Game on: How QB Jake Maier impressed in Ottawa Redblacks CFL pre-season win over Als

Article content

“I feel like we’ve been practicing pretty well at camp, and I feel like when you get in games, it’s pretty easy to naturally lose a little bit of detail, just because of the speed of the game, and for a lot of guys, it was their first run at it. But I was actually pretty impressed with the poise and just the effort all night. I thought it was really cool.”

Article content

Maier also noted the performance should be taken with a grain of salt.

Article content

“It’s a pre-season game, it’s a practice game, there’s a lot of evaluating that’s obviously going on for a lot of guys on this team,” Maier told Jakubec. “I think any time you do anything, you want to do it well, and I think that overall, things considered, I think we did a pretty good job tonight. I think that’s something we could be proud of, but we’re back at it tomorrow.”

Article content

Brown, and the bulk of the Redblacks’ starting offence, are expected to get in their work next Friday, when Ottawa plays its second and final pre-season game at TD Place against the Alouettes.

Article content

How did the other Redblacks QBs look?

Article content

Max Duggan took over from Maier and completed four of seven passes for 20 yards while running the ball three times for another nine yards.

Article content

Article content

The former Toronto Argonaut and 2022 Heisman Trophy runner-up also led the offence on a 10-play, 32-yard drive that led to a 40-yard Paul Geelen field goal to give the Redbacks a 17-4 lead at the half.

Article content

Bryson Barnes, who joined camp late after attending the Cleveland Browns mini-camp, was the better of the pair vying for the No. 3 job.

Article content

Barnes completed all eight of his passes for 109 yards and scored on a hard nine-yard touchdown run, and like Duggan, the 6-foot-1, 213-pound, 24-year-old out of Utah State also proved he can take a big hit.

Article content

“It’s been like drinking water through a fire hose,” Barnes told Jakubec of the crash course he’s had in learning the new league. “A lot of late nights, a lot of early mornings, just studying and just trying to get caught up to speed. I’m just grateful for the opportunity that I was able to have tonight, which kind of showed what my studying and my preparation kind of did for me.”

Article content

The biggest difference from “American” football, he added, was a “sixth element” of the motion at the line of scrimmage.

Article content

“I played football for however long, painting the pictures of American football with 11 guys on the field, defensive pictures, even offensive pictures as well,” he told Jakubec. “And so when there’s another element out there, that was something new, the motions and dudes running at the line of scrimmage, like that was another big one.

Article content

Article content

“I learned a bunch of stuff today. Like, we got tackled in the end zone, and they got a point out of it. That was crazy. I’m still learning this game, still trying to figure it out, but it’s really cool.”

Article content

How good was the Redblacks defence?

Article content

The score is a solid indication, but it also understates the D’s efficiency at preventing points as the Alouettes scored their only touchdown in garbage time, on a two-yard run in the game’s second-last minute.

Article content

At times, it also played the physical style Dinwiddie wanted to see.

Article content

Montreal No. 1 quarterback, Davis Alexander, completed 3 of 3 passes for 17 yards in his brief, early game appearance. Former Redblacks backup Dustin Crum was good on 15 of 20 pass attempts for 130 yards.

Article content

Defensive back Jordan Perryman led Ottawa with six total tackles, including one on special teams.

Article content

Luigi Vilain, an Ottawa native and former NFLer, had two tackles and the Redblacks’ only generously awarded sack.

Article content

Montreal wound up with 354 net yards compared to Ottawa’s 350, and the Als also had most of their 106 rushing yards.

Article content

“I thought the defence, early, we were playing pretty well,” Dinwiddie said. “As the game went …. we didn’t make mistakes that we weren’t making in practice. Sometimes when the lights are on, certain guys kind of cut themselves, so to speak. I thought we’ve got to tackle better on special teams and defence, but overall we didn’t have a ton of penalties. It was a decently clean game.