One game into the season and the Stampeders already have a kicking issue to address.
The building blocks for success in the Canadian Football League are quarterbacking, kicking and Canadians.
It’s the reason why after only one game, there has to be concern in Calgary concerning the Stampeders.
They have lost their second-string quarterback, Drew Tate, for at least a month with a shoulder injury suffered in the final pre-season game and opted to sign a player, Michael Bishop, who hasn’t been in the league in more than a year and whose career had apparently ended. But as long as starter Henry Burris stays healthy, quarterbacking is not that big of an issue.
The big problem now has to be the kicking game, which also happens to tie in to Canadian content. Rob Maver, an excellent rookie last year, missed three makeable attempts in a 23-21 loss to Toronto on Friday night, bothered by a pre-season leg injury, which he appeared to re-aggravate.
The year before, on Canada Day, in his first-ever regular-season game, he had 18 points. What a difference a year makes. In his next game, he kicked a last-minute game-winning field goal. He set a team record for rookies with 185 points. He connected on 37 of 47 field goal attempts. He was gold.
The Stamps are already going through various personnel issues on offence and defence, but Maver’s status may be the most important now. A 43-yard game-winning field goal by Toronto’s Noel Prefontaine with 17 seconds to go proved the value of a kicker.
How many games have been won in the CFL by field goals inside the final minute or on the final play of the game? Yeah, it’s not unique to the CFL, but it is an absolutely vital part of the game.
Maver rushed himself to be ready for the season-opening game, but now that he’s aggravated the injury, the Stamps will have to be cautious going forward. A kicker with a wonky leg is like a quarterback with a wonky arm/shoulder (i.e. Toronto’s Steven Jyles, who started the season on the nine-game injured list, or B.C.’s Jarious Jackson the year before).
There’s already talk the Stamps are scouring the market for a replacement and names such as Jamie Boreham, who has bounced around the league and has had various injuries, and Warren Kean, who has already had some tours of duty with other teams, have been mentioned. They are both Canadian, which is a factor if the Stamps want to stick with a non-import kicker. There’s some young untested Canadian kids on the market, including Aaron Ifield, a University of Calgary grad who has already had an audition with the Stamps and Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Eric Wilbur, who had a solid final pre-season game with Hamilton but lost out to Justin Medlock, is available, but he’s an American, which means the Stamps would have to remove an import from the lineup if they sign and activate him.
Using a new kicker is one thing; hoping he works well with the snapper and holder is another.
For a player who is on the field so little in the game, the kicker’s job is of paramount importance. Throughout the league it is a big story this year. Saskatchewan, which opens tomorrow, is cautiously optimistic about its kicking. When asked if he was happy about the team’s kicking, which connected on only one of six field-goal tries in the pre-season, Riders general manager Brendan Taman said, "Would you be?”
Several teams are keeping two kickers just to be safe.
The Montreal Alouettes have Sean Whyte, whom they acquired in a trade from B.C., and free-agent pickup Sandro DeAngelis, who at one time was kicking for the Stamps and receiving Most Oustanding Canadian Player honours with them in their 2008 Grey Cup win. DeAngelis bolted for Hamilton and the big bucks last year and bombed. He was cut before training camp this year, signed by Montreal and is hoping to play.
The Stamps could make a call to Montreal to do a deal to acquire DeAngelis. They allowed him to leave via free agency last year because they liked Maver’s ability. They were bang on about that.
It will be interesting whether the Stamps consider re-acquiring DeAngelis, even though the price would likely be steep given that Montreal holds the upper hand, or go the free-agent route.
Whatever decision is made, suddenly kicking has become an even bigger topic of discussion in Calgary than quarterbacking.
