REDBLACKS WORK OUT KINKS BEFORE MEETING B.C. LIONS
Turnover ratio a big part of why team is off to a very mediocre 1-3 start to CFL season
Everybody's got a Fix It plan for the Ottawa Redblacks — just check out the social media chatter.
Cut Matt Nichols, bench second stringer Dominique
Davis and start the third- or fourth-stringer. Fire the general manager. Bring in (add the name of any unemployed receiver here). Solutions seem so easy when we've got the ability to type words into an electronic device and be heard by the masses. The concerns have foundation, of course. The team wasn't very good in 2019 (3-15), though that seems like a lifetime ago. And with a 1-3 start in 2021, there's a Here We Go Again mentality. With the Redblacks winning just one of their first four games and an ugly loss — 51-29 last Friday at home to Montreal — there needs to be a huge step ahead on both sides of the ball Saturday in Vancouver as the Redblacks play the B.C. Lions before heading into a bye week.
One problem that hasn't been addressed: Turnover ratio. In 2019, the Redblacks gave the ball up 17 more times than they got a turnover, a league worst. So far this season, after starting plus-3 (with three interceptions) in Week 1, the Redblacks have given up the ball nine times — that's a minus-6 on the season.
“I don't know if there's any magic pill, we need to make the plays when we have opportunities to do so,” said Redblacks defensive backs coach Greg
Knox following Wednesday's practice at TD Place. “You try to make that part of their game so it's happening without them thinking about it. It's obvious we haven't been as opportunistic in the last couple of weeks. Some of the passes that went the other way, we actually had our hands on.”
As much as losing by 22 points against Montreal hurts, it seemed even worse than the scoreboard showed. The Alouettes had 183 yards rushing, 112 of that by the punishing William Stanback, and 288 yards in the air, with quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. tossing four touchdown passes. There were blown coverages, missed assignments and too many missed tackles. It was sloppy. It's unfair to pile on a defence that was very good through large parts of the first three games — the defensive backs basically stole the first game of the season with three interceptions, one of them for a touchdown by Abdul Kanneh.
“We weren't finishing plays, whether it was a ball in the air or some tackling issues,” said Knox. “When that ball was in the air, we had issues, at times, dealing with it. We had opportunities to finish plays, we had hands on balls that we didn't come down with. We try to focus on those as opportunities and work through it. Especially when you're coming off a challenging week like last week, you put your head down, you work through it and try to stay positive and focused. I thought Montreal did a good job, their quarterback play was much stronger than it had been in previous games and it was a lot more accurate.”
The Redblacks need to be better Saturday in B.C. against Michael Reilly and a cast of talented receivers that includes superstar Bryan Burnham,
Lucky Whitehead, Lemar Durant and former Redblack Dominique Rhymes. Defensive backs Sherrod Baltimore and Kanneh remain on the six-game injured list, so it's up to others to step in and do the job.
“You're going to anticipate some challenges when you replace veterans with young guys,” said Knox. “It's a nextman-up game, but you have to be realistic about what those outcomes can possibly be. I think the younger guys responded pretty well, but we certainly missed the veteran presence.”
IT'S NOT ALL ON MATT
Redblacks quarterbacks coach Steve Walsh says the team's offensive struggles can't be blamed on one player. Said Walsh: “It's not just on Matt Nichols, it's not just on Dom Davis, we have to play better in all phases of the offence and the quarterback obviously is a big part of it. But if you don't have open receivers or if you don't have time (to throw the ball), it all kind of compounds from there. We have to do a lot of things better and we're trying to put people in position to do those things.”
Asked about Nichols, who was benched early in the second quarter last week, he said: “Matt's a professional, he's been a great player at a high level in this league. Coming from a system and scheme he was part of in Winnipeg for three, four years, to come and start fresh — not so much him, but the guys around him have to learn the system, how it's done and the timing of everything. That could pull anybody down. As an athlete, confidence is certainly important, but I think it's more to do with us mastering the system and that's going to take time.”
Walsh said it's on the coaches to figure it out and put the players in a position to succeed.
“You put in a game plan and teach it as well as you can, then you hope they've absorbed that and can go out and execute,” he said. “Our job as coaches is to put them in position to execute on game day. When that doesn't happen, you look at yourself first, could I have done more in our preparation? We always talk about, `fix it on the field' and sometimes that has to happen. At the end of the day, we want our players to execute at a high level. We get frustrated when they don't, but usually we look at ourselves more than we look at them.”
THE END AROUND: Receiver/ returner DeVonte Dedmon was a spectator — in uniform, but without helmet — for the second straight practice. Receiver Nate Behar also wasn't practising. It looks like both receiver Anthony Coombs and running back Timothy Flanders will return to starting duty this week ... By looking at the CFL.ca transaction list, you might think the Redblacks have released DL Chigozie Nnoruka and Qaadir Sheppard, WR Ervin Philips and Alonzo Russell, and DB Brandin Dandridge and Ranthony Texada, but they've all been added to the team's practice roster ... Former Redblacks QB Trevor Harris (398 yards passing with four touchdown tosses) and Als QB Vernon Adams Jr. (288 yards passing with four TD connections against Ottawa last week) were among the CFL's Top Performers of the Week ... The Redblacks will host up to 500 front line workers for each home game as a token of the club's appreciation for their heroics over the last 19 months.