Could Redblacks be headed for a full-blown quarterback controversy?

An Ottawa Redblacks logo on a sweatshirt. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia Network

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Is it too late for Ryan Dinwiddie to change his mind?

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Technically, no, but the Ottawa Redblacks head coach also isn’t about to reverse the decision he made when anointing Jake Maier as the team’s new starting quarterback earlier this week — despite what transpired Friday in his team’s 27-3 pre-season wrap-up victory over the Montreal Alouettes before a sparse crowd at TD Place.

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Maier was unable to drive the offence at all before exiting the game with a little more than five minutes remaining in the second quarter.

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Working with most of the first-team offence, he completed six of nine passes for 35 yards and didn’t move the first down markers until finding Keelan White on a five-yard pass with 8:55 left in the second quarter.

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Enter Dru Brown.

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The Redblacks’ starting QB for the past two seasons came into the game with 5:13 left in the opening half and the home team trailing 3-0 on the scoreboard and 9-1 in first downs.

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Brown turned things around in a hurry.

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He completed seven of eight passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns to give the Redblacks a 14-3 lead at the intermission.

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Brown was the beneficiary of good field position, set up by a forced fumble by Lucas Cormier and a recovery by Luiji Vilain, on his first drive.

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The touchdown came about after a Brown-to-White pass that put the ball on the Montreal six, and then, following a three-yard run by Greg Bell, a cross-field toss to rookie Sam Schnee deep in the left corner of the end zone.

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His second touchdown pass, a four-yarder to Kalil Pimpleton, was preceded by a pass interference penalty called on Montreal’s Gemon Green against Pimpleton.

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Brown’s stay in the game was brief, as rookie Max Duggan took over at the start of the third quarter.

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On his first possession, the former Heisman runner-up directed the Redblacks on a five-play, 63-yard drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown run by rookie Rory Starkey.

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Duggan completed six of nine passes for 69 yards before giving way to Bryson Barnes, who was good on three of six tosses for 46 yards.

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Rookie Marcus Barnes scored Ottawa’s other touchdown on a 20-yard interception early in the fourth quarter.

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The win gives the Redblacks a 2-0 pre-season record, including a 27-12 win in Montreal last week.

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Maier was the star of that game, completing 10 of 14 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns.

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But it was an entirely different story in his second outing wearing Redblacks colours.

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The Ottawa offence was feeble in the opening quarter — starting with a dropped ball by a wide-open Pimpleton on the first play of the game — and failed to move the chains with its four possessions.

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Meanwhile, the defence bent a little, but didn’t break.

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It forced a turnover on each of Montreal’s first two drives, with an interception by cornerback Shakur Brown in the end zone, then by stopping the Alouettes on a third-and-two gamble at the Ottawa 45-yard line.

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The Als finally gave the scoreboard operator something to do besides stop the clock when Michael Horvat kicked a 20-yard field goal with 9:48 left in the second quarter.

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Ottawa responded with its initial first down of the game 53 seconds later.

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The Redblacks open the regular season on Saturday, June 6, against the Edmonton Elks at TD Place.

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