The Canadian Press
CALGARY–Calgary Stampeders’ head coach Dave Dickenson wasn’t feeling all that celebratory after a hectic 43-39 win over the Ottawa Redblacks last night.
In fact, Dickenson gave the impression of a man grateful to slide off a bucking bronco in one piece.
He was uncomfortable with a lack of execution that allowed the defending Grey Cup champs to turn Calgary’s home-opener into a white-knuckle ride.
“I don’t feel great about it but I’ll take it,” Dickenson said. “It just feels like, boy, one of those where we made it so difficult on ourselves.
“I just know those things will come back to bite you,..
“I know we’ve got to get better.”
After Ottawa’s 39-33 overtime upset over Calgary to win the Grey Cup back in November, CFL schedulers pitted the teams against each other in back-to-back games to open 2017.
The Stampeders and Redblacks tied 31-31 last week in Ottawa.
“I don’t know what it is about Ottawa but it’s always these crazy games that come down to the wire,” said slotback Kamar Jorden, who scored Calgary’s first and final touchdowns of the game.
“I felt like at the end of the game, when it mattered, we came through with big clutch plays.”
Marken Michel, Maleki Harris, and Tunde Adeleke earned their first career CFL touchdowns, with backup quarterback Andrew Buckley also rushing for a major in front of an announced 24,613 at McMahon Stadium.
Marquay McDaniel had a two-point convert catch, with kicker Rene Paredes adding a field goal for the hosts.
Paredes made just one-of-four convert attempts, however.
Ottawa quarterback Trevor Harris threw for 425 yards and two touchdowns while Calgary counterpart Bo Levi Mitchell finished with 295 passing yards and a trio of touchdown throws.
Diontae Spencer scored twice for Ottawa, with Brad Sinopoli and Mossis Madu Jr. also contributing majors.
Brett Maher kicked four field goals while Madu rushed for a two-point convert.
The teams also traded punt-return touchdowns. Spencer ran the ball in from 96 yards and Adeleke from 71.
While Mitchell is “chucking the ball pretty damn well,” Dickenson said the offence was inconsistent.
“We have such a high standard and our guys right now believe in ourselves, but it’s not very good football,” he remarked.
“We better look in the mirror because pretty soon we’ll be getting losses.”
After 126 yards in penalties last week, the Redblacks again did not help themselves last night with 90.
For example, Ottawa would have scored on Harris’ first throw of the game, but Greg Ellingson’s catch-and-run to the end zone was called back on an illegal blocking penalty by Sinopoli.
“It’s on me to figure that out and do whatever we need to do to fix it,” said Redblacks’ head coach Rick Campbell.
“It too hard to win football games when you’re going backwards.
“We had too long a list of things to overcome,” he added. “We have the makings to be able to do some things, but obviously we’re not where we need to be.
“We need to make sure we address those issues and make teams beat us.”
