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Features July 8, 2025

Stamps New Defence Proving Doubters Wrong

The Stampeders defence was arguably the No.-1 question mark heading into this season.

The club promoted Bob Slowik to defensive coordinator, moved on from some veteran defensive linemen in Julian Howsare, Mike Rose and James Vaughters, traded weakside linebacker Cameron Judge to bring back edge rusher Folarin Orimolade, and made a splash in free agency by adding defensive backs Damon Webb and Adrian Greene, and SAM linebacker Derrick Moncrief to the arsenal.

With 12 new starters on defence, it was easy for some to doubt the group would gel the way they needed to from the first whistle.

But it didn’t take long for the new guys to prove the doubters wrong.

Through the first five weeks of the season, the Red and White lead the league in pick-sixes with three – all of them coming from winter additions Greene, Moncrief, and Webb.

Saskatchewan sits behind Calgary with two, while Montreal and Hamilton have each recorded one.

“We heard all those things, and we just wanted to come out here and prove the league wrong,” said Webb. “We’ve been keeping our heads low, going to work every day, and the results are showing right now.”

Moncrief’s and Webb’s scores came in last week’s Stampede Bowl to help deliver the Winnipeg Blue Bombers their first loss of the year. The last time the Stamps had two interception-return touchdowns in the same game was July 17, 2009 when Dwight Anderson and Brandon Browner achieved the feat.

The impressive performances from this year’s duo earned them top marks for their respective positions in the Week 5 Pro Football Focus Honour Roll, with Moncrief earning a grade of 85.5 and Webb a grade of 86.4.

Earlier in the week, GM and head coach Dave Dickenson lauded the pair for their veteran leadership amongst the re-vamped defence with Webb “steering the backend” and Moncrief leading the linebackers.

For Webb, his goal is to guide the younger members of the secondary through leading by example.

“Me and Crief, we’ve been there before,” said the 29-year-old. “We know what (defensive backs) Coach (Barron) Miles expects from us, and we have a standard in the room. We just try to uphold that standard.

“But it’s one thing to tell them what to do, we go out there and show them.”

In addition to shutting down Winnipeg’s aerial attack, the Stamps D also locked down the run game, only giving up 92 yards on the ground and limiting reigning MOP Brady Oliveira to just 61 yards in his return to action.

Stopping the run has been a point of emphasis all year for Slowik’s new unit. Aside from the monsoon game against the Redblacks in Week 3, Calgary’s defence hasn’t given up more than 100 rushing yards in a tilt, restricting the Argos to 67 and the Ticats to 47.

With their efficiency at forcing teams to throw on long downs, they’ve kept their opponents out of the endzone. This new-look Calgary defence has not allowed a touchdown until the fourth quarter in all four of their games this season.

“That’s been the formula,” Webb explained. “As a defence, our mentality is to stop the run first, get them in second-and-long so we can let our d-line do what they do, get pressure on the quarterback, and we (the secondary) can go back there and make plays.

“That’s the emphasis – stop the run first.”

Their biggest test will be slowing down Riders bruising tailback A.J. Ouellette this week, who sits above Dedrick Mills for most rushing yards in the league with 347. The Riders running back room also leads the league in yards per game, averaging 138.5.

“Another big opponent so it’s another big opportunity for us to go out there and show what we can do,” he said. “We’re ready for the challenge and ready to stop these guys, we’re working every day.”

It’s a return to Regina for Webb, who’s CFL career began with the Green and White in 2021. With the 4-0 Riders coming off a bye week, and the 3-1 Stamps looking to hand out back-to-back first losses of the season to two western division rivals, Webb knows all too well that the crowd will be bumping and is prepared for a rowdy night in Riderville.

“These are the games I live for,” he said with a grin. “I love playing in front of big crowds, those have been my biggest games so I’m ready for that.”

Although he needs no extra motivation, Webb, also known to his teammates as ‘Spider-Man’ (for obvious reasons), shared to his Instagram story that he received a facetime from ‘Deadpool’ this morning.

“That’s my son, he called me” he smiled. “He’s got so many costumes at the crib; his thing is he calls me every day with one of his costumes on.

“He told me to get to work today and that he loves me, and that just made my morning.”

Webb will be following that advice from his fellow Marvel superhero as he and the defence look to build off their strong efforts so far this season with a heavyweight matchup in Regina on Friday night. Kickoff between the Stampeders and Roughriders goes at 7 p.m. MT.