Calgary Stampeders

Calgary Stampeders wide receiver Brendan Langley will not face charges after a May altercation with an airport employee.

TMZ Sports reported authorities dropped simple assault charges stemming from a fight at Newark Liberty International Airport.

"We are grateful for the court's decision which puts an end to this ordeal that began nearly two months ago when Mr. Langley was assaulted then wrongfully arrested and charged for exercising his rights under the law," attorney Halim Dhanidina said.

Video of Langley repeatedly punching a United employee went public in May, and the 27-year-old was arrested and charged with simple assault. Langley's attorneys said the employee was verbally abusive and assaulted Langley first.

The unnamed employee was fired as a result of his involvement, but the criminal charges filed against Langley were not settled for nearly two months.

The CFL initially suspended Langley indefinitely after the altercation was made public. It's unclear if the league plans to rescind that suspension.

Langley signed with the Stampeders in February after sitting out the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He previously played for the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, initially playing cornerback before moving to wideout.

Following a pair of decisive victories in the CFL's Division Finals last weekend, the Calgary Stampeders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats will face each other on November 30 in the 102nd Grey Cup.

The Stamps (15-3) and Ti-Cats (9-9) were the top teams in their respective divisions and played like it on Sunday. Hamilton handily dispatched the Montreal Alouettes 40-24 while Calgary beat the Edmonton Eskimos 43-18.

Brandon Banks swung the tide of battle for the Ti-Cats by returning two punts for touchdowns en route to 226 punt return yards, a new playoff record.

Quarterback Zach Collaros had a solid game in his first postseason start, going 18-of-27 for 199 yards through the air. But it was Banks and running back Nic Grigsby (93 rushing yards, 22 receiving yards and two touchdowns) who made the difference offensively.

Hamilton's defense snagged three interceptions to short-circuit Montreal's offense, which actually produced 43 more yards than that of the Tiger-Cats.

Hamilton has now won eight of its last 10 games and appears to have some good momentum built up going into the Grey Cup.

The Stampeders are also on a bit of a roll. They've won six of their last seven, giving up only 19 points per game during that stretch while scoring 29.6 points per game.

In addition to the success, Calgary will be going into the Grey Cup with as healthy a roster as they've had in quite some time.

Running back Jon Cornish, who led the league in rushing with 1,082 yards despite playing in just nine regular-season games, appears to be healthy and ready to go after picking up 174 all-purpose yards and two TDs last weekend in the Division Final against Edmonton.

Bo Levi Mitchell, who was sidelined for three games during the season, threw for 336 yards and four TDs in his first postseason start last weekend.

After missing all of October and most of November, linebacker Charleston Hughes was back in the lineup last Sunday, earning a tackle in the win.

For the Tiger-Cats, this will be their second straight trip to the championship game after getting trounced 45-23 by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in last year's Grey Cup. Although they are still fairly young—and they have a different QB this year, with Collaros replacing Henry Burris—they should be able to use last year's experience to their advantage.

The Stamps made it to the Grey Cup in 2012, where they too were soundly defeated, losing 35-22 to the Toronto Argonauts. 

Like Hamilton, they also have a different quarterback now—Kevin Glenn was Calgary's QB in 2012—but largely feature the same roster which will be drawing on that Grey Cup experience when it takes the field on Sunday.

Calgary and Hamilton faced each other twice in the regular season, with the Stampeders winning both matchups. However, both came in the first half of the season while the Ti-Cats were struggling.

With both teams currently on a roll, it is really anybody's game to win.

The 102nd Grey Cup gets underway at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, at 6:00 pm ET on Sunday.

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In my humble opinion, one of the big differences between how Canadian football and American football are played is the way quarterbacks do their jobs. With the longer, wider field, if a QB finds an opening, he's going for a run. And those runs rarely end with him sliding feet-first to avoid the hit.

Bo Levi Mitchell of the Calgary Stampeders is a perfect example.

As the starter for the Stamps this year, Mitchell is making a case for consideration as the CFL's MVP. He's currently third in passing (2,426 yards), second in touchdown passes (15) and first in QB rating (100.5). 

Mitchell has also set a CFL record as of Saturday's decisive 41-34 win over the Edmonton Eskimos—he has now started his career with a 12-1 record, which no one has ever done. Not Warren Moon, not Ron Lancaster, not Joe Thiesmann, not Doug Flutie and not Jeff Garcia.

Another facet where he has excelled this year has been running the ball. He has rushed 25 times for 186 yards and four touchdowns, in spite of the fact that backup QB Drew Tate has been handling most of the short-yardage duties this season.

Part of what Mitchell is doing when running the ball—what many CFL quarterbacks do—is putting his head down and going for the extra yardage while scrambling, rather than wimping out and trotting to the sidelines or sliding when the defense gets close.

This was the case once again on Saturday in Edmonton.

In the third quarter, with Calgary already up 24-10, Mitchell took the snap on Edmonton's 20-yard line. Seeing no open receivers, Mitchell scrambled through a seam in the pocket. Slipping a tackle at the line of scrimmage, he scampered forward, beating three more Eskimos by juking and powering forward before finally diving at the goal line to sneak the ball past the goal-line pylon for the major.

See the play on CFL.ca here. 

And that's not the first time this year Mitchell has powered through the defense for a touchdown. Check out this play on a faked field goal where Mitchell takes the snap, sprints left around the O-line and takes three pretty good shots on his 10-yard run to the end zone.

And that, to me, is just classic CFL-style football.

In spite of the fact that the league has always played a pass-first style, in spite of how critical it is to have a quality passer under centre to win games, QBs in the CFL game are rarely pure pocket passers. If you can't scramble and use the big field to your advantage, this is not the league for you.

Bo Levi Mitchell seems to have that part of the Canadian game pretty well figured out.

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The West Division representative in the 101st Grey Cup will be determined on Sunday when the Calgary Stampeders host the Saskatchewan Roughriders at McMahon Stadium. 

Saskatchewan is coming off a big win against the BC Lions last weekend, beating the Lions 29-25, and the Roughriders badly want to advance to the Grey Cup, which is being played on their home turf in Mosaic Stadium. 

Calgary finished the regular season with the best record in the CFL at 14-4. That first-place finish earned the Stamps the bye through the first round of the playoffs.

They're now hopeful they can return to the Grey Cup after losing to the Toronto Argonauts in last year's final by a decisive 35-22 score.

The Stamps are going to have their hands full on Sunday, however. They lost three key players to injury in their final regular-season game: Defensive linemen Demonté Bolden and Micah Johnson both suffered knee injuries, and top receiver Marquay McDaniel sustained a high ankle sprain.

The good news is that the bye week has given them a chance to try some new players on the D-line and allowed some other players who were injured earlier in the season to finally be ready to go again.

Junior Turner, Etienne Legare, Freddie Bishop and Earl Okine have all taken reps on the defensive line in the last week. Receivers Brad Sinopoli and Joe West are now recovered from injuries and should both be good to go in place of McDaniel.

Running back Jon Cornish was yet another casualty of the final week of the schedule, suffering a shoulder injury, but the extra week off should see him feeling much better and ready to lead the ground attack.

Said starting quarterback Kevin Glenn, via CFL.ca, "Getting guys acclimated with the positions they may play in this game was big. Having those practices and letting those guys work in those positions, it helped having that bye."

On the Saskatchewan side of things, the Riders should be ready to go and eager to beat the Stamps in their own house. 

Slotback Chris Getzlaf will be back after an injury that kept him out of last week's contest, giving quarterback Darian Durant a full complement of targets in the passing game. 

With the Calgary D-line dealing with a potential weakness in the middle, Durant might also be able to exploit them for extra yards on the ground. Durant ran for 97 yards on just six carries last weekend against BC, so if he sees a hole between the always dangerous pass rush of Charleston Hughes and Cordarro Law, he's liable to call his own number and take off.

There is typically a massive crowd of watermelon-clad Roughriders fans at games in Calgary, so home-field advantage is probably not going to be much of a factor. That means the game is anyone's to win. The action gets underway at 6:30 p.m. MST.

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Coming off dominant wins, both the Calgary Stampeders and the Saskatchewan Roughriders are riding hot streaks and hoping to carry that momentum into the playoffs as the CFL regular season winds down.

The top two teams in the West Division will now face each other in Week 18 of the regular season schedule with postseason positioning on the line, not to mention the opportunity to send a message to their potential playoff rivals.

In their previous two meetings this year, the Stamps and Riders have a dead-even split, with both teams earning a 15-point victory.

This time around, Calgary (13-3) is trying to seal up the best record in the CFL while Saskatchewan (11-5) is trying to catch Calgary for that honour. A win by Calgary in either of their last two games will lock up that spot, while the Riders need to win both of their games and have the Stamps lose both of theirs.

Last weekend, the Stampeders beat the Edmonton Eskimos 27-13 extending their four-game winning streak. The Roughriders pounded the BC Lions last weekend, winning 35-14; they are enjoying a three-game winning streak.

One of these streaks ends on Saturday.

One of the more interesting matchups will be in the running game where Calgary's Jon Cornish leads the CFL in rushing yards with 1,690 while Saskatchewan's Kory Sheets is second with 1,556 yards.

Sheets has already declared himself the superior running back, saying Cornish is only leading because he has played two more games this year. On the other hand, Cornish is also leading Sheets in yards per carry (7.2 versus Sheets' 5.6), so he might be overstating his position.

Performance of the quarterbacks will also be a key to victory. 

Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant is currently second in the league in passing yards (3,952) with a solid QB rating at 97.2. When in doubt, he looks to his top two receivers, Chris Getzlaf and Weston Dressler. Getzlaf has 60 catches for 996 yards and Dressler has 64 catches for 960 yards.

Stampeders QB Kevin Glenn has been very effective this year in the starting role, throwing for 2,545 yards and earning an impressive 102.2 passer's rating while only playing in 12 games. His top target has been Marquay McDaniel, who has nabbed 70 catches for 959 yards.

So the defensive strategy for both teams will be similar: force mistakes from the quarterback and shut down the running game. Both teams have had defensive success this year, with the Riders surrendering the fewest points in the CFL (339) and the Stamps right behind them (362) with the second-fewest points against.

Calgary's pass rush should pose problems for Durant. Charleston Hughes is tied for the league lead in sacks with 15 and Cordarro Law is third with 12.

Saskatchewan's secondary has been very effective, with Dwight Anderson second in the league with five interceptions and three more Riders tied for ninth in the CFL with three interceptions apiece.

The home team has won both contests between these teams so far this year and it could very well be the case that the trend continues in this game; Calgary is 7-1 at home this year, with their only home loss coming on Sept. 21 when the Toronto Argonauts beat them 33-27.

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For the second year in a row, Calgary Stampeders running back Jon Cornish is having an outstanding season.

In 2012, Cornish broke Normie Kwong's 56-year-old record for rushing by a Canadian when he racked up 1,457 yards on the ground. 

After a 114-yard performance Saturday night against the Hamilton Tiger Cats, Cornish is averaging 6.6 yards per carry and is actually ahead of his 2012 pace with five games yet to play.

Cornish has only been held under 50 yards in a game on two occasions this season. The first was in Week 2 when the Saskatchewan Roughriders were able to limit Cornish to just 42 yards on the ground and not even a single catch in a game the Riders won by a 36-21 score.

The only other game in which he was under 50 yards was the Week 9 game against the Toronto Argonauts that saw Cornish remain on the sidelines due to injury.

Saturday was the fifth time this season he has rushed for 100 or more yards, and he has been as high as 175 yards—plus four touchdowns—against the Roughriders in Week 7.

All things being equal, he should be able to improve on last year's number.

In the Stampeders' final five games, they have a mixed bag of competition. Next week, they face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who have been disastrously bad all season long, managing just two wins and giving up a league-high 421 points. When the Stamps faced the Bombers in Week 5, Calgary easily beat Winnipeg, 37-24. Cornish picked up 88 rushing yards and added 87 receiving yards for good measure.

They also take on the Edmonton Eskimos in Week 17. The Eskies are in last place in the West Division with only three wins, and Cornish is averaging 101.5 yards rushing per game against them this season.

The other three games could prove to be challenges. The Stampeders face the BC Lions twice. The Lions have been on a roll, winning their last three in a row. Calgary and BC have split their first two meetings of the season, but Cornish rushed for 172 yards in their first meeting and 73 in their second.

If he can post similar numbers against the Lions in the home stretch, he'll maintain his pace.

The other tough matchup will be in Week 18 when Calgary hosts Saskatchewan. Although the Riders have now dropped three games in a row—including one to the Blue Bombers—they remain a tough team with the stingiest defense in the CFL, having given up just 282 points in 12 games.

Cornish has had both his best rushing game and his worst rushing game of the season against the Roughriders. He needs to battle hard against Saskatchewan and earn another big game on the ground to outdo last year's performance, but he has proved that it is well within his abilities to do just that.

The only real question at this point is whether or not Cornish is the greatest Canadian player in the CFL's history. It may be a year or two too soon to tell, but it is looking good so far.

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The Battle of Alberta begins anew on Monday when the Edmonton Eskimos make their annual trip to Calgary to face the Stampeders in the Labour Day Classic.

In most years, this is one of the most hotly contested games of the season for both teams. The Calgary-Edmonton rivalry seems to run deep and wide throughout all sports, be it football, hockey, lacrosse or baseball—when the cities have pro baseball teams, that is.

So watching the Stamps and Eskimos square off is usually a treat.

This year, however, it is liable to be a snoozer. The Stampeders are currently a solid 6-2 and in second place in the Western Division while the Eskies are a dismal 1-7, tied for the worst record in the CFL with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and languishing in a six-game losing streak.

The only thing that might make this game more interesting is the ongoing issues with injuries that Calgary continues to deal with.

Nik Lewis fractured his tibia during Calgary's Week 8 loss to the BC Lions, leaving the Stamps without their top receiver. Quarterback Kevin Glenn was forced out of last week's win against the Toronto Argonauts after taking a shot to the head and superstar running back Jon Cornish missed the entire game due to a leg injury.

However, both Glenn and Cornish are apparently good to go for Monday, which means Calgary's key weapons are in play.

Glenn has been solid all year long as Calgary's pivot. In six games he has thrown six touchdown passes against just two interceptions, producing a strong 99.4 passer's rating. And if he has to check out, backup Bo Levi Mitchell has done an outstanding job in relief, tossing five TDs in only 54 pass attempts with no interceptions.

Cornish, meanwhile, remains in second place in CFL rushing this year in spite of missing last week's game. He has racked up 916 all-purpose yards in seven games this year and is well on the way to a second-straight Outstanding Canadian award.

Even without Lewis, Calgary's receiving corps is deep and dangerous. Marquay McDaniel has 419 yards receiving so far, with his first 100-yard game coming last week in Lewis' absence. Maurice Price and Jabari Arthur are both over 200 yards in receiving and four more players are over 100 yards.

Defensively, Calgary has given up the second-fewest points so far this year (200). Charleston Hughes and Cordarro Law have five sacks each and are providing excellent pass pressure.

The Eskimos, on the other hand, have struggled mightily all year.

Quarterback Mike Reilly has shown steady progress and is currently third in the CFL in passing yards with 2,031. But there haven't been too many other standouts in the year; the Eskies have the second fewest points for (188) and are fifth in points against (235), which doesn't add up to a lot of good news.

On the bright side, Edmonton's last three losses have all been by a field goal or less, so they have shown signs of improvement, but unless several players on their roster can step up in a big way on Monday, the Eskimos will be dropping their eighth game of the year.

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The Calgary Stampeders resume their 2013 season this weekend with a matchup against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

After a decisive 37-24 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers two weekends ago featuring an outstanding performance by third-string quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, the quarterback situation remains murky for the Stamps.

Although Calgary head coach John Hufnagel has already announced that Drew Tate is healthy and will be the starter against the Roughriders, the fact that Mitchell's very first CFL start earned him the league's Offensive Player of the Week award means that Calgary has three athletes who can fill that role on any given night.

Kevin Glenn has done an admirable job over the last two years in backing up Tate, including last season when he wound up as Calgary's starter for most of the season after Tate went down with an injury in Week Two. Glenn stepped up and guided the Stamps all the way to the playoffs, then took over again for the Grey Cup when Tate was re-injured in the Western final.

There are a couple realities that Calgary will have to deal with in the coming weeks and months.

The first one is that Tate is proving to be fragile. While he has been a major asset when he's on the field, he has never played in more than 15 games in a season. He has to have a reliable backup waiting in the wings to step in the next time he goes down. 

Right now, that backup is Glenn, but Mitchell could just as easily be that guy if he is capable of continuing to put up the numbers he already has this season.

The second reality is that next year's CFL expansion draft will mean giving up some assets. With the depth of talent that the Stampeders have at quarterback, it is a virtual certainty that the Ottawa Redblacks will snap up one of them.

Given that Glenn is 34 years old, it seems unlikely that Ottawa would take him. Building a new franchise around a player in his mid-30s doesn't make much sense, which means he's probably safe to leave exposed for the draft. That means the Stamps must decide whether to protect Tate or Mitchell.

Tate's health is a question mark, although he is right in the prime of his professional life. Mitchell, on the other hand, is younger and has a ton of upside with a few more years to continue to develop.

It seems to me that the right play will be to protect Mitchell and leave Tate available to be taken by the Redblacks.

It also seems to me that Calgary would do well to give Mitchell more time under centre to gain experience if they want to designate him as the quarterback of the future. That means spreading the workload around a little more as this season wears on.

In the meantime, it looks like the lion's share of the snaps will be taken by Tate while Hufnagel crosses his fingers that nothing else happens to his star QB.

August 7 Update: It seems that Drew Tate's arm injury will sideline him for at least one more week. According to CFL.ca, Tate's forearm strain has flared up again this week, putting him on the bench once again. Kevin Glenn gets the nod as the starter while Bo Levi Mitchell will serve as the backup.

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Although the Calgary Stampeders picked up a huge win last weekend against the Montreal Alouettes, coming from way behind to earn the 38-27 victory, it came with a price.

Backup quarterback Kevin Glenn, starting in place of injured No. 1 QB Drew Tate, suffered an arm injury in the second half, forcing the Stamps to go to third-string pivot Bo Levi Mitchell.

Mitchell acquitted himself well late in the game, completing seven of 13 passes for 49 yards and two touchdowns while also adding 29 rushing yards on three carries.

Calgary head coach and general manager John Hufnagel has confirmed that Kevin Glenn's injury will keep him out of the starting role this coming weekend when the Stampeders travel to Winnipeg to face the Blue Bombers. Calgary Sun reporter Scott Mitchell reported via Twitter on Wednesday:

Hufnagel said QB will be a gameday decision. It's either Bo Levi or Tate. KG will be 3rd string #calstampeders #cfl

— Scott Mitchell (@SUNMitchell) July 24, 2013

Whether or not Tate takes his spot under centre will depend entirely on the condition of his arm, and it seems likely that, given the fragility he has shown in the past couple of years, they won't put him in that situation until he is 100 percent healthy.

That means it might be time for Mitchell to see his first CFL start.

Although most of his game reps to date have been in short yardage situations—he has more rushes (41) than pass attempts (34) since his arrival with the Stamps in 2012—his passing so far has been decent, completing 55.9 percent of his attempts for a solid passer's rating of 90. 

Add in the fact that the Blue Bombers could be vulnerable—they've started the season with a 1-3 record and they'll be starting backup quarterback Justin Goltz because No. 1 QB Buck Pierce is also hurt—and this might be the perfect situation to see what Mitchell can do. 

On the other hand, the Bombers have already picked up 19 sacks in just four games, and all that pressure could break the untested young pivot.

When you add all of the factors up, however, it seems like this is the time to give Mitchell his shot, if he's ever going to get one. The Blue Bombers are a soft opponent, notwithstanding their pass rush, which gives Mitchell his best chance to have a positive impact. 

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