Officially, the reconvening begins Thursday.

In truth, they never actually strayed too far afield – having deliberately, instinctively, wisely, stayed engaged and ever-present.

Working in the weight room. Hanging in the film room. Or at home, head tucked in the pages of the playbook.

“This is not – I repeat not – vacation time,’’ chided mammoth interior D-lineman Micah Johnson (and standing 6-foot-2 and tipping the Toledos at 273 pounds, what sane human would argue with the man?) late Saturday morning as the Stampeders prepared for a four-day, pre-Western Final practice hiatus.

“Yeah, we need to relax. It’s a long season, takes a toll on your body. But the relaxation in these days off comes in not playing games, not being involved in the physical aspect of practice.

“That’s all the vacation we need.

“It’s not time to disconnect.

“Disconnecting at a moment like this could lead to problems. Because while you’re chillin’ right now, other teams are together, practising, getting better, trying to find an edge.

“This is the end of the season, man. Official vacation, that starts at the end of the month. Do what you want then. But if you can’t hold it down and just focus, hone in on, these last few weeks …”

A slow, sorrowful shake of the head.

“… then there’s something awfully wrong with you.’’

Defensive line huddles up (Photo by David Moll)

Thursday, the Stamps begin to rev up initial on-field preparations for Nov. 19 at McMahon Stadium and an opportunity for Grey Cup redemption at Ottawa’s TD Place Stadium a week later.

Either the Winnipeg Blue Bombers or Edmonton Eskimos – both of who gained a measure of valuable confidence against Dave Dickenson’s crew over the final two regular-season fixtures – will be optimistic of pulling the upset.

“These four days, you get away from it physically but you’ve still got to stay into it mentally,’’ agreed defensive back Jamar Wall. “You can never over-study.

“We’ve got film to look at. We’re going to be playing one of the teams that beat us these last three weeks. Okay. So how did they attack us in those games? What did they do well against us? What can we do to counter-act the things they did?”

The bye week, echoed Johnson, is only beneficial if used properly. Particularly given the uncharacteristic manner in which the 13-4-1 Stampeders lurched to the finish line.

“You lose and people are going to pick you apart. But no reason to panic,’’ he said. “Man, we didn’t win that many games by luck.

“We’ve got remember that but we’ve also got to identify what we need to do to get better, too. We can’t pretend the last three games never happened.

“I feel like teams are finding different ways to attack us. So we need to make adjustments. That’s what Coach Dave talked about: finding ways, each and every one of us, to be better.

“We have to remember this is still in our hands.”

One game, at McMahon, with a trip to the 105th Grey Cup game hanging in the balance.

They’d have surely taken that scenario in a heartbeat when this journey started, back on June 23 and a season-opening 31-31 OT tie in the Nation’s Capital against their 2016 title tormentors, the Ottawa RedBlacks.

“We’ve been on top for so long, everybody’s out to get us, we get every team’s A-Game, every week,’’ reasoned Wall. “That’s the reality. We’re used to it by now. Or should be.

“Don’t get me wrong, it sucks to lose these last three. Sucks bad.

“But I know these guys in this room. I know the make-up of this team. I know our talent level, how much we care, how much we want it.

“I’m really looking forward to this. Come playoffs, I truly believe we’re going to bounce back in a big way.”