As you might have expected, there will be a lineup tweak or two going into Thursday’s game in Winnipeg, but a good chunk of it was prompted by good injury news, not bad news.
Based on what we saw in practice on Monday, it looks like both linebacker Malik Jackson and receiver Ken-Yon Rambo will be making the trip to Winnipeg after sitting out last Friday’s win over B.C. with, respectively, a concussion and a hamstring injury.
Jackson’s return is nicely timed considering the man who replaced him, Karl McCartney, will be out for a while with a hamstring pull of his own, that was being further assessed on Monday (as was Daren Stone’s hamstring injury).
As for Rambo, no doubt his hamstring felt a lot better as he watched his replacement Landan Talley have a superb evening in Vancouver. And while Talley was taking some reps with the first-team offence on Monday, Stamps coach and GM John Hufnagel made it clear following practice that it would be impossible to get Talley into the lineup unless someone gets hurt between now and then.
Meanwhile, two other players who have yet to dress for a game this season appear to be ready to make their 2011 debuts, as right guard Dimitri Tsoumpas, who missed the first two games of his career with a hamstring problem, and rookie safety Demetrice Morley were taking the majority of reps at their respective positions. Morley coming in may land Milt Collins on the reserve list, by the way.
As for quarterback Drew Tate, he was throwing early during Monday’s practice but took the pads off fairly quickly; he’ll be treated with kid gloves until the Stamps are confident that his dislocated left shoulder has healed fully.
And punter Burke Dales kicked a few balls on Monday, which is good news. It sounds like his own hamstring problem, which has dogged him since training camp, will be one of those situations where he’ll have to kick through some pain, but won’t be doing himself any damage by doing so.
Worth noting: the Stamps have made some changes in their football operations department, although for the most part, it’s a change in titles, and not necessarily responsibilities — and I base this supposition on the fact the Stamps chose not to publicize the change with some kind of news release.
The changes: Michael Petrie goes even further to the dark side from his once-respectable position of Stampeder beat writer at the Herald to become assistant general manager, football operations (he was listed as the director of football operations last year), and John Murphy goes from director of player personnel to assistant general manager, player personnel.

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