With a place in the East Division final already assured, the first-place Toronto Argonauts aim to improve offensively Saturday night against the visiting Ottawa Redblacks.

The Argonauts (13-2) celebrated their 150th anniversary last Friday with a 35-12 home win over the Edmonton Elks.

Wynton McManis returned an interception 83 yards for a touchdown for Toronto. The play at 9:25 of the third quarter gave Toronto a 28-11 lead.

“It was huge,” said Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie, who is also the team’s offensive coordinator. “I’m like, because I’m the play-caller, ‘Defense saved us again.’

“We’ve got to be better on offense but that was a game-changer right there. Big play by Wynton.”

Toronto quarterback Chad Kelly completed 11 of 16 passes for 165 yards before being replaced by Cameron Dukes in the fourth quarter. Kelly started Friday after Dukes and Bryan Scott took all of the snaps in the 31-21 road loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sept. 29. Kelly was rested for the game.

“(Kelly) struggled at times,” Dinwiddie said. “You could tell he had a week off so I’ve got to see how I’m going to manage that moving forward. We’ve got to get him his reps to make sure he’s playing good football.”

The Redblacks (4-12) were officially eliminated from playoff contention Monday by a 29-3 road loss to the Montreal Alouettes.

The Redblacks will play the Argonauts twice to end their season.

“We have to come out and work hard,” Redblacks coach Bob Dyce said. “We look at it as a blessing and an opportunity to be on the field. Our goal from the beginning is to get better every single week, and we’ve got another opportunity to be better and to win a football game, so we’re excited for that.”

Since ending a seven-game losing streak with a 36-28 home victory against the Saskatchewan Roughriders Sept. 22, the Redblacks have lost two in a row while being outscored 61-18.

Among the Argos listed as out for Saturday are running back AJ Ouellette (healthy scratch), offensive lineman Dejon Allen (leg), linebacker Jordan Williams (calf), wide receiver Cam Phillips (groin) and defensive backs DaShaun Amos (ankle), Jamal Peters (groin) and Tigie Sankoh (hamstring).

The Redblacks will be without defensive back Brandin Dandridge (hand) and defensive lineman Nigel Romick (knee).

–Field Level Media

It comes with a caveat attached to it, but the Montreal Alouettes’ recent string of defensive domination is rather impressive.

As it prepares for a Saturday road date with the Edmonton Elks, Montreal (9-7) has won three straight, allowing only 29 points in that span. In Monday’s 29-3 rout of Ottawa, the Alouettes notched their eighth defensive touchdown of the year on Tyrice Beverette’s 35-yard fumble return in the fourth quarter.

“This is pretty special, what these guys have been able to accomplish,” first-year Montreal coach Jason Maas said of the defense. “It’s huge. It blows games open, obviously. Points are points. It doesn’t matter how you get them.”

The one qualifier to the Als’ current stretch of great defense is that the three wins have been at the expense of 4-12 Ottawa (twice) and 4-11 Calgary. In fact, Montreal is 0-7 against the top three teams in the league (Winnipeg, B.C. and Toronto) and 9-0 against everyone else.

If the Alouettes continue their trend of beating up on the weak teams this week, it will allow them to clinch home-field advantage for an East Division playoff game on Nov. 4 against Hamilton. They lead the Tiger-Cats by one game with two games left but have the tiebreaker by virtue of winning the season series.

As for the Elks (4-12), they are merely fulfilling contractual obligation, their playoff hopes having expired last week after a 35-12 loss in Toronto put them two games behind Saskatchewan with two games left and the tiebreakers against them.

Edmonton moved the ball well at times as quarterback Tre Ford threw for 220 yards and ran for 47. But he also tossed a costly pick-six in the third quarter.

“I thought we had opportunities today but we just came out in the second half and didn’t do well,” Ford said. “And a lot of that started with me as a quarterback. I just don’t think our offense executed at a high enough level.

“I threw a pick-six, which obviously doesn’t help when you’re trying to win football games. So a lot of it’s on me.”

This is the teams’ only meeting of the year.

–Field Level Media