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“It’s scary to see what we could possibly be with everyone buying into the system and continuing to work hard and put it all on the field.”

Davis should see lots of playing time at defensive end. He was likely to split time with Cordarro Law this season, but Law’s pre-season injury opened the door for Davis to play major minutes as a starter.

A Week 1 injury against the Ottawa Redblacks meant that instead of building on the seven sacks he picked up last season, Davis spent the better part of two months rehabbing an injured leg.

“It’s devastating. No matter who you are, it’s devastating,” Davis said. “Last thing on anybody’s mind at the beginning of the season is a setback, especially of that magnitude where it’s going to hold you out for at least one-third of the season.

“Watching my teammates go to battle, go to war week-in and week-out, it hurts. I want to be out there fighting right alongside them.”

With linebacker Deron Mayo’s return still questionable, Davis and fellow d-lineman Junior Turner could be the biggest names slotting back into the Stampeders defence this weekend against the Lions.

James Vaughters played well against the Toronto Argonauts in Week 7, though, and the Stampeders defence has been playing so dominantly that Davis knows he’ll have to be at his best if he’s going to reclaim a starting position permanently at defensive end.

“We’ll see how he plays,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “We’ve been playing well at our defensive end position, so Ja’Gared is ready, and I’ve always felt he’s a dynamic player, a guy who makes plays and plays his best in big games, so we’re hoping that happens.”

With so many players likely returning to the fold in the coming weeks, the Stampeders coaching staff will no doubt be facing some tough decisions regarding players who have performed well for the team.

Really, though, that’s the only downside to having the reinforcements on their way, and there’s every possibility that the league’s most dominant defence is going to get even better.

Of course, the Stampeders are also entering a pivotal stretch in their schedule during which they’ll face the Lions this week and the Edmonton Eskimos twice between now and Sept. 16 – with a matchup at McMahon Stadium against the Toronto Argonauts thrown in there on Aug. 26.

Any questions about the Stampeders defence are sure to be answered by the time this upcoming stretch is done.

“I’m not necessarily looking at (individual) players,” Dickenson said. “I feel like our production has increased. They are performing like I thought they would and have done so year-after-year.

“It took a while — it did — but now we’ve got to see it against a group that’s got some of the best players in the league, and we’ll see how they match up.”

daustin@postmedia.com