Bombers to face red-hot Davis

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This article was published 03/07/2019 (2257 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A change of scenery appears to be exactly what Dominique Davis needed to resurrect his football career — not to mention a legitimate shot to prove he could be a starting quarterback in the Canadian Football League.

Davis has gotten exactly that from the Ottawa Redblacks. What’s more, in just two games, he’s already been turning heads — and changing minds — with back-to-back wins to begin his first season as a starter. On Friday, he’ll have the chance to push Ottawa’s record to 3-0 against his former team, the 2-0 Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

“I see a guy who’s competed and then was named the starter, so he won a job, so he’s got some confidence. He’s 2-0, so he’s got some support of his teammates,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said after the team’s closed practice on Wednesday. “Obviously, he’s put some guys in good positions to score, which is important. Any time you’ve got a guy who’s got more confidence and more opportunity, I think it shows out there on the field that he obviously plays well.”

Through two games this year, Davis’s numbers certainly jump off the page — the good and the bad.

He has three throwing touchdowns compared to four interceptions, and is averaging 315 passing yards per game. He also has three rushing touchdowns, all of which came in a season-opening 32-28 win on the road against the Calgary Stampeders.

That night at McMahon Stadium, Davis accounted for every one of Ottawa’s turnovers. He threw four interceptions, with the Stampeders converting three of the turnovers into touchdowns (only one was a pick-6). But Davis, who had already punched in a pair of one-yard touchdown runs earlier in the game, once again put the game in his own hands as the clock ticked down in the fourth quarter.

Facing a second-and-goal from the Stampeders’ five-yard line, Davis capped off a four-play, 47-yard drive by rushing the remainder of the way to put Ottawa up for good. Calgary hadn’t lost at home before Labour Day since 2014 — a stretch of 28 games.

“Dom is looking great. Obviously, the first game, he had a few unfortunate bounces on those interceptions, but he’s 2-0 as a starter and he won in Calgary, which isn’t an easy thing to do for anyone in this league,” said Bombers defensive tackle Jake Thomas, who played three seasons with Davis. “We always knew Dom was going to be a good quarterback and it’s nice to see him finally get his chance.”

Davis, 29, was much better against the Saskatchewan Roughriders the following week, outduelling another young quarterback in Cody Fajardo in a narrow 44-41 win. Davis completed 77 per cent of his passes (30 for 39) and displayed better control of the ball, tossing three touchdowns and no interceptions. Davis was also a threat on the ground, racking up 43 yards on five carries.

Many were surprised when Davis was named the team’s starter by Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell prior to Week 1. After all, though he had been in Ottawa for all of the 2018 season, including limited action in eight games, he was viewed as a major downgrade from Trevor Harris.

When Harris signed with the Edmonton Eskimos in February, the Redblacks went out to find a replacement, inking former 5,000-yard passer Jonathon Jennings. But Davis earned the job out of camp, with Jennings designated as the No. 2.

“I just really like his approach. He’s been very consistent,” Campbell told reporters on June 3. “He just has a really good command of the offence and the players believe in him. He’s going to be our guy.”

Another reason why many, at least those here in Winnipeg, were shocked by Davis’s appointment as starter was because his tenure with the Bombers was mostly underwhelming. Part of that had to do with the emergence of Matt Nichols, but it also had to do with a lack of success on the field when he was given a shot to prove his worth.

Signed as a free agent in June 2015, the Lakeland, Fla., native dressed for 49 games, seeing action in four and starting just one. In total, Davis had 54 passes in a Bombers jersey, completing 33 for 377 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions.

His lone start came in the regular-season finale of his rookie year, when the Bombers were already eliminated from the playoffs. Though Winnipeg re-signed Davis to a one-year contact extension ahead of the 2017 season, it became clear by the end of that campaign the Bombers had little interest in further developing him.

When Nichols was ruled out of the final regular-season game in Calgary that year, Winnipeg turned to Dan LeFevour to start. By the next summer, LeFevour had announced his retirement and Davis signed with Ottawa.

“I’m not really sure why it didn’t work. I felt like Dom was a student of the game, obviously very athletically gifted. I just think that after a certain amount of time, with a certain position or with certain players, you know, you just naturally tend to move on,” Bombers running back Andrew Harris said, later hinting at Davis’s desire to go somewhere with more opportunity.

“I feel like he always had the tools and intangibles, and obviously we had a secured starting quarterback and that might have been one of the reasons he wanted to leave. You never know, on the other end of things, what happens with contract negotiations or play-time expectations that a player wants. I’m sure that had something to do with it as well. But Dom is definitely a very capable quarterback and I’m happy that he’s got an opportunity to showcase his skill set and he’s doing well with it.”

Bombers left tackle Stanley Bryant said he wasn’t surprised to see Davis succeed in Ottawa, noting he’s in a system that fits him well. Having watched his first two games, Bryant said Ottawa’s playbook looked similar to the one Davis excelled in at East Carolina University, where he holds the single-season record for passing touchdowns with 37 in 2010.

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“He’s getting the ball out quick, being able to stretch the field in kind of almost a hurry-up tempo type of offence,” Bryant said. “He kind of got an opportunity here, but he also didn’t. You got to take every opportunity with a grain of salt, because you never know the situation or what happened.”

With plenty of football still to play this season, the jury remains out on whether Davis’s early success will lead to a more meaningful career down the road. He’ll face arguably his stiffest test yet against the Bombers on Friday, and another victory would go a long way to boosting his confidence, while also keeping the Redblacks on pace with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (3-0) for top spot in the East Division.

“You go out there and perform well, do your job and you’ll stick around for awhile,” Bryant said.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.