gets some time because I don’t know as much about Tommy. I want to see him. We understand we’re playing for 2022, but we always have to look to the future and I’m just going to let it go from there, though. Bo and I are on the same page, so we’re fine and we’ll just see where it plays out.”
Post a Comment