In his eighth season in the CFL, Marquay McDaniel continues to be a reliable target for Stampeders quarterbacks by extending drives and scoring touchdowns.

Thursday night against the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders, the savvy veteran hauled in eight passes for a total of 110 yards, setting the pace for all the Calgary receivers.

Although he may make it look easy, McDaniel insists he and his teammates were not taking the 1-5 Riders lightly.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” said No. 16 after the game. “Anytime you play a West opponent – I don’t care what their record is – it’s going to be a tough game. That’s just how it is in the West.”

And tough Saskatchewan was.

The Roughriders defence was stout for the most part, not allowing Calgary many big plays.

McDaniel noticed how clogged the secondary was and says it forced the Stamps to mostly make small dink and dunk plays to try and extend drives.

“It’s hard to do that for 60 mintues,” said McDaniel. “It’s hard to keep a consistent offensive flow against that kind of defence.”

However, The Stampeders offence kept to the game plan, taking what the Riders were giving them, eventually wearing down the defence and putting the game out of reach late.

“We thought ‘We need to put a drive together, right now.’ We needed a touchdown, create a little cushion, a 10-point lead, and that’s what we were able to do.”

Three games in to a crucial stretch of West division matchups that will see the Stamps play seven of eight games against divisional foes, McDaniel knows the Stamps will have to keep up their winning way if they hope to stay ahead of the pack.

“This is where you try to create some separation,” says McDaniel. “It was big to go on the road and get a couple of wins piled up because after this, we go on a stretch of all East teams after Labour Day against Edmonton. So you’ve got to get those wins against the West and it will be big at the end of the season.”