With a crucial yard or so of separation having been created between himself and the man he’d been tailing, Ottawa DB Jonathan Rose looked like nothing so much as a guy with an orchestra seat to a breathtaking show.

Up went DaVaris Daniels — up, up, up — as if held aloft by invisible wires, body twisting, right hand extending, darting out like a Venus Flytrap and . . . snap!

Right foot down inbounds. Ball as secure as a baby in its mother’s arms at church.

Body control/hang time reminiscent of MJ attacking the hoop. A Nureyev in helmet and shoulder pads.

Rose must’ve gaped in disbelief. The 26,000 plus in the seats fell silent, then erupted in celebration as the closest official’s arms shot into the air.

Down in bounds, inside the thick white stripe? Upon further inspection, yes, most definitely.

“Was I?’’ asked Daniels afterwards, with an honest innocence. “I had no idea. My hands are kinda small to be making one-handed catches like that.

“I thought I was out, to be honest with you. I still need to see the replays to see if I was really in.’’

The rookie from South Bend, Ind., will doubtless enjoy watching it a time, or two. Or 20.

That catch proved to be the jackboot to the throat of the Ottawa RedBlacks; the moment that snapped the windpipe, the defining moment that put a 48-23 win to bed on Saturday and clinched a playoff berth.

Fitting that it was billed as Legacy Day at McMahon Stadium. Because this edition of the Red and White has the opportunity to create some of its own.

As the CFL season reaches the two-thirds pole, the Calgary Stampeders stand alone, atop, at 10-1-1.

Nothing’s won. Nothing’s done.

Yet the collective businesslike body language, the ability to shift gears and blow past people when required, are signs of the makings of a special group.

The Daniels catch merely being the latest example of such impeccable timing.

“When you’ve got a guy who can make plays with the ball, is good at adjusting his body, you trust him,’’ said his prolific pitch-and-catch partner, Bo Levi Mitchell. “He’s in the boundary there and it’s a 50-50 ball.”

And, on first view to the naked eye, a 50-50 call.

“I was nervous that the refs might overturn it,’’ admitted Stamps boss Dave Dickenson, accustomed to watching Allen Pitts and Geroy Simon make that sort of jaw-dropping catch when he was the guy in the pocket, slinging.

“I saw his foot in from my vantage point. But . . .

“An amazing, amazing catch. Well covered.”

The Stamps broke out of the gate in a frenzy, scoring three TDs on their first three possessions. They’d piled up 290 yards offence by halftime, 250 of it through the air and seemed on cruise control at 30-14.

“The whole first half we were solid. We were executing,’’ agreed Dickenson. “Bo was sharp.

“I thought we ran out of gas a little bit and found a play at the end.

“You win 48-23 but you’re just out of gas. You never felt safe ’cause they have a lot of weapons and they did come over the top a lot against us.

“It’s the ebb and flow of a football game. What it is is: Can you find a way? Who’s going to make a play?

“For us, it just seems to be a different guy (every week).”

By midway through the fourth quarter, those stubborn Redblacks had closed to within eight points, 31-23 and sense of unease, if not doubt, had invasively pervaded McMahon.

But at that moment — the fish-or-cut-bait moment — when DeVone Claybrooks’ defensive fortification most needed a stop, it got one.

The magnificent man-mountain Micah Johnson stuffed Redblacks tailback Travon Van for a yard loss on first down and then old hand Brandon Smith nimbly darted in to knock down a Trevor Harris sideline toss intended for Ernest Jackson, forcing an Ottawa punt.

With the ball back, Mitchell took matters into his own hands, engineering the six-play 66-yard drive that culminated in Daniels’ defying-gravity grab, and an insurmountable 38-23 lead.

“When we’re an aggressive football team,’’ lectured Mitchell, “we’re very, very hard to beat. Offence, defence, special teams. Across the board.

“When anybody relaxes and gets their mind thinking ‘We’re up!’ that’s when things can change.

“When the game’s tight or we’re down, there’s nobody better. I still think we need to understand that and play like that every single time.

“We’ve got to find a way to not let that sputter happen as long as it did.”

Per usual, individuals stood out but the Stamps won by committee. The defence scored two majors — Jamar Wall on a 60-yard interception return and the big man with slick moves, 238-pound Ja’Gared Davis. Mitchell threw for over 300 (350), again. Slotback Marquay McDaniel went over 100 (102) in receiving yards, again. Eight different Stamps caught passes.

“That’s what this team is about,’’ said Daniels. “We’re resilient. We don’t second-guess ourselves. We believe somebody’s going to go out there and make plays.”

Next up, on Saturday, the seven-in-a-row Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a tussle between the league’s two hottest entries.

Another opportunity to unfurl their credentials.

“This,’’ said Johnson, “is one of the first teams I’ve ever been on that everyone in the locker room, top to bottom, wants to win.

“I know that sounds cliche. A lot of players coach and say that because it’s the right thing to say, right? What everyone wants to hear.

“But it’s not necessarily true.

“Here, I truly believe every man wants to win as bad as the next guy. On a team with 50-some guys, that’s rare. Trust me.

“We’ve got that feeling, that mindset, here.

“So you want to take full advantage of it.

“And that’s why it’s a joy to come in here, to come to work. Every single day.”