Go ahead, Calgary Stampeders …
You can breathe now.
A Saturday victory over the host Hamilton Tiger-Cats lets them exhale for a few key reasons.
They’ve stopped the nose bleed of a four-game losing skid …
And more importantly, they’ve moved a nose closer to clinching a spot in the Canadian Football League playoffs, shooting to put to rest what was shaping up to be an ugly face-plant after starting the season with smiles all around.
“It was a big win, man,” Stampeders running back Dedrick Mills told TSN’s Jermaine Franklin. “It was a must-have. I feel like the rest of the games was a must-have. I mean … we need these games to get to the playoffs and go on a run. You know … just take off and get to the championship and have fun.”
All the Stamps — now 9-7 — need to grab that playoff position in hopes of post-season fun is an Edmonton Elks loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers later Saturday.
Meanwhile, the decision keeps the Tiger-Cats — now 10-6 — from clinching top spot in the CFL’s East Division.
Here are 5 takeaways from the Stampeders triumph Saturday afternoon at Tim Hortons Field …
Related
Calgary Stampeders’ Vernon Adams Jr. (3) scrambles during CFL football game action against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Hamilton, Ont. on Saturday, October 11, 2025.
1) PRESSURE’S OFF … FOR NOW
The free-fall the Stampeders experienced from the Labour Day win through Saturday’s victory had to have shaken the players and coaches.
You just don’t fall four straight games without feeling it, even if you’re a together team, as the Stamps have oft-said they are and proved early in the season.
But this result to push them onto the cusp of a playoff berth allows them to breathe a little easier and build towards rediscovering that top form that made them early-season Grey Cup contenders.
“Four weeks did feel like forever,” Stamps QB Vernon Adams told TSN. “As a starter, I’ve never lost four in a row. So I was down … you know.
“So this just feels good. I’m not gonna get overly hyped or nothing.”
They are just three weeks away from the CFL playoffs. So the final two games of the regular season — including next Saturday’s against the visiting Toronto Argonauts (5 p.m., TSN, CHQR 770 AM/107.3 FM the Edge) — give the Stamps an opportunity to push forward in better shape than what they were the previous four weeks.
The victory also keeps them in position to retrieve second spot in the West Division, where they once loomed large before the BC Lions (9-7) took it from them not long ago. Finishing second to the Saskatchewan Roughriders (12-4) in the division would give them home-field advantage for the West semifinal.
2) GETTING OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
When the Stamps were rolling early season, René Paredes wasn’t called on often.
But the veteran kicker has stayed ready and was the difference on the scoreboard for the much of Saturday’s contest.
Paredes had a 5-of-6 day in the field-goal department, hitting four early to help set the Stamps up for victory. The 40-yard old hit from 42, 32 and 29 yards out in the first quarter and followed with a 13-yarder in the second in leading them to a 20-6 halftime lead and giving them a shot of needed confidence.
Paredes also nailed a pivotal 37-yarder in the fourth quarter to give his side insurance points in staving off the Ticats comeback bid.
“We want more touchdowns in the green zone down there, but René was automatic,” Adams said. “He did his thing, but we just got to help the team out a little more — get a few more touchdowns.”
The kicker’s only miss came from 54 yards away, hardly one at which to point a finger.
Calgary Stampeders’ Ludovick Choquette (28) on his way to a touchdown run during first half CFL football game action against the Hamilton Tiger Cats in Hamilton, Ont., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025.
3) RUN, ROOKIE, RUN
Rookie running back Ludovick Choquette had himself his best game of a young career, stepping up with workhorse Dedrick Mills limited in gameplay by a shoulder injury.
In particular, Choquette was solid in the first half with 72 yards on five carries, including the big one — a 44-yard charge through the line and bounce off defenders for a key touchdown. The rush by the Stamps’ sixth-round pick in the 2025 CFL Draft finally converted six points for the visitors after they’d settled for five field-goal attempts by Paredes — four of which were made — in helping put them up by 14 at halftime.
“Honestly, we go through the week and we prepare for this stuff,” Choquette told TSN’s Jermaine Franklin at halftime. “It takes all the team’s effort. We executed, and we just put it home.
“I think the run game equals toughness. So if we’re able to keep running the ball the whole game, we’ll be able to put points on the board.”
They did so, with help from Mills, who proved to be healthy enough to rush for the last 11 yards of a third-quarter TD drive to make it 27-13, shoved his way in for a fourth-quarter four-yard TD and finished with 105 yards on 17 carries despite his shoulder issue.
“That’s just been plan all season, man,” Mills told TSN. “The identity of our offence is the run game. We just got to stick to it and keep running the ball and keep pressing down the field. I believe my offensive line and I trust in my team to give me the holes and give me the blocks to get down the field and just make plays.”
“Mills and our offensive line, they’ve been running all hard all year,” added Adams. “Even our rookie, Ludo, came out and showed some good things for us, so that was huge, and it kind of opens the path a little bit. So if we can keep running like that man and stay healthy, I think we’ll be OK.”
4) ADAMS FINDS CONFIDENCE
Adams himself was more than OK on the day. In fact, he was better than Ticats counterpart and Stamps legend Bo Levi Mitchell.
Talk of the Ticats QB earning the CFL’s Most Valuable Player award has been ever big these days.
Once upon a time this season, Adams was in that conversation, too.
Sure, Bo Levi got his yards — 306 — and TDs — two — on Saturday, but Adams was every bit as solid. In fact, he was more effective, coming out early to use his feet for a few first downs to loosen up the Ticats defence and leading the team from there.
It was the kind of start the team needed — and the Stamps built on it, scoring on five of their seven drives for the 20-6 halftime edge. Mark Vassett punted just once in the half, and the other miss came on that wide-right Paredes long-bomb field-goal attempt.
In the second half, Adams continued showing he was comfy throwing the ball — something that was lost during the skid. And his late-game bomb over the top to receiver Erik Brooks for 69 yards kept his nickname ‘Big-play V.A.’ in play and has to have given him confidence he’d admitted to losing over the last month.
Adams went 15-of-23 for 257 yards and — most importantly — kept it clean with no turnovers.
5) GREENE MACHINE
Defensive back Adrian Greene appears to be healthy and on point again, and that spells good news for the Stampeders defence.
His early interception — the fifth for him on the campaign — announced he’s back playing at the level he was at before a leg injury sidelined him earlier this season. It was a beauty, as Greene outsmarted Bo Levi on an out-route pass thrown and stepped in front of the intended receiver to pilfer the pigskin.
A healthy Greene is big given the position he plays. The field-side cornerback is often on an island left to his own devices out there. But Greene appears to have the devices to play that spot with the kind of confidence that helps free up the rest of the defence to attack the quarterback, which it did often Saturday with two sacks from each of Charles Wiley and Clarence Hicks.
Derrick Moncrief also had an INT for the Stamps defence.
“Our defence played outstanding,” praised Adams.
“We wanted to get a win … man. All glory to God through the ups and downs through these last four weeks. Today … man … it was amazing. That’s a great feeling. It feels good to just get back in the ‘W’ column.”
tsaelhof@postmedia.com