Sports Take

Vernon Adams Jr. is as advertised through the first 2 weeks of the CFL season, although no throwing touchdowns as of yet, not a huge surprise as he’s still getting comfortable with the receivers he has, the chemistry is starting to form. Averaging 11 yards per completion, for 585 yards and 67.9% completion rate. Not to mention what he’s done on the ground picking up a touchdown against the Argo’s, he’s also racked up 87 yards total in the two games played.

Jalen Philpot has gotten the most targets so far with 13, picking up 8 catches for 138 yards, most of that coming in a week two win over the defending Grey Cup Champion Toronto Argonauts, picking up 117 yards, his first 100 yard game of his career. Philpot was the Stampeders first round pick in 2022, the University of Calgary Alumnus is looking to breakout this season and compete with his twin brother in possibly becoming a Most Outstanding Canadian award contender, the potential is there in spades.

The run game for the Stampeders returned in a statement in week one with 158 yards on the ground with Dedrick Mills picking up 94 of those yards against Hamilton, but only able to pick up 28 yards against the Argo’s. It’s clear that the calling card of the Stampeders during the 2 decade run of dominance was the ground game and it’s something they’re looking to get back as Mills leads the league in carries with 30.

Adrian Greene was something else against Toronto, getting a pick 6 after baiting Nick Arbuckle into throwing to the wide side and coming right under and he was gone, then being around the ball as it was tipped up into the air, right place right time and another pick in the game.

Through the first two weeks the Stampeders sit second in Points per Game at 33.5, third in points against at 22.5, but the most telling stat that has flipped from last season is opposing yards per play sitting at 5.88. That is good for second in the CFL. That’s due to the run defense forcing teams to throw the ball on second down, however the secondary is still a work in progress as they still in the middle of the pack allowing 306.5 yards per game through the air. That being said they look to be going back to the bend but don’t break philosophy, which is why the Stampeders have a opposition touchdown drive percentage of 7.1%. Giving up just 2 touchdowns by opposing offenses.

So far so good in this iteration of the Stampeders, getting a couple wins with a distinct possibility of going 3-0 against a struggling Ottawa team who has allowed the most points through their first games, the dynamic will be intriguing to watch on Saturday afternoon with a kickoff at 2pm Mountain time on TSN, RDS2, CBSSN(in the USA) and CFL+(every where else).

Let me know who you think will win between Ottawa and Calgary on Saturday.