Video: Justin Medlock's 10-yard punt into the wind set up Calgary's victory

The Calgary Stampeders barely escaped Hamilton with a 23-20 win Friday thanks to two field goals in the final minute from kicker Rene Paredes, and a big part of the reason they were able to do so was thanks to a failed punt from the Tiger-Cats' Justin Medlock. Following Paredes' first field goal to tie the game with 48 seconds left, from 46 yards out, Hamilton wasn't able to advance the ball on their first two downs and sent out Medlock to punt into a fierce wind (which reached 60 kilometres per hour on the night). Here's what happened next:

Part of that is absolutely on the wind, but part of it is that Medlock simply mishits this. Also, with the wind being such a factor, it's surprising that he didn't go for a long low drive. Instead, he booted it high, and the wind caught it and brought it back, making the punt only travel about 10 yards. Following a return and a no-yards penalty, the Ticats only wound up gaining two yards from the punt. That made it easy for Calgary to set up Paredes' game-winning field goal, especially after Jon Cornish ran for a first down. Paredes drilled the game-winner from 37 yards with no time on the clock, and that gave the Stampeders a much-needed victory. However, this one wouldn't have happened without Medlock's poor punt.

This doesn't mean that Hamilton should move on from Medlock, of course. He's been very good for them, first in 2011 before heading to the NFL with the Carolina Panthers and Oakland Raiders, and then again since returning in 2014. He's the CFL's current career leader in field goal percentage (minimum 150 attempts) at 87.2 per cent, and he's typically been an effective punter too; his career average of 41.8 yards doesn't really stand out, but a lot of those punts has come in Hamilton, where the wind does tend to limit long punts. While kicking is Medlock's forte, and what he focused on at UCLA and in the NFL, he's generally been quite able to handle punting too. It just didn't work out Friday night, and that's the problem with going against the wind.