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Stampeders and Eskimos meet for second time this week

Wed 8th, September 2010

Edmonton, AB (Sports Network) - Friday night brings out the best and the worst in the Canadian Football League as the slumping Edmonton Eskimos entertain the high-flying Calgary Stampeders in a Western Division showdown at Commonwealth Stadium.

Except for a single misstep against Toronto back in the middle of July, the Stampeders have been perfect this season. On Labour Day Calgary posted its second 50-point game in the last three outings by blowing away this same Edmonton squad, 52-5. On a roll with six consecutive wins, the Stamps have outscored their last three opponents by a combined 156-55 and that has the squad sitting atop the league's scoring list with an average of 35.9 ppg. Not surprisingly Edmonton, which has fallen in three of the last four games and has captured its two victories by a margin of just three points each, is at the bottom of that list after nine games with just 18.6 ppg.

The Eskimos may have scored the first points of the meeting on Monday with an 86-yard single by Noel Prefontaine, the kicker ending up being responsible for all five of the team's points, but the offense failed to do anything significant for the visitors on the day. The quarterback tandem of Ricky Ray and Jared Zabransky combined to hit just 12-of-30 passes for 193 yards and each was intercepted twice in the awful effort. Adding insult to injury was the fact that running back Arkee Whitlock gained a mere three yards on three attempts before leaving the meeting with an actual injury.

Over on the other side, there was no stopping the Stamps as Henry Burris made history with his 15-of-23 passing effort for 226 yards and three touchdowns. The signal-caller, now with 35,054 yards passing in his career, moved past Dieter Brock for 10th place on the CFL's all-time passing list. Romby Bryant was the chief recipient of Burris's efforts as he reeled in five balls for 80 yards and a pair of scores, while Ken-Yon Rambo and Deon Murphy also caught scoring strikes to dig an even deeper hole for the Eskimos.

Running back Joffrey Reynolds, who coming into this season had gained at least 1,200 yards rushing in five straight campaigns, accounted for a game-high 85 yards and tallied a major on 18 carries in the onslaught as well.

Since opening the season against Toronto with 116 yards and a score, averaging almost seven yards per carry, Reynolds hasn't been as productive, but some of that can be attributed to Burris finding a groove and sticking with it by putting the ball in the air more often. Nevertheless, even though Reynolds has not logged 100 yards in a game since the opener, he is still second in the league in rushing after nine games with 706 yards and that's reason enough for opposing defenses to keep him on their radar.

Burris, now completing his passes at a 65.1 percent clip, has thrown 13 interceptions to tie for the most in the league, but those mistakes are outweighed by his league-high 21 TD strikes. The only team with more interceptions thrown at this juncture is Edmonton with 14, divided up among a number of players. The Eskimos as a whole have completed an even 60 percent of their attempts, but with more than a dozen INTs and just eight TD passes the squad has a dismal 73.4 efficiency rating at the moment.

Granted, over the years Ray has had his share of success against Calgary, tossing 26 touchdowns through the air and scoring another three on the ground, but he has also suffered not only 13 picks but 14 fumbles as well. In his career versus Edmonton, Burris has also put the ball on the carpet (13 times) and thrown 19 interceptions, but his whopping 39 touchdowns through the air and seven on the ground have easily balanced the ledger.

Even though Calgary blew the doors off the Esks just four days ago, it is Edmonton that owns a 121-80-3 advantage in the regular-season series between the two clubs dating back to 1949. Nonetheless, the Stamps have taken five straight meetings and six of the last seven versus Edmonton.