TORONTO

Matt Black is coming off a game in which he experienced the defensive back’s definition of nirvana.

His own team pinned up against its own goal posts, protecting a slim lead with the clock ticking down, needing a stop to preserve a win or at least avoid overtime, and Black came untouched on a blitz and had as clear a shot at a quarterback as he’s ever had.

He unloaded on Mike Reilly like it were a dream scenario and wound up knocking the ball loose in the process.

The Argos went on to recover the football and win the game 34-26.

It was the defensive equivalent of laying full out to catch the game-winning touchdown in the very corner of the end zone with a defender draped over half your body.

It’s also a play that never happens if not for an injury to a teammate that brought him back into the fold.

Black has only ever known life in the CFL as a member of the Toronto Argonauts.

For eight full seasons and now into his ninth it has been that way, so July 31 of this summer came as a little bit of a surprise.

That was the day the Argos released him, having not played a game for the new coaching staff and new administration.

Black, by his own standards was having a pretty decent camp when a groin injury put him on the six-game injured list.

Once healthy, Black never got the chance to show what he could do, caught in a numbers game with 2017 draft pick Robert Woodson, starting safety Jermaine Gabriel and Matt Webster all contributing and healthy. The Argos needed the roster spot and Black was deemed the odd man out.

Black found his way back onto the roster soon enough when Gabriel got hurt the following game, but in the interim he was sure his time as a member of the Argonauts was over.

Surprisingly there was no anger. After all that time with the Argos including a Grey Cup championship in 2012, the same year his daughter Ava was born, Black took his release in stride.

“Honestly I’ve always understood this was a business and understood your window is always closing and it’s something I’m always aware of,” Black said following practice Tuesday. “So there is always a tension or urgency to produce and to make the plays that come to you, not do more than you are supposed to, but making the plays that do come to you. I always walk around with that so when I did get released it was ‘Well, this is what you have always been thinking about. This is that time.’ ”

Black still knew he could play the game but he was positive his time with the Argonauts was over. The same day he was released he took a slew of his teammates out and bought them breakfast. He thought it was goodbye.

He was disappointed, he admits now, but not angry.

“Anger was never an emotion I felt,” he said. “I was kind of disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to show the (new coaching staff) more of what I’m capable of doing. I mean I was on the six-game (injured list courtesy of a groin tear in training camp) so what I could do was limited. I could be in meetings and mentally be ready, but physically, all I could do was work with the strength staff and I couldn’t do much.

“I thought my time as an Argo was over,” Black said. “I definitely thought that. I thought I was going to be somewhere else. The agent had put the phone calls in with all eight other teams and had spoken to some of them. The wheels were turning but the stars aligned and things worked out.”

Instead of signing with a new team, the Argos called him back a week later when Gabriel was injured in the Calgary game and was put on the six-game injured list himself.

Since then Black has jumped right back into the mix playing some safety, some corner, even a little at “will” linebacker, basically doing whatever he could to help the team and make himself indispensable.

Now looking back on that one week of uncertainty, Black even manages to find a silver lining in it.

“I’m thankful for it because it really showed me how many people cared,” Black said. “A lot of people reached out. A lot of fans, media, old coaches, old teammates, people I didn’t even realize were following my career and it made me realize there are a lot of people in your corner rooting for you, even though you may not see and it made me feel very, very, very appreciated and very lucky.”

Black knew then and he knows now there are no guarantees in football. But he’s got a new level of appreciation for the game now than he had before.

Asked how much longer he wants to play the game, Black doesn’t hesitate.

“Till the wheels fall off,” he says laughing.

TICATS' JONES TESTS POSITIVE FOR DRUGS

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats just can’t stay out of the headlines.

And sadly this season it has been for more of the wrong reasons.

On Tuesday the team learned receiver Mike Jones had tested positive for a banned substance and was being suspended for two games.

In a statement from Jones released by the team, the second-year receiver said he has no idea how the banned substance got into his system, never intentionally consumed it, but accepted that he was responsible and promised to take additional steps to ensure nothing like this would happen again.

Jones has played in all 11 games for the Ticats this year totalling 267 yards receiving on 25 catches.