It’s a fine line between winning and losing in today’s CFL. The Calgary Stampeders’ loss to the Montreal Allouettes highlighted that fact perfectly.

A team can play an overall good game, but they’re still only a few mistakes away from losing.

Calgary Stampeders vs. Montreal Allouettes

If a 23-21 loss sounds like a close game, that’s because it was.

The game was close throughout on both the scoreboard and the box score. But, in the end, Montreal pulled out the victory.

How did Montreal manage to get the win? They made fewer mistakes.

At the end of the day, the Calgary Stampeders made too many mistakes to win the game.

Penalties

Coming into the game, Calgary was one of the least penalized teams in the league (just over 5 penalties per game).

Against Montreal, they didn’t live up to that. Calgary was penalized 11 times for 121 yards. Teams won’t win very many games by giving their opponent over 100 free yards.

Single

Rookie kick returner Kaylon Horton has showcased his track speed several times in his short CFL career. Unfortunately, he also showcased his inexperience against the Allouettes.

After failing to field a kickoff cleanly, Horton elected to take a knee in the end zone rather than attempt a return. That resulted in a single for the Allouettes.

Extra Point

The Calgary Stampeders have enjoyed a level of stability at the kicker position that most teams could only dream of. Rene Paredes is one of the best ever to do it.

Unfortunately, being one of the best doesn’t mean he’s perfect. He suffered from a rare missed extra point.

For those of you keeping score, Calgary missed an extra point and surrendered an unforced single in a two-point loss. That’s how thin the line between winning and losing is.

What’s Next For The Calgary Stampeders?

This week, the banged-up Calgary Stampeders will look to avenge an earlier-season loss to the Ottawa Redblacks.

The Redblack won 20-12 in an ugly game earlier this year.

The Stampeders will need to get back on track if they hope to keep pace with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in a competitive West Division.