The Saskatchewan Roughriders were 10 points ahead when A.J. Ouellette played catch-up.
Carter was tackled on the Roughriders’ 17-yard line, whereupon the defence forced Ottawa to settle for a field goal that ultimately concluded the scoring in a 20-13 Saskatchewan victory.
“To me,” Head Coach Corey Mace said, “that was the play of the game.”
Carter had a healthy head start after recovering a Roughriders fumble deep in Ottawa territory late in the fourth quarter, but the determined Ouellette made up ground after initially providing pass protection.
“My first read for the linebacker blitz was there,” he recalled on Monday at Mosaic Stadium. “I picked him up and felt him kind of give up on the rush, so I knew the ball was in the air.
“I looked up and none of our guys had it, so luckily I got eyes on their guy pretty quick. At that point, you just give it everything you’ve got.”
The extra-effort play quickly became highlight-reel fodder and a social media sensation, but to Ouellette it wasn’t anything exceptional.
“You’re just doing your job, right?” he said.
True enough, but few occupations call for someone to sprint 80-plus yards in pursuit of a 250-pounder who, at first glance, appears to be home free toward the end zone.
“This team’s going to fight to the end,” Ouellette said. “Anybody in that same situation would have tracked him down, given the opportunity. This team does nothing but work.”
Given Ouellette’s modest determination to deflect or downplay the praise, it was left to others to rave about him.
“It just encompasses who we are as a team,” quarterback Trevor Harris said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys who don’t flinch and are always going to fight to the end.
“It was awesome to see A.J. kind of open it up and run a little bit. I don’t think he’s going to become Usain Bolt, but I maybe called him ‘Usain Ouellette’ on the way home.”
Lately, Ouellette is not easily defined.
Yes, “running back” is his job description, but you can add “short-yardage quarterback” and “pass blocker” to a glittering resume.
A knee injury sustained by short-yardage specialist Tommy Stevens led to Ouellette, a bulwark on the Roughriders’ offence this season, receiving even more responsibility.
Four times on Friday, he lined up under centre in a short-yardage situation before carrying the football himself and invariably moving the chains.
“I played triple option quarterback for a few games in high school, so I can take the snaps and read it and all that,” said Ouellette, who hails from Covington, Ohio.
“It’s kind of fun. You enjoy it and you get the touchdowns, right? It messes with the average (yards per carry) a little bit, but we’re here to win games.”
Mission accomplished.
Saskatchewan carries a league-best 11-4 record into Friday’s game against his previous team, the Toronto Argonauts (7 p.m., Mosaic Stadium). A victory would clinch first place in the West Division.
Ouellette enters the game with 1,110 rushing yards — just 10 behind the league lead — and a team-high nine touchdowns.
The numbers, as impressive as they are, don’t illustrate the wingspan of Ouellette’s contributions.
On the stats sheet, the successful pursuit of Carter was simply recorded as a defensive tackle.
There isn’t any way of quantifying Ouellette’s value as a pass blocker, but he often provided complementary protection as Harris went 27-for-33 for 341 yards.
Most notably, Ouellette neutralized a blitzer while Harris fired a pass to Dohnte Meyers for what turned into a 66-yard TD early in the fourth quarter.
The high-speed collision between Ouellette and REDBLACKS linebacker Davion Taylor was such that the impact was easily audible on TSN’s telecast. Taylor was stopped in his tracks.
“The thud? It feels good,” Ouellette said with a smile. “My guy was blitzing and he had to come across the formation for it, so I knew there would be a thud. He had a five-yard head start.
“You just kind of put your shoulder into him and hope Trevor gets it out, and he did.”
Harris got credit for the touchdown pass. Meyers’ point total was fattened by six, courtesy of his eighth TD of the year.
Earlier in the game, Ouellette had scored his team-leading ninth TD, reaching the end zone for the fifth game in succession. The team record of eight consecutive games with at least one touchdown is shared by George Reed (1972) and Bobby Johnson (1986). (See chart below.)
But all the extras Ouellette provided — reliably and selflessly — resulted in one of the most memorable 53-yard rushing games you will ever see.
“People who understand football know the importance of that kind of game when it comes to blocking and short yardage and extra-effort plays,” he said. “I appreciate the coaching staff here and everyone across the team embracing their love and showing it.
“Real football players, real football fans, know that.”
MOST CONSECUTIVE GAMES WITH A TOUCHDOWN
8 — George Reed, 1972
8 — Bobby Johnson, 1986
7 — Weston Dressler, 2012
6 — Ed Buchanan, 1964
6 — George Reed, 1967
6 — Hugh Campbell, 1969
6 — Wes Cates, 2008
6 — Wes Cates, 2010
6 — Duron Carter, 2017
5 — Jack Russell, 1951
5 — Ken Carpenter, 1955
5 — Joey Walters, 1979
5 — Kerry Joseph, 2007
5 — Kory Sheets, 2012
5 — Weston Dressler, 2013
5 — Cody Fajardo, 2019
5 — A.J. Ouellette, 2025
