Henry Burris reaches 50,000 career CFL passing yards, but can’t win in his old town

It was almost a happy homecoming for former Calgary Stampeders quarterback Henry Burris Friday, but not quite. Burris threw for 408 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the fifth quarterback to reach 50,000 CFL passing yards, but his Hamilton Tiger-Cats fell victim to a late comeback from Bo Levi Mitchell and the Stampeders. Mitchell put Calgary ahead 26-22 with 1:18 left thanks to a tremendous final drive, including a crucial third-down completion to Brad Sinopoli and a great final touchdown pass to Marquay McDaniel, but Burris and the Tiger-Cats almost managed a comeback of their own after that. In the end, though, Burris' final heave to the end zone was picked off, sending him back to Hamilton with a milestone but without a win.

Perhaps that final pass going awry illustrates where the Tiger-Cats are at this point of the season. After a terrible 1-3 start that included a 37-0 pummelling from Saskatchewan, Hamilton's rebounded to become a reasonably respectable team, but they seem like a squad that's almost, but not quite there. The loss drops them to 5-6 on the season, and while it had plenty of impressive moments and statistics (Burris' 408-yard, two-touchdown showing, obtained with a 68.4 per cent completion percentage as well), it also had some memorable blunders, incuding one particularly-bad fourth-quarter interception Burris threw, which gave him two on the day including the final play, a late Luca Congi field goal attempt that clanked off the upright and some boneheaded special teams plays, particularly falling for a perfectly-executed fake punt from Rob Maver and allowing returner Larry Taylor to take advantage of their kick coverage on multiple occasions. The Hamilton defence also wasn't in good form late in the game, allowing Mitchell to knit together a superb drive. There were solid moments for the Tiger-Cats throughout this one, but they weren't enough to add up to a win.

The Stampeders shouldn't get too high on themselves after this one, though. While they came out on top, a lot of that was thanks to special-teams wizardry (including the aforementioned plays, plus Maver pinning the Tiger-Cats perfectly at the one on a punt), and their offence wasn't in great form. Jon Cornish collected just 73 rushing yards on the night, and while his average of 5.5 yards per carry wasn't bad, it was well below the average of 6.8 yards he'd put up this year. Mitchell looked great at the end but had some struggles on the night, finishing with 20 completions on 30 attempts (66.6 per cent) for 257 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The pass defence also got shredded by Burris, and the rushing defence gave up 53 yards, a touchdown and a 5.9 yards per carry average to C.J. Gable. Still, Calgary found a way to get things done here. The Stampeders improve to 9-3 on the season with the win and move into first place in the West Division (although Saskatchewan could tie them with a win Saturday). That's been the story of their season; they haven't always been overly impressive, but they've found ways to win. The Tiger-Cats could use a little of that.