Ottawa Redblacks lose by a Slywka (& 11 other thoughts on falling to the Argos)

By
Santino Filoso
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Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

The Ottawa Redblacks did plenty to undermine themselves in their 29-16 loss to the visiting Toronto Argonauts at TD Place on Sunday but ultimately the difference proved to be 14 points — a pair of return touchdowns — from Argos rookie Derek Slywka.

Here are all my thoughts on the game.

1) Obviously Slywka isn’t the only reason the Redblacks lost, but the two incredible plays he made certainly weighed heavy on the outcome of the game. The first was a 105-yard fumble return that triggered flashbacks of Cassius Vaughn’s 109-yard fumble return in the snow in the 2017 Grey Cup.

The second was a 120-yard missed field goal return that saw a handful of Redblacks miss tackles in the end zone for the rouge before losing contain.

In both instances, the Redblacks were in scoring position, and in both instances, they came away with no points. In that sense, both of those plays were 10-point swings. Not only did Ottawa fail to get field goals, but they gave up touchdowns. As bad as the point swings were, the plays were simply demoralizing.

2) A week after leading the Redblacks to a victory in horrendous conditions, third-year pro Dustin Crum couldn’t repeat the feat on a beautiful night for football in Ottawa.

In Calgary, Crum took care of the ball, read the field well, and continually hit his receivers in the hands (although they dropped seven of those passes). Against Toronto, Crum wasn’t nearly as effective.

At times, he rushed his throws and settled for quick check downs. At other moments he simply held the ball much too long before making a decision, resulting in sacks. And of course, there were the misfires.

Crum did have a handful of passes that displayed great timing and precision, but those were outweighed by the plays on which he was off-target. There were throws that were low and others that were high. His end zone interception was an example of the latter.

Although Crum struggled, it must be acknowledged that he was hung out to dry by his offensive line. Far too often, Crum faced heavy pressure before he even had time to set his feet. Regardless of who is under centre, the Redblacks will need better protection from their unit up front.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Overall, Crum finished by completing 67 percent of his passes for 235 yards and an interception. He also scrambled eight times for 60 yards, which is a testament to his escapability.

It was far from the 26-year-old’s worst outing as a Redblack, but given how poised he looked last week, his performance against Toronto was lacking. The question now becomes whether or not the coaching staff will give him another start should Dru Brown continue to miss time with a lingering hip injury. The team could turn back to veteran Matthew Shiltz or look further down the depth chart to Tyrie Adams.

3) Offensive coordinator Tommy Condell didn’t call a terrible game, but he also didn’t do enough to help out his quarterback. Whenever you’re starting a third-string pivot, everyone else around them needs to be near-perfect. In a game that saw his offensive line struggle to pass protect, it felt like Condell took too long to adjust his play-calling to try to offset that pressure.

There was some creative mis-direction at times, but not enough. There was plenty of play-action but the problem with using play-action frequently is that the defence actually needs to believe you’ll run the ball. Unfortunately, Ottawa’s pass-to-run ratio was out of whack, with 30 passes called to just 14 handoffs (and only 12 of those went to running backs).

The Redblacks finished with 21 first downs and 349 yards of offence, but the devil lies in the details. Ottawa converted just nine-of-24 second down opportunities — 38 percent — and nine of their fourteen possessions gained less than 20 yards. They also went one-for-four in the red zone, largely due to the three turnovers in that area (which is beyond the play-caller’s control).

4) The decision not to feature more of Canadian running back Daniel Adeboboye was a puzzling one. The ex-Argo was clearly hyped up to be facing his former team and averaged 6.6 yards per carry. He was the best running back in the game but was only given the ball seven times.

A week after Ottawa rushed for 239 yards in the rain — with Adeboboye accounting for 96 of those yards — the Redblacks decided not to lean on their productive back. Adeboboye finished the night with 46 yards on his seven carries and should’ve been ruled across the goal-line in the theird quarter but the ball was instead placed just short instead.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

As for veteran American William Stanback, he mustered 16 yards on his five carries, with his longest gain of the night coming in at nine yards.

5) Coming into the game, Toronto defensive lineman Andrew Chatfield Jr. was riding a hot streak of sacks in three consecutive games. To say he continued his strong start to the season would be an understatement.

Chatfield, who was traded from the Redblacks to the Argos for defensive back Craig James in the off-season, bullied Ottawa’s offensive line, finishing the game with eight tackles, two sacks, a pass knockdown and a handful of other pressures. The Redblacks had no answer for him and he proved to be a game-wrecker.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

As a unit, the big men up front had a poor outing. Crum was under siege all game long and while some of that is on him for failing to make decisions, some of it was on his protectors. The pressure came from not just from the edges — right tackle Darta Lee in particular struggled at times — but also from up the gut, with Jacob Ruby uncharacteristically beat on a couple of second down plays.

Good offensive line play can help a quarterback look good by providing that extra second needed to make a read and complete a pass. Likewise, good quarterback play can help mask a protection in breakdown. Against Toronto, neither of those things happened frequently enough.

6) William Fields’ defence did their part. That’s not to say it was a perfect performance — there were still too many instances of receivers catching passes without any defender within a five-yard radius — but when the defence only gives up 15 points, your team should win the game. Period.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

The Redblacks utterly shut down Toronto’s run game, limiting the Argos to just 30 yards on the ground and 289 yards of total offence. Toronto converted only 31 percent of their second-down opportunities and of their 12 possessions, eight went for 23 yards or less.

The front seven didn’t generate much pressure on Nick Arbuckle early but as the game went on, the unit got into a groove and finished with three sacks and a deflected pass that resulted in an interception.

Defensive back C.J. Coldon led the way with six tackles and a knockdown. He also could’ve finished the night with a pair of interceptions, but he failed to hang on to a pair of passes that hit him in the hands.

Linebackers Frankie Griffin and Jovan Santos-Knox both finished with five tackles. Defensive linemen Michael Wakefield, Cleyon Laing, and Bryce Carter each had a sack. Lorenzo Mauldin IV didn’t register a sack but two of his three tackles were behind the line of scrimmage for losses.

7) The low-light for the special teams unit was giving up the 120-yard missed field goal touchdown return, but other than that massive blooper, the group was actually quite solid.

Lewis Ward nailed every kick that wasn’t blocked, knocking in field goals of 50, 45, and 40 yards. Richie Leone punted six times for an average field position flip of 41.3 yards per kick.

The kick coverage did a good job limiting the always dangerous Janarion Grant to a long punt return of 15 yards and 26 yards on kickoffs. Linebackers Adarius Pickett and Tyron Vrede led the way with two special teams tackles apiece.

In terms of Ottawa’s return game, DeVonte Dedmon averaged 17 yards per punt return and 22 per kickoff. And finally healthy, defensive back Gavin Heslop made a heck of a play to block a punt in his first action of the 2025 season.

8) A couple of things I liked from head coach Bob Dyce were when (and what) he challenged, and his willingness to be aggressive. Dyce went two-for-two when he threw the red challenge flag against the Argos and the extended drives resulted in points or a turnover on downs.

At times during his tenure as head coach, Dyce has taken flak for being too conservative, which is why it was nice to see that with 8:31 left in the game, trailing 28-13 and facing third-and-three from Toronto’s 31-yard line, he opted to go for it instead of kicking a field goal. The offence converted, which rewarded his trust, but ultimately the Redblacks wound up kicking a field goal when Crum was sacked two plays later. Even though it didn’t work out in ideal fashion, Dyce’s process was good.

9) A year after going 7-1-1 at TD Place, the Redblacks have already doubled last season’s home loss total. Ottawa is now 0-2 at home and R-Nation’s patience is being tested, which was reflected by a weak crowd of 17,700. Yes, I’m aware it’s Canada Day weekend and many in the nation’s capital skip town to avoid the crowds, but it was still a disappointing turnout. Fans want reasons to believe the team can build off of last year’s return to the playoffs and so far, some are showing they don’t.

10) The more a venue has that is unique or that makes it special, the better. That’s why I’m such a fan of Ottawa’s 55-yard line and the fact that it was painted red for Canada Day. It’s a small thing but it helps give TD Place its own distinct vibe. It would be nice to see that red numbers at centre field continue.

11) With the loss, the Redblacks are now 3-15 against the Argos since 2017 and have lost seven of their last eight meetings against the Double Blue. Argos’ head coach Ryan Dinwiddie improves to 9-2 vs. Ottawa in his coaching career, whereas Dyce’s record drops to 1-5 vs. Toronto.

By failing to beat the Argos, the Redblacks wasted an excellent opportunity to move to .500 and secure a bit of a hold on second place in the East Division. The defeat instead sees them fall to 1-3 on the season and from second to fourth (last) place.

Four weeks into the season, there’s no need to throw in the towel or believe the sky is falling, especially because Ottawa has been playing without their starting quarterback for three weeks, along with a slew of other impact starters who have missed significant time with injury.

The only that is disappearing quickly is R-Nation’s patience. One way to restore some of that would be to get things back on track next Sunday night in Edmonton against the Elks.

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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