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<\/p>\nIt seems every week the Calgary Stampeders saddle up to play a team on a heater in the 2025 Canadian Football League campaign.<\/p>\n
Next up for the Horsemen, now losers of four straight tilts? The East Division-leading Hamilton Tiger-Cats, winners of four of their last five contests.<\/p>\n
It follows what were two losses to the surging BC Lions \u2014 now on a four-game winning run \u2014 sandwiched around a drop to the Montreal Alouettes \u2014 themselves also winners of three consecutive contests.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all just bad timing for a team that\u2019s lost its confidence and trying to stop a sudden free-fall in the standings.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach said a good thing,\u201d said Stampeders QB Vernon Adams Jr., of wisdom delivered by Dave Dickenson in the wake of Saturday\u2019s 38-24 loss to the host Lions. \u201cHe said, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s just get back to work. Man \u2026 forget all the talking and everything everyone wants to say, and let\u2019s just try to get back to work.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just we gotta get back to work. We\u2019ve gotta work harder and smarter and be prepared for our next opponent.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the host Tiger-Cats in Week 19 \u2026<\/p>\n
RelatedWhat\u2019s next for the Stamps?<\/p>\n
Look out! It\u2019s, indeed, another foe running hot they\u2019ll have to contend with Saturday in Hamilton (1 p.m., TSN, CHQR 770 AM\/107.3 FM the Edge).<\/p>\n
The Tiger-Cats (10-6) lead the East and have already qualified for the CFL playoffs thanks to a rise of four Ws in five games.<\/p>\n
Last week, they clubbed the Toronto Argonauts 47-29 in The Big Smoke. It was a bounce-back from their only blip of the last five weeks \u2014 a strange 40-3 defeat at the hands of the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n
And it was viewed as a top-shelf performance, as they swept the Pro Football Focus weekly awards. QB Bo Levi Mitchell, defensive lineman Julian Howsare and the Hamilton Tiger Cats\u2019 offensive line topped the PFF grade for Week 18.<\/p>\n
Prior to that loss to the Bombers on the road, the Ticats earned consecutive wins over the host Edmonton Elks 29-27, the visiting Blue Bombers 32-21 and the host Montreal Alouettes 26-9.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s, of course, in stark contrast to the downward trend of the Stamps, who are smarting \u2014 despite a brave comeback bid put up in the fourth quarter \u2014 from a second loss in three weeks to the Lions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were the better team (Saturday),\u201d Dickenson told reporters, when praising the Lions. \u201cBut our guys kept fighting, and to get it back to a one-score game and have the ball, that was something \u2014 something to build on.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut still, we gotta play better. We understand that. But I believe in this room and I believe in this team \u2014 they know that \u2014 and hopefully, we turn the corner, get some wins and get some momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n
What does a win mean for the Stamps?<\/p>\n
One win is all they need to clinch a playoff spot.<\/p>\n
That decision Saturday dropped the Stamps (8-7) from second spot in the CFL\u2019s West Division \u2014 where they have been perched most of the year \u2014 into third place but kept them from securing a berth in the post-season.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s now come down to two last playoff slots available for three teams \u2014 the Stamps, the Bombers (8-7) and the Elks (6-9). And the Stamps own the tiebreaker with the Bombers.<\/p>\n
Plus Dickenson\u2019s charges have a favourable schedule going forward, with two games left following Saturday\u2019s affair \u2026<\/p>\n
\u2022 at home versus the Toronto Argonauts (5-11) on Saturday, Oct. 18 (5 p.m.)<\/p>\n
\u2022 and on the road against the Elks on Friday, Oct. 24 (7:30 p.m.)<\/p>\n
A couple of losses by the Elks, who host the Bombers on Sunday, would also clinch a playoff spot for the Stamps.<\/p>\n
What do the Tiger-Cats bring to the game?<\/p>\n
They have confidence \u2014 something the Stamps are missing these days.<\/p>\n
Both on offence and defence.<\/p>\n
The loss by Adams & Co. last Saturday wasn\u2019t a surprise, given the lack of confidence of the club and its quarterback in the lead-up to the West Coast affair combined with how QB Nathan Rourke and the Lions have been torching opponents as of late.<\/p>\n
The Leos are the top-scoring team in the CFL with 495 points.<\/p>\n
And guess who\u2019s next? It\u2019s the Ticats with 470, behind Bo Levi \u2014 the former Stamps superstar \u2014 who tops the league in nearly every passing category. Mitchell has 382 completions for 4,726 yards and 32 touchdowns against nearly nine interceptions \u2014 all better stats than even heralded Rourke.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s yet another all-star arm \u2014 for the fourth straight game \u2014 the Stampeders have to contend with when lining up Saturday at Tim Hortons Field.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell (19) during CFL action against the Edmonton Elks in Hamilton, Ont., Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is frustrating,\u201d Stampeders defensive leader Damon Webb told Stamps TV about the struggles his unit has endured over the last month-plus. \u201cBut \u2026 you know \u2026 we all brothers and it\u2019s all love. So we know that we can get up on each other and we can have these conversations with each other on the sideline and nobody can take offence to it and nobody gets mad, because we\u2019re all trying to achieve the same goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we all can take constructive criticism and we all brothers.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the plan heading into Hamilton?<\/p>\n
They have to build off the positives, given the confidence they created in the first half of the season has taken a massive hit.<\/p>\n
And the biggest positive they can draw from the latest loss is how they fought back in nearly pulling off a comeback against the Lions.<\/p>\n
Down 31-9 early in the fourth quarter, the Stamps pulled to within a TD with five minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
But the Lions scored insurance on a three-play drive late to beat back the Red and White rally.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah \u2026 just a little too late,\u201d a dejected Adams told reporters. \u201cWe have the fight \u2026 you know? I\u2019m saying we have that in us. It\u2019s just if we can get it started a little bit earlier \u2014 maybe get seven points instead of three \u2014 and a lot of it\u2019s on me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what it is, man, but I\u2019m just trying to shake it and just trying to be better. That\u2019s it, and that\u2019s all I can do, is just get back to work. Just get back to work, put my head down and lead by example.\u201d<\/p>\n
And build off the late-game success in B.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost definitely \u2014 that\u2019s what I tell all the guys,\u201d added Webb. \u201cLet\u2019s try to build off this rally. That gave us momentum to like how we\u2019re used to playing. We just need to build off of this and go on to the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Short yardage<\/p>\n
The Stampeders have released American DB Tyler Richardson. In 17 games over two seasons with the Red and White, Richardson accumulated 63 defensive tackles, three special-teams stops and one interception \u2026 The Stamps have added American RB Antario Brown to their practice roster. The 5-foot-10, 221-lb. native of Savannah, Ga.,\u00a0played 41 games over four NCAA seasons with the Northern Illinois Huskies. He accumulated 3,090 rushing yards with the Huskies, including 1,296 as a junior in 2023 as he earned first-team all-Mid-American Conference honours. Brown, 22, had 26 career rushing touchdowns at NIU and also had 21 catches for 263 yards and two scores.<\/p>\n
tsaelhof@postmedia.com<\/p>\n