It was one thing for this new-look Stampeders team to beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the inaugural Stampede Bowl in Calgary a few weeks ago.
They were at home, in front of the largest home crowd of the season so far, and had Bret Michaels spitting Poison at half-time.
It is quite another thing to walk into the heart of Canadian Mafia territory and smack the five-time West Division Champions in the mouth, beating them 41-20 while leaving no doubt as to who the elite squad in the CFL is through the season’s first third.
Here’s what I saw from my Las Vegas hotel room when I streamed the game on a Frankfurt-based VPN.
Adams is efficient again:
Vernon Adams Jr. had another seemingly ho-hum yardage total that didn’t represent how dominant he looked against the Bombers.
Completing 16-of-24 passes for 267 yards, Adams had three touchdowns to go with an interception. One of the touchdowns was of a spectacular variety, as Adams was flushed from the pocket, scrambled towards the sideline and heaved the ball downfield only to have it corralled by a wide-open Damien Alford. More to come on him later.
Adams would find Alford again in the end zone on the next drive, providing the Stampeders with all the points they needed to win.
Adams would finally find his most familiar receiver, Dominique Rhymes, who caught his first touchdown as a Stampeder early in the fourth quarter on a play where the Bombers sent just one defender out wide to cover the two Stampeders receivers lined up outside.
This marks another week in which Adams has looked explosive and dangerous without forcing the play or trying to win the game single-handedly.
The Moose gets loose
Against Saskatchewan, Damien Alford showed how explosive he can be. This week, he showed what that six-foot-six frame is capable of — two catches on three targets, two touchdowns, 79 yards receiving.
Alford only trails Kenny Lawler for TD receptions after collecting numbers four and five against the Bombers. He sits third in catches over 30 yards and is one of two players with a per-catch average over 20 yards — teammate Clark Barnes is the other.
Alford was described as a no-brainer on draft night, and a problem (in a good way) by his head coach last week. The development of this rookie should mean more space for his teammates in the red zone, as teams may have to consider doubling Alford.
Chances become stats
For the first few weeks of the season, the Stampeders’ defence was getting close, but they couldn’t quite seal the deal.
Lots of pressure on quarterbacks, but few sacks. Led the league in knockdowns, but weren’t quite squeezing them for interceptions. All that has changed over these last few games.
With another three QB takedowns and four interceptions as part of six turnovers generated in this game, suddenly, this new-look defence looks like it’s played together for a long time.
Damon Webb grabbed a late interception from Bombers’ QB Chris Streveler, who replaced Zach Collaros after the Bombers’ starter was knocked from the game. Webb would trot his way into the endzone for the fourth Calgary defensive touchdown of the year.
Adrian Greene may not have scored a touchdown with his interception, but he did take one away from the Bombers receiver waiting for the pass to arrive in the endzone. Greene made an acrobatic dive to corral the ball, and with the Stampeders getting a field goal on the ensuing drive, provided a possible ten-point swing.
Jaydon Grant added insult to Collaros’ injury, intercepting the Bombers QB as he was being hit.
Getting in on the pick party was rookie Anthony Johnson Jr. in his first CFL game. Johnson would snuff out the Bombers’ momentum, as he grabbed the ball back after Nik Demski got behind coverage and ran 78 yards deep into Stampeders territory from the shadow of the Bombers’ goalline.
Punt-astic Vassett
In a game where an offence scores 34 points, it isn’t often that you need to acknowledge the punter’s performance. However, Mark Vassett did everything he needed to in this game.
The first punt from the Aussie rookie landed on the Winnipeg three-yard line and was only returned for three yards. His next offering spun away from the goal line before being collected by a returner, who only managed to get the ball to the one-yard line before being swallowed up. Vassett would boom another for 57 yards to inside the Winnipeg 20.
The lone kick of concern may have been a 35-yarder that was angled and bounced out at the Bombers’ 30-yard line, but that may also have been a strategic decision to take away any chance of a return touchdown sparking the Bombers back to life.
Either way, in limited opportunities this season, both Vassett and Week 1 starter Fraser Masin, who is currently injured, have done the job they were drafted to do.
Troubling trend
It’s hard to nitpick a game when the team wins by three touchdowns, but the Stampeders did have a few untimely penalties that caused points to be added to or removed from the scoreboard.
A facemask penalty on short yardage advanced the ball into field goal range, leading to a Winnipeg drive that started in Calgary territory. Another holding call turned a possible field goal attempt into a punt.
So far, the Stampeders are getting away with these minor infractions from a win-loss standpoint, but it should still be of note to a team that knows how razor-thin the margins can be.
Limited laundry service
I noticed a strange quirk that doesn’t really mean anything: coming into this game, the Stampeders had zero opponent penalties that resulted in a first down through the first five games of the season.
Winnipeg has the second-lowest total with four before kickoff, and Montreal led the league with 12.
If I am tracking this correctly, the first time the Stampeders got a first down by virtue of a penalty came with 11:26 to go in the game when a pass interference call negated an incompletion.
Earlier in the game, there were a pair of roughing the passer calls and an illegal contact penalty, but in the case of the two RTP calls, Adams had already secured the first down with complete passes. The illegal contact call was worth 10 yards on a second-and-17 play.
There was also a relatively dangerous hit from Willie Jefferson, who was penalized for spearing, but again, after yards were gained.
As I said earlier, an interesting quirk of the Stamps’ hot start is that opponents haven’t given them anything between the whistles.
A cut above
This win moves the Stampeders to 5-1 on the season, and their opponents so far should give the team and fans true hope about the potential of the 2025 squad.
The Stampeders have beaten Hamilton, Saskatchewan, Toronto, and Winnipeg twice.
Hamilton, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg have only lost one game combined to teams other than Calgary. The three teams are now a combined 12-1 against teams not wearing the Red and White.
Up next
The Stampeders have now played three of six games in this part of the schedule between bye weeks and are undefeated thus far, beating Winnipeg twice and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The back half of this portion of the calendar doesn’t get any easier with Montreal, Ottawa and Winnipeg for the third time in six games.
With Davis Alexander missing now for Montreal and Ottawa’s Dru Brown once again knocked out of a game injured, Calgary has a massive opportunity to capitalize and put more numbers in the win column before the second bye week of the year.
