REDBLACKS STUMBLE

Lowly Als leave Ottawa with lopsided win

How quickly we take winning for granted.

Your Ottawa Redblacks have an expectation of winning every time out, or at least being in the game to the last minute. In their third season, fresh off a trip to the Grey Cup last fall, the RBs don’t often lay an egg. But this was a Grade A Extra Large doozy, a 43-19 omelette, to the last-place Montreal Alouettes.

With the loss, the Redblacks fell to 4-3-1, still in first place atop the CFL East, but with a precarious hold approaching the midway point of the season.

Hey, the evening started well, with Ottawa Senators’ icon Daniel Alfredsson wielding the chainsaw to get the home Lumberjacks going. And yet, it was the Alouettes who went Vroom, Vroom.

Duron Carter, who was supposed to feel the full fury of Ottawa’s wrath for the events of June 30 in Montreal, didn’t take long to make his presence felt. On the Alouettes first series, the mercurial Montreal receiver caught a pass near the sidelines and had the temerity to approach the Ottawa bench to remind them of his greatness. This was the same Carter who bowled over Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell in Montreal six weeks ago and may yet get suspended for it (a decision is still in the works).

The Redblacks would soon wish Carter’s pending suspension had kicked in this week. Late in the first half, No. 89 was all alone after a collision with Ottawa defensive back Abdul Kanneh and scooted into the end zone uncontested for a 67-yard pass-and-run play. Ottawa challenged the play, as Carter threw Kanneh to the ground to break free, but the play stood and Carter was just getting warmed up.

Things were all quite depressing — Henry heard from a few of his old boo birds after one agonizing sequence — and then it happened. Ottawa’s underwhelming first half was rescued by a Hail Mary play with no time remaining, a 48-yard Burris pass bouncing into the friendly arms of Ernest Jackson in the end zone. Are you kidding me?

Just when it seemed the Als would march off with a 23-9 advantage, the miracle play boosted spirits and sparked hope of a turnaround in the second half, Ottawa down by a mere touchdown.

Not happening. The game demonstrated that a bye week can be a double-edged sword. Rest is nice, rust is ugly.

Against an Alouettes’ offence that is arguably the most anemic in the CFL (18.5 points per game through their first seven games), the home side provided no end of opportunities to fatten Montreal’s numbers. The Larks took advantage of some special teams mishaps by Ottawa to take an early 10-3 lead.

A fake field goal that ended badly, a massive kick return by the Als and a turnover sack of Henry Burris were a few of the RBs least favourite things.

Burris did find wide receiver Chris Williams for a catch-and-run play that would have impressed the Olympic relay sprinters in Rio Friday night. Williams ran away from his closest defender, who finally stopped and admired the romp.

That closed the gap to 10-9 (a missed convert kept Ottawa from a tie score), and then the Alouettes struck again, a quick touchdown pass from Kevin Glenn to Sam Giguere.

Burris battled, but the overall execution level was uneven on both sides of the ball. At times, the Redblacks put tremendous pressure on Glenn, sacking him several times through the first three quarters, yet they couldn’t defend a critical second-and-24 situation in the fourth quarter. The resulting first down by B.J. Cunningham led directly to Montreal’s next touchdown, a backbreaker by Brandon Rutley that put the Als ahead 37-19.

So much for the second half rebound. Instead Montreal ran up the score. Now Burris had to throw deep, and that resulted in a pick by the Als’ Jonathan Mincy with eight minutes to go.

That led to another touchdown catch by Carter. He’s right about one thing. Ottawa couldn’t cover him one on one.

Next week, Ottawa may have its one-two quarterback punch back as Trevor Harris could dress.

RECORD CROWD

This was Ottawa’s fourth consecutive home sellout, and a regular-season record crowd of 24,907, so a tip of the cap to that. We’ve said it before, the OSEG group nailed the stadium configuration when it planned for a capacity of 24,000 at TD Place. In the good and bad old days of the Rough Riders, a Frank Clair Stadium capacity of about 30,000 was a Bank Street bridge too far. Empty seats are an eyesore on TV, and the lack of ticket pressure hurts attendance. It’s the psychology of a potential ticket buyer — where’s the urgency to go when there are scores of tickets available? The same mentality hurt the Ottawa Lynx. The Redblacks are able to announce a scarcity of tickets leading up to most games and that moves the last ones quickly.