The Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the Calgary Stampeders 40-27 at CFL in Regina on Aug. 19, 2018.Matt Smtih/The Canadian Press
The Calgary Stampeders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers find themselves in similar situations heading into Saturday afternoon’s game between the West Division foes at McMahon Stadium.
Both teams are looking for bounce-back efforts from tough Week 10 losses. The Bombers (5-4) dropped a 44-21 decision to the Ottawa Redblacks at home on Friday, while the Stampeders (7-1) lost 40-27 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders two nights later in Regina.
“It’s only one loss,” said Stamps linebacker Alex Singleton, who had five tackles and one forced fumble against Saskatchewan. “It’s not going to define our season in any way. If we go out and win the rest of them, we’re 17-1 and I don’t think anyone’s going to be worrying about what happened against Sask.”
That’s not to say that the Stamps won’t learn from the humbling defeat to the Roughriders, who jumped out to leads of 14-0 through one quarter and 24-6 at the half.
“It’s a lot easier learning off a win then it is after a loss, but sometimes you need that,” Singleton said. “You need to know what it feels like. You need to know that you didn’t come back and what you can do to make that happen the next time those situations come up.”
While the Stamps will be hungry to bounce back following their first setback of the season, the Bombers also have a lot to prove after seeing their three-game winning streak snapped by the Redblacks.
“They’re in the same situation,” Singleton said. “It was last game. They’re not playing Ottawa again. They’re playing us.
“They’re out in Calgary, it’s a west opponent. It’s all these different circumstances that have nothing to do with the last game they played. It’s important to them because it’s a west opponent and they want to win games and get points to make the playoffs.”
Despite having only five days to prepare to face the Bombers, Calgary coach Dave Dickenson said the Stamps will be ready for a tough challenge.
“It’s been a short week,” Dickenson said. “I think the energy’s still there. We’re excited to play again. Both teams coming off losses looking forward to playing the next game, so it’ll be a battle.”
Led by a pair of touchdown receptions from DaVaris Daniels, the Stamps had a better second half against the Riders, which is something they hope to build off of heading into Saturday’s game.
“We all have to be better no matter who had a good game and who didn’t,” Daniels stressed. “The thing is we’ve got to come out ready to play from the jump. All the teams in the west, and all over the league really, are gunning for us.
“We’re the top team, so we’ve got to be ready for whatever they throw at us and roll with the punches. If we do get down and we face some adversity, we’ve got to stay together and we’ve got to keep competing.”