5 Takeaways from Calgary Stampeders' smoke-delayed knock-down of host Saskatchewan Roughriders

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How’s this for a shocker? The ‘top-spot Calgary Stampeders’.

It wasn’t what many fans — if any — expected to see from a team in transition coming into the 2025 Canadian Football League campaign.

Yet after Saturday’s smoke-delayed — and dominant — victory over the host Saskatchewan Roughriders, there are the Stampeders on top of the CFL standings with a surprising 4-1 record.

It’s the second straight week the Stamps have knocked off an unbeaten team on the schedule — this one in 24-10 fashion at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium.

“We came up with the win,” an excited Stampeders rookie receiver Damien Alford, one of the stars of the triumph in Saskatchewan, told QR Calgary post-game.

“We’ve put ourselves in the mindset that no matter who was in front of us, we just have to go out there and play our type of football — and that’s exactly what we did.”

Indeed, a week after dispatching of the undefeated Winnipeg Blue Bombers on the home turf of McMahon Stadium, the Stamps travelled to Regina to play the 4-0 Roughriders as the heavy underdog again.

When they arrived Friday, however, they were met not only by long odds but a smoke delay that created a health hazard and persisted throughout the evening, postponing the game overnight.

But that didn’t distract the Red and White from going out and continuing to prove they have quickly meshed into a strong CFL side — solid enough to get the mighty road win and climb into first place, with a 4-1 record, in not only the West Division but the entire league.

“We’re happy,” added Alford. “But we know we’re still early in the season and we’ve still got more to do.”

Here are five takeaways from a funky — but triumphant — 48 hours in Regina …

1) PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE

This came in two forms in Regina.

First of all, the Stampeders had to wait out the start of the game — which was originally delayed from its 7 p.m. kickoff Friday night due to air quality concerns from smoky conditions delivered by area wildfires.

The CFL protocol was in place all evening, putting the tilt in indefinite postponement until it was finally — and mercifully — rescheduled at 10:45 p.m. for Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Stamps stayed in good spirits throughout the delay, and the club scrambled — successfully — to find accommodations for the players and staff in the face of Saskatchewan’s annual high-profile Country Thunder music fest in nearby Craven, ensuring they could stay overnight to be ready for the revised kickoff time.

“It was a little frustrating, obviously,” admitted Alford to QR Calgary. “Nobody really wants to sit down in a locker room, being delayed for that long. We knew we weren’t going to play (Friday), so we tried to stay in the same mindset that we had (Friday night) coming into the game, and you could tell the guys were hungry to get back on the field.

“Just coming out (and winning) with the adversity we dealt with, it goes to show what type of team we are.”

Once the game kicked off, the Stamps’ offensive charges had to shake off turnovers committed on their first two possessions.

They used patience to do just that and righted themselves to put together a dominant first half — to post a 17-3 intermission advantage — in pacing them to victory.

2) V.A.’S BIG DAY

The man at the centre of that first-half success was Stamps quarterback Vernon Adams Jr.

The QB — and early CFL Most Outstanding Player candidate — shook off a first-play interception thrown to fire back for nearly 300 yards in the half and two touchdowns.

First was a 21-yard yard strike — a beauty — to Alford, who went high on the sideline in the end zone to pull it down in the first quarter. Then, late in the second, Adams connected with second-year receiver Erik Brooks — a 14-yard bullet — for the 100th TD pass of his professional career.

Sure, Adams tossed a pair of INTs, but his stat-line was darn fine — 28-of-36 for 428 yards and three touchdowns — in what was arguably his best game in his five with the Stamps. It was his sixth 400-yard passing performance in his 10-year CFL career.

“We just came out ready to go,” added Adams, who’s always got the Stamps thinking positive. “We knew what was on the line.”

3) ALFORD’S BREAK-OUT

The rookie receiver proved Saturday why he was the Stamps’ choice as the first-overall draft-pick in the 2025 CFL Draft two months ago.

The tall, speedy hands-man had the game of his short pro career, catching six passes for 156 yards and two TDs, including a timely third-quarter toss from Adams that saw the receiver take it to the house.

The play, which was the longest passing TD of Adams’ career, covered 81 yards and saw Alford get wide open behind the defence, snag the rainbow throw at the Riders’ 44-yard line, turn around and race to the end zone.

“I just ran, and V.A. trusted me on that route,” Alford told QR Calgary. “I seen the ball in the air and caught it, and I just let my strides take over, and I showed them my 4.4(-second) speed that they were talking about.”

Only Riders receiver Joe Robustelli had more yards — with 191 — on the afternoon, but he had three more catches than Alford and was targeted relentlessly by veteran QB Trevor Harris.

The connection of the day was truly Adams to Alford.

“I trust him wholeheartedly,” Adams told reporters of Alford. “He’s made so many plays in training camp. And I went out to Montreal and threw with him before training camp, and he showed me what he could do there.”

“Week by week, as my confidence grows, he’s trusting me more,” added Alford. “And you can tell he’s throwing it in places where he knows I can get it and only me.

“I’m happy to have a quarterback like him to let me play my type of football.”

4) STOPPING THE RUN

Rider Nation came into the contest chirping about its running game, specifically about downhill back A.J. Ouellette.

But the Stamps’ defence stopped him cold, limiting him to just nine yards on six carries. And former Red and White star Ka’Deem Carey had only one carry for three yards.

In fact, the Riders ran for just 16 yards, getting turned into a one-dimensional offence that was able to march at times but was forever turned back when it mattered by the Red and White defence.

Perhaps the biggest stop came after Adams threw the first-pass interception, as the ‘D’ stepped up to force a field-goal despite the Riders offence looking at a short field and early momentum.

Then the Stamps forced four consecutive punts before jumping on a pair of Riders fumbles — one recovered by Derrick Moncrief and the other by Justin Sambu on a Clarence Hicks sack of Harris — ahead of halftime.

5) COMPLEMENTARY FOOTBALL

It was another case of the offence and the defence both contributing to the victory, something the Stampeders have been able to hang their hats on in earning the successful start to the season.

It wasn’t just the pass game going offensively for the Stamps. The run game figured big again, with Dedrick Mills hauling in 14 balls for 85 yards for a 6.1 average. Even with the first-quarter fumble, the Stamps’ workhorse far out-played Ouellette to push past the Riders’ runner — with 396 yards — into top spot in the CFL

On defence, Hicks had two QB takedowns in the win to earn a game ball, while fellow defensive lineman Jaylon Hutchings had one and cornerback Tyler Richardson posted 14 defensive tackles.

The result marked the 11th time in 12 games the Stamps have gone into Regina and come away triumphant.

“We got whooped, and that’s just what it is,” Riders head coach Corey Mace told reporters post-game. “I know what everybody thinks, but that’s a good football team.”

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

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