104th Grey Cup: CALGARY STAMPEDERS vs Ottawa REDBLACKS

[Frequitude]

All that being said, full marks and credit to Ottawa. They were the better team. Burris was a surgeon, their receivers made some unbelievable plays, and their O-line held the fort very well in what should have been a mismatch.

[JiriHrdina]

I don't know that Ottawa is getting enough credit. They made all the plays they needed to (except the on-side kick).
Clutch catches. Really good tackling. Big plays all around.
They pretty much played as well as they can.
As much as the Stamps should own not winning this one, Ottawa deserves their fair share of credit.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Deferring to the Redblacks was a mistake too. I didn't understand that. The Stamps D had been getting beat all game.

I'm pretty sure that's the right call there 100% of the time. You want your offense operating with maximum information of what it needs to achieve.

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Still, after the multiple turnovers, the missed extra point, the missed opportunity in the red zone at the end, the Stamps STILL had a chance to win that game and they didn't.

****. I had overlooked the consequence of that missed point until just now.

[cross16]

Originally Posted by Dion

Buckley scored a TD on a similar play earlier in the game. There was nothing wrong with running a play that had been sucessful for you earlier.

If you've already ran it successfully would you not then anticipate that RedBlacks would be prepared for it? RedBlacks reacted because once Buckley came in they knew what was happening. That's not very good strategy.
I like Dickenson but there wasn't a lot of logic in that call. He's already admitted he regrets it, which I admire

[dirk diggler]

now if Buckley comes in and rolls out to the left, maybe it works but they ran the same call as earlier, even the riders wouldnt have been fooled

[Party Elephant]

That was a really dramatic and entertaining game. Too bad the Stamps had such a lousy first half. I loved the comeback though, that was great to watch. Can't believe they didn't score the TD at the end. Oh well. The Grey Cup has given us a lot of classic games over the years and this should be remembered as one of them.

[Canuck-Hater]

2nd and goal on the 1, give the damn ball to Messam! Game over Stamps win...

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm not going to sit here and talk about chokes or rant and rave and be angry because at the end of the day, it was a football game and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and sometimes you get ice cream.

When I wrote up my breakdown I predicted a lop sided Calgary win because on paper it was pretty clear that Calgary was the deeper and far more talented team with a record to back it up. But sometimes we forget that the game isn't played on paper. Was it a disappointing result? Absolutely and the players and coaches are going to have a long off season of reflection and regret.

It was interesting as I watched the game with three other fairly senior coaches and we spent a lot of time breaking things down as we watched it.

Frankly Calgary came in with a bad offensive game plan and a worse defensive game plan.

On offense outside of the scoring drive in the first quarter this Stamps team that prided itself on patience and balanced offense wasn't very patient and wasn't very balanced. The solid running game was nowhere to be seen and because of that one of the most important weapons Jarome Messam was effectively sidelined. On the passing side for some reason the Stamps decided to go deep time and time again, even in the post game interview with Bo he mentioned and we noticed that the REDBLACKS secondary played a very deep zone and we threw right into the teeth of the defense.

To be honest in the first half the receivers and the offensive line were not very good, whether they were confused or were making bad reads they just looked like they weren't prepared.

Maybe ego overcame fear for the Stamps in the first half and they didn't respect the REDBLACKS enough, but that's a function of leadership that might need to be addressed.

In the second half of the game, the Stamps went back to what made them successfull which was using Messam and going to short passes into the seams, when they did that they shredded the REDBLACKS and blunted their very aggressive blitz.

In terms of the the late game last drive with Buckley two things were debated viciously

1) Should we have given the ball to Messam on the second down play. Sometimes coaches out coach themselves, chances are Ottawa would have stacked the box, but at that point you have to either trust Messam is going to make the yards, or you utilize your second back on a fake. But the Buckley call was somewhat logical, if you want to look at the breakdown on that play, Cote was lined up to far inside and couldn't get the outside seal block.

2) On the third down, do you just say screw it and go for the win. As an aggressive coach with all kinds of momentum its a tempting thought. But with so much at stake you kick the field goal and win it in over time.

As far as defense it was a problem all game. Calgary was badly outcoached by the REDBLACKS offensive staff all day. Frankly they could have won this game with three plays.

The screen pass, the mesh pass across the middle in front of the linebackers and the slot seam route. Realistically those were the plays with the most success and Claybrooks either didn't recognize it or was afraid to take it away and open the deep routes. Logically on that screen pass you assign your MAC to spy it and take it away, but then you open up the area behind him. All games long the Stamps continually dropped their linebackers into a deep zone and the Riders exploited the area in front of them, but when the Stamps bought their linebackers up tight the Riders exploited the area behind them. Like I said, I believe that the Stamps were badly outcoached and it cost them in overtime when they went over the linebackers and in front of the secondary on the winning TD.

In overtime I do like the idea that Bo took one kill shot and it was unfortunate that it wasn't caught. But the other two passes were just poor throws from Bo.

so congrats to the Ottawa REDBLACKS for their first Grey Cup win in 40 years, the better and better prepared team and more flexible team won today.

Second congrats to the Stampeders for a great and exciting season, but with a bitter sweet ending in that the comeback was great, but it shouldn't have been necessary.

So now we're going to spend a long off season trying to make the sting of this one go away and to look forward to free agency, the draft and next years training camp.

[dirk diggler]

Originally Posted by Canuck-Hater

2nd and goal on the 1, give the damn ball to Messam! Game over Stamps win...

exactly go out with your best and if they stop you, so be it.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

I'm pretty sure that's the right call there 100% of the time. You want your offense operating with maximum information of what it needs to achieve.

(

Even when the Stamps offence clearly had all the momentum and the Redblacks D had been getting run over by Messam? I just felt the Stamps had an opportunity to just keep the ball in their possession to keep the pressure on the Redblacks D. I see where you're coming from, especially considering it's OT. I just felt they had a lot of momentum on offence.

[zamler]

Calling Buckley's number twice was by far the worst move by either coach in the game.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by OzSome

I am wondering about the Messam thing but I disagree with you on the OT setup. I think that's what it makes it so exciting. Just look at tonight Ottawa scored and missed a 2-point convert. Stamps needed to score a TD and a 2-point convert and they have to try it 3 downs to get the first down. Otherwise it is like the NFL that a team just need a FG and ballgame is over.

I agree the setup is exciting for fans watching the game. The problem I have is that's just a gimmick and a cheesy way to end a ball game. The NFL and it's gimmick is no better. I just don't think a championship game should be played that way in OT.

[OzSome]

Originally Posted by dirk diggler

now if Buckley comes in and rolls out to the left, maybe it works but they ran the same call as earlier, even the riders wouldnt have been fooled

It could have worked if it wasn't for Kanneh's effort on trying to stop. Remember he fought off one of Stamps receiver blocking there. He got lucky he got away a little bit and that's he need to trip up Buckley. It was a right call but I would have tried Messam punching it in. He got you there, so they could have let him finish it off.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Dion

I agree the setup is exciting for fans watching the game. The problem I have is that's just a gimmick and a cheesy way to end a ball game. The NFL and it's gimmick is no better. I just don't think a championship game should be played that way in OT.

Why can't overtime just be 1 possession for each team, the one that scores the most points wins. I don't understand why they have to complicate it so much

[Frequitude]

Even if Buckley didn't get tripped up I'm not certain Buckley was beating that other quickly closing defensive back to the pylon.

[3rd liner]

Mitchell interview commenting that in his mind ball should have been in his or Messam's hands... though understands play call to Buckley

[Roof-Daddy]

For a team with a .722 regular season win percentage since Huff came to Calgary, they are now only 9-7 in the playoffs, and 2-2 in Grey Cups.

Not good enough. Too much choking.

2010 - 13-5 Stamps lose West Final at home to the 10-8 Riders
2012 - 12-6 Stamps lose Grey Cup to 9-9 Argos
2013 - 14-4 Stamps lose West Final at home to the 11-7 Riders
2016 - 15-2-1 Stamps lose Grey Cup to the 8-9-1 Redblacks


Such a waste.

Just two Grey Cups so far in the Huff era is an utter disappointment in my eyes.

[White Out 403]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

For a team with a .722 regular season win percentage since Huff came to Calgary, they are now only 9-7 in the playoffs, and 2-2 in Grey Cups.

Not good enough. Too much choking.

2010 - 13-5 Stamps lose West Final at home to the 10-8 Riders
2012 - 12-6 Stamps lose Grey Cup to 9-9 Argos
2013 - 14-4 Stamps lose West Final at home to the 11-7 Riders
2016 - 15-2-1 Stamps lose Grey Cup to the 8-9-1 Redblacks


Such a waste.

Just two Grey Cups so far in the Huff era is an utter disappointment in my eyes.

Nice problem to have.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Dion

I agree the setup is exciting for fans watching the game. The problem I have is that's just a gimmick and a cheesy way to end a ball game. The NFL and it's gimmick is no better. I just don't think a championship game should be played that way in OT.

if you don't like the CFL way or the NFL way, what other ways are there to break ties?

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

Nice problem to have.

Yeah you'd think, but sitting here in late November stewing after yet another playoff choke doesn't have me all giddy about all the regular season success.

Plus, I know from experiencing the '90s Stamps regular season success / playoff choking teams that time doesn't make you feel any better about it.