DOUBLE BLEWS: Redblacks lose fifth in a row and chance to host playoff game

Published Oct 19, 2024  •  4 minute read

Ottawa Redblacks quarterback Dru Brown (3) is taken to the turf during first half CFL football action against the Toronto Argonauts in Toronto on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. Photo by Frank Gunn /THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Ottawa Redblacks spent the second last Saturday afternoon before Halloween trying on different looks in Toronto.

They wore an ugly, scary mask for the first two quarters, a stunned, what-just-hit-me expression in the third, and a valiant, Mel Gibson-in-Braveheart face in the final 15 minutes.

In the end, they wound up resembling the ghosts of Redblacks teams past with their fifth straight defeat.

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The 38-31 loss to the Argos at BMO Field ensures Ottawa will finish third in the East and will make a trip back to The Big Smoke in two weeks for the division semifinal.

Before that, the Redblacks will host the scrappy Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a regular-season finale on Friday that might be meaningless to them if they don’t care about heading into the playoffs with just one victory in the final two months and a slide that covers the last third of the schedule.

If you turned the TV off and cursed the Redblacks when they were trailing 38-6, what you missed was a fourth quarter that saw them score 25 unanswered points (thanks largely to a pair of successful onside kicks by Lewis Ward that were recovered by Kene Onyeka and Jaelon Acklin), and take it right down to a wild, lateral-filled last play that was missing only the Stanford Cardinals marching band.

That they could provide all of the excitement at the end was incredible considering how bad they were at the start.

“The intensity and the sense of urgency we had in the second half has to be played with all game,” head coach Bob Dyce told TSN1200’s A.J. Jakubec. “And we have to bring that not just on game day, but throughout the week of practice as we move forward.”

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Losing a chance to host the East semifinal could very well cost the Redblacks the right to play the Alouettes for a spot in the Grey Cup game. Ottawa is 6-1-1 at home and 2-7 on the road.

How have the Redblacks fared as the visitor in playoff games over the years? They have an unblemished record at 0-0. Of the seven post-season games they played in their history, three have been on the neutral soil of a Grey Cup game and the other four at TD Place.

WHAT’S THAT SMELL?

The Redblacks were worse than awful on both sides of the ball through the first 26 or 27 minutes.

When they finally came to life and Dru Brown hit Bralon Addison with a seven-yard TD pass (they failed to convert) 2:44 before the intermission, it closed the deficit to 28-6.

Chad Kelly made up for his four-interception game in last month’s 41-27 loss at TD Place by connecting on his first 12 passes and orchestrating touchdown drives with his first four possessions. He would have been 5-for-5 had he not just missed the outstretched fingers of Makai Polk on what would have been a 90 (or so) yard touchdown pass.

The third of the three scoring marches wasn’t more of a quick stroll, as Kelly hit Dejon Brissett with a 29-yard touchdown pass on the first play after Brown fumbled it over to the home team on the first snap of his third possession.

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The Argos were so comfortable in their ability to take what they wanted that they gambled (and won) on a third and inches from inside their own 20-yard line.

PASSING THE PIGSKIN

In his first game back from a high ankle sprain, Brown actually finished with better numbers than Kelly. Ottawa’s QB completed 31 of 43 for 400 yards, four touchdowns, one interception. Kelly was good on 21 of 26 for 331 yards, three TD tosses and no turnovers.

When Jakubec asked him how he felt after missing a couple of starts, Brown replied: “Good. I felt a little bit frustrated at times. I felt like on offence, we couldn’t stay on the field. That’s the culmination of a lot of things, but I’d have to go back and look and see decision-making on my behalf. I can’t give you any answers on it right now.”

How did the ankle feel?

“It was pretty good,” said Brown, who did commit two turnovers — a fumble and an interception off a pass intended for Nick Mardner at the goal-line peg on the first snap after Dawson Pierre recovered a fumble on a Toronto kick return. The pick was made by Tarvarius McFadden, who was cut by the Argos in training camp, signed by the Redblacks before being cut again, then re-signed with Toronto.

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NUMBER CRUNCHERS

— Much of it was in garbage time and a lot of it had to do with the Redblacks being so lousy in the first three quarters, but Kalil (The Thrill) Pimpleton finished the day with an eye-popping 318 all-purpose yards. He led all Ottawa receivers with 114 yards on seven catches, while also returning six kicks for 140 yards and three punts for 64 yards.

— Bralon Addison also had a strong performance I n his first game since Aug. 24. He had eight catches for 72 yards and two touchdowns, including a 32-yarder in which he broke three tackles to get to the endzone.

— Justin Hardy, who missed last game with an ankle injury, returned to catch seven passes for 102 yards. That leaves him 108 yards behind the CFL leader, B.C.’s Justin McInnis, whose regular season concluded later on Saturday night against the Alouettes.

— Jovan Santos-Knox led the Redblacks with eight tackles. Aidan John had the lone Ottawa sack.

THINGS THAT MAKES YOU GO HMMM …:

When was the last time you saw a team have two successful onside kicks in the same game? Ever? And after kicking the ball so it would bounce unpredictably on those two, why did Ward float a high short kick on the third try?

LAST WORDS

“I just don’t see us folding. That’s not how the guys in here are.” — Dru Brown, looking ahead in a conversation with TSN1200-s A.J. Jakubec.

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