Sequels are never quite as good as the original, but they can still be great.
Take the most recent show at TD Place, for example.
In Dustin Crum’s first Canadian Football League start on July 15, 2023, the Redblacks trailed the Winnipeg Bombers 25-9 until there was 2:29 left. After a “pick six” by Brandin Dandridge, Crum capped a drive that started on Ottawa’s 17-yard line with less than a minute to go by scoring on a 12-yard run with nine seconds on the clock, then completed a two-point conversion pass and ended the game in overtime on a 29-yard touchdown run.
It was then that the term “Crumback” was born.
In his 18th and most recent start on Friday, all Crum did was rally the Redblacks from a 27-10, late third-quarter deficit in a game the B.C. Lions looked prepared to end with 42 seconds left, when Sean Whyte missed a 46-yard field-goal attempt with the wind at his back. That would have put the Lions in front 36-27.
Instead, Kalil Pimpleton took the wide attempt and sped 38 yards before being ridden out of bounds by Carl Meyer, the Lions’ punter and Whyte’s placeholder.
An unnecessary roughness penalty on Meyer moved the ball another 15 yards, to Ottawa’s 48, leaving 62 yards for the Redblacks to move the ball in 33 seconds.
Crum only needed two plays and less than half that time to erase the deficit, connecting on a 52-yard bomb against the stiff wind to Pimpleton and a 10-yard scoring pass to Eugene Lewis. Lewis Ward added the convert for the winning point.
The 34-33 final was another exciting finish in a CFL season that has had a number of them, and the most thrilling end to a game at TD Place since, well, July 15, 2023.
“Crumback 2.0,” the 26-year-old backup quarterback said with a grin, keeping in theme with the name of the proposed development at Lansdowne.
Crum, who’s all about the team, did not have a good start against the Lions on Friday. Nobody on the offence did. Again.
In the first half, he directed the Redblacks to a mere 84 yards of total offence, 57 of which came via the air, as they fell into a customary hole, this one 10 points deep at 13-3.
But, with playoff hopes on the line, Crum answered the bell.
It wasn’t just the rally he authored by completing 24 of 32 pass attempts for a career-high 301 yards.
Or the two touchdowns he scored among his eight carries for 69 yards, the second game in a row he had been the Redblacks’ top rusher.
Or that he didn’t turn the ball over again, improving on an interception rate of 1.3, which is best in the league among quarterbacks who have thrown the ball at least 154 times.
It was the way he did it that stood out most.
At six feet tall and 210 pounds, Crum proved that he was not only mentally tough, but pound-for-pound as tough or tougher than any player on the team, if not the league.
Unlike most quarterbacks, he never slides in front of tacklers or steps out of bounds.
He hangs in there for every inch of real estate he can get, unconcerned about the cost on his well-being.
In the physical, chippy game against the Lions, he absorbed several hard hits, both while running the ball and while standing in the pocket for a pass.
At one point, he was picked up and thrown to the ground headfirst in a pile-driver move resembling something you’d see in a pro wrestling ring, and somehow got up uninjured.
“Dusty is a dog,” Ottawa running back William Stanback said. “From the outside looking in with the other teams I’ve been a part of, I’ve seen how much of a competitor he is and what he brings to the table. I’m just so appreciative to be next to him.”
“That is Dustin’s game,” Pimpleton said. “And that should fire you up, to see somebody whose position doesn’t usually have that type of tenacity, to want to take those kinds of hits that don’t faze him.
“To see that strength and the ability that he has, it’s definitely inspirational. That’s why, every time I see him run, man, I gotta go to him and let him know that was something special. We need that. I told him today, ‘Don’t stop running, keep doing your thing, because we need that.’”
Sitting at the post-game interview table with a streak of blood running along his right forearm, Crum attributed his fearless stye to an older brother “beating me up all the time” when they played one-on-one tackle football.
“When you’re one-on-one, you can’t really slide, so I guess that’s kind of where I got that from,” he said. “And I think I get a little bit of a leeway with it just because obviously I’m not the starter right now, so I don’t have to play all 18 games. So I probably can be a little more aggressive because, obviously, those hits are going to add up over an 18-game season.
“At the end of the day, my career is going to be over one day, and I’m going to look back and I’m going to know I gave everything I had, every game, every play, for my teammates and for the people that come and support us.
“That’s just how I try to play the game. That’s why I love this game.”
Eugene Lewis of the Redblacks (87) celebrates after making a touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter of Friday’s CFL game against the Lions.
At 4-8, the Redblacks are still out of the CFL picture, but suddenly not all that much.
The Toronto Argonauts, who are on a bye week, have an identical record of 4-8, but own the tiebreaker advantage against Ottawa.
The Montreal Alouettes, who dropped their fifth game in a row on Saturday to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, are 5-7 and losing their grip on second place in the East Division.
Then there are the Lions, who are also at 5-7 and, because of the crossover format, would qualify for the playoffs by having more points than the third-place team in the East.
Ottawa is in Vancouver next Friday to face the Lions in a huge rematch to kick off the final third of the schedule.
For the Redblacks to complete a Crumback this season from the hole they dug themselves in the first two-thirds, they will have to take on the personality of their backup quarterback.
They’re going to have to be as Crum-tough as they were Friday night at TD Place.