The Toronto Argonauts offence was firing on all cylinders Saturday, the late game execution and special teams, not so much.

Argo’s 38-31 win over the Ottawa Redblacks in front of a season-high 20,487 fans at BMO field secured them home-field advantage when the two teams meet again to kick off the CFL playoffs.

This is meaningful, as the Argonauts are 7-2 at home against the Redblacks since moving to their new home at Exhibition Place in 2016.  

Quarterback Chad Kelly played arguably his most complete game since his week 12 return, completing 21-of-26 passes for 331 yards and four total touchdowns, including his score on the ground. 

“I definitely felt comfortable,” said Kelly in the locker room. “I think that we’re hitting on all cylinders; offensive-line, running backs, wide receivers. 

“Guys were really focused coming in, and it showed.” 

On the Argo’s first drive of the game, Kelly lofted a perfectly placed deep ball to Makai Polk for a 52-yard gain, and two plays later completed a 31-yard throw, finding Damonte Coxie streaking to the sideline at Ottawa’s one-yard line.

Kelly was then stuffed on back-to-back rushing attempts, before Ka’Deem Carey muscled the ball in from one-yard out on third down.  

Getting the ball into the end zone and avoiding a turnover on downs undoubtably eased the pressure for the Argos, who have struggled in the red zone this season. They came into the game ranked sixth in the league with a red zone conversion percentage of 56.3.  

Kelly continued to be on-target, completing five-of-five passes on the Argos’ second drive, including a dart to Coxie on second-and-nine for a key first down. This time the signal-caller successfully punched the ball into the end zone himself for his fifth rushing touchdown of the season and a 14-0 Argos’ lead.  

The score was the Argos’ league-leading 26th of the season via the run. Toronto also ranks first in the CFL in rushing yards per game, largely thanks to Carey’s performance as the lead back. The five-foot-nine ball-carrier is third in rushing yards (1060) and fourth in rushing touchdowns (7). 

Kelly is complimented by a bevy of offensive weapons, including emerging number one receiver Polk, last year’s team leader in receiving DaVaris Daniels, and a stalwart wide-out in Coxie.

Polk, a product of Mississippi State, leads the team in receiving yards (902) and touchdowns (5) this season, while Coxie is second in both categories after finishing last season directly behind Daniels in both as well.  

The early onslaught continued, as Kelly started the game 12-for-12, passing for touchdowns on the Argos’ next two drives. First, he connected with Dejon Brissett for a 29-yard touchdown on the first play of the drive after Toronto recovered an Ottawa fumble.

Next the QB threw a perfectly timed pass over the middle to Polk, who had a clear path to endzone from the Ottawa 23, making the score 28-0 at 10:10 of the second quarter.  

“I think he plays big, he does his job well, he works every day,” said Kelly of Polk. “We’re just on the same page right now, we’re seeing the field together the same way.”  

The Argos went on to extend their lead to 38-6 with a field goal and Brissett’s second touchdown of the game on a quick goal line slant. Then, a game that appeared to be out of reach for the Redblacks took an interesting turn and ended up coming down to the very last play.  

With a 32-point lead, the Argos played prevent defence and allowed too much space and time for Ottawa to make plays. 

Redblack’s Bralon Addison scored his second touchdown of the game on a 32-yard catch and run at 12:39 of the fourth quarter, making the score 38-12 after a missed two-point conversion.

Ottawa proceeded to recover consecutive onside kicks, score two touchdowns, convert two-point attempts on both, and a kick a field goal – all within 1:29 to close the gap to 38-31.  

Argos’ star linebacker Wynton McManis – who forced and recovered the second-quarter fumble – addressed the near-comeback post-game. 

“We never want to let our foot off of the gas,” said McManis. “The way that this team is built, we know that’s not us. We know we’re a lot better than that … this will never happen again. It won’t.”  

In the end, the Argos held on, thwarting Ottawa’s desperate attempt to score on the final play by tackling Redblacks’ offensive-lineman Dariusz Bladek after a series of laterals.  

This was the Argonauts third straight win, after defeating the respective division leaders in their last two games — their longest such streak this season.

At this time last year, the 2023 Argos were also riding a three-game winning streak going into their final game of the regular season, but it was their shortest of their campaign.

They ripped off consecutive six-game streaks between week nine and week 17 losses on their way to a 16-2 record, going on to win week 21 against the same Redblacks to complete the best season in franchise history.

While the Argonauts had more regular season success last year, they also fell to the Montreal Alouettes in the eastern finals. The 2024 Argos will go into the playoffs at the high-point of their season, looking for a different result.