Ottawa Redblacks show fight but fall to 0-3 (& 11 other thoughts)

Photo courtesy: CFL.ca

The Ottawa Redblacks lost to the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday night by a score of 37-35 in front of 17,138 fans at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium.

Thanks to a slow start offensively, a secondary that sprung leaks at all the wrong times, and special teams miscues, it was yet another game that will leave R-Nation ruing what could have been.

Here are my thoughts on the game.

A tale of two halves

It’s not an exaggeration to say that if Ottawa’s offence started the game they way they finished, the outcome would have been different.

In the first half, Ryan Dinwiddie’s offensive attack had nothing going for it. Seven possessions produced a pair of field goals and merely five first downs. The Redblacks didn’t stretch the field, failed to establish the run, and had no rhythm whatsoever, as evidenced by the fact that their longest drive mustered merely 22 yards.

And yet over the game’s final 30 minutes, it seemed like a switch was flipped. Dinwiddie and company only had five possessions in the second half but Ottawa churned out drives of 65, 78, 50, and 63 yards, scoring three touchdowns and a field goal.

They were still unable to establish the run, and although they technically didn’t have any explosive passing plays (which the CFL defines as 30+ yard completions), the Redblacks did stretch the field somewhat by feasting on 15 to 20 yard completions that helped offset Montreal’s relentless blitzing.

In this writer’s opinion, it was no coincidence that drives became more successful once Justin Hardy was involved. After receiving no targets in the first half, he was featured heavily over the latter half of the game, as quarterback Jake Maier looked his way nine times.

There’s plenty to clean up — Ottawa need to be more efficient in the red zone and eliminate the turnovers (11 turnovers through three games is horrendous), but it’s positive that the offence showed signs of life and now has something to build off of.

Steady as she goes

If the noise around the radical changes the Redblacks made to their quarterback room affected Jake Maier, you’d never be able to tell from watching his performance against the Alouettes.

The 29-year-old veteran had his best outing of the season in Montreal, completing 71 percent of his passes for 336 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception. Although Maier was responsible for just the one turnover, it came at a terrible time, when the Redblacks were driving at the end of the first half and already in field goal range.

It’s not so much that it was the wrong decision, rather it was that the ball wasn’t thrown properly. Instead of being a tighter pass on a line, Maier put too much air under it, which set up a jump ball for the five-foot-eight Kailil Pimpleton. Predictably, that didn’t end well for the Redblacks.

The turnover was bad, but the fact that it meant Ottawa came away with no points was worse, especially as the team went on to lose by two points.

Als defence comes up BIG ❌

Wesley Sutton with the pick!

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— CFL (@CFL) June 29, 2026

In the first half, Maier was under siege as his offensive line struggled to protect him. That meant few opportunities to go through his progressions, resulting in frequent check-downs to his running backs.

As the protection improved in the second half, he was able to settle into a rhythm and step up in the pocket. He fit the ball into some tight windows, such as the pass that resulted in the first of Hardy’s two touchdowns.

REDBLACKS HOUSE CALL ‼️

Jake Maier connects with Justin Hardy for a 29-yard TD

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— CFL (@CFL) June 29, 2026

Maier received a vote of confidence from his head coach this week when the team shipped Dru Brown out of town and it was good to see him respond with a steady outing against a stout Montreal defence.

But with McLeod Bethel-Thompson joining the team this week, he’ll need to continue to raise his level of play if he wants to remain under centre. Given Bethel-Thompson’s history with Dinwiddie and familiarity with his scheme, it won’t take long for him to be ready, if called upon.

Running in quicksand

We’re three games into the 2026 season, and so far the Redblacks’ ground game has yet to be a real factor. It has to be acknowledged that part of that stems from the fact that through 180 minutes of play, Ottawa has yet to hold a lead at any time, in any game.

When you’re constantly trailing, it’s natural for the running game to be eschewed in favour of passing the ball. With that said, the Redblacks have been guilty of abandoning the run even when tied or down by a single score. Against Montreal, Ottawa called just 11 runs to 38 passes. While CFL teams will always pass the ball more than run it, a more balanced approach is ideal.

The fact that the Redblacks haven’t been generating much production on the ground seems to be forcing Dinwiddie’s hand when it comes to play-calling. Greg Bell was handed the ball nine times, but finished with just 40 yards. Canadian back Daniel Adeboboye was given two carries but finished with minus-two yards.

With that said, both backs found other ways to contribute. Bell was a frequent safety valve in the first half of the game, turning three check-downs into 24 yards, with all of those yards coming after the catch. Adeboboye also caught a pair of passes for 22 yards, made some huge blocks in blitz pickup, and returned two kickoffs for 64 yards.

It was encouraging to see both backs on the field together in certain packages, and hopefully that’s something the team does more of going forwards.

(Un)imposing their will

A large part of the team’s struggles in getting things rolling with the ground games has to do with the offensive line’s struggles in opening lanes. It’s unrealistic to expect any running back to be productive when they need to dodge defenders before they’ve even hit the line of scrimmage.

When an offensive line is playing nasty and imposing their will, it sets the tone for the offence as a whole. It slows down blitzes and wears down defensive linemen. It helps offset the pass rush as there’s a slight hesitation as the defence needs to respect and react to play-action. And that simply hasn’t been happening enough with the Redblacks so far this season.

The team shook things up by releasing American Martez Ivey, who had started both games at right tackle. Canadian veteran Zack Pelehos slid into his place and was pretty steady, aside from being beaten for a sack in the second quarter.

Since averaging 6.2 yards per rush in Week 1, the Redblacks have averaged 3.1 and 3.5 yards per carry the past two weeks. Until that number improves significantly, the offence will continue to sputter.

The Hardy and White show

As mentioned above, Ottawa’s arial attack really came to life once Justin Hardy got involved. All nine of his targets came in the second half and those looks resulted in seven catches for 119 yards and a touchdown. Two of those receptions moved the chains on second down.

Speaking of coming up clutch, sophomore Canadian receiver Keelan White continues to impress. The 24-year-old turned seven targets into six catches for 62 yards (two of which kept drives alive on second down), and a pair of touchdowns. His second touchdown snag was truly a thing of beauty.

CANADIAN MADE x2️⃣. OMG KEELAN WHITE!?!?

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— CFL (@CFL) June 29, 2026

As for the rest of the receiving corps, Kalil Pimpleton had three catches for 52 yards, with 31 of those yards coming after the catch. Ayden Eberhardt also made a trio of catches, good for 25 yards. And American rookie Binjimen Victor, who started in place the injured Eugene Lewis, made two grabs for 32 yards.

Springing leaks and self-inflected wounds

Defensive coordinator William Fields probably had a few moments on Sunday night where he rolled his eyes. His unit was always in tough against an Alouettes squad that came into the game as the league’s best at sustaining drives and creating explosive plays. If the Redblacks were ever going to have a chance to win, they needed to limit Montreal’s big plays, create turnovers, and play clean football.

Unfortunately, none of those things happened.

If something stinks, it sure ain’t the Alouettes!

Davis Alexander (@chavisdavis7) unleashes a 53-yard missile to Alexander Hollins (@ahollins13) for the opening score!#CFL #AlsMTL #Alouettes pic.twitter.com/dRdnTQ1eCK

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) June 28, 2026

Montreal converted a whopping 60 percent of their second-down opportunities, Ottawa failed to record a turnover, and Fields’ unit was torched for five explosive plays (and it would’ve been even more had a couple of Montreal misfires not resulted in open receivers being overthrown).

Those big plays repeatedly set up the Alouettes inside the red zone, and not only did Ottawa bend, but they broke, allowing Montreal to score on four of the five trips they had to the red zone.

It wasn’t so much that Davis Alexander was never under pressure (although the Redblacks finished with just a single sack), but rather that of the numerous times they did make things uncomfortable for him, he was able to use his legs to extend plays and make Ottawa pay. Montreal averaged 11.5 yards per pass and frequently had receivers running wide open deep. In particular, it seemed like the Alouettes made a concerted effort to target the receivers being covered by Shakur Brown and Amari Henderson.

Tyson Philpot! 🤯🏈

What an incredible catch! #CFL pic.twitter.com/0FbcRVSsDs

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 29, 2026

The Redblacks were also victimized on two broken plays that should’ve been tackles for losses. The first came on an attempted double-pass in the first quarter, and the other came late in the fourth quarter on a run that seemed bottled up. On both occasions, Ottawa seemingly had Montreal bottled up for no gain, only for multiple defenders to wind up missing tackles and allow Montreal to move the chains.

Tyler Snead breaks loose for an incredible 21-yard gain, bringing the Montreal Alouettes crowd to its feet! #CFL🏈🔥🙌 pic.twitter.com/BSttExVah2

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 29, 2026

Nyles Morgan continued to be a force, making nine tackles and bringing pressure almost every time he blitzed. Defensive back Bennett Williams had seven tackles and a knockdown, and was noticeable with a couple of strong sticks in run support.

With Alonzo Addae on the one-game injured list, Canadian Scott Hutter started at safety and made three tackles. He also made a great play to break up a deep pass to force an Alouettes two-and-out.

Specials giveth, and taketh

The big highlight from Jeff Reinebold’s unit was Pimpleton’s 94-yard touchdown return in the last minute to pull Ottawa within two points of a tie.

KALIL. PIMPLETON. KICK RETURN FOR A TOUCHDOWN‼️ pic.twitter.com/0veOJJLJZP

— Ottawa REDBLACKS (@REDBLACKS) June 29, 2026

But the long return was just one of many strong returns the Redblacks had on the night. Excluding the touchdown, Pimpleton still averaged over 37 yards per kickoff return. He also averaged 10.8 yards per punt return, with a long of 21 yards.

Other positives from Reinebold’s group included Brett Lauther making all three of his field goals, nailing kicks from 37, 34, and 20 yards out (he’s now 10-for-10 on the season) and backup defensive back Marcus Barnes notching four special teams tackles. That’s a sure way to show the coaches that you deserve to make the game day roster.

For all the positive things Ottawa’s special teams did, there were a handful of negatives that loomed large. Lauther’s missed convert in the third quarter was somewhat negated by Montreal missing a convert of their own, but when combined with the two-point attempt that Ottawa failed to get earlier in that same quarter, those three points were the difference between winning and losing the game.

Another thing that has to be cleaned up is the team’s kick coverage. Punter Noah Gettman averaged 50.2 yards per punt, but had a net flip of just 34.8 yards as Ottawa allowed Mario Alford to rip off returns of 23, 12, 16, and 34 yards.

Mixing and matching

I absolutely loved to see the Redblacks mix and match their home and away uniforms. Given that the current roads were purposely designed as reverses of their home looks and with the intention of allowing the team to mix things up, it was good to see them waste no time in creating that sharp contrast.

One thing that stands out, though, is how badly the black pants are crying out for a stripe. While they do look great when paired with the stellar white jerseys, the pants are plain and boring. A stripe similar to the one on their white pants would take the mixed look from good to great.

Déjà vu

You’ll have to forgive R-Nation if they seem extra cranky towards Alouettes fans, but it’s not without reason.

Sunday’s loss extended Montreal’s current winning streak over the Redblacks to 12 games. Since 2021, Montreal is now 17-3 against Ottawa, and the last time the Redblacks beat the Alouettes was back on Oct. 10, 2022.

Speaking of losses

It’s been 296 days since R-Nation woke up to a victory. The last time Ottawa won a game was all the way back on Sept. 5th, 2025. While it’s unfair to lump the current roster with last season’s team, the fact of the matter is that fans in the nation’s capital are at their wits end.

Realistically, given the overhauled roster and new coaching staff, it was always going to take a little time for the team to gel, but how can anyone expect R-Nation to be patient given what they’ve endured in recent seasons?

The franchise finds itself in a tricky situation because the 2026 team should be judged separately from other iterations. But fans want — and deserve — results. R-Nation has been waiting since 2018 for the organization to put a consistent winning product on the field.

The only thing that will move the needle and get fans back in the stadium are wins. Words fall flat until they’re backed up by results.

Up next

Three games into the season, Ryan Dinwiddie’s squad has yet to put their best foot forward. While that’s cause for concern, it’s also cause for hope, as even while not playing their best, they’ve been in every game until late in the fourth quarter.

And if you were the type to look for and take comfort in silver linings, this was easily the best Ottawa has looked in a loss so far. If the offence can build upon their second-half showing — and get the running game going — points won’t be a problem. And if the defence can do a better job limiting explosives, that first win will come sooner rather than later.

Up next for the Redblacks is a Friday night game under the TD Place Stadium lights against the reigning Grey Cup champions.