Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
On Thursday night, Fred Stamps sat in the same physical place that he was a year ago. The Edmonton Eskimo star slotback was in a completely different mind space, though.
The sting of his team’s 23-21 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers still evident, Stamps sat on the trainer’s table in the visitor’s room at CanadInns Stadium and winced as a trainer attended to him.
The injury this time – a chunk of his toenail broken off during the game – was much less severe than what ailed him a year ago.
While Stamps came back from the inadvertent kick to the groin that cost him one of his testicles last year, that game in Winnipeg was in many ways the defining moment of his season.
Stamps went over 1,000 yards for the third consecutive season, despite missing three games to his injury/surgery. The injury only stifled a brilliant season, when for many it would have snuffed out the year altogether.
The two followup surgeries Stamps had in the off-season, one of them two weeks before training camp, left questions about how effective he would be this year. The questions were exacerbated by a slow start as Stamps and quarterback Steven Jyles built their on-field chemistry in slow motion. Stamps went into Winnipeg 13 catches for 110 yards and zero touchdowns.
The pair had their breakthrough on Thursday. Stamps led all Edmonton receivers with four catches for 91 yards. That was highlighted by Jyles’ 47-yard hookup with a wide open Stamps for their first touchdown play of the season.
“Like I said before, I’d rather a win any day,” Stamps said. “It was a good sign in our offence. We moved the ball a lot and you can’t take anything away from Winnipeg. They came out and played a hard-fought football game. You can’t take it away from them, credit to Winnipeg.”
Bomber defensive end Jovon Johnson pounced on a forced fumble off of Jyles with 43 seconds left on the clock, killing the Eskimos’ hopes for a comeback win. It was another loss for the Eskimos in a city that hasn’t been welcoming to them over the years. The Eskimos last won there in the regular season in 2007. They also topped the Bombers in the 2008 Eastern semifinal as a crossover team.
“Winnipeg has great fans,” Stamps said. “It was really loud all game. It’s like having an extra man on the field. The fans help them out and you really couldn’t hear sometimes. Credit to Winnipeg, it was a good football game, I thought. We just have to finish.”
The finish certainly still needs some work, but involving the offence’s best weapon – especially with the loss of slotback Adarius Bowman (torn ACL, MCL) for the season – is a crucial component of the Eskimo attack that can only help when the team returns from its bye week.
“I told him, let’s get that bear off of our back,” Jyles said of the touchdown pass.
“That’s all they’re talking about, is getting Fred Stamps the ball. I told him he has to be patient with me and let me learn how he runs routes and understand what he’s going to do.”
“People can talk all they want or say whatever they want to say,” Stamps said. “Say whatever you want to say, but the main thing is you’re not on the field seeing what we’re seeing.”
Stamps added that the key to building chemistry with Jyles is not forcing things.
“It was just one of those things. I feel like we had a little bit of a connection,” he said. “If (the play is) there take it; if it’s not, don’t force anything. I don’t want to ever try to force the ball, because bad things happen like that.”
Now, Stamps said, the most important piece of the equation has to come into play.
“The main thing is the victory,” he said. “Unfortunately (on Thursday) we didn’t win, but we have a lot of good things to work on for next week.”
coleary@edmontonjournal.com Twitter.com/olearychris
Facebook.com/
edmontonjournalsports
