Redblacks plan to hit Eskimos with 1-2 QB punch
With six losses in a row and their playoff hopes hanging by a thread, the Ottawa Redblacks will go with a 1-2 quarterback punch of Jonathon Jennings and Dominique Davis Saturday (4 p.m.) at TD Place against the Edmonton Eskimos.
Redblacks coach Rick Campbell confirmed earlier this week that Jennings would start the game, but Davis, who began the year as the starter, also would see playing time.
“It’s not an ideal situation,” Campbell said on Friday. “I don’t think you ever think this would be the best-case scenario. But I know the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
“We don’t have a set rotation. It’s not an experiment, it’s not a pre-season game. We’re just trying to change up looks. It’s not about trying to prove a point or evaluate.
“It’s about trying to find a way to win this game. Hopefully we’ll throw Edmonton off a bit with some different looks and a different guy playing quarterback.”
Both Jennings and Davis want to play and they want to be the No. 1, but neither has been able to produce the kind of offence the Redblacks need to win football games.
“It’s definitely not a situation I wanted to be in, but I respect coach’s decision,” Davis said. “Me and Jon are going to work together and get a W.”
Asked about the time-sharing situation, Jennings, who played behind Travis Lulay some of the time with the B.C. Lions, said: “I’ve been a 2, I’ve been in the position where you’re not sure whether you’re ever going to play.
“We all prepare ourselves to be ready, to be out on the field. It’s definitely a different situation, but I’m not going into it with a different mindset, I’m going in as if I’m going to play the whole game.”
Can the Redblacks, with a 3-13 record, rise up and beat the struggling Eskimos, who are at 6-7?
If they do, all of a sudden, they have at least a chance of sliding into the playoffs.
“As long as there’s hope, you have something,” Jennings said. “We have to get a win somehow. We’re all trying to figure this out and find a way to win a football game.”