The Redblacks now have an 8-3-1 record overall and have yet to lose at home during this season: six wins and a tie.
Redblacks 41, Argonauts 27
On a day when a rainy weather forecast kept many fans away, Damon Webb had himself a day.
The 28-year-old defensive back intercepted two passes, scoring touchdowns on both of them. And the Ottawa Redblacks rolled over the Toronto Argonauts 41-27 after building a 31-3 halftime lead.
The Redblacks, who now have an 8-3-1 record, have yet to lose at home during this season with six wins and a tie.
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Argos quarterback Chad Kelly was hit, hurried, sacked six times … and intercepted four times. While he was clearly off for big chunks of the game, making some very bad decisions, he still completed 36 passes for 463 yards. Hard to imagine many fans feeling sorry for Kelly, the Canadian Football League’s Most Outstanding Player a year ago. He began this year serving a nine-game suspension for violating the league’s gender-based violence policy, then was re-instated on Aug. 18 on a “last-chance agreement.”
“We definitely have some stuff to clean up, but to start the way we did, then to finish it, I have nothing but positive things to say,” Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce said.
“We probably started a bit slow the past couple of weeks. When you get 14 points to start a game on defence, that’s impressive. They started us off with a big bang and everybody lifted their intensity to match and try and rise above it.”
Webb was the big playmaker; his two touchdowns on interceptions were huge for momentum.
“In his time here, he’s continued to get better,” Dyce said. “I consider him one of the elite DBs in this league. He works extremely hard and he’s got great confidence in his ability. It seems like, when we need a spark, he’s making the play.”
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Getting the opportunity to show what he can do in a starting role, Webb has excelled. On Saturday, he was rewarded.
“The first one, I knew they were running a screen,” Webb said. “The second one, the quarterback threw a bad pass, it got tipped it into the air and fell into my hands. My guys did a good job blocking for me downfield.
“I knew I was this type of player, I just needed a full season to show it. This is my first year starting the season as a starter. The arrow is still pointing up. More picks and more big plays to happen.”
The Redblacks went up 3:17 into the game, when Webb intercepted a pass intended for Argos receiver David Ungerer and took the football back 21 yards into the end-zone for a touchdown. The convert made it 7-0.
Less than a minute later, Kelly misfired again, throwing one right to Redblacks defensive back Brandin Dandridge, who returned that interception to Toronto’s 50-yard line. Lewis Ward booted a 37-yard field goal to make it 10-0.
Argos running back Ka’Deem Carey found a huge hole in the middle of Ottawa’s defence for a 32-yard run, and Toronto then made it 10-3 on a 37-yard field goal by Lirim Hajrullahu.
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A 20-yard Ward field goal with 15 seconds remaining in the first quarter restored Ottawa’s 10-point lead, at 13-3.
A 41-yard pass completion to Makai Polk pushed the Argos deep into Ottawa territory. But two plays later, with blitzing Redblacks in his face, Kelly forced a pass into coverage and Webb came up with his second interception of the game, returning that one 96 yards for another touchdown.
Rookie Andre Miller, in his second game with the Redblacks, caught a 50-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dru Brown, who completed 30 passes for 349 yards, and it was 27-3.
Punter Richie Leone booted a 53-yard single with 5:02 left in the first half, and Ward lifted a 51-yard field goal attempt just above the uprights to make it 31-3 with 1:19 to go.
Sacks by Bennett Williams and Davion Taylor in the final minute of the half took the Argos out of field-goal range.
The Argos got a touchdown with 9:56 left in the third quarter on a 15-yard completion to Tommy Nield.
Running back Khalan Laborn, making his CFL debut for Ottawa, took a handoff, cut back to his left and ran 33 yards into Toronto’s end-zone for a touchdown. The convert by Ward made it 38-10.
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After the Redblacks whiffed on a couple of good interception opportunities, the Argos advanced the ball inside Ottawa’s 10-yard line. But the Redblacks stopped the Argos on third and goal from the five and took over on downs.
A 35-yard field goal by Toronto made it 38-13 early in the fourth quarter.
After a couple of Redblacks defenders missed tackles, the Argos’ Damontie Coxie scored on a touchdown reception with 10:37 left. A two-point convert made it 38-21.
A 24-yard Ward field goal made it 41-21 with 7:15 left.
Redblacks receiver Dominiques Rhymes was about to run into the end-zone after a long reception, but he was stripped of the ball and Toronto got it back at its three-yard line with two minutes left.
A diving touchdown catch by Coxie with 50 seconds left — the two-point convert attempt was intercepted by Frankie Griffin — made it 41-27.
THE END AROUND: There was a steady rain into the second quarter. The rain stopped for a while, returned, then went away as the game was nearing an end … Attendance was announced as 17,834 … Big hit by Ottawa’s Silas Stewart with five minutes left in the first quarter to limit Toronto’s Janarion Grant to a one-yard punt return … Redblacks fullback Anthony Gosselin’s fifth catch of the season, late in the first half, was a nice one and went for 10 yards … An Ottawa CFL team hadn’t had two pick-sixes in a game going back to 1991 … The Redblacks came up about an inch short on a third-and-one gamble from their own 50 early in the fourth quarter … Game stats on the CFL website stopped updating late in the third quarter. The system still has bugs in it? Really? … The Redblacks stopped Toronto on a third-and-two run near midfield with six minutes left … And, there was another turnover on downs with 2:38 left when Kelly misfired again on third down … How about this for a third-down gamble? On their own three-yard line, needing 10 yards for a first down with less than two minutes left, the Argos went for it and got it … A lot of credit should go to Ottawa’s offensive line and the running backs for keeping Brown from getting sacked.
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