CFL draw with Alouettes another head-scratcher for Calgary Stampeders

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It’s a head-scratcher for the Calgary Stampeders.

That’s the result itself combined with the continued blunders that kept them from winning — again — Saturday night at McMahon Stadium.

It was a tie that should’ve been a win.

But it was a tie that felt exactly like the kind of losses that are piling up for this struggling CFL team.

“We need a win — we need to win,” said Stampeders GM/head coach Dave Dickenson, moments after the crazy strange 19-19 draw with the defending Grey Cup-champion Montreal Alouettes in front of 20,187 bewildered fans. “It’s very difficult to feel great about a tie.

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“Obviously, we haven’t had a win in a while, so tough for our guys to feel good about that.”

Especially since they allowed a win to slip through their hands for their fifth straight loss.

Indeed, in what’s become far too common a problem for the Stamps, they botched a big chance to upset the 10-2 Alouettes with mistake after mistake.

You name it …

It happened in the face of victory.

Dropped balls on key passes in the double-overtime sessions.

A timely turnover — a rare Tommy Stevens’ fumble at that — at the Alouettes two-yard line to keep the Stamps from going up 17-7 in the second quarter.

Even ultra-rare missed field-goals — two of them from robo-reliable kicker René Paredes — in the fourth quarter, including one that doinked off the upright and fell straight down to the ground.

And the real killers were back-to-back major penalties on what should’ve been the put-away drive for the Stamps just ahead of it.

“It looked to me like we were in control late, and we took some very, very costly penalties,” said Dickenson, of a face-mask by rookie Christy Nkanu followed on the next play by an unnecessary roughness call against fellow offensive lineman D’Antne Demery that pushed the Stamps from the Alouettes 16-yard line all the way back to the 45-yard line.

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“It’s all the things you don’t see from championship teams,” lamented Stamps veteran linebacker Micah Awe. “You don’t get dumb penalties, you do your job at crucial moments …

“Because when it comes down to it, if you want to be in a championship game, you have to do your job and you have to not get penalties at those times. Otherwise, you won’t be in that game, and that’s kind of what we showed here — we haven’t learned from it.

“If you’re playing a championship-calibre team, which is what Montreal is, you can’t give them penalties — you can’t give them free yards.”

Truth be told, Stamps defence didn’t give the Grey Cup kings a whole lot of yards on the evening.

It was an immensely strong game in that vein, with Awe & Co. allowing just 292 yards and playing bend-but-don’t-break ball.

On the other side, Jake Maier returned after being benched last game to QB duties to go 29-of-37 for 236 yards and an early touchdown strike — off an Alouettes fumble — to Marken Michel covering 18 yards. Most noticeable of Maier’s effort was no turnovers — no interceptions thrown.

And the quarterback hooked up with Michel for six passes and 73 yards, with Reggie Begelton — who was simply stellar in the second half — for seven connections and 68 yards and with Cam Echols for five completions and 41 yards.

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Meanwhile, on the ground, Stamps running back Dedrick Mills was the offensive star with 21 carries for 122 yards.

But it just wasn’t enough to get the win.

Too many missed opportunities … again.

“The film won’t lie — there were multiple plays that if we make, we win,” Dickenson said.

“We also might have caught some breaks here or there, too,” continued Dickenson of a blocked Cody Grace punt that was returned for a scoop-six by the Alouettes but was called back on a roughing-the-kicker penalty and an end-of-half fumble that fell five yards short of paydirt for the visitors when Peyton Logan tracked down would-be scorer Mustafa Johnson just in time.

“And there’s other plays that certainly went against us, too.”

Indeed, there was plenty of stupid luck keeping them from the upset of the top-spot Als (10-2-1).

Paredes’ ball off the left upright from 51 yards away with 10:53 remaining, for one. Then his subsequent attempt from 52 out with 95 seconds left that looked like an over-adjustment and missed to the right, for another.

And on the next march, the Alouettes erred on a run call with just seconds left that saw ball-carrier Walter Fletcher fortuitously trip and fall to the ground to stop the clock with just one click left, allowing for the tying field-goal to be taken — and made — by José Maltos from 42 yards out.

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“A lot of bad plays and adversity went against us,” Dickenson said. “And I didn’t feel like anybody let up.

“But we have to learn how to win,” continued Dickenson. “We have to learn as a club and as an organization how to win.

“It’s hard to have a moral victory with a tie. I think we can play with anybody, though. I know we can. But can we do it consistently? And can we win a game first? We have to win multiple games in a row, and that has yet to be accomplished this year.”

They’ll need that to happen to track down a playoff spot.

The one point from Saturday certainly is valuable in that it keeps them just two back of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who hold down the final playoff spot in the CFL West Division.And the Stamps (4-8-1) play the Riders (5-7-1) twice in the final five games of the regular schedule, including Friday at McMahon (7:30 p.m., TSN, QR Calgary).

“I will say, ‘We didn’t lose (Saturday), so that’s a step in the right direction,” added Awe. “But … man … we keep kind of doing the same thing over and over.

“At the end of the day, this is a good test if we can learn from it. But we’ve been learning this whole season. It’s time for us to start putting some wins in the win column.”

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SHORT YARDAGE

OL Bryce Bell (calf) was once again a late scratch from the Stamps’ active roster … Legendary Stampeders Marvin Coleman and Vince Goldsmith were honoured Saturday during the CFL Hall of Fame Game in Hamilton. The career for Coleman, a solid defensive back and dangerous kick returner, spanned 10 seasons (1994-2003) and 166 combined games with the Stampeders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, as he earned nine divisional all-star nods, three CFL all-star selections, two Most Outstanding Player nominations and a rookie-of-the-year candidacy for the Stampeders. Goldsmith, a lethal linebacker, entered the CFL in 1981 and notched 17 sacks to earn the most outstanding rookie award and be saluted as a CFL all-star — his first of three division nods over a 10-season career (1981-90). The two star Stamps join receivers Chad Owens, S.J. Green and Weston Dressler, builders Ray Jauch and Ed Laverty and Football Reporters of Canada personalities Farhan Lalji and Steve Daniel in the Canadian Football League’s Class of 2024.

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

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