Masoli magic carries Ottawa Redblacks to win over Stampeders (& ten other thoughts)

By
Santino Filoso
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Photo: Brett Holmes Photography/Ottawa Redblacks

In a back-and-forth affair on a smoky night in Calgary, the Ottawa Redblacks came away with another thrilling last-second win, beating the previously undefeated (at home, anyway) Calgary Stampeders by a score of 31-29 at McMahon Stadium.

Here are all my thoughts on the game.

1) Let’s start with Jeremiah Masoli the man before we get into Jeremiah Masoli the football player.

Unless your heart is made of stone, you had to feel the emotion as the 35-year-old took a knee on the field and sobbed tears of joy in the immediate aftermath of the win. To say Masoli overcame a lot to be in that spot, at that moment, would be putting it lightly.

This was his first game since suffering a ruptured Achilles injury 404 days ago, which came on the heels of missing nearly all of the prior season thanks to Garrett Marino’s cheap shot and an ensuing staph infection. It was just his sixth appearance with the Redblacks since joining the team 920 days ago in 2022 and was the first time he won a game he’d started in 999 days since the 2021 East-Semi Final.

As recently as this past off-season, many — around the country, not just Ottawa — wondered if he had anything left to give. Thursday night proved he did and does, which makes the rest of the 2024 season that much more interesting.

2) As for how Masoli played, although there were some signs of rust to be shaken off, overall, it was a very impressive outing given how little football he’s played.

His familiarity with offensive coordinator Tommy Condell’s system was evident, but two things stood out. The first was his willingness to trust his receivers. Masoli threw a number of passes into tight windows where his receivers would be. He wasn’t throwing at them, which made all the difference. If you just looked at the rhythm he was in, you would be hard-pressed to believe it was his first game action of the season.

The second thing that impressed was how he kept his eyes down-field when the pocket collapsed and was either able to check it down to his running back, find an open man down the field, or take off and scramble for a first down. The best display of this was the game’s final pass, which set up the game-winning field goal.

Masoli finished the night by completing 77 percent of his passes for 254 yards, a touchdown, and most importantly, no turnovers, although there was a bit of luck involved with that, as at least three errant or risky throws could or should have been intercepted.

Perhaps the real takeaway from the veteran pivot’s performance is that it affirmed general manager Shawn Burke’s decision to keep him around. Many expected him to be released or traded this past off-season but the team hung onto him for exactly the situation they found themselves in last night.

Given how steadily he played and how he was able to elevate those around him, nobody will feel any need to rush Dru Brown back from his injury.

3) Despite limited production in the second half, Tommy Condell’s offence had a strong outing. The Redblacks finished with 22 first downs, 382 yards of total offence, and averaged a healthy 8.1 yards per second down play, which resulted in them converting 57 percent of their second down opportunities (12-of-21).

Condell did a masterful job keeping Calgary’s defence off-balance, using a mixture of play-action, misdirection tosses, and pitches — something of which we’d seen very little to this point in the season — and called a number of devastatingly well-timed screens and draws.

Ottawa also frequently used tempo to prevent Calgary from making substitutions on second down, which naturally benefited the Redblacks.

As much as it was a good overall performance, there’s plenty of room for improvement. Aside from a 79-yard touchdown drive to start the second half, the offence struggled to stay on the field over the game’s final 30 minutes. Following said touchdown, the offence had three straight punts and a turnover on downs before some Masoli magic on the final drive of the game saved them.

4) It’s not hyperbole to say this was Ryquell Armstead’s best performance as a Redblack. Not only did the 27-year-old set a career-high in rushing yards with 11 carries for 120 yards, but he also made six catches for 44 yards, with 43 of them coming after the catch.

Armstead simply refused to go down at first contact, as evidenced by the fact that six of his runs went for 10-plus yards and one went for a gain of 25. His physicality forces defences to creep up, which opens up gaps between the linebackers and secondary that play-action can exploit.

He was also a massive factor in pass protection, doing well to help pick up blitzes, allowing Masoli more time to go through his reads and scramble around the collapsing pocket.

5) Before diving into how Ottawa’s receiving corps did catching the ball, I’d like to first take a moment to acknowledge just how well they run blocked. As mentioned above, for the first time this season the Redblacks leaned into tosses and pitches and had an incredible amount of success doing so. Linemen pulling were a factor, but those outside runs only work if the pass-catchers aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty, which Ottawa’s weren’t.

In terms of receptions, Jaeolon Acklin led the way by making six catches for 94 yards, averaging a healthy 15.7 yards per catch. Bralon Addison’s six catches were good for 55 yards, and three of them moved the chains on second down. Justin Hardy caught four passes for 29 yards and Canadian rookie Nick Mardner turned two targets into two catches for ten yards.

It was a quiet night for Dominique Rhymes, but it’s not as if he wasn’t targeted. Masoli looked his way five times, but due to drops, errant throws, and good coverage, the 31-year-old finished with just a single reception for eight yards.

Fullback Anthony Gosselin and returner DeVonte Dedmon each made a single catch, good for five and nine yards, respectively.

6) The big change on Ottawa’s offensive line this week was the insertion of Eric Starczala into the lineup at centre. The 28-year-old was making his first career start, replacing the benched Cyrille Hogan-Saindon. It was somewhat of a surprising move, given that Hogan-Saindon hadn’t stood out for playing poorly.

The six-foot-five, 315-pound former Guelph Gryphon didn’t look out of place, doing a good job organizing Ottawa’s pass blocking on throwing downs, and frequently getting to the second level to seal off linebackers on running plays. Be it coincidence or not, Starczala’s debut coincided with Ottawa’s best rushing performance in the past four games. His only truly negative play was a holding call on the game’s final drive that the Redblacks were fortunate to overcome.

As a group, Ottawa’s offensive line was dominant on the ground, paving the way for an average of 9.7 yards per carry. In terms of pass protection, they only conceded two sacks on 35 dropbacks, but that total would have been higher if not for Masoli using his legs to get out of bad situations.

 7) Despite giving up 29 points, it was actually a strong performance from Barron Miles’s defensive unit. That’s because all three of Calgary’s touchdowns came as a result of big broken plays that set up short plunges into the end zone. The three plays in question were deep shots to Ishmael Hyman (twice) and Reggie Begelton, that resulted in long gains (40+ yards) or a defensive pass interference in the end zone.

Coming into the game, Ottawa’s defence had given up the second fewest explosive plays, yet struggled to keep Calgary’s receivers in front of them. Part of that should be attributed to the fact that yet again the secondary was shuffled. The return of Brandin Dandridge to the lineup meant Deandre Lamont was flipped to the opposite side of the field. Given how little action Dandridge and Alijah McGhee have seen this season, there was naturally going to be a bit of an adjustment period.

Overall, the defence did well. Calgary finished with 323 yards of total offence, but of their 13 possessions, seven resulted in punts, one in a turnover and the three touchdowns came off of big plays that set Calgary up inside the 5-yard line. It helps explain why Calgary was three of three in the red zone.

Defensive back Damon Webb had another monster game, notching seven tackles, with two being for a loss. Linebacker Adarius Pickett was once again stellar, recording eight total tackles. Lamont had five tackles and a knockdown, while defensive lineman Michael Wakefield made three tackles had Ottawa’s only sack.

The effort play of the night goes to Halifax native Aidan John. The six-foot-five defensive lineman chased down a run from the backside to register a tackle for a loss.

8) Lewis Ward isn’t just good, he’s great. And he once again proved why he’s one of the very best players to ever suit up in the red and black.

Ward nailed kicks of 27, 19 and, 51 yards to extend his current kicking streak to seven in a row. It would be higher if not for last week’s blocked kicks, which were deemed misses.

The 51-yard kick that won Ottawa the game was Ward’s third walk-off winner this season and demonstrated yet again that he has ice in his veins.

As for the rest of Ottawa’s special teams, Richie Leone shanked one of his six punts but still finished with a remarkable 51.2-yard average field flip. The Redblacks’ kick coverage was excellent, led by Pickett and Davion Taylor each making two special teams tackles.

DeVonte Dedmon averaged 7.8 yards per punt return and 28.8 per kickoff, with his longest return of the night coming in at 50 yards.

9) While on the subject of returns, let me reiterate that I hate that Ottawa continues to have Pickett line up as a returner.

The strong-side linebacker was back with Dedmon on multiple kickoffs and even took the game’s final kickoff 24 yards. I don’t hate Pickett returning kicks because I think he’s bad at it — he’s proven he’s capable and I appreciate that he’s willing to do anything to help the team win — but it’s an utterly unnecessary risk of exposing someone who cannot be replaced on defence.

Dedmon is extremely capable of handling return duties on his own and, when he’s healthy, Kalil Pimpleton is no slouch either. Bralon Addison and Justin Hardy are often given carries as a running back, which shows Ottawa has two other return options in a pinch. To me, the Redblacks are playing with fire by having their star linebacker field kicks, and I simply don’t understand why. Eventually, it will cost them.

10) At the halfway mark of the season, Bob Dyce’s squad boasts the second-best record in the CFL at 6-2-1, trailing only the Montreal Alouettes and their 8-1 record.

With the win, Ottawa is firmly in second place in the East Division, three points ahead of the third-place Toronto Argonauts. Up next for the Redblacks is a Saturday home date with Nathan Rourke and the B.C. Lions. It will also be the All-Decade Game with plenty of alumni from the 2016 Grey Cup-winning squad on hand.

R-Nation has underwhelmed in terms of attendance at TD Place this season, but hopefully the team’s 4-0-1 record at Lansdowne and an appealing matchup will draw a respectable crowd. It would be fantastic to see at least 20,000 onhand, if not more.

These Redblacks continue to find ways to win and play entertaining football. What more could fans be waiting to see?

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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