Stamps Notes: Maier helped with a much needed spark for the offence
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TORONTO – By the time it finally happened, the decision to pull Bo Levi Mitchell and give Jake Maier a shot at quarterback felt all-but-inevitable.
The Calgary Stampeders offence has not been clicking for a couple of weeks now. Mitchell has not been at his best and when you’ve got a backup who has proven he can win like Maier, at some point you might as well use him.
Saturday night was the night.
“I just thought we needed a spark and I’ve got to be accountable to every position,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “We didn’t play well in the first half, anybody. What you do is you make sure you’re fair to the whole team and I just felt we needed the spark and I did think he provided that, I did. Lots of things obviously both guys could have done better, I know I could have called a better game, as well, so gotta look in the mirror.
“I think we all have to, but we’re really excited to win because the effort was amazing and when you put so much into something and you don’t get a win it cane really deflate you and we had one of those games the previous week so it was great for this team to find a way to win.”
Mitchell had completed 9-of-16 passes for 149 yards in the first half but – and this is a significant ‘but’ – 80 of those yards had come on the Stamps’ very first play of the game and there were 26 more on a drive in the closing minute of the first half during what could realistically be called “garbage time.”
In between the very start and the very end of the first half, Mitchell threw for only 43 yards and also threw up two interceptions. The Stamps managed only five first downs between their opening and closing drives and their lone touchdown came on a drive where they ran the ball three times for 45 yards while throwing the ball twice for 20 yards.
After an uninspiring second half against the B.C. Lions last weekend and a tough game the week before against the Ottawa Redlbacks, it made sense to try something new out.
So Maier came in. Fresh after a season in which he’s worked almost entirely from the sidelines. Maier had taken more reps than usual at practice over the past couple weeks, but after a decade in Calgary and two Grey Cup wins it was always inevitable that Mitchell was going to have a long leash.
But on Saturday, head coach Dave Dickenson finally saw enough that he made the tough decision and gave Maier a shot.
Did it immediately yield better results?No, not immediately.
“If I were to describe it like anything, it felt like jumping into a really cold pool for the first time again,” Maier said. “Just getting back into the live bullets and trying to get into a rhythm and get a feel for what’s there and what’s not. Luckily coach called a really great game in the second half and we were able to get drives going, get our defence to the sideline and get them some rest and they played even better because of it.”It seemed to take Maier a couple drives to get settled in, but by the end of the third quarter the Stamps offence did seem to be finding some rhythm. A defensive touchdown by Elie Bouka helped keep things close and it certainly helped that Argos QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson might have been the worst quarterback to take the field at all on Saturday night, but the Stamps did claw their way back into the game.
In the end, Maier finished having completed 14-of-18 passes for 156 yards and an interception. It wasn’t necessarily spectacular, but it got the job done. He spread the ball around
Now, the question becomes what the Stampeders do going forward.Relegating Mitchell to the backup role on a more permanent basis would be a big decision with major ramifications.
But the Stamps re-signed Maier last year because they believed he can play. There are many who believe he might be the Stamps’ starting quarterback next season when Mitchell’s contract expires.
The question now is whether the timeline on that plan might get fast-tracked a little.
“I want to just focus on the win,” Dickenson said. “I do want to look at the tape, though, if the quarterback position is doing his job and doing it to a standard that you want, you don’t let emotions decide one way or another who is your starting quarterback.”
QUICK HITSMike Rose was, in my opinion, the Stampeders’ best player on Saturday night. He had two sacks, but that only told part of the story. Rose was a constant disruptive force … Shawn Lemon also had a sack, which brings his career total to 83 and nudges him into the CFL’s top-20 of all-time for sacks … Seriously, Bouka’s pick-six was a sight to behold. If you weren’t able to watch the game, definitely seek it out … Titus Wall left the game shortly after half-time and did not return … Peyton Logan’s touchdown run is a must-see, too. The way he bounced through the Argos defence and made hard cuts through barely-there holes was extremely impressive … Argos fans really do not seem to have much patience for Bethel-Thompson. They booed several of his passes, even when the Argos were ahead, and cheered loudly every time backup Chad Kelly’s name was said over the in-stadium announcing system … Honestly, something was seriously wrong with the grass at BMO Field on Saturday. Players were slipping and falling all over the place. It wasn’t as bad as the 2018 Grey Cup in Edmonton or anything like that, but it definitely seemed to create issues … Malik Henry was the Stamps’ top receiver before he got hurt a few weeks ago, but Shawn Bane has done an exceptional job since Henry’s been out. It feels like the Stamps absolutely need to find a way to keep both of them in the lineup going forward.
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