PRESSED FOR POINTS
Redblacks look for crucial win against Lions
A couple of weeks ago, when Rick Campbell and the B.C. Lions travelled to Ottawa to play the Redblacks, the storylines were plentiful.
The first Redblacks head coach — Campbell was in the nation's capital from 2014-19 — returned to his old stomping grounds, bringing with him three coaches: Jordan Maksymic, Don Yanowsky and Travis Brown and five players: Anthony Cioffi, Tanner Doll, Dominique Rhymes, Jacob Scarfone and J.R. Tavai, who were also in Ottawa. There's also this: Trysten Dyce, the Lions offensive assistant, is the son of Redblacks special teams co-ordinator Bob Dyce.
The return match Saturday at B.C. Place (10 p.m.) isn't about storylines as much as it is about just winning a football game and the two points in the standings that go with that. The Lions are coming off a bye week after beating the Redblacks 24-12.
The Redblacks are coming off a 51-29 shellacking at the hands of the Montreal Alouettes. You can bet the Lions, with a 2-2 record, don't want to let this opportunity slip away. But if there's such a thing as desperation in the will to win a football game, that's got to be the situation the Redblacks are in right now. A loss three time zones west would send them into a bye week with a miserable 1-4 record. They'll try to win without one of their more dynamic players — DeVonte Dedmon is out of the lineup and on the one-game injured list (calf ). Ryan Davis will handle the returns.
The Redblacks need to right their wrongs of last week, play better on defence, keep the momentum going on offence with Dominique Davis as the starting quarterback and provide more of the same special teams excellence.
“We've got a tough battle ahead of us,” said Davis. “B.C. is a really good team, the defence is good, they can fly around. But we feel pretty good, we're going to go out and execute the plays we call.”
“There is a mourning period for a loss, but then you better forget it because you have to play a game again in a couple of days,” said Redblacks head coach Paul LaPolice. “We can be frustrated by a loss, but then we have to come back and have a great week of practice. We want to win a game this week, we can't worry that we lost to this team previously. We have two points to get.”
The Lions are hoping to continue the momentum they established in Ottawa when quarterback Michael Reilly completed 23 passes for 301 yards. The Redblacks will again have to be wary of B.C.'s superstar receiver Bryan Burnham, who's getting plenty of help from another pass catcher, Lucky Whitehead. Former Redblack Dominique Rhymes, who had 1,056 yards in receptions in Ottawa in 2019, won't play.
“I think the guys are really looking forward to Saturday,” said Campbell. “It's a little different when you play a team back-to-back. The thing that's a bit different about this one, (the Redblacks) played Montreal in between and we had a bye week. Two weeks seems like a really long time ago. Obviously, we learned from watching the film, but it feels like two independent football games and we know we'll have to play really well to beat them.”
Davis will need to be on top of his game. He started 2019 as the Redblacks starter, but made too many mistakes — he had just five touchdown passes, while tossing 14 interceptions. Replacing starter Matt Nichols early in the second quarter of last week's game, Davis made a strong impression, with 23 completions for 291 yards and two touchdowns. But he also had two interceptions.
“I'm my own biggest critic,” said Davis. “I felt like I did some good things last week and there are some things I need to correct. Anybody that knows me, my best asset is my poise and how calm I am. We just want to go out, take care of business and get a win.”
“He's got experience, he's got the ability to put the ball all over the field,” said LaPolice of Davis. “He's an intelligent guy and he can create a bit with his legs.”
So what went wrong in 2019? It had to be a disadvantage that the team started the season with neither a quarterback coach nor an offensive co-ordinator (Jaime Elizondo quit six weeks before training camp began). But Davis needs to tidy up his game and take strides ahead for the Redblacks to find their offensive stride.
“I wasn't here in 2019,” said LaPolice. “But certain guys get the opportunity to play at a young age, sometimes it's not the easiest thing to do. I know (Davis) has been in the league a number of years, but he hadn't had a lot of starts. Sometimes you need some games to figure it out.”
There is a mourning period for a loss, but then you better forget it because you have to play a game again in a couple of days. ... We want to win a game.