REDBLACKS INSIST THEY’LL ‘KEEP ON FIGHTING’ TO END
Playoff hopes are admittedly very slim, but team refusing to pack it in for season
Six games, six wins needed ... it seems like an awfully big ask from a football team that’s lost five straight and nine of its last 10.
But the Ottawa Redblacks, with a 3-9 record, have to start somewhere and if they’re going to pull off some kind of miraculous comeback of all miraculous comebacks and slide into the CFL playoffs, a win over the B.C. Lions (2-10) tonight at TD Place is the first of many steps that need to be climbed.
“All caps, exclamation mark, it ain’t over till it’s over,” said Redblacks centre Alex Mateas.
How badly have the Redblacks fallen off the tracks? The CFL Simulation, a weekly feature on CFL.ca, gives the Redblacks a 0.06-per-cent chance of making the playoffs and a 0.01- per-cent chance of winning the Grey Cup.
“It’s not zero (per cent),” said Redblacks SAM linebacker Anthony Cioffi. “We have six games left. We have to focus on this game, go 1-0, and take each game as it comes. We want to win and not feel like we feel now where we’re continuing to lose and not playing to our potential.”
In the return match of a homeand-home series against the Lions, the Redblacks certainly need to deliver a better effort than last week’s 29-5 loss in Vancouver.
“To still have a slim chance, but a chance, is all you can ask for,” said quarterback Jonathon Jennings. “Against a team that obviously we failed to compete against last week, we’re looking to go out and do a better job. It’s make or break, we’ve been saying that for the past couple of weeks. It’s been frustrating.”
There’s unrest among Redblacks’ fans, and for good reason. It’s not just that their team is getting beaten, they’re getting their buttocks booted week after week. Before the setback in B.C., Ottawa fell 46-17 to Toronto, 40-18 to Saskatchewan and 21-7 to Hamilton. They’ve lost five of six at home this season — four of the defeats have been by 14 points or more.
“I’m not happy that they’re uneasy. I’m actually glad our fans get angry, it means they care,” said coach Rick Campbell. “If nobody cared, that would be a really bad thing. I know they get upset with the results, I have those feelings, too. There’s nothing our coaches and players want to do more than put on a good performance. We’ll do whatever we can to make that happen — our fans deserve it.”
“We have some of the best fans, if not the best fans, in the league,” said Mateas. “Being an Ottawa kid, it’s been unbelievable watching the fans come out to the games. This year, we’re not giving them as much excitement as in years past. You can’t blame them (if they’re upset). They’re paying for an experience, they’re paying to watch us win. But I can assure them, the Ottawa Redblacks are not done. We’re going to keep on fighting. I know we’ll win the fans back.”
“We always want the people supporting us to be happy,” said receiver Brad Sinopoli. “At the same time, this is professional sports, people pay money to come watch us play. When they’re not being entertained or they’re not happy because we’re not winning, it’s their right to be upset. It’s not like we’re not upset. It’s a collective feeling of frustration, I’m sure. They have to know we’re trying our best to turn things around.”
The stats show the Redblacks are limping along offensively. With a league-worst 215 points through 12 games, the Redblacks are on pace to score 322 (and a half ) points this season. That’s a whopping 142 less than a season ago. For comparison’s sake, they scored 278 in 2014, their expansion season.
Ottawa will have Sinopoli back in the lineup tonight — he missed last week’s game after suffering a setback in practice two days before the game. Dynamic DeVonte Dedmon, who returned a punt and kickoff for touchdowns Aug. 2 in Montreal, before suffering a hamstring injury the following week, returns to the active roster and will start at slotback (also sharing return duties with Stefan Logan).
“All of us, we want to improve and be better,” said Campbell.
“If (Jennings) is incrementally better and the guys around him are incrementally better, we’ll all look much better. It’s a snowball effect, when certain guys start playing well and make plays, things can tip in your direction.
“Our mentality is I’m just trying to get the football team to improve. The goal is to win, but we need to focus on playing better, then you start getting the results you’re looking for. I’m not diminishing the importance of winning the game — that’s what we’re here for, to win — the way to go about it is check all the boxes and make sure you’re ready. The problem isn’t the will to win — everybody’s going to want to win — it’s a matter of getting ourselves ready so at 7 o’clock on Saturday we can give our best performance.”
“We need to do a better job in finishing drives and finishing games,” said Cioffi. “We do need to win, but we’re not fixated on that — we’re fixated on putting our best football out there. We’ll never give up, we’ll never stop fighting. We held them to eight points in the second half last week, we continued to hit them.” THE END AROUND: LB Avery Williams remains out this week (Jeff Knox Jr. is at MLB), but LB Kevin Brown returns to the starting lineup ... Stephane Nembot is listed as a backup right tackle, behind Evan Johnson. There’s a chance Nembot is the late scratch just before tonight’s game. Said Campbell: “We have basically half an hour before kickoff to set the roster how we want to do it so we want to leave our options open.” ... Guillermo Villalobos is listed as a backup to Dominique Rhymes. Villalobos is a guy you’d like to see get some game reps at receiver ... Mossis Madu is the starting RB, with Brendan Gillanders, Greg Morris and Stefan Logan all listed below him on the depth chart ... Out of the lineup from last week: LB De’Andre Montgomery, WRs Wesley Lewis and Jerminic Smith and DL Darius Jackson ... For B.C., RB John White replaces Brandon Rutley. tbaines@postmedia.com