I usually try to find something interesting in the first few lines of these articles before going on to talk about seven to ten things I noticed about the game. But after the Calgary Stampeders' 33-30 playoff loss to the BC Lions on Saturday, it was time to take a break from the format.
Instead, I'll go back to the adage: Five games on any given day makes or breaks a football team. This school of thought is so popular that not even the Internet can quickly tell me who said it first.
In a game with as little a lead as a field goal, a few things immediately come to mind. Here is the list in order of importance, not necessarily chronological:
Return Touchdown
The Stampeders had just scored a touchdown to bring the game back to within six points with an authoritative drive that signaled what was to come in the rest of the second half from Calgary's offense.
Rene Paredes started the game, and Robert Carter Jr. weaved his way through the Stampeders' coverage team en route to a 95-yard touchdown that erased everything Calgary had spent the previous five minutes of the game clock doing.
It was just the second kick return touchdown the Stampeders have given up in 2025, and it couldn't have come at a worse time.
Doink
Rene Paredes hasn't missed many converts this season, scoring a point on 41 of 43 attempts.
However, after the Stampeders scored a touchdown to tie the game at 27 in the fourth quarter, Paredes knocked one off the right upright. This resulted in a dead ball and the game remained tied instead of giving Calgary a one-point lead.
Longtime fans will likely forgive Paredes as he is a first-time Hall of Famer and, in my opinion, the best CFL kicker to ever do so. But at the moment this mistake has acquired a threatening character.
Groping
The Stampeders defense played incredibly well against the CFL's best in Nathan Rourke and the BC Lions.
Time and time again they forced Rourke off the field with relentless pressure from the front four. With two minutes left in the game, they got to Rourke again, forcing a punt that was caught at the Calgary 38-yard line.
Eric Brooks took a few steps and collided with Ben Labrosse from behind, knocking the ball away with the tip of Labrosse's elbow. The Lions then got the ball back at the Calgary 32-yard line.
Instead of having the ball in a close game near midfield, with the opportunity to buy time and escape liability, the Stampeders suddenly found themselves on the defensive again.
The defense quickly made a two-and-out and forced a field goal, giving the offense time to tie the game again soon after. In this case, they still deserved better.
Penultimate blow
No matter how good the defense was all day, they gave away the dagger at the very end. Justin McInnis caught a 28-yard pass to put the Lions within field goal range with just three seconds remaining. It was the last game before Shaun White left and sent the Lions to Saskatchewan for the Western final.
The team held Rourke to under 200 rushing yards before this play knocked him down. It capped what would have been considered a poor try had the Lions lost.
Overdue hours
While all the other plays happened in the second half, we can also look at the play that ended the first half as a moment of “what could have been.”
Adams Jr. brought the team into field goal range with eight seconds left and a timeout remaining in the first half, trailing 13-7 at that point. He then took the snap, scrambled to the sideline and found Tevin Jones at the four-yard line to end the play.
Usually good news, but the game took nine seconds. This meant the Stampeders had gotten to the goal line but had nothing to show for it.
Throw in a likely field goal, note the missed goal, and suddenly the Stampeders have 34 points instead of 30, and a BC run won't win the game. The Lions would have needed a touchdown, not just a go-ahead field goal.
Neither of these two games are affected by the clock either, so the hypothetical butterfly effect of these decisions would be reduced in terms of overall impact on subsequent decisions.
It wasn't the only time management error that hit the Stampeders' baseline in this game, as they also decided to leave time on the clock for Nathan Rourke in the fourth quarter with a pair of incompletions in the final minute. But I said I’d limit myself to describing the five plays that cost Calgary the game, but that’s six.
Further
Stampeders go home with a trash bag. The team that everyone wrote off in the preseason still hasn't won in the playoffs since 2018.
However, with their win total more than doubling from last year and fielding one of the youngest rosters in the league with incredibly young Canadian depth, there appears to be an optimism among fans that has been missing since the pandemic.
It remains to be seen who will remain with the club at all levels, but any upcoming changes will be communicated right here. 3DownNation.
As we approach the eighth anniversary of the publication of my first article, I remain proud that you, the reader, still take the time to check out what I think each week.
Is it June already?
