Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
With TV cameras surrounding him, reporters’ recorders inches from his face and the buzz of his best game of the season still seeping into him, Fred Stamps didn’t have a lot to say.
The Edmonton Eskimo slotback caught nine passes for a season-best 204 yards on Friday night at Commonwealth Stadium, a key component of his team’s 35-20 win over the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The win snapped Edmonton’s five-game losing skid and bumped the Eskimos (6-8) a game ahead of the Ticats (5-9), giving them the edge this week in a playoff crossover scenario through the Canadian Football League’s East Division.
It was Stamps’ first game going over 100 yards since October 2011, when the Eskimos held on to beat the Toronto Argonauts.
As Edmonton’s offence sputtered all year and as the team rotated through quarterbacks, who seemed to forget every week about a target who went over 1,000 yards for the last three seasons, fans across the CFL asked, “Where is Fred Stamps?”
“I’ve been here all year,” he said Friday, still wearing the majority of his equipment, a smile plastered on his face. “I’ve been here all year.
“It’s not easy to do that (have an unproductive season), but I’ve been here all year. I’ve just been waiting on my opportunity.”
The opportunity came with a re-jigged coaching structure. Head coach Kavis Reed assumed offensive coordinator duties this week, relegating Marcus Crandell to quarterbacks coach.
This week’s quarterback, and the starter for the remainder of the season, Kerry Joseph, made 24 of his 39 passes for 359 yards, for three touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Eskimos shook off a first half that had them up 10-6, but resembling in many ways the ineffective offensive team that relied too much on its strong defence.
They fell behind 13-10 in the third quarter after Hamilton pivot Henry Burris (20 for 35 passing, 274 yards, two touchdowns, three interceptions) put his team up 1: 40 into the second half with a seven-yard touchdown pass to receiver Andy Fantuz.
For the first time this season, the offence answered back in a moment of vulnerability. Joseph engineered a 102-yard, seven-play scoring drive that tailback Hugh Charles finished with a 15-yard run.
The Ticats cashed in immediately on Joe Burnett’s fumble at the 15-yard line, finding Fantuz again to put his team in front. Leading 20-17 on Luca Congi’s convert, Joseph, Stamps and an extremely effective Eskimo defence took the game back for good in the fourth quarter.
Joseph leaned on Stamps, including for a highlight-reel 42-yard grab in double coverage in the team’s eight-play, 86-yard drive. He finished it off with a seven-yard pass to former Ticats receiver Matt Carter at 2: 07 of the fourth. The offence kept rolling.
Grant Shaw added a 17-yarder to go up 27-20 midway through the fourth and off of a Chris Thompson interception that eventually put Edmonton at the Hamilton 48-yard line, Joseph found Fred Stamps for one big play that put the 30,557 fans at Commonwealth Stadium on their feet.
Shaw added a 53-yard single in garbage time to round out the scoring.
He said the catch in double coverage was his favourite.
“I couldn’t see the ball, there were two guys on me. I seen it, I felt somebody grab my face. Credit to Dwayne (Mandrusiak, the Eskimo equipment manager). He gave us some pretty good gloves.”
As Stamps thanked him, Mandrusiak approached him and told the present reporters to wait for him to get Stamps’ equipment.
“Somebody told you you were finally on the team. That was awesome,” he said, before walking away.
Whether it was the coaching shuffle or just a long overdue outstanding offensive game from his team, Stamps said there was a different feel to Friday.
“We felt more confident and that’s what we’ve been needing,” Stamps said. “It was just a different feel.
“The whole team just felt hungry.
“Everybody just wanted to eat. Something in the air. You could feel it in the air.”
coleary@edmontonjournal.com
Twitter.com/olearychris
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