Expect to see better offence, says QB Trevor Harris
Harris accepts blame for last week’s embarrassment against Stamps
As mediocre as the Ottawa Redblacks were in a 27-3 defeat against the undefeated Calgary Stampeders Thursday night, quarterback Trevor Harris says fans can expect much bigger things from the offence going forward.
And if that means getting blamed for his part in the loss, a game in which he completed just 14 of 22 passes for 93 yards, well, Harris is on board with that.
“I’ll take the heat for my guys any day,” he said Monday as the Redblacks look to put the loss to Calgary behind them and shift their focus to the B.C. Lions who are here for a Friday night game.
“If things aren’t going well, I’m going to do everything I can to fix it. Whether it’s my fault or not my fault, it’s my job as a leader to have ownership of what’s going on. That’s what a quarterback does. As hard as anybody could be on me, I’m harder on myself. It’s one of those ones that sticks with you for a bit. You mope around for a bit, but you have to understand your body language and the way you approach every day is vital as a quarterback. So I pick myself up and get ready to roll because that’s the best thing to do for this team, not worry about the past, but learn from it, move forward and get ready for this week.
“I’m not scared to show my face in here. We’re going to be a topflight offence. I can look everybody in the eye and say that. I hope the fans who are real fans ride with us because it’ll be a fun one in the end. We have championship mettle on this team and we have championship mettle in this locker-room.”
So this week in practice, it’s on with the show. Live and learn.
“The Calgary game was a big disappointment and a tough pill to swallow, but you have to have a short-term memory and move on because the games are just going to keep getting bigger and bigger,” said Redblacks coach Rick Campbell. “There are a lot of people giving a good effort. Now you have to mix in making plays with that. We have a lot of good football players here. We obviously have to do more right things to beat teams like Calgary.
“It never feels good when you get your butt whipped and we did. You better be able to persevere in this league. Every team, except Calgary, has two losses or more. Obviously we’re right in the thick of this whole thing. While we were down for a day or two, it’s really important now we get our focus on B.C.”
There’s little doubt the Calgary loss was one of the Redblacks’ worst showings in team history. The 24-point differential probably doesn’t show how lopsided the game really was for a team that’s been offensively challenged in two early-season losses to the Stampeders.
“The hardest games for fans to watch are when you’re not doing anything offensively. That’s what gets people really down,” said Campbell. “Sometimes if you win a game 51-49, people say, ‘Wow, that was a great game,’ even though a bunch of mistakes were made. Obviously offence is the fun part of the game and when that’s not clicking, it makes it look even worse. It was tough to watch, but there’s a lot of hope here.”
“I was frustrated and disappointed,” said Redblacks GM Marcel Desjardins. “We need to be better and we know that. We need to be more consistent. I think it’s fair to say Calgary is the best team in league. We’ve played them twice. One was very close and the second time we weren’t really in the game. Let’s just give it some time before we start jumping to any conclusions.”
Beyond the B.C. game, there are East Division showdowns with Hamilton and Toronto on the immediate horizon.
“You don’t want to let one loss beat you three times,” said Harris. “The mark of good teams is coming back after a loss and being a lot better. We have to take care of business this week, then worry about Hamilton next week. We’re 2-2 and not going to take anything out of context and think we’re 0-4 or think we’re 4-0. We have to take this week and treat it like a one-game season.”
THE BOYS ARE BACK: Looks like Nolan MacMillan will return to the lineup Friday night. It was a full-go for the offensive lineman, who hasn’t done much activity in practice this season. Evan Johnson didn’t practise Monday, but the Redblacks are hopeful they’ll have him back later this week. “As long as (MacMillan) can practise and get through the week, he’ll be good to go,” said Campbell. “We’ve been looking forward to having him back. He brings an element of toughness and a little nastiness to it that’s good to have.”
As for Johnson, the coach said he’s not being ruled out at all. “We’re going to make sure we take care of him, but I think he’s going to be available. I think we’re the most healthy we’ve been, especially on the O -line. It could turn out we have all our guys available.”
IN AND OUT: It was puzzling, it didn’t make sense and there’s not much of an explanation behind it, but on the weekend the Redblacks released Canadian defensive back Teague Sherman. On Monday, they announced the signing of another national defensive back, Mikael Charland, who was a second-round pick of the Redblacks in 2016 and released in training camp in 2017. Charland was with the Montreal Alouettes last season before getting released three months ago. Going back to Sherman, who spent four seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before surfacing here last season, he was on Ottawa’s Game Day roster Thursday before being a pregame scratch. A couple of days later, he was gone. So something happened. The team isn’t saying what. “It becomes a function of us doing what we feel is best,” said Desjardins. “It includes his performance. It includes everything. We thought we had to make the change. Sometimes circumstances dictate that.” Asked if it was discipline related, Desjardins said, “Not from our perspective. For us, all the decisions we make are all about the Redblacks. Period.” Asked about Charland, Desjardins said, “It’s really just about having Canadian depth. Obviously the familiarity is a good thing as well. He went elsewhere. It didn’t work out for him there. We’re in a different place than we were then and so we’ll see.”
THE END AROUND: 3DownNation’s Justin Dunk reports defensive lineman Mehdi Abdesmad, who the Redblacks selected in the third round of the 2016 CFL draft, has retired. Abdesmad, 26, had NFL stints with Tennessee and Tampa Bay ... The Alouettes have released former Redblacks defensive back Jermaine Robinson.