Seven reasons that explain why the Calgary Stampeders will defeat the
Montreal Alouettes in Sunday’s Grey Cup game at Olympic Stadium:
Defence wins championships
And the Stamps’ defensive unit, sparked by linebacker JoJuan Armour and lineman Mike Labinjo,
was the stingiest in the CFL this season. The B.C. Lions couldn’t even
notch a touchdown against Calgary in last week’s Western final, and
that’s extraordinarily unusual in the high-scoring CFL.
Calgary’s defence subscribes to a bend-but-don’t-break mentality, drummed into the unit by defensive co-ordinator Chris Jones, who spent the past seven years as a Montreal assistant coach. Jones is entirely familiar with the tendencies of Als quarterback Anthony Calvillo.
A clutch kick could do the trick
The Stamps’ Sandro DeAngelis
led the CFL in scoring this season. He also established himself as the
league’s most dependable kicker. And clutch field goals historically
have been key – and often dramatic – components of Grey Cup victories.
Als kicker Damon Duval is no slouch and his relationship with club president Larry Smith
(Duval married Smith’s daughter) isn’t the only reason he is on the
Montreal roster. But Duval became inconsistent this season and
squandered several chip-shot opportunities.
Home-field disadvantage
This will surprise you, I suspect, but playing in Montreal won’t hurt the Stamps a lick.
Since
1958, when the CFL was officially formed, teams competing in the Grey
Cup in their home city have a losing record – 3-5. Besides, Olympic
Stadium isn’t really the Als’ home. They play their regular-season
games at the McGill University field.
As for the fan noise
and the so-called 13th man in the stands supporting the Als, the Stamps
have prepared themselves by pumping taped, near-deafening sounds into
the public-address system during practices at Olympic Stadium this
week. And they need only to score quickly to take the crowd out of the
game. Which leads me to my next reason. . .
The Stamps sure can score
No CFL team is more explosive. Joffrey Reynolds was the CFL’s leading rusher; Ken-Yon Rambo, its leading receiver.
Calvillo’s crashes
The
Montreal QB doesn’t exactly have a great Grey Cup record. This will be
his sixth championship game in a nine-year span. He has won only once
before.
Trestman untested
Montreal’s Marc Trestman exceeded expectations in his first CFL year, no question, but Calgary’s John Hufnagel
has oodles of CFL experience as a player and assistant coach and knows
exactly what Grey Cup week entails. That’s a significant advantage.
Moi
Heck, I picked the Stamps in print to capture the Cup before training camp started this season. I’m not changing my mind now.
