CANADA DAY: 1st game Montreal at STAMPEDERS

[Flickered Flame]

Tate should have never thrown that 2nd pick. Bad read. The joys of a young starter. Get back to Cornish.

[shermanator]

I hate the guy in the Rona commercials even more than I hated him in the Panago commercials. Didn't think that was possible...

[Drake]

So much for the power shift to the East, then again it's a long season.

[Roof-Daddy]

What's the score, and what part of the game are we in?

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

What's the score, and what part of the game are we in?

35-10 Calgary, 3 mins to go in the 3rd.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by I_H8_Crawford

35-10 Calgary, 3 mins to go in the 3rd.

Holy crap.

An abhoration, or does Calgary look that good/Montreal look that bad?

With the huge change over the Stamps have had to younger, less experienced players, I would have expected an opposite score tonight.

[Flickered Flame]

I really like what I see from the defense so far. Less risk when you play more zone.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Holy crap.

An abhoration, or does Calgary look that good/Montreal look that bad?

With the huge change over the Stamps have had to younger, less experienced players, I would have expected an opposite score tonight.

Tate has played OK - made some bad mistakes that cost the team INTs/points, but overall has been alright.

Cornish is a monster as usual.

Defence has been playing awesome - Calvillo is having problems finding open receivers.

[Flickered Flame]

Great pressure leads to another pick!

[Erick Estrada]

Why the heck did GSG dissolve and spawn two different sites (horsemen & stampsfans)? There's barely enough fans to go around for one website and now there's two sites with barely anyone posting. Dumb.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Why the heck did GSG dissolve and spawn two different sites (horsemen & stampsfans)? There's barely enough fans to go around for one website and now there's two sites with barely anyone posting. Dumb.

From what I gather, GSG got hacked pretty good a couple months ago, and the previous owners threw the arms up in the air, not bothering to go throughall the hassle of starting from basically scratch, which was all that was apparently left after the hacking. Could be wrong on the details, but it no longer exsists.

Captaincrunch is one of the guys who started up the Horseman...but yeah, its pretty slow in both spots.


Stamps look good today. Montreal I think is finally, I think, on the downswing. Calvillio is still serviceable, but not that playermaker at the age, as he was 5 years ago. Tate looks ok.

[flames_1987]

Only 26,000 there today at McMahon for the first game of the season. Ouch

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by flames_1987

Only 26,000 there today at McMahon for the first game of the season. Ouch

Not a great turnout. I would have been there if we didn't have family over. Will say though that a lot of people left the city on Thursday. Calgary gets such bad weather that it kind of hurts the Stampeders during the summer months.

[flames_1987]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Not a great turnout. I would have been there if we didn't have family over. Will say though that a lot of people left the city on Thursday. Calgary gets such bad weather that it kind of hurts the Stampeders on long weekends.

Very true and a lot to do on Canada day. I do remember pre- 2004 though, the Stamps had that streak of 30, 000 plus every game going and it seems like somehow, the bigger Calgary has got as a city and the more popular the Flames got, we've seen the support of the Stamps tail off. Clearly there are still great fans there, but not what it use to be.

[Bertuzzied]

Booo they took away that touchdown from Matt! At least he got plenty of air time during that review!

[Drake]

Originally Posted by browna

Montreal I think is finally, I think, on the downswing. Calvillio is still serviceable, but not that playermaker at the age, as he was 5 years ago. Tate looks ok.

I would say Montreal started to show its downswing in the last half of last year with how slow and old they looked.

[OzSome]

Awesome win by the Stamps over Montreal 38-10. I can't complain with all facets of the game.

Offense: Drew Tate played well but he made a couple of mistakes but it didn't cost a game. He started off well going 7 for 7 then he had to make two consecutive passes Landan Talley. First he dropped the ball then was out of position on the 2nd throw but I don't blame totally on that play because Tate underthrew the ball.
Nik Lewis..what can we say about Nik?? I hope Huf give him contract extension soon because i hate to see this guy walk away next season due to free agency. He was awesome today. I love that leap for TD from 4 yard line..wow.
Romby Bryant, Johnny Forzani, Chris Bauman did what they supposed when called upon.
Jon Cornish...the guy is a beast. I just hope he keeps his freaking lid. 2 TD run and could have gone for TD on one play but Tate didn't see him wide open on the other side.
Matt Walter.. I was kind of ticked that they didn't give him the TD. Nobody touch him until he got the ball on the line. I thought he made a mistake because he leapt so soon..but what can you do? I guess next time.
Offensive Line: I was very impressed with Godard today. He gave Drew Tate lot of time. The guy is huge and he's got some foot speed. The whole line played well.. Mark Dewitt played okay. His blocking was good but needs some work on passing the ball to QB on shotgun formation.

Defense: Only got in trouble in the 2nd quarter but they were solid all game. I love how Rookie Safety Keenan McDougall played. One mistake but he was solid all game. If he keeps up his play, Eric Fraser might lose his spot as a starting safety. DB Quincy Butler was awesome and Fred Bennett was quiet but when he played well when needed. Nice hit on one play. It could have been a big gain by Montreal but he hit the receiver on a perfect time. I love the secondary group so far.
Linebacker: Other than Juwan Simpson, the rest of the LB was working effectively. They were quiet but they did their job.
DLine: I love the way the DLine played. Charleston Hughes, Chris McCoy, Bulcke and Corey Mace attacking the QB and the runner. I think they were solid all night.
Defense was totally different from Chris Jones' era. They are a lot faster and more athletic. I think Huf and Campbell made a good choice keeping Bennett and trading Tisdale.
Special Team: Larry Taylor made some good runs but the blocking still needs some work. Both Maver and Paredes did good. Maver made one bad punt but he was good all game.

Overall, love the win against the Als. Keep it up!!

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Just got home from the game. Very entertaining. I had picked Montreal to win but am really not surprised by Calgary winning. I am shocked at the score though. Montreal looked awful.

The stadium crew dropped the ball by starting the anthem without announcing it to the crowd and still having the Stampeders standing at the midfield circle and not on their sideline. That was pretty embarassing.

Tate was good, not great. Didn't win the game on his own. He didn't have to. Both those picks were bad. He was staring down his receivers the whole time. I was sitting in the corner behind him so I had just about the same view as he did. There was nothing there. Lucky he didn't get picked a few more times too. But he played well for the most part.

Cornish was great. Feisty bugger and a great runner

Stamps defence was awesome. Front 7 dominated. I can't really grade the DBs as calvillo missed a bunch of wide open throws. DBs were good but I need to see more to get a feel for them

Taylor needs to run upfield and not run sideways as much.

Calvillo was bad. Montreal was awful.

Next week's games will be very interesting. Hoping for a few more competitive games

[getbak]

Originally Posted by flames_1987

Only 26,000 there today at McMahon for the first game of the season. Ouch

It was a Sunday afternoon game on Canada Day, when almost everyone has tomorrow off.

Not only were there a lot of other things going on in the city because of Canada Day, but a lot of people went out of town for the long weekend, and aren't likely to cut it short for a football game right in the middle. Plus, it was an Eastern team, which usually draw a smaller crowd than the other Western teams.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

The stadium crew dropped the ball by starting the anthem without announcing it to the crowd and still having the Stampeders standing at the midfield circle and not on their sideline. That was pretty embarassing.

Yeah, that was embarrassing. As soon as the last player runs out on the field (Tate), they launch into a horrible version of the national anthem while the stamps are standing at mid-field doing their huddle. Everyone had to stop, take off their helmets, and listen to some guy butcher the anthem in both languages (they never announced his name so I'd be curious who he even was).

As for the game, defence looked very good; front seven was strong against the run, and the secondary were step for step with Calvillo and Richardson.

Tate made some impressive throws in tight coverage and did a good job moving the team down the field. I'll give him a pass on the first pick -- forced it downfield but I'm not going to fault him for taking a shot. Second pick was obviously a blown read/route (plus one that was dropped earlier), so there's still some work to do. Nik was a beast -- is he actually 240 lbs? That's what he's listed at -- he can still run (and jump) with the best of them. Forzani and Bryant both had a quiet night; not sold on Talley just yet. Cornish and the line did a good job both with the run game and with pass protection.

Just the first game but a very good start to the season!