Redblacks still can’t beat the East (& nine other thoughts on losing to the Argos)

By
Santino Filoso
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Photo courtesy: Ottawa Redblacks

In a game that didn’t matter for the standings but did in terms of jobs for 2024 and perception amongst the fan base, the Ottawa Redblacks fell to the Argonauts by a score of 40-27 in front of 13,888 fans at BMO Field in Toronto.

Here are all my thoughts on the game.

1) I really liked what we saw out of Dustin Crum last night. The rookie quarterback came out hot — completing his first ten passes — and made good decisions and accurate throws until he was mercy-pulled at the start of the fourth quarter.

The 24-year-old finished the night having completed 13 of his 16 pass attempts for 183 yards, a touchdown and an interception that came on the final play of the first half — more of a heave it and see what happens situation as opposed to a bad throw. Crum scrambled twice for 13 yards but used his legs effectively to step up in the pocket, buying time for his receivers to get open and keeping his eyes down the field.

With the loss, Crum’s record drops to 3-10 as a starter, but that shouldn’t be what R-Nation focuses on. Instead, the fact that he takes care of the ball, knows where to go with his reads and is tough as hell should be what excites those in the nation’s capital about next season.

2) Whether it was because he was hurt and couldn’t continue or simply to get him out of harm’s way, head coach Bob Dyce made the decision to pull Crum at the start of the fourth quarter and give backup rookie quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome his first extended stint under centre.

Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to take anything concrete away from his performance, because by the game’s final 15 minutes, Ottawa’s offensive line had utterly collapsed. Pigrome wasn’t just under siege, he barely had time to catch the snap before he needed to start moving to avoid pressure.

The Birmingham, Alabama native completed three of the six passes he attempted for 46 yards, ran twice for another 12 and lost the ball two of the four times he was sacked. He’ll need to clean up his ball security if he wants to see more playing time.

3) After going two games in a row without scoring a point in the first three quarters of play, Khari Jones’ attack needed a quick start. He ensured it had one by dialling up a play-action bomb to a streaking Justin Hardy on the game’s opening play.

It was an excellent design with great execution and immediately instilled a shot of confidence into the offence. It’s also the exact type of play that has been missing most of the season.

In the first half, Jones’ unit moved the ball well. He dialled up a healthy mix of runs, incorporated plenty of play-action passes that froze Argo linebackers just enough to open gaps in the middle of the field, and even worked in a couple of run-pass options to take advantage of Crum’s mobility.

At the half, the Redblacks had 234 yards of offence and it could have even been more if not for a lackadaisical approach to their final drive before half-time. With both timeouts remaining and 43 seconds on the clock, instead of being aggressive and leaning into what had been working, Jones called a run that resulted in no gain. Then, players/coaches allowed 24 seconds to run off the clock before calling another run, then had Crum chuck it deep (where he was intercepted). It was a puzzling drive and horrific clock management from all involved.

I won’t pin the offence’s struggles in the second half — just one field goal and 80 yards generated on eight drives — on Jones, mainly because it’s impossible to call an offence when the offensive line is abused the way the Redblacks’ was. Of the nine sacks that Ottawa gave up, seven came in the second half. That kind of lack of protection cripples any attempt to move the ball. You can have the best play in the world called but if the big men up front can’t give the quarterback two seconds to get it off, it doesn’t matter.

4) Another season outside of the playoffs means plenty of roster turnover is coming, but one player who can confidently plan on being in Ottawa next training camp is American running back Devonte Williams.

The 26-year-old continued his strong sophomore campaign with yet another good showing, turning 16 carries into 125 yards and a touchdown while busting off five runs of 10+ yards and two runs of 20+ yards.

It’s not just Williams’ speed and balance that makes him so good, it’s that once he plants his foot in the ground and makes a cut, most defenders are left grasping at air.

It was a relatively quiet night for Williams in the passing game — he made just three catches for 11 yards — and if there’s one aspect of his game that still needs to be refined, it’s his pass protection. More than once the Argos got home or had significant pressure because Williams was too slow in recognizing the blitz.

5) Let’s take a minute to appreciate Jaelon Acklin’s acrobatic hurdle. The fact that Qwan’tez Stiggers wasn’t even crouched low is what really makes it so impressive.

Acklin might have made the highlight of the night, but it was his only notable contribution to the game before garbage time. The 28-year-old finished with four catches, but three of those came with Pigrome in the game and the outcome already decided.

As has been the case all season long, Justin Hardy was Ottawa’s most reliable receiver, turning five targets into five receptions for 98 yards. 39 of those yards came after the catch.

As for the rest of the receiving corps, Bralon Addison made two catches for 19 yards and a touchdown while Shaq Evans and Siaosi Mariner made one catch each. Canadian Tevaun Smith was targeted once but couldn’t make the reception.

6) Coming into the game, the big news on the Redblacks’ offensive line was that after losing his starting job in August, second-year pro Zack Pelehos was back at right tackle ahead of Dontae Bull, the first overall pick of the 2023 CFL Draft.

Before exiting the game with an injury, Pelehos looked quite good, serving pancakes in both the ground game and in pass protection.

It would be unfair to pin all of the offensive line’s struggles on Bull, but things changed when the rookie entered the game on the Redblacks’ opening possession of the second half. If not for a roughing the passer flag, Bull would have been responsible for three sacks allowed on that drive alone.

As much as Bull struggled last night — and this season — it should be noted that he’s still a rookie and he missed most of his final year of college with an injury. It will take time for him to cut his teeth. With that said, Ottawa took much too long to provide him help in the form of a fullback to chip the defensive ends.

And still, the Redblacks’ issues protecting whoever is under centre go beyond a rookie struggling at right tackle. As a group, the unit failed spectacularly at identifying and picking up twists, stunts and blitzes. Not to mention that Toronto regularly sent three-man pressure and still got home.

Seriously, the pressure was almost instantaneous.

Coming into the game, no team had conceded more sacks than this Redblacks group. The CFL loves to state that no lead is safe, but after giving up nine sacks yesterday, it’s fair to say Ottawa’s lead in that ugly statistic is safe.

7) There have been games when Barron Miles’ defence has been tough to play against and opportunistic. There have also been games when Barron Miles’ defence would have been pushed around by a stiff breeze. This was one of the latter.

The Argos finished the night with 424 yards of offence and averaged 7.4 yards per play. Toronto converted 54 percent of its second down opportunities, which was a big reason why nine of their 13 possessions ended in points (three touchdowns, six field goals).

Ottawa not only failed to record a takeaway, but they also only notched a single sack. Furthermore, be it with their defensive line or via blitz, whatever the Redblacks tried, they were unable to pressure Argos’ QB Chad Kelly.

Given plenty of time in the pocket, Kelly completed 64 percent of his passes for 287 yards and a touchdown. The damage would’ve been worse if not for a handful of overthrown balls because Toronto’s receivers were frequently behind the last defender in the secondary.

Even when Kelly left the game, Toronto still moved the ball with ease through the air, as demonstrated by the fact that backup quarterback Cameron Dukes completed 100 percent — all five — of the passes he attempted.

On top of not being able to stop the Argos aerial attack, the Redblacks’ defence was also pushed around in the run game. Too many tackles were missed and at times, certain defenders seemed to be uninterested in making them.

Defensive back Damon Webb made a game-high nine tackles and in his first career start, Alijah McGhee made one.

8) In his first game back from injury, rookie returner Tobias Harris hit the gas and provided R-Nation with the biggest play of the night, taking a second-quarter kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown.

It was only the second return touchdown of the season for the Redblacks, with the other being a punt return touchdown by Brandin Dandridge all the way back in Week 2.

As for the rest of Ottawa’s special teams, punter Richie Leone had a couple of gaffes with an illegal punt and kickoff, yet still smashed five punts for 41.8 per kick. Thanks to stellar kick coverage, the Redblacks averaged a 39.4-yard flip every time they kicked the ball away.

Canadian Ty Cranston led the way with two special teams tackles and, as seems to be the case every week, Gary Johnson Jr. had a thunderous open-field hit.

9) After two weeks of coming out flat and staying that way, it was encouraging to see Dyce’s squad come out swinging in Toronto. Obviously, the result was less than ideal but it is a good sign to see a handful of strong individual efforts. The cynics in R-Nation will point out that they don’t want to be focused on individual efforts and youth development as another wasted season slips by, but the reality is that’s where the Redblacks currently are as an organization.

The 2023 team is better than the 2019, 2021 and 2022 groups that missed the playoffs, but they’re still a long way from being contenders. At this point, all the coaching staff and front office can do is identify who should be a part of the solution going forward.

With their final bye week on tap and one last home game in two weeks’ time to close out this season, it’ll be essential for GM Shawn Burke and head coach Bob Dyce to sprinkle in some practice roster players to see how they handle live fire.

That’s not to say the final game of the year should be treated as a pre-season contest — I’d hazard that would go over extremely poorly with those in attendance at Lansdowne — but it would be nice to get a long look at someone like second-round pick Lucas Cormier or receiver Maurice Ffrench.

Santino Filoso
Santino Filoso
Santino Filoso is originally from Ottawa and has written about the Redblacks since 2013. He is the only CFL writer currently living in Brazil (as far as we know).

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