5 Takeaways from Calgary Stampeders loss to visiting Ottawa Redblacks
So much for the Calgary Stampeders' celebrated start to the 2025 Canadian Football League season.
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The weather and the Ottawa Redblacks rained on that parade Saturday at McMahon Stadium, keeping the team intent on turning around its failures of the past few years from revelling in a 3-0 beginning to the campaign.
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Such a strong mark would've been welcome — and it wasn't far from happening — but the Stampeders just couldn't find their way to another win in the face of the elements and the Redblacks.
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'I'm not sure we outplayed them,' said Stampeders GM/head coach Dave Dickenson, following the 20-12 CFL contest played amid monsoon-like conditions. 'It's not one of those games where you look at it and say, 'We coulda, shoulda …' continued Dickenson. 'It was a really hard-fought game.
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'Both teams played hard — and they got us.'
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It was only by one score, with QB Vernon Adams Jr. unable to drive the home side to enough points in the contest. A fourth-quarter interception and a stalled scoring drive even later kept them from a comeback that seemed possible but somehow still out of the Stamps' hands.
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Indeed, it was the way it went in a tight game decided by a play or two which dropped the Stampeders to 2-1 and lifted the Redblacks to 1-2 in the standings.
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'They just always had the lead,' Dickenson said. 'It was only by a point here and or three there.
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'But we just couldn't find that momentum play to give us the lead and make us feel good about things. It just didn't feel like our game. Certainly I think we could've won, but there's some plays we should've made.'
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The Redblacks haven't exactly been a juggernaut the past few CFL campaigns. But that hasn't keep them from coming into McMahon and stealing away with victories three years running.
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At 0-2 ahead of Saturday's battle, the Redblacks seemed destined to drop a third-straight game to start the season, especially with the Stampeders enjoying a renaissance with two opening tallies in the win column.
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