Redblacks ‘this close’ to return to title form
Sometimes the stats don’t tell the whole story.
The Ottawa Redblacks defence has played pretty well for big chunks of four games — three losses and a tie. The defensive line, in particular, has picked it up — getting four sacks, two by Arnaud Gascon-Nadon, last week in Edmonton.
When Redblacks coach Rick Campbell talks about forcing the other team to make mistakes, he’s talking about things like that stat line, which shows no interceptions for the Redblacks, plus just one forced fumble. On the other hand, the Redblacks have eight turnovers, tied for last in the CFL.
“We have to get points off turnovers,” said Gascon-Nadon on Monday. “Whenever we give up a touchdown on a turnover, we feel it’s our mistake. We have to limit that to no points or three points.
“As a D-line group, we’ve been playing pretty good. You play teams like Calgary and they try to get rid of the ball fast so we don’t really get the stats. We just need to continue pressuring the quarterback. The linebackers and DBs, they help us, we help them — it’s a team thing.”
If you think these guys are just collecting their paycheques and not worrying about the lack of success in the standings, think again.
Said Gascon-Nadon: “We’re grinding. We’ve had a tie game, we’ve lost by four points, one point, two points. It’s frustrating, for sure, because you put up the effort for 60 minutes and you come up short. At the end of the day, this is a winning business and we have to get back on the winning track.”
Will the Redblacks bring in some new bodies and ship out some of the current players?
“You always worry,” said GasconNadon. “You want to do the best you can, but sometimes the best is not good enough, so it’s about what the team really needs. I think we have a good team, I think everybody here thinks the same way. We have to put the little things together so we get back on the winning track and everything ’s good. Right now it seems like there could be a lot of problems, but in that room, we’re all confident that we’re this close from being a championship team.”