WITH HAMILTON HOVERING, REDBLACKS FORGE AHEAD
Focus now on crucial home-and-home series after Ottawa struggles in loss to Edmonton
It comes down to this: the Ottawa Redblacks have to knock the Oskee Wee Wee out of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at least once in the next two weeks.
Coming away from what quarterback Trevor Harris called the worst half of football his team has played this season on the way to Saturday’s 34-16 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos, the Redblacks must quickly refocus on a home-and-home series with the Ticats.
These matchups between teams tied with 8-7 records could determine which of them finishes first in the Canadian Football League’s East Division and earns a bye into the East final at home on Nov. 18.
“We’re both fighting for that bye, we both want it. It’s going to be intense,” said Redblacks receiver Brad Sinopoli, who with six catches on Saturday got to 101 for the season. “It seems like the last few years it’s come down to that. The main thing is we’re in the playoffs. We’re in a good spot. We need to find a way to finish games and finish the season.”
The Redblacks have put themselves in this position because — despite some bright spots early in Saturday’s game in Edmonton — for the second straight week they didn’t deliver nearly enough.
“There’s stuff to fix,” Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell said. “We have a three-game season left. If we win two, we get first place. It’s not an awful situation. Losing is hard to get over, but we’re going to have to get over it. The math: you win two of the last three and you get first. It’s devastating when (the Eskimos) have long drives. It’s the offence and defence not making each other look good. The last two games, we’ve been beat on the time of possession. We have to fix that.”
According to Harris, “Big picture, where we’re at is a good place, but taking a snapshot from the last two weeks it’s disappointing in terms of the production and the result. We have to keep chopping wood, carrying water.”
Chop wood, carry water, eh? They’re words written on a small scrap of paper and taped above Harris’s locker at TD Place stadium. They’re from a Joshua Medcalf book. Basically the premise is surrender the outcome. Just play in the present. Press forward no matter what happens.
The Redblacks were good enough in the first half Saturday with Harris passing for 227 yards, but he had just 64 the rest of the way. The Redblacks were horrible on defence and offence in the third quarter especially.
“You have to play 60 minutes of football. You can’t get caught up in what went on in the first half,” said defensive back Devin Butler, who had a fumble recovery. “The second half, it’s a whole new half. You have to lock back in and be ready to play football. You never come into a game not expecting to win. When you don’t win, there’s always a bitter feeling.”
Redblacks linebacker Kyries Hebert singled himself out when talking about what had to happen for the team to have success down the stretch.
“We didn’t play our best football,” Hebert said. “I’ll speak for myself. I have to be better to be able to lead and be in a position to make a difference. The good teams (find another gear). It’s the time of season where you want to hit your stride and put yourself in a position to have success. We’re not out of it. We know what’s at stake. If you had told us at the beginning of the season with three games left we’d be in first place with an opportunity to earn a first-round bye, most of us would have been happy with that.”
Again, the Redblacks struggled with play-calling and execution when they were in position to produce points. Getting inside the 20-yard line needs to result in more touchdowns. In the first half Saturday, they settled for three Lewis Ward field goals. Their only touchdown came on a beautiful 61-yard pass-and-run play to Diontae Spencer.
“You want to score sevens, but still, we were on the road in Edmonton and we had a lead at halftime,” Campbell said.
“We just couldn’t sustain a drive,” Sinopoli said. “We put our defence in tough situations. We have to figure out a way to not be in second-and-long. We lost the time-of-possession battle. They hit some big plays and we just couldn’t get anything going.”
Is there still hope for a team that’s in a pattern of two strides ahead, one step back, one step ahead, two strides back?
“Watch a team like Toronto last year,” Hebert said. “They weren’t great through the regular season, but they hit their stride at the right time (and won the Grey Cup). That’s our goal as well.”
REDBLACKS REPORT CARD
Offence — D
It was actually good in the first half. The Redblacks couldn’t score touchdowns from close range, but got a nice 61-yard catch-and run play from Spencer. Harris had 291 yards passing, but 227 of those were in the first half. The offence was horrible in the second half. Harris was sacked five times. William Powell had just nine carries for 40 yards, but still leads Winnipeg ’s Andrew Harris by six yards for most in the CFL.
Defence — D
Again, the defence was pretty good in the first half with fumble recoveries by Devin Butler and Jean-Philippe Bolduc. After injuries to Randall Evans and Avery Williams, the Redblacks were pounded in the second half. The Eskimos finished with 541 yards of net offence.
Special teams — B
The punt and kickoff coverage units were good. Punter Richie Leone averaged 38.2 yards per punt, well below his season average. Ward continued his magic, booting three field goals to extend his CFL record for consecutive field goals to 43.