It’s no secret in football that if you make the quarterback’s life miserable, your odds of winning improve dramatically.

For Charleston Hughes and his ruthless gang of defensive line colleagues, making quarterbacks’ lives miserable is just what they do.

On an overcast afternoon in Calgary, McMahon Stadium became a house of horrors for Ottawa RedBlacks QB Trevor Harris as Hughes and his linemates rushed, bumped and sacked the pivot into frustration, eventually chasing him out of the game late in the fourth quarter.

“They played really good,” says Hughes of the visiting RedBlacks. “They were making plays that kind of made it hard for us up front with the game plan they had. We made a couple of adjustments, pulled it off and bounced back.”

Bounce back they did.

With nearly four minutes to play in the fourth quarter and Ottawa still hanging around and looking for a big drive, the defence – and especially the defensive line – stepped up to put to bed any such notion.

Having been called for roughing the passer on the previous play and giving Ottawa a fresh set of downs, the defence pressured Harris into rushing a pass for an incompletion.

The very next play you could simply entitle ‘Redemption.’

Micah Johnson broke through the line to lay a massive hit on Harris, stunning the QB and causing him to fumble at the Ottawa 13-yard line.

The ball was then scooped up by defensive end Ja’Gared Davis – who had been guilty of a couple of costly penalties earlier in the game – and he rumbled into the Ottawa end zone for his first CFL touchdown to ice the game.

Hughes, who had two sacks for a total of 10 yards lost, likes to think that the chemistry between he and his D-line brethren comes in part from healthy competition.

“I can hear Micah Johnson say every time I sack the quarterback it fuels him to go out and get one,” he jokes, shooting a smile over to Johnson who bursts out laughing.

“We have great chemistry. There was no big secret, we just figured out what (the RedBlacks) were doing.

“We caught a key as to how they were trying to protect against our D-Line and we just took off. When it’s easy like that and the sacks start rolling in, everyone on the line is happy.”

Hughes knows that while this is a big win, nothing has been accomplished yet. Championships are not won in 18 regular-season games.

As happy as the defensive line is with the roll they are on, Hughes and his teammates don’t want to get complacent. They continue to work out the kinks in their game plans, hoping it will translate to post-season success.

“At the end of the season, you want to finish with as many wins as possible so you can go into the playoffs with momentum. That momentum is what will fuel you,” he says.

Next up is another home date with the red-hot Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who will bring with them the CFL’s second-longest win streak and will be hoping to knock a little shine off the Stamps.

You can be sure Hughes and the boys will do all they can to put the brakes on Winnipeg’s roll and add a little more fuel to the playoff tank.