The Calgary Stampeders have put the entire CFL on notice.

With their 3rd straight victory, they now sit atop the Western Division.

One-third of the way through the 18-game season, it’s still too early to tell if the Stampeders have what it takes to go all the way. But, there’s no denying that they’re for real.

Regardless of where they finish the season, the Stampeders are no longer the punching bag they were last year. They have the talent to give any team problems. A big part of that is their defense.

Calgary Stampeders vs Winnipeg Blue Bombers

The final score of their dominant 41-20 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers doesn’t tell the whole story.

The Calgary Stampeders‘ defense played another great game, but not necessarily in the most common way. They once again gave up 400+ yards, but that didn’t matter.

Their two wins over Winnipeg tell very similar stories.

In the first matchup, Winnipeg gained 408 yards of total offense, but only scored 16.

In the second matchup, Winnipeg gained 407 yards, but only scored 20.

How do the Stampeders manage to play great defense while still allowing 400+ yards?

Finishing Drives

While Calgary did allow quite a few yards, they found a way to finish drives. And, at the end of the day, the only stat that really matters is points allowed.

Here are seven drives that started poorly but ended well for the Calgary team.

• 1st drive of the game: A 2nd down sack forced Winnipeg to kick a field goal.
• 2nd drive of the game: After a penalty gave Winnipeg the ball near midfield, a 2 and out forced a field goal.
• 3rd drive: after a 75-yard bomb flipped field position, Anthony Johnson Jr. came up with a redzone INT.
• Last drive of half: Winnipeg drove from he half-yard line to midfield before a 2nd down sack forced them to punt.
• 1st drive of the 3rd: The Bombers drove down to the 7 before Webb came up with a goal-line INT.
• 4th quarter: The Stamps’ defense came up with a stop on downs after allowing the Bombers to reach the 31.
• Last drive of the game: A mixture of prevent defense and backups allowed a rare touchdown.

If you haven’t been following the Calgary Stampeders this season, it would be tempting to think the defense is just lucky. But that would be a mistake. Their current results were entirely by design.

Defensive Blueprint

The Calgary Stampeders play a lot of zone defense. They love to drop in coverage, then rally up to make good tackles when the offense goes short.

But, they also like to do things like this:

This pick-six wasn’t lucky; it was the result of aggressive play.

It’s also a perfect example of the Stamps’ defensive blueprint.

They play a largely “bend but don’t break” style of defense, with a mix of aggressiveness.

The beauty of “bend but don’t break” is that it forces teams to put together long drives. And, those long drives give them more opportunities to make mistakes.

The beauty of playing a more aggressive style of defense is that it’s more likely to generate big plays (with the added risk of giving up more big plays).

A combination of both is hard to pull off, but beautiful when it works.

And it definitely worked for Calgary this week.

They had 6 takeaways against Winnipeg (4 ints and 2 downs)

That brings their total up to 22 on the season:

• 12 downs
• 8 ints (4 pick-6s)
• 2 fumbles

Obviously, they won’t get six takeaways every game. But, with the offense improving every week, they don’t need to.

All they have to do is keep sticking to their game plan.