With just one victory in three games, the Ottawa Redblacks can be considered no worse than No. 4 on anyone’s current list of CFL power rankings. Read MoreWith just one victory in three games, the Ottawa Redblacks can be considered no worse than No. 4 on anyone’s current list of CFL power rankings. How much higher they go will depend on their defence. After losing their first two games to the only 3-0 teams in the league, Mother Nature thought it was
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With just one victory in three games, the Ottawa Redblacks can be considered no worse than No. 4 on anyone’s current list of CFL power rankings.
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How much higher they go will depend on their defence.
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After losing their first two games to the only 3-0 teams in the league, Mother Nature thought it was November, not June, as she forced the Redblacks to ground and pound their way through Saturday’s chilly clash with the previously unbeaten Calgary Stampeders at old McMahon Stadium.
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“I think that was probably some of the toughest conditions I’ve ever thrown (into) in my life,” quarterback Dustin Crum told TSN1200’s A.J. Jakubec in the visitors’ locker room. “Normally, when you get wind, it’s hard to throw, (but) if you throw a good spiral, you can cut it a little bit. When you add the rain to it, and you can’t spin it, and the wind’s going …. it was a mess, for sure.”
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And so it was through little fault of his own that Crum, who wanted to prove he’s developing into a passer, wound up with a 41 percent completion rate while making his first start in 603 days.
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But he was also the most frequent contributor (11 carries, 64 yards) to a run game that broke out for 239 yards compared to the usually sufficient 160 put up by the Stamps, who are led by league-leading rusher Dedrick Mills.
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It was their dominance along the ground, along with their remarkable ability to keep a zero in the turnovers column on such a wet day that saw the Stamps commit five, and a display of discipline with only four penalties that added up to the 20-12 win.
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With the personnel for a passing attack that should be one of the best in the CFL when Dru Brown returns from injury, a complementary running game that was missing much of last season should make it difficult for opponents to keep Ottawa out of the end zone.
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And while the defence deserves credit for its Mother Nature-aided performance on Saturday, a truer test arrives next Sunday when the Redblacks host the desperate and recently embarrassed Toronto Argos.
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Especially if the 0-3 defending champs are bolstered by the return from injury of quarterback Chad Kelly, who led the Toronto offence to an average of 41 points in three meetings with Ottawa last season.
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What made the Redblacks’ running game so good against a Calgary defence that allowed a total of 114 yards on the ground in the first two weeks?
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Ottawa GM Shawn Burke was as pleased about his trade for Daniel Adeboboye from the Argos as he was about any other off-season acquisition, and the 26-year-old Toronto native showed why against the Stamps.