Offence still a work in progress
Improvements were made, but Roughriders had little trouble en route to 23-10 victory
The good news: The Ottawa Redblacks are 1-1 after two tough road stops to start their CFL season.
Good news Part 2: The Redblacks' defence was good again Saturday in Regina — good enough to help the team win.
The bad news: For the second straight week, the Redblacks' offence stumbled. Sure, it was better. QB Matt Nichols, coming off 71 yards passing against Edmonton, had 176 yards through the air this time out.
Bad news Part 2: The Redblacks lost 23-10 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders at a noisy and hostile Mosaic Field.
Bad news Part 3: If you believe the howling on social media, it seems as if Nichols is wholly responsible for the Redblacks' struggles. Patience. Patience. Patience.
The reality: They're two games into a season, 12 to go — seven of those at home. The team has an offensive line largely light on CFL experience.
Fans have been screaming and begging for American tackles since like, forever, and now they've got them. Tyler Catalina, a rookie, is at left tackle, Na'Ty Rodgers, who dressed for 10 games with Montreal in 2018, is at right tackle.
A Canadian rookie, Jakub Szott, is at left guard. Another American rookie, Juwann Bushell-Beatty, started at right guard Saturday in place of injured Nolan MacMillan. The only “veteran” in the lineup was Mark Korte, who's getting used to the centre position after playing tackle and guard. So shouldn't we cut them some slack?
The receiving corps, hit hard when Brad Sinopoli retired and Jalen Saunders stepped away after being in a car crash, is also young and inexperienced. R.J. Harris is the go-to guy. The team is hoping speedy Ryan Davis develops into something. There also are hopes that a combination of Daniel Petermann, Anthony Coombs, Nate Behar, Jordan Smallwood and any of the others on the practice roster become regular contributors.
“We have to grow from this, Redblacks defensive back Antoine Pruneau said. “We saw for most of that game, we can hang with those guys. These are going to be tough games, but we can win.”
There are still are a lot of maybes, ifs and buts inside of a team that will go through growing pains.
The Redblacks may not be a very complete team. Maybe the offence isn't good enough. But we're judging that after two games? In two games, Hamilton QB Jeremiah Masoli has completed 41 passes for 377 yards and has thrown four interceptions. His backup, Dane Evans, has completed three of 10 passes for 21 yards. That's an average of less than 200 yards passing. You think Ticats fans are calling for the third-stringer to play?
Maybe the Redblacks need better receivers, maybe they need better offensive linemen, maybe they need a new running back and a new quarterback. Maybe. But we've decided that two games in, with so much newness to the offence?
“There's no panic here, we just know we need to get back to work,” Nichols said. “Obviously, the offence needs to get a little better. We know we have a good football team top to bottom. We have a winning football team, a team that can go and compete with anyone. (Saskatchewan), aside from the late charge from B.C., has been putting it to people. We feel we went toe to toe with them. We were in that game until toward the end. We're sitting in a good spot right now. We're 1-1. We haven't even played an East team, those are the games that are really going to matter.”
Asked about his arm (he had shoulder surgery two years ago and missed several days in training camp), Nichols said: “(My arm) has felt a lot better these past couple of weeks. (Saturday) was probably the first time in two years where I didn't feel anything at all. It felt great. The arm was there. Aside from one mistake, I felt like I was seeing it well, throwing it well. It felt like I hit the throws that were open.
“It's not like I was just missing guys or not seeing guys open downfield.
“I need to find a way to make one or two big plays where we can flip the field and get ourselves in better scoring position.”
Ottawa will also look to cut down on its penalties — 13 of them for 103 yards hurt against the Riders.
Next up is a home date with the B.C. Lions Saturday. It'll be Ottawa's first home game since Nov. 1, 2019.
THE REPORT CARD
Offence: D. Receiver/returner DeVonte Dedmon stepped in as the running back with an injury to starter Timothy Flanders. It's not like he gets many reps there, but he had five carries for 31 yards and a touchdown. Receiver R.J. Harris had five catches, one of them a terrific diving grab, for 101 yards. QB Nichols completed 19 of 24 passes for 176 yards, but needs to take another step ahead. Credit to the Saskatchewan defence (which had six sacks) playing against an offensive line short on CFL experience.
Defence: B+. The Riders put up numbers, but their usually effective ground game was largely stopped. QB Cody Fajardo was 30-for-35 for 321 yards. The Redblacks held him to 47 yards rushing and starting running back William Powell to just 20 yards on 10 carries. After 14 tackles in Week 1, middle linebacker Avery Williams had nine more.
Special Teams: B-. Punter Richie Leone had a net of 43.4 yards on his punts, nearly six more than the opposing punter, Jon Ryan. Lewis Ward made 1-of-2 field goals, with the miss (wide left) coming from 52 yards out (Saskatchewan's Kyran Moore took it in the end zone and returned it 40 yards). Brendan Gillanders and Nigel Romick, two key special teams performers, didn't play. There were too many illegal block penalties. Improvement will come.