RIDER RECAP: STAMPEDERS 35 ROUGHRIDERS 15
CALGARY – Bo Levi Mitchell just keeps getting the job done for the Calgary Stampeders.
Mitchell completed 25-of-37 passes for 312 yards and threw a touchdown to Anthony Parker in the first quarter on Thursday night to lead the Stampeders to a 35-15 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The 26-year-old quarterback _ in his fifth season with Calgary – has now tossed at least one touchdown pass in 21 straight games to tie Doug Flutie (1996-97) and Anthony Calvillo (2012-13) for the fourth-longest streak in CFL history.
“I heard about that,” said Mitchell nonchalantly after the game. “It’s 21 straight games that my receivers have caught a touchdown pass. That’s the way I look at it.
“It feels good. Shoot, playing in the CFL you should throw a touchdown pass every game, unless you get hurt.”
Parker was more willing to praise Mitchell for the feat.
“He’s making great reads out there and putting the ball where only we can get it,” said Parker, who hauled in his second TD pass from Mitchell this season. “He doesn’t make too many mistakes and that really helps us out. It’s pretty cool to see that, at such a young age, he’s doing the things that he’s doing. I think the sky’s the limit.”
Rene Paredes kicked five field goals, while backup QB Andrew Buckley and running back Jerome Messam also ran for TDs as the Stampeders (4-1-1) won their third in a row while extending their unbeaten streak to five straight.
“It was a hard-fought win, it really was,” said Calgary coach Dave Dickenson, who will now turn his attention to preparing the Stamps for a rematch against the Riders in Regina on Aug. 13. “We’ll have to look at the film and adjust a little bit and be ready for Round 2 in nine days.”
After missing two games with a sprained left ankle, Saskatchewan quarterback Darian Durant returned to the lineup and tossed a 45-yard touchdown pass to Rob Bagg on Saskatchewan’s first drive of the game.
The Riders (1-5) were unable to find the end zone after that play and had to settle for three field goals by Johnny Mark, who Saskatchewan signed on Thursday as a last minute fill-in for injured kicker Tyler Crapigna.
“Physically, I’m a little beat up,” said Durant, who completed 17-of-28 passes for 247 yards. “Mentally, I’m just sad. We had a lot of opportunities to put some points on the board and we didn’t do it.
“It’s frustrating. We moved the ball, but we can’t settle for field goals. We have to try to punch the ball into the end zone when we get the opportunities.”
After Paredes opened the scoring for the Stampeders with a 35-yard field goal, the Riders answered right back as Bagg hauled in a long bomb from Durant to cap off a seven-play, 70-yard drive. The Roughriders attempted a two-point convert, but Bagg was unable to catch a short pass from Durant in the end zone.
The Stamps jumped out to a 10-6 lead at 14:39 of the opening quarter when Mitchell tossed a 16-yard TD pass to Parker.
Although Mark missed a 47-yard field goal just before the five-minute mark of the second quarter, he atoned for that mistake six minutes later when he connected from 42 yards out to pull Saskatchewan within a point.
“It would have been nice to get that fourth one there, but a short week I guess that’s alright,” said Mark, who played for the University of Calgary Dinos from 2011-15.
Paredes then booted one through the uprights from 24 yards out at 13:20 before Mark responded with a 40-yard field goal 41 seconds later.
On Calgary’s last possession of the half, Mitchell completed a 17-yard pass to Messam and a 30-yard strike to Bakari Grant to get the Stampeders back into Riders territory with nine seconds left on the clock. That allowed Paredes to kick his third field goal of the game – from 31 yards out – as time expired to give Calgary a 16-12 lead.
The teams traded field goals in the third quarter as Mark hit his third of the game from 34 yards out at 6:56 before Paredes kicked a 25-yarder with 23 seconds left on the clock.
The Stamps sealed the victory in the fourth quarter as Buckley ran for a five-yard score before Messam scampered into the end zone from one yard out. Paredes then rounded out the scoring with a 17-yard field goal as time expired in the game.
(Canadian Press)
CHRIS JONES POSTGAME COMMENTS:
– We had our opportunities. For three quarters it was a really tight game. In the fourth quarter, you have to give them credit, they made the plays necessary to take the lead.
– They had momentum and again we have to do a better job of making Messam going east and west. When his shoulder pads are downhill, he’s hard to do business with.
– We went for two points on the first touchdown because the wind was blowing. It died down after halftime but I didn’t want to have Mark kick into the wind. We didn’t have a lot of information on him. He was in there because of an injury to Tyler Crapigna. He got hurt on the very last kick of Day 3. I’ve never had that happen before.
– Right now we’re not good enough. Clearly. When you give up 400 yards and those points, we have to play better defensively and put two halves together.
– You have to give Dave Dickenson credit. They were good in all phases and they know what they’re doing. We had opportunities to win this game but they’ve got a quarterback that’s been there before. And they got great play-callers in all three phases.
– On the ratio fine, I’m not going to comment on it. You can ask the CFL. I’m not going to comment on it. You can ask the CFL.
– We’re going to have to work on Darian’s bubble throws. Those were his negatives. He threw it downfield well, but we need to put the ball in our playmakers’ hands behind the line of scrimmage. One of those was his grip.
*The Roughriders host the Stampeders next Saturday at 5:00 pm at Mosaic Stadium.
RP
@rodpedersen
Outscored 76-18 in two games. Well done. So much optimism right now.
Well, that could have been a lot worse. The Rider defence is terrible. There are ZERO playmakers on defence. When was the last time the defence forced a turnover? Calgary got pressure with a three man rush, but that happens when your defensive line actually has talent. A less than stellar game from BLM just gave the green goggles crowd another excuse to ignore reality and flap their mouths for another week about the team needing time to gell and that a breakout game is coming soon. The fact is that this team is totally lacking in talent and does… Read more »
Bring your whistles to the game next week rider fans. 3 separate times a whistle blew from the stands while the rider offence was on the field.
On tv you could here lots of whistles too
Bo Levi own's Rider's ass. Guaranteed win for him.
Riders Defence looked like they were trying to give Messam a Kiss when he walked by them. Remember you guys this is Tackle football not touch football like you played again tonight. A couple of more games like this and this team will bottom out and end up in last place over all. I am a true Rider fan but this is NOT Rider Football. Gotta tell it like it is.
Outplayed once again. That's not a very competitive defence out there. All game, no pressure (it's like you can count 5 elephants for Mitchell to throw. Lousy return game and even with Durant in, we only score 15 points. Once we get to their side of the field, we find some way to kill that drive and there goes a chance for a TD. They are a work in progress, yes, but it's very discouraging to be 1-5 already and to give up 30 point of more 5/6 games. Figure out how to match the compete and effort level with… Read more »
The TSN comparison between the Riders and the Stamps between first year CFL player versus player with two or more years was quite stark.
The Riders are searching for and rebuilding with many new, young, inexperienced talent. Just hope that these new players are allowed to develop. A vet like Norwood on our line will help when he gets healthy. Better position than Montreal who are at the other end of the spectrum in terms of aging players.
Well the losses are piling up now. I guess team is at stage where just have to be happy when they keep it close. That does not make for a very exciting season but that appears to be the reality. How did the Lions turn it around so fast…guess maybe wally is the genius we hoped jones would be.
Closer longer than I expected. There IS some talent out there. Not enough but it is a TEAM game. Guys around you can make you look better. That 3 man rush is covering DB weaknesses. Player turnstile is costing us but if not happy with the raw talent then keep changing. It's still ex season for us. Patience still needed and injuries have made it much linger.
I just came home from the game. From my point of view, the Riders need someone on the D to be a star. Someone has to either get to the QB or make a big time interception. On the offence someone has to break a game open. A running back has to get that 70 yard run to open things up.
Right now we don't have either of these guys.
Until they get a running game established maybe we won't win again The O line with all the injuries can't pass block all night.Our return game is pathetic.Get someone with some speed.The d line strikes no fear into anyone.With all the supposed contacts down south certainly we should be able to fill our needs like other teams do.I have no idea who we will beat this year.Sad.sad times in Riderville.
I wonder if the Rider curse of 4 Grey Cups in a Hundred years will break once they are into the new stadium? It has to be the stadium. I don't know how many American Coaches and GM's have come to this team and promised so much yet delivered so little. It seems Chris Jones made a hell of a head coach and Defensive Coordinator. However adding on GM and VP of football operations has completely destroyed any and all of his past success. I'm tired of players and coaches saying BC went 0-5 and won the Grey Cup. If… Read more »
Terrible defence, very college looking…why cant we bring the house on the quarterback every down, Mitchell was rushed on his throws when we did, clearly 3 man rush is not working, quarterbacks are slicing up saskatchewans secondary, might as well blitz, defence is allowing pitch and catch to happen,slowly losing interest in Riders….sorry Rod, not going to lose 3 hours of my week watching lousy football.
Still sure the keys to the Kingdom should have been given to Jones?
The green goggle faithful will tell us riders are 2-3 plays away from a win….ya right, that was not rider football, we are slowly becoming the free square on the bingo card…
Ugly game overall. Brutal effort by the players and brutal playing calling and decision making by Jones and his coaching staff. They've got a lot of work to do that's for sure.
Perhaps the riders defence coordinator needs an assistant??? Seems like offence and special teams are doing their job. Maybe too many hats??
It is what it is. An off season of built up hope and hype of a whole new Grey Cup winning coaching staff. The only difference is this Head Coach released every and all Rider players that still had pride of ownership. All we have in the Defence is a bunch of nameless faces. Some of them may have had a name on a different CFL team before coming here. That really dosent matter as here you can see that many have lost their speed and urgency to get to the ball. Too me it looks like they no longer… Read more »
The difference was Calgary DB's blanketed our receivers with (it appeared) double tight coverage on each Rider while our DB's were not even in the picture for 3 seconds after their receiver caught the ball. Did Richie Hall leave his defensive play book in the Rider locker room? Lack of talent or lack of scheme suited to players abilities?
Hey riders defence….if you are reading Rods blog, and i know you are…if the opponents offence are second and 6, dont wait at the 10…??? And if they are second
and 13, dont wait at the 15…maybe a lil football IQ is needed, instead of athetisicm…trying to help you out CJ