The Stampeders 2022 season has unfortunately come to an end.
The Red and White finished the regular season with a 12-6 record and third place in the West Division.
On Sunday the team lost to the BC Lions in the Western Semi-Final in a 30-16 decision.
Monday, the team cleaned out their lockers. President and GM John Hufnagel, head coach Dave Dickenson and select players addressed the media to discuss the playoff loss, the season and what’s to come in the future.
QUOTABLES:
“Nothing sweet like winning a championship comes easy. For me personally, the only thing I know when something like this happens is I have to get back to work. I have to come back in better shape; I have to come back stronger, physically, mentally. I’ve got to sharpen my skills and I’m looking forward to making this off-season…one of the best of our careers.”
(On how his role changes with Bo).
“It changes big time. The franchise has invested in me and the fans have showed a lot of support and a lot of belief and this is an organization that has experienced, especially recently in the last couple decades or so, championship after championship, after championship. There’s a standard of excellence here that I just look forward to being able to continue.”
“The door is always open, things can always change. My job is to kind of, be ready. I said what I said because the writing is usually on the wall when you pay another guy. I want to be a starter; I’ll never accept sitting back and watching somebody else play. We will see what happens but I’m just keeping my head up, staying confident and looking forward to playing football.”
“Brothers of mine, friends, ex-teammates, and my agent are obviously super happy (Mitchell saw action in the playoff game) but honestly I was disappointed because it was one of those moments where it felt like we were going to make it happen. I always look at myself when it doesn’t. I took a sack; I pumped the ball to KJ (Kamar Jorden) when he was open. If I’d have let it rip, we score a touchdown there. So those are the things I look at. It was fun to get back out there. I just wish we could have made it happen there at the end.”
Dave Dickenson
“To me it kind of bottles down to short-yardage situations. We had three of them, had some opportunities to make plays, we were 0-for-3. They made theirs and also hit a touchdown throw so, wasn’t like we played terrible but I guess average doesn’t get it done in the playoffs.”
“It’s 50-50 right now honestly. It’s not really up to me right now. I feel I could keep playing and I want to come back but it’s the things outside of football that are going to determine it. We’ll see what happens. Last year it took a bit longer, this year you’ll all know sooner than later.”
“(It’s) very disappointing. It felt like we weren’t ourselves (Sunday) and it showed and they took advantage of it and came out with the win.”
“We knew who we were and the league knew who we were and we just didn’t go out there and execute and we lost.”
“It’s going to be a lot of changes for sure defensive wise – things that we need to be better on as a team in general, it’s a lot of things that need to be changed for us to take that next step.”
“It’s very disappointing because we had a special team but then I look back and we were also young so that played a huge part in this year. The leaders like me need to lead these guys in a better way, a more different way to take it to the next level and that came up short and then led to a loss early so I put that on the leaders to lead this young team to the next level and that’s what we didn’t do.”
“It makes it hard because when you look in that locker room we had every single thing we needed, from quarterback, to running back, to defence, to offensive line, everything was perfect, to the second-strings being really good and we just couldn’t put it all together so that’s really the disappointing thing in this whole season.”
“It’s tough. It brought me to tears in the locker room yesterday. I just enjoy this group and it’s tough knowing this version of this team doesn’t exist anymore.”
“I would love to come back to Calgary. We talked about it a little bit. We just have to figure it out and see if it makes sense.”
“I have no clue what’s going on, what the team is thinking, it’s something I’ve been thinking about for really most of the season. I just know people are going to look at the age and all that stuff and understandable but I know when I’m on that field…at the age I’m at I know I can still do it.”
2022 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Despite the disappointing ending there were many positives that came out of the Red and White’s 2022 season.
The team registered 11 West all-stars, the most by any team in the West Division. Those players included running back Ka’Deem Carey, receiver Malik Henry, offensive linemen Derek Dennis, Sean McEwen and Ryan Sceviour, defensive linemen Shawn Lemon and Mike Rose, linebacker Cameron Judge, defensive back Jonathan Moxey, kicker Rene Paredes and punter Cody Grace.
Ten players were recognized throughout the season by the CFL as weekly top performers. Those players included Rene Paredes (Week 2), Titus Wall (Week 2 and Week 9), Malik Henry (Week 3 and Week 12), Peyton Logan (Week 5), Jameer Thurman (Week 13), Jake Maier (Week 16), Dedrick Mills (Week 20 and Week 21), Tommy Stevens (Week 21) and Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund (Week 21).
Calgary led the league in scoring with 562 points, and averaged 31.2 points per game. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were second with 538 points scored. The Stamps were tied with the Lions for average yards gained per play, with both teams at seven. However, Calgary sits atop the leader’s board on first-down average yards with 7.5.
The offensive line led the league in fewest sacks allowed with 17. Winnipeg sits in second with 29.
On the other side of the ball, the defensive line led the league in sacks made with 56. Ottawa came in second with 47.
Calgary also led the league in the turnover battle with a plus-21 differential.
On the special teams side of things, Calgary led the league in blocked kicks with three. The Stamps also led the CFL in own team kick recoveries with three (Cody Grace, Tyson Middlemost and Nick Statz). Longtime kicker Rene Paredes led the league in points with 211.
Despite missing four games due to injury, Ka’Deem Carey earned the rushing yards title this season with 1,088. However, it’s third-string quarterback Tommy Stevens who recorded the most rushing yards in a game this season with 163 in the last regular-season game of the year. With that performance he gained the most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single game in franchise history.
Malik Henry recorded 1,000-plus yards this season and holds the 2022 high for most receiving yards in a game with 173, which he tallied in Week 3 against the Edmonton Elks.
First-year Stampeder Cameron Judge led all defensive players in ‘Big Plays’ with 11, including: five fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles, two interceptions and two turnovers on downs forced by a tackle, knockdown or sack. Judge also recorded two touchdowns this season. Veteran defensive lineman Shawn Lemon and rookie defensive back Titus Wall also made the list, recording seven and six ‘Big Defensive Plays’ respectively
In his third year with the Stamps, defensive back Jonathan Moxey led the league in pass knockdowns with 13.
WHO’S LOCKED IN FOR 2023?
As we start to think about next season, Stamps fans can look forward to seeing the following players suiting up for Calgary again next year:
QB Jake Maier (American)
WR Luther Hakaunavanhu (National)
WR Malik Henry (American)
WR Tyson Middlemost (National)
WR Tre Odoms-Dukes (American)
RB Ka’Deem Carey (American)
OL Bryce Bell (National)
OL Julian Good-Jones (American)
OL Sean McEwen (National)
OL Ryan Sceviour (National)
OL Joshua Coker (American)
DL Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund (National)
DL Mike Rose (American)
DL Derek Wiggan (National)
LB Brad Cowan (National)
LB Charlie Moore (National)
DB Tre Roberson (American)
DB Kobe Williams (American)
P Cody Grace (Global)
CFL rookies:
QB Tommy Stevens (American)
WR Jalen Philpot (National)
RB Peyton Logan (American)
RB Dedrick Mills (American)
OL Hugh Thornton (American)
DL Terrell McClain (American)
DL TJ Rayam (National)
DB Daniel Amoako (National)
DB Titus Wall (American)
FREE AGENTS
QB Bo Levi Mitchell (American)
FB William Langlais (National)
FB Charlie Power (National)
WR Shawn Bane Jr. (American)
WR Reggie Begelton (American)
WR Colton Hunchak (National)
WR Kamar Jorden (American)
WR Richie Sindani (National)
OL Derek Dennis (American)
OL Keanu Ebanks (Global)
OL Brandon Murphy (National)
OL Zack Williams (National)
OL Jonathan Zamora (National)
DL Stefen Banks (American)
DL Elliot Graham (National)
DL Shawn Lemon (American)
DL Folarin Orimolade (American)
LB Ryan Gomes (Global)
LB Cameron Judge (National)
LB Fraser Sopik (National)
LB Silas Stewart (American)
LB Jameer Thurman (American)
LB Perry Young (American)
DB Elie Bouka (National)
DB Marcelis Branch (American)
DB Bailey Devine-Scott (Global)
DB Branden Dozier (American)
DB Javien Elliott (American)
DB Parnell Motley (American)
DB Jonathan Moxey (American)
DB Brad Muhammad (American)
DB Dionte Ruffin (American)
DB Nick Statz (National)
DB Trumaine Washington (American)
K Keiran Burnham (National)
K Rene Paredes (National)
LS Aaron Crawford (National)