Ottawa Redblacks obliterated by Alouettes, fall to 0-10 (& eight other thoughts)

Photo: CFL.ca

One might be tempted to call the string of events that flipped momentum in the first quarter of Thursday night’s game at  Percival Molson  Stadium a comedy of errors, but that would require there to be something funny about it. And I can assure you, nobody in the nation’s capital saw any humour in the sequence of self-inflicted mistakes that saw the Ottawa Redblacks quickly turn a potential double digit lead, into a double digit deficit.

Here are all my thoughts on the Redblacks being blown out 46-16 by the Alouettes in Montreal.

A big reason why

Over the past month, it’s been common for people in the media to note that while he hasn’t been playing at an elite level, Jake Maier’s quarterbacking was not the main reason Ottawa wasn’t winning games. I’ve said as much myself, with the caveat that he still needed to be better.

Unfortunately not only was he unable to elevate his play against the Alouettes, Maier was a huge reason why the Redblacks lost the game by 30 points. His three turnovers led directly to 21 points for Montreal. Given that Ottawa has been averaging a league-low 22.1 points per game in 2026, that alone sealed their fate.

Maier’s first interception was bad because it came on first-and-five with the team already in field goal range, up 7-0 and with all the momentum on their side. His deep throw to the end zone was picked off, and Montreal promptly marched down the field on a seven-play, 80-yard touchdown drive.

INSANE PICK 🤯

Nate Beauchemin gets the interception in the end zone to prevent another Ottawa TD 👀

🗓️: REDBLACKS vs. Alouettes LIVE NOW
📺: TSN, RDS, CBSSN and CFL+#CFLGameDay pic.twitter.com/7Xb2tcKVBS

— CFL (@CFL) August 21, 2026

Instead of being up 10-0 or even 14-0, the Redblacks found themselves tied. That’s a 10-14 point swing against the league’s best team. Not a winning formula by any means.

Somehow, Maier’s second interception was even worse. Trailing 14-7 in the second quarter, the 29-year old seemingly locked onto Kalil Pimpleton as soon as he took the snap, telegraphing his throw. Not only was the pass intercepted, but it was returned for a pick-six, putting Montreal up 21-7.

In fairness to Jake Maier, Kabion Ento (@Kabionento) did play receiver in college. Maybe he just got confused?#CFL #AlsMTL #Alouettes pic.twitter.com/q0BFzxC434

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) August 21, 2026

From there, things never got better for Maier, as he had a handful of other off-target throws — including another in the end zone that could’ve been picked off — and a fumble late in the third quarter that turned into yet another Alouettes touchdown.

Following his third turnover of the night, Maier was benched. He finished the game with a 61 percent completion rate for 126 yards and the pair of interceptions.

Did Geoffrey Cantin-Arku (@geofcantin) force this fumble or did Jake Maier drop it?

Does it even matter?

If you are a Redblacks fan, does anything matter anymore?#CFL #AlsMTL #RNation pic.twitter.com/v15UJMGG0q

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) August 21, 2026

Coming into this week’s game, even when Maier was playing “well” there were issues that were holding his play, and the offence as a whole, back from being more successful.

One of those things was a severe lack of explosive passing plays (completions of 30-plus yards). Despite leading the league in passes attempted with 374, just nine had resulted in explosive plays.

Even when shortening the criteria to passes of 20-plus yards, the stats paint a rough picture. Coming into this game, of the 53 passes he attempted of 20-plus yards, only 41.5 percent had been completed. Against Montreal, those trends continued, as Maier’s longest gain of the night was good for just 17 yards.

I note all this because with the team at 0-10 and coming off his worst performance of the season that resulted in his benching, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see head coach Ryan Dinwiddie make a change at the position going forward. Dinwiddie has proven to be remarkably loyal to his starting quarterback through a thoroughly disappointing season, but the stats, and results, don’t lie.

With Maier under centre, the Redblacks have simply been unable to stretch the field. That, combined with the team’s lack of success running the ball, has stymied the offence.

Nobody can argue that Maier was on a short leash — quite the opposite, in fact — but while turning to veteran McLeod Bethel-Thompson might provide a spark that moves the Redblacks into the win column, long-term it doesn’t clear anything up for Ottawa.

At 38, MBT isn’t the Redblacks’ quarterback of the future. American rookie Bryson Barnes flashed potential in the preseason, but the risk of giving him extended playing time now is that poor results might impact his confidence long-term.

With 10 days before Ottawa’s next game, it’ll be fascinating to see what Dinwiddie decides to do at the game’s most important position.

Handcuffed

I actually liked the game Ryan Dinwiddie was calling before things went off the rails, mainly because it seemed like the Redblacks were finally having a bit of success running the football. At halftime, Ottawa had 77 rushing yards, which was impressive given that coming into the game, the Redblacks had only been averaging 50.4 yards per game.

Unfortunately, Ottawa had to get away from the ground attack in an effort to try and keep up with an Alouettes offence that was red hot. Not counting the two possessions at the end of each half in which they weren’t really trying to move the ball, the Redblacks had nine possessions.

Of those, four ended in turnovers and one in a missed field goal. Six drives gained 12 yards or less. As a play-caller, there’s not much of anything you can do to overcome your offence repeatedly shooting itself in the foot.

With that said, it was good to see the offence incorporate a little bit of creativity by moving the pocket on rollouts and shovel passes to athletic receivers like Pimpleton. There are things for the Redblacks to build on, like Greg Bell averaging 6.9 yards per carry and Daniel Adeboboye five yards per carry, if the offence can get out of its own way and stop turning the ball over.

Through 10 games, the Redblacks have 34 turnovers. That’s insurmountable for any team.

White hot

For the sixth straight game, Canadian sophomore receiver Keelan White had at least six receptions. Against the Alouettes, the 24-year-old snagged six passes for 70 yards, with four of those receptions moving the chains on second down. White’s emergence as a key piece of the offence continues to be a bright spot.

As for the rest of Ottawa’s receiving corps, Justin Hardy finished with four catches for 52 yards, Pimpleton made three for 22 yards, and Ayden Eberhardt had a relatively quiet night by his standards, with a pair of receptions for 18 yards. American running back Mario Anderson Jr., a late addition to the roster when Nyles Morgan was scratched, finished with one reception for seven yards.

Long day at the office

The Redblacks’ defence was always going to be in tough against the league’s No. 1 offence. Montreal came into the game averaging 34.1 points per game and 454 yards of offence — and their offence repeatedly turning the ball over made life even more difficult for Jeff Reinebold’s unit.

Let’s start with the positives, since it’s a short list.

The first is given that Alouettes pivot Davis Alexander leads the CFL in explosive plays, the Redblacks limiting him to two just counts as a small victory.

The second was the play of a trio of promising young players in linebacker Lucas Cormier, defensive back Eric Cumberbatch and, defensive lineman Jelani Stafford. Cormier finished with seven tackles, Cumberbatch had four, plus a nice breakup on a deep ball, while Stafford notched four tackles and a sack of his own.

In terms of what went wrong, take your pick.

For the majority of the game, Ottawa was unable to pressure Alexander, which is reflected by the fact that he completed 87 percent of his passes. Montreal’s offence moved the ball any way they wanted, averaging seven yards per rush and 10.4 yards per pass. They continually extended drives by converting 80 percent of their second down opportunities. When they got into the red zone, they cashed in, scoring touchdowns on five of their seven trips into the area.

All in all, it was tough outing.

Miscues aplenty

When your team loses by 30 points, it’s because it struggled in all three phases of play, and that was true for the Redblacks on Thursday night. The struggles of the offence and defence are detailed above, but Ottawa’s special teams deserve scrutiny as well.

THE REDBLACKS FUMBLE THE BALL 😲

Montreal takes over.#CFL pic.twitter.com/HY5w70n4U4

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 21, 2026

Whether it was punter Noah Gettman failing to hold a perfectly placed snap that hit him in the hands, corralling the loose ball in a panic before having it ripped out of his hands and returned 49 yards to set up a Montreal touchdown, or kicker Brett Lauther missing his first field goal of the season by pushing a 43-yard kick wide left for a ghost rouge (or a “Stewie,” as some online have taken to calling rouges that no longer count for a point), or the kickoff cover unit conceding an average return of 40.5 yards per kickoff to former Redblacks returner DeVonte Dedmon, it was a poor outing from the unit.

Unending injuries

With 17 players already on the six-game injured list, the last thing the Redblacks can afford is further injuries.

But against Montreal, defensive backs Marcus Barnes and King Ambers were both shaken up in the fourth quarter. Hopefully neither is anything serious, especially given that 14 of the 17 players already out long term are defensive players (five defensive backs, five defensive linemen, and four linebackers).

Food for thought

While on the topic of injuries, Mike Sutherland, a former centre whose 10-year CFL career spanned stints the Roughriders, Alouettes, Blue Bombers and Renegades, put out a fascinating paper this week titled The 35-Second Squeeze: Why CFL Defenses Are Running on Empty in 2026.

Currently the PA announcer at Redblacks’ home games, Sutherland convincingly argues that while this season’s change to a 35-second clock has been positive in terms of offence, it’s come at the expense of defensive injuries.

“Offensive lines look sharper late in games because the defensive linemen across from them are gasping for air, locked out of their rotation packages, and crushed by sustained, high-force collisions without any recovery time. Similarly, explosive plays in the return game aren’t booming due to talent; they are booming because the core coverage units are comprised of exhausted defensive starters playing high-speed reps without a micro-rest buffer.

With fatigue comes an increased risk of injury. When it comes to players getting hurt, verified 4th-quarter injury stoppages have surged from a 2025 baseline of 0.385 per game (37 across 96 games) up to 0.976 per game in 2026—a 153.5% increase, with defensive personnel absorbing 77% of these breakdowns.

Defenses are not simply getting tired; their bodies are shutting down and their coverage shells are breaking down because the elimination of the micro-rest buffer forces them to run deep into anaerobic debt, drive after drive. The fact that the performance gap remained flat between 2024 and 2025 and then jumped significantly this year squarely points to the introduction of a new variable in the 2026 season: the 35-second clock.”

I highly encourage you to check it out for yourself. It’s an excellent read backed by solid data.

Up next

With the loss, the Redblacks now sit at 0-10 and their losing streak has extended to a painful 16 games.

Talk to any group of Ottawa fans — be it in person or online — and you’ll find people that have checked out, tired of being continually disappointed. Their frustration and apathy is understandable, and those members of R-Nation who continue to invest their time, money, and effort into supporting the team should be commended.

Fans want to be believe and buy in, but to date, they haven’t been given a reason to do so.

Ottawa’s next chance to move into the win column will come on August 30, when the Redblacks welcome the B.C. Lions to Lansdowne for a Sunday night clash. Dinwiddie and his staff have some big decisions to make between now and then, and it’ll be interesting to see if the coaching staff opts for significant personnel changes or smaller tweaks.