Riders vs. Stampeders: Clash in Cowtown

Saturday the Riders travel to Calgary looking to remain undefeated and looking to keep the Stamps winless. In 2025 the Riders accomplished pretty much everything… except a victory over the Stampeders. The Stamps will prove a very different kind of challenge, mainly in the fact that unlike BC they aren’t starting to woefully inexperienced corners and anything resembling a receiver is not hurt.

Stamps are a weird team. Coming into 2025 they did not strike anyone as one of the dominant forces. But they should have easily won the west based on how they started… they finished 3^rd.

One thing that is no joke about them is their D-line. In game 1 they only had Hicks, and he was disruptive. They are likely to add in one or both of Hutchinson and Orimolade to that. Suddenly that becomes a problem. They had issues stopping the run against Winnipeg. Their secondary is better than BC. In a year where 400 yard passing games are the norm, they are one of the few to hold a team under that mark. The best way to negate a dominant pass rush is to limit how much you pass. So unlike the air show that was last week, I expect a heavy dose of Ouelette (and probably Hudon as well). That’s where I would attack first. That said, when your receivers include Emilus, Baker and Keesean it’s not like you need to be afraid of passing. Getting the ball out quickly (aka the Harris special) is also an effective way to neutralize a strong D-line. I see lots of runs and short crossers in this. Get the ball out quick and let your playmakers get extra yards. 

Calgary has a great run game in Mills (last year’s leading rusher). But in a league where 400 passing games are the norm, they have failed to even eclipse 300 yards. In fact, VA completed just 63% of his passes and was sacked 4 times (11% of all his drop backs). The book on VA is not a secret. When he’s on he looks like an unbeatable force. When he’s off, it makes people think maybe Chris Jones was right for relegating him behind Brandon Bridge on our depth chart (Jones was of course not right but the point remains). So the key is obviously get VA off his game. We don’t have a one-man game wrecker like Ceresna (who notched 3 of the 4 sacks on VA) so it will take a team effort from the front 4 to make his life miserable. They should get pressure against that Calgary OL. Begelton is still out and it does not look like Barnes is ready yet so Calgary essentially has one good receiver in Philpot. Given that we are replacing our best defender with a rookie HB that’s welcome news for us. Stop the run and get pressure on VA and I don’t like the odds of Tevin Jones shredding us for big yards. Just limit the big plays.  If you force VA to make long drawn out drives, the odds of bad-VA making an appearance go up.

After what seemed like a lifetime of Hus never missing a game or snap we are now on our 2^nd long snapper in as many games. He’s another vet so it should be ok. 

Normally a road game missing 2 defensive starters does not scream “likely win” to me. But Calgary does not have a great passing attack so if we can keep Hicks and Hutchinson from killing Harris on O and limit Mills on D then I think we can grind out an ugly road win in Alberta. Expect a slow start but a strong finish. 

Riders by a Tommy time TD.