High five: how the Calgary Stampeders ground down the Blue Bombers

Photo: Samantha Keen/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Calgary Stampeders went into Winnipeg in desperate need of a win.

The hosts of this year’s Grey Cup were two games below .500, sitting in fourth place in the West Division standings, and out of the current playoff picture.

After a 52-30 win over the Blue Bombers, the Stamps are still in fourth place, but sit just one game out of second and would technically occupy the crossover spot, pending the rest of this weekend’s action.

The game featured Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr breaking a CFL record with the most touchdown passes to start a season without an interception, and Tyreik McAllister becoming the first CFL player in history to score three first-half touchdowns in three different ways.

McAllister scored a rushing touchdown on the first series, a receiving touchdown on an absolute jailbreak behind coverage, and took a wide-left field goal attempt from Winnipeg kicker Sergio Castillo from coast-to-coast to achieve the feat.

Here are the five plays that I identified as the keys to victory for the Stamps.

Mills runs out of his shoes — 11:30 left in Q2

The Stampeders had taken an early lead in Winnipeg with a touchdown on their first series, but followed that up with three consecutive punts.

After Winnipeg scored to bring the Bombers within one, Vernon Adams led the Stampeders onto the field needing a response. Calgary was moving the ball methodically down the field and on first down handed the ball to Dedrick Mills, who slammed into the pile for a three-yard gain.

So, why was this the play I chose?

In the ensuing tackle, Mills’ shoe came off, necessitating him heading to the sideline and being replaced by McAllister.

While I can’t be sure the play call changed when McAllister came into the game, I do know that none of the Bombers thought they needed to cover him as he went straight down the middle of the field.

Vernon Adams saw the wide-open speedster and hit him in stride to get his first of three passing touchdowns and his 18th on the season, which set a record he previously shared with Ricky Ray and Darian Durant, who both threw 17 in a row in 2013.

McAllister completes the hat-trick — 8:47 left in Q2

The Calgary Stampeders went into the offseason looking for more from their return game, and they have struck gold in Tyreik McAllister.

Having already scored twice offensively in the game, McAllister went into the end zone to await a 58-yard offering from Bombers’ kicker Sergio Castillo.

Castillo has been unusually unreliable from long distances this season, hitting only 7-of-12 coming into the game from beyond 40 yards. This kick went wildly left before McAllister scooped it up eight yards deep in the Stampeders’ end zone.

A hop, skip, and a devastating cut later, and McAllister was on his way to the end zone for his second missed field goal return touchdown of the season.

It was also just the second missed field goal return of the season for the Stamps returner, making McAllister two-for-two on the year. After last night’s game, he now has three return TDs on the season, while the rest of the league combined has four.

Combining all the returns, receptions and rushing yards, McAllister gathered up 318 yards combined. With Ottawa’s Kalil Pimpleton on a bye week, that will move McAllister to the top spot in the league for total combined yardage.

Philpot fights them off — 14:40 left in Q3

Winnipeg snatched away some of Calgary’s first-half momentum with back-to-back scoring drives in the second quarter, reducing Calgary’s lead to eight points at the hydration break, err, half-time.

That momentum lasted all of one play into the second half, as Adams would find Jalen Philpot open down the field.

While the pass was a good one, what Philpot did with it after the catch will be on highlight reels for the rest of the season. He bounced off Winnipeg DB Deatrick Nichols, juked past Jonathan Moxey, shook off Evan Holm, and outran Major Williams for a 69-yard score.

Philpot made four catches on his five targets for 128 yards in the game, a new career high and only the second 100-yard receiving game of his career.

Labrosse gets his own hat trick — 11:40 left in Q4

Ben Labrosse has been in and out of the Stampeders’ lineup since joining the club as a first-round draft pick in 2024.

Now in his third season, he had what could be a career-making game with three interceptions against Bombers QB Dru Brown.

In the first quarter, he caught his first in the end zone, stopping a Winnipeg drive. The Stampeders couldn’t capitalize.

The second had the makings of a disaster, and may yet still show up in our Worst Plays of the Week weekend wrap-up. Labrosse caught the ball and, in the process of being tackled, attempted to lateral it to Marquel Lee, but the pitch was intercepted by Winnipeg receiver Ontaria Wilson.

Shortly thereafter, Brady Oliveira would rumble in 45 yards for the score and keep hope alive for a Bombers team coming off an incredible comeback just one week earlier.

When the next series found the ball back in Labrosse’s hands for his third interception of the night, he would make no mistake, bringing it to the Bombers’ 15-yard line before wrapping both arms around the ball as he was tackled.

The Stamps could take advantage of this one, adding a field goal to make it 42-30 at the time.

Mills breaks through — 1:27 left in Q4

While his touchdown was just icing on the cake to take the Stampeders over the 50-point mark, Dedrick Mills’ touchdown represents more than that in the overview of who the Calgary Stampeders are in 2026.

The team is currently scoring an average of 39.7 points per game, which paces out to a total of 714, which would be a league record. The 1994 Stampeders currently hold the record with 698 points, so it won’t be an easy record to break.

Given that Calgary has four losses on the season, all by seven or less, Mills’ TD run from 36 yards out represented a boot-on-the-throat mentality that Calgary may need to have offensively if they want to be successful.

That’s because they have also surrendered a league-worst 244 points, a pace that has them surrendering more than 600 points on the season, which would be more than any team in 2026.

The question here is not if the offence can hang; it is if the points allowed are the victim of a rough schedule to start the season or fatal defensive flaws.

Montreal twice, defending champion Saskatchewan, Winnipeg twice, and Toronto have made up six of Calgary’s seven opponents. All but Winnipeg are averaging in the low 30s in points per game.

Up next

The Stamps are headed back East to face Hamilton and Toronto. With only five days between games, they will be staying in Ontario for the duration.