Ten thoughts on the Ottawa Redblacks closing out preseason with win

Photo: Gord Weber/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

For the second week in a row, the Ottawa Redblacks defeated the Montreal Alouettes, this time by a score of 27-3.

The venue changed — TD Place instead of Percival Molson — as did the lineups, as this time it was Ottawa with the veteran-heavy roster and Montreal with the depth players, but the result was the same.

Here are my thoughts on the Redblacks closing out the preseason with a win.

Anti-climatic QB battle

On Tuesday, in response to a question in a media scrum about his quarterbacks, head coach Ryan Dinwiddie said that while nobody had lost the job, nobody had taken it either. That seemed to imply the starting quarterback job was still up for grabs and would come down to how incumbent Dru Brown and free agent addition Jake Maier played in Friday night’s game.

But that speculation was put to bed on Thursday morning when Dinwiddie, somewhat surprisingly, announced that Maier would not only start the pregame on Friday, but also enter the regular-season as the team’s QB1.

After being anointed as the starter, and coming off a strong performance with Ottawa’s backups last week against Montreal’s starting defence, the expectation was that Maier would come out strong on Friday. Only that wasn’t exactly the case: of the five drives Maier led before giving way to Brown, four went two-and-out.

To be fair to the 29-year-old veteran, his teammates didn’t exactly help him out. Maier’s first throw was a perfectly-placed ball that hit Kalil Pimpleton in the hands, only for the receiver to drop it. Had it been completed, it would’ve been at least a 20-yard gain.

There was also a pair of procedure penalties that stalled drives and running plays were repeatedly stuffed behind the line of scrimmage. Ultimately, Maier completed six-of-nine passes for 35 yards, and his lone misfire was missing an open Pimpleton on a deep corner.

It was perhaps not the performance fans wanted to see from the guy who had just been deemed the starter, but it also wasn’t cause for worry. If the offence as a whole can clean things up, Maier will be fine.

Brown looks sharp

After not playing in Montreal last week, Dru Brown took his first reps of the preseason in the middle of the second quarter. His first drive went two and out when Brown under threw an open Justin Hardy, but from there, the 29-year-old was locked in. Across Ottawa’s next two possessions Brown made good reads and got the ball out of his hands quickly, completing seven passes in a row, including two touchdowns. The first being a perfectly floated ball to the back corner of the end zone, and the second coming on a rollout off an RPO (run-pass-option).

While some might be tempted to declare Brown’s performance strong enough to warrant Dinwiddie second-guessing his decision to declare Maier the starter, I don’t think that will, or should, happen. What Brown demonstrated with his outing against Montreal is that when he’s called upon, he’ll be ready to go. Whether he’ll be needed to provide a spark in a game when the offence needs a change-up or to step in for a few games due to injury remains to be seen, but what’s clear is that the Redblacks truly have two viable options under centre.

The young guns

A week after rookie Bryson Barnes looked like the better of Ottawa’s two younger quarterbacks, on Friday night it was Max Duggan’s turn to impress. The former TCU pivot looked sharp in the four drives he led, completing six-of-nine passes for 69 yards and a touchdown. He also scrambled once for 12 yards. Not only did Duggan read the field well, he also showed a willingness to take a hit to make a play.

Barnes finished the game completing three-of-six passes he attempted, with his incompletions coming as a result of a drop by Jordan Bly and a pair of overthrown balls. He also scrambled once for seven yards.

If history is any indication, Ottawa won’t carry four quarterbacks on their main roster. In the past, they’ve normally kept three, and had one on their practice roster.

As to which of Duggan or Barnes winds up as QB3 or on the practice roster might come down to who the coaches believe is better at running short-yardage, and also who is least likely to be poached by another team.

Running game grounded

The preseason isn’t a time to panic or make strong declarations, but a week after failing to open up much in the way of running lanes, that trend continued on Friday night.

In his Ottawa debut, star free-agent addition Greg Bell had an underwhelming showcase, mustering a single yard on his five carries. But it’s hard to expect any back to produce and generate positive yardage when the offensive line allows so much penetration that the ball carrier is hit almost immediately after taking the hand off.

While the team shouldn’t hit the panic button, it was concerning that even with projected starters like Dino Boyd, Drew Desjarlais, Sean McEwen, Sam Carson, Zack Pelehos, Martez Ivey, and Gio Vaccaro played into the second quarter and there wasn’t much push in terms of the ground game.

In fact, the only running back who popped was Canadian Daniel Adeboboye. His two carries came in the third quarter but were good for gains for 13 and 12 yards. Americans Elijah Collins and Jacquez Stuart finished with a combined five carries for 13 yards.

Keelan keeps rolling

For the second week in a row, Canadian Keelan White was Ottawa’s most productive receiver.

Last week, the third overall pick in the 2025 draft had a pair of touchdowns. This week, despite being held out of the end zone, White had a team-high five receptions for 57 yards, with 44 of those yards coming after making the catch.

Speaking of Canadian receivers, 2025 Hec Crighton Trophy winner Ethan Jordan made a couple of nice plays himself, turning two receptions into 37 yards, with 23 of them coming after the catch.

As for the rest of the Redblacks’ receiving corps, it was a quiet night for the veterans and projected starters.

Pimpleton had two catches for 11 yards and a drop. Eugene Lewis wasn’t targeted. Justin Hardy was the most productive with three catches for 25 yards. In terms of Americans pushing for a spot, Rory Starkey had two catches for 44 yards, while Sam Schnee and Cade McDonald each made a single catch, for three and ten yards, respectively.

Plenty for Fields to smile about

Yes, it was against a roster that featured plenty of backups, but any time you hold the opponent to just three points, the defensive coordinator should be happy.

On Friday night, R-Nation got a look at the majority of the starting defence and should be pleased with what it saw. Preseason games should always be taken with a grain of salt, but that doesn’t erase the fact that the defence was opportunistic, forcing seven turnovers, and limited Montreal to just 13 first downs.

The Redblacks got a number of strong individual performances, perhaps none better than what Bennett Williams showed. The versatile defensive back finished with five tackles (one for a loss) and was constantly around the ball. The perfect illustration of his effort came on a play in the first quarter. Williams blitzed and forced a quick throw by pressuring the quarterback, then turned upfield and chased down the ball-carrier from behind to make the tackle himself.

Defensive back Marcus Barnes finished with four tackles (one for a loss) and had an incredible pick-six. Rookie American Ro Torrence made five tackles, including the hardest hit of the night late in the fourth quarter when he blew up Shomari Lawrence in the flat as he caught a check down.

Both of Canadian linebacker Lucas Cormier’s tackles were for a loss, and he also forced a fumble that was scooped up and recovered by Canadian defensive end Luiji Vilain. Veteran Canadian Cleyon Laing made two tackles for a loss and 2025 fourth-round pick Muftah Ageli notched two tackles and a sack.

Finally, Shakur Brown beautifully baited Anthony Brown into an end zone interception.

Again, it’s only preseason and teams aren’t truly game planning, but Fields has to be content that through two games, his defence has given up exactly one touchdown.

Not so special

The good thing about Ottawa’s special teams performance on Friday night is that it’ll give the coaching staff lots of teaching tape. Overall, it was a sloppy night and I’m not sure it really gave any punter a leg up in terms of the position battle.

Let’s start with the positives. Jacquez Stuart was yet again effective as he handled all return duties. Stuart fielded six punts for 61 yards, averaging 10.2 yards per punt return, with a long of 35 yards. He also took one kickoff back for 25 yards. Given that he handled the majority of returns throughout the preseason, it would be a surprise if he didn’t make Ottawa’s roster in that role.

We also got our first look at Brett Lauther wearing the red and black and the 35-year-old veteran didn’t disappoint. Although he didn’t attempt a field goal, he was two-for-two on converts and averaged 68.5 yards per kickoff.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, it was a tough night for Global Paul Geelan. The six-foot-six Dutchman missed three kicks: two converts and a field goal that he pushed wide right.

In terms of the punting game, American Noah Gettman punted four times, averaging 55 yards per kick but an average field flip of just 32.2 yards. That difference is partially on the cover men, but a punter can help out his cover team with good directional kicking and long hang times.

As for Global punter James Burnip, the Aussie punted six times, averaging 46 yards per punt, and an average field flip of 35.5 yards. Burnip also had a punt blocked, although that was on his protection unit — fullback Anthony Gosselin, specifically — as opposed to something he did wrong.

The wrong kind of flags

It’s one thing for teams to be penalized in the preseason, but not all flags are equal.

In the CFL there preventable, technical and roughness flags. Of the three, preventable penalties tend to be the ones that incense coaches the most, because they leave no room for referee discretion, they’re simply procedural errors that come from a lack of focus.

Of the eight flags thrown on Ottawa against Montreal, six were preventable fouls. Those kinds of mistakes simply can’t occur next week in Edmonton.

Saturday cuts

With the preseason over and camp officially closed, the Redblacks front office will spend Saturday trimming their roster down to 44 or 45 on the active roster, a two-man reserve, and 15 on the practice roster.

It’s always a tough day because though it’s exciting to see the hard work of newcomers rewarded with jobs, it’s offset by those who will be told their dream of playing pro football in Canada have ended, at least for now.

Next time, it’s for real

After settling the roster, head coach Ryan Dinwiddie and his staff will be focused entirely on game-planning for next Saturday’s game against Edmonton.

Like Ottawa, the Elks are coming off a handful of disappointing seasons and will be looking to start 2026 off on a positive note. For the Redblacks, kicking off the regular-season with a win at home would go a long way towards not just instilling belief amongst players, but boosting fan enthusiasm.