CLOUD OVER REDBLACKS WIN
New No. 1 QB Drew Tate hurt, too
The Ottawa Redblacks are back in first place, but they may have a big problem.
With an injury to quarterback Drew Tate — while in the throwing motion he was drilled by Dondre Wright in the second quarter of Sunday’s 29-11 Canadian Football League win over the Alouettes — the depth chart right now reads Ryan Lindley, Danny Collins and Will Arndt. So it’s a first-year CFL player (with NFL experience) and two rookies, one of whom has been with the team for less than a week.
Up next is a Friday date in Winnipeg. “We’ll have to wait and see what (Tate’s) deal is,” said Redblacks coach Rick Campbell. “Initially, he thought he just had the wind knocked out of him. But he just doesn’t feel right. I was proud of Ryan Lindley stepping in, he’s barely taken any reps in practice — other than being the QB sneak guy.”
“We don’t know 100 per cent (what the injury is) so I’m not going to speculate,” Redblacks GM Marcel Desjardins said. “We’ll have to see what the medical imaging says and we’ll go from there. It was arm/shoulder, but beyond that … there are a couple of possibilities.”
Can they go with the three quarterbacks currently on the roster?
“Potentially,” Desjardins said. “We may not have a choice. It’s not ideal, we’re on a short week, but we’ll look at all options.”
Lindley was solid, not spectacular, completing 7-of-14 passes for 76 yards. Before Tate left the game, he was good on 21-of-29 for 185 yards.
Running back William Powell really stepped up his game, with some strong blocking ahead of him, rushing for 144 yards.
“My biggest thing is you don’t want to feel like you’re mentally behind in the game, everybody’s playing faster than you are,” Lindley said. “Those first couple of drives, I was trying to make decisions too quickly, not letting it come to me. That’s where some of those things were forced and a little off.”
Offensively, the Redblacks had the ball for a staggering 41 of the 60 minutes. That’s a Time of Possession jackpot.
Ottawa’s defence really stepped up, allowing just 83 yards passing by the Als, with three sacks — two by Jonathan Newsome and another by Avery Ellis.
“As a defence, we talked (Saturday night), we just want more respect,” Newsome said. “We’re not about letting up anymore. We learned our lesson against B.C. and last week against Hamilton.”
On Lindley’s first pass, where he was trying to hit Greg Ellingson over his outside shoulder in the end zone, it was picked off by Tevaughn Campbell. But even when the Alouettes did something right, it went wrong. Campbell stepped out, then back into the end zone. Safety. Two points for Ottawa and possession on their own 35.
The Alouettes were horrible on offence. In the first quarter, they had minus-2 net yards. Their initial first down of the game came well into the second quarter. QB Darian Durant was yanked, with Drew Willy on in relief.
The Redblacks chewed up more than eight minutes with their opening drive, closing it off with an 16-yard touchdown pass from Tate to Patrick Lavoie. Jake Harty caught a two-point convert.
Boris Bede booted a 38-yard field goal for Montreal, but a 30-yard Brett Maher field goal made it 11-3.
On a missed 54-yard field goal attempt, Diontae Spencer found an opening, scooted down the right sideline, then broke left to score a 113-yard touchdown. Ellingson was wide open for the two-point convert. A Maher single on the kickoff made it 20-3. A safety made it 22-3 at the half.
A 22-yard Maher field goal midway through the third quarter made it 25-3.
The Redblacks (5-7-1) moved a point ahead of the Toronto Argos, who have a game in hand, for top spot in the East Division. The struggling Als fell to 3-9.
SECOND AND LONG: Things were going so bad for the Als, on an Ottawa drive midway through the third quarter that, as Lindley and Powell collided in the backfield, Powell took the delayed handoff and ran for eight yards … The TSN TV feed cut out for awhile, most of the first quarter, so after a delay, they used the RDS feed, with the studio crew doing the play-by-play/commentary … Something that did work for the Als: a Bede punt that went out of bounds at the Ottawa one-yard line in the final minute of the third quarter. Ottawa, of course, then chewed up seven minutes with a drive that included some nice Powell runs and a nice diving catch by Dominique Rhymes, good for 20 yards.