Stampeders down Argonauts, 23-7

CALGARY — DaVaris Daniels was relieved to pad his fantasy stats against the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday.

Daniels caught a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell to lead the Calgary Stampeders to a 23-7 win over the Argonauts.

“I’m happy,” said Daniels, who added he was taking a bit of heat from people who had him on their fantasy football teams. “I think it’s about time. I hope they’re happy with me after today.”

Daniels also caught a touchdown pass from Mitchell in Toronto on Aug. 3 when the Stamps beat the Argos 41-24. Three of his four touchdown catches this season have come against the Argos.

“He’s a guy that’ll go up and make plays and I’ve got to trust him and let him go do that,” said Mitchell.

“He saved me on that second one. My arm didn’t give me what I wanted on that one and he went up and made a hell of a play.”

Rene Paredes kicked three field goals and a single for the Stampeders (7-1-1), who leapfrogged over both the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7-2) and Edmonton Eskimos (7-2) into top spot in the Canadian Football League’s West Division.

The Stamps extended their winning streak to five straight games and have now won 14 games in a row at McMahon Stadium dating back to 2015.

“Nothing seemed easy,” said Calgary coach Dave Dickenson. “It was tough. They came at us. I thought we were a little choppy up front. I thought DaVaris had a good game and Bo was slinging it, but he was getting some pressure in there and our run game wasn’t up to par, so we’ll have to be better in those stages.”

The Argonauts (4-6) struggled on offence all game — quarterback Ricky Ray was 22 of 34 for 257 yards — and could only muster one touchdown in the second quarter when Cassius Vaughn picked off an errant pass by Mitchell in the end zone and ran it back the other way across the goal-line.

Despite the loss, the Argos still sit atop the East Division standings ahead of the Ottawa Redblacks (3-6-1) and Montreal Alouettes (3-6).

“We’ve got to go back and we’ve got work to do,” said Toronto coach Marc Trestman.