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Calgary hopes to continue hot streak in bout with Edmonton

Wed 1st, September 2010

Calgary, AB (Sports Network) - The Calgary Stampeders try to continue their winning ways on Monday evening as they take on the Edmonton Eskimos in a Western Division clash at McMahon Stadium.

The Stamps have the best record in the CFL through eight completed weeks of competition, losing just once to Toronto back on July 14 by a score of 27-24. Last week, the team outlasted a spunky British Columbia squad and captured a 48-35 victory. The last time Calgary started out 7-1 was 1996 when current BC head coach Wally Buono was at the helm. Even though he tossed a total of three interceptions, Henry Burris stepped up with 20-of-34 passing for 276 yards and a couple of touchdowns, while backup Drew Tate contributed with one passing major and another on the ground for the group as they generated 510 yards of total offense.

Wide receiver Ken-Yon Rambo was not only on the winning side with Calgary, he was also a unanimous choice for CFL Offensive Player of the Week thanks to his nine catches for 108 yards and two scores. Having come back strong from a knee injury that ended his 2009 season, Rambo now has four touchdowns in as many games.

As for the Eskimos, they've been a disappointment for much of the season, winning just once through the first seven games. But last week the team awoke from a slumber and came up with 17 unanswered points in posting a 17-14 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders at home. Edmonton spotted the visitors a pair of touchdowns and then roared back by holding the Roughriders scoreless for the last three frames.

Kicker Noel Prefontaine was key to the comeback win as he converted a 37-yard field goal in the final minute of play to secure the upset win. Prefontaine, who was named the CFL's Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time, was responsible for all of the points scored in the second half and a total of 11 overall as the Eskimos snapped a two-game slide.

Edmonton starting quarterback Ricky Ray was pulled early in the game, but came back to move the ball down the field late and finished the outing 6-of-11 for 63 yards, although his one interception also led to the first points of the game when James Patrick picked off the first of three and ran it back 35 yards for the score. Backup Jared Zabransky tossed one touchdown to Arkee Whitlock, but was also picked off twice as he converted 8-of-17 passes for 109 yards in the victory.

Even though the Eskimos picked up a rare win last week, the quarterback position is still in disarray. Ray may be one of the more accurate passers in the league to this point with his 66.8 percent accuracy, but the fact that he has just as many interceptions (six) as he does touchdowns doesn't paint a pretty picture for this team. As a unit the Eskimos are sixth in the CFL in passing with 2,130 yards through eight games, but again the team has more INTs (10) than TDs (eight) through the air.

Having Whitlock help out on the ground certainly takes some of the focus off the troubles at quarterback, but the running back can only do so much as he averages a solid six yards per carry and is now second in the league with his 686 yards coming out of the backfield. With 764 yards from scrimmage, Whitlock is fifth in the CFL and at least gives the illusion that he could be a bigger player in the passing attack if needed.

While Burris has more passing majors than anyone else in the league at this point with 18, he is also tied with Darian Durant for the most interceptions with a dozen, so with the good also comes the bad in his case. But for the most part, throwing those picks has not hurt the Stamps all that much. When it comes to Burris hitting the airwaves against Edmonton over the years, the signal-caller has twice as many TDs (36) as INTs (18) over the course of 20 appearances. Of late the numbers have really favored Burris in fact, the QB having tossed 14 majors and a mere four interceptions in the last six meetings. In all but one of those six games Burris, who is on the verge of overtaking Dieter Brock for 10th place on the CFL's all-time passing list, has thrown for at least 305 yards, so to change the mode of attack at this stage might be foolish.

Even though Edmonton owns a convincing 121-79-3 mark in the all-time series dating back to the 1949 campaign, it is Calgary that has dominated in recent years with four straight wins and five in the last six encounters overall. The most recent meeting took place on August 15 with the Stamps stomping the Esks by a final of 56-15 at home.