Something’s gotta give: Ottawa Redblacks superstars come up short (& 11 other thoughts on losing to the Elks)

Photo courtesy: Ottawa Redblacks

In what has become a troubling trend, Sunday night’s affair featured another start slow, questionable coaching decisions, and costly penalties as the Ottawa Redblacks fell to the previously winless Edmonton Elks by a score of 39-33 at Commonwealth Stadium.

Here are all my thoughts on the game.

1) For the first time since Week 1, the Redblacks had their starting quarterback under centre. While Dru Brown had a number of throws that were sharp with plenty of zip, there were also a half-dozen throws that were simply missed.

Those uncharacteristically inaccurate tosses were likely due to timing issues from a lack of practice and game reps — heck, he was out for essentially a month. Still, Brown completed 72 percent of his throws for 316 yards and two touchdowns.

As the game went on, I couldn’t help but wonder if Brown was actually healthy enough to be out there. He rarely pushed the ball deep down the field and quickly settled for quick check-down passes, even in situations where check-downs didn’t make a whole lot of sense. At times, it almost felt like he was making a concerted effort to get rid of the ball as fast as possible to avoid taking hits.

If that’s the case, fair enough. Even with the off-target throws, Brown still gave the team its best quarterbacking since his last appearance on the field.

2) Watching offensive coordinator Tommy Condell direct Ottawa’s offensive against Edmonton, all I could think of is that it was like watching a chef with a fully stocked cupboard repeatedly choose to make and serve his guest peanut butter sandwiches. It’s alright, I guess, but feels underwhelming when you know he’s capable of so much more.

Against the Elks, the Redblacks’ offence put up 405 yards of offence and picked up 21 first downs. They converted 46 percent of their second down opportunities and were two-for-three in the red zone. In a vacuum, those numbers are good — perhaps even great.

And yet far too often Ottawa’s attack felt vanilla. Until literally the game’s final drive, receivers were running sideways, and not stretching the field. Play after play, the plan seemed to be getting a quick completion and hoping a receiver could make multiple guys miss to move the chains.

The play-calling often seemed at odds with what was necessary for the situation. Facing second-and-long, it was often a hitch screen or a quick dump-off two yards beyond the line of scrimmage. They were the kind of plays you immediately knew wouldn’t be adequate unless something good happened after the catch.

Where was the creativity? There was almost no play-action and very little misdirection. As mentioned above, the lack of vertical routes was noticeable. Justin Hardy is an incredible weapon but is having him do four fly sweeps a game really the best use of his talents? Why weren’t there any 50/50 jump balls?

Edmonton took a few deep shots and they resulted in either completions for huge gains or defensive pass interference flags that flipped field position. In a single-score loss, those plays might have made the difference.

What can’t Leake do?#GoElks | @CFL pic.twitter.com/v0r9mXJ2sF

— Edmonton Elks (@GoElks) July 7, 2025

As much criticism as Condell deserves, what you can’t lay at his feet are the multiple second-down drops that killed drives. Or the procedure, time count violations, and holding penalties that put the offence in bad situations — those are entirely on a lack of execution from the players themselves.

In Ottawa’s lone win this season, the run-to-pass ratio was fairly balanced. Obviously the heavy rain played a factor but maybe that was a formula they should lean into, as another game that saw that ratio wildly unbalanced — 43 pass attempts to 14 runs — ended in yet another defeat.

3) Apparently head coach Bob Dyce and his coaching staff learned nothing from their Week 1 loss to Saskatchewan. Here’s what I wrote about what happened then:

Right before the half, the Redblacks got the ball back trailing 17-7. They moved the ball to Saskatchewan’s 53-yard line with eight seconds left. Given that Ottawa had two timeouts left, you would have thought one would be called to save some clock. It wasn’t.

Brown ended up connecting with Hardy and got the ball down to the 27 — well within field goal range — but time had expired. Again, in a five-point loss, the three-point kick that was never attempted proved to be haunting.

Ring any bells?

Right before the half, Ottawa was on their 51-yard line with 14 seconds in the half with both timeouts. They ran the ball on second down to move the sticks, but chose not to use a timeout. The clock ticked down and Ottawa was at midfield following a short pass to Eugene Lewis. They could have attempted a long field goal or punted for a rouge — anything would have been better than the decision to throw a check-down to their running back and hoping he could somehow manage 54 yards with the entire defence dropped back in prevent mode.

It was poor clock management in Week 1 and to see the same situation play itself out again in Week 5 was mind-boggling. Even if Dyce himself isn’t great at managing the clock, he has a highly experienced staff. Why did nobody think to stop the clock?

Yet again, those lost points loomed large. When the Redblacks were pushing in the fourth quarter, it could have been an entirely different game with them down a single score (six points) as opposed to nine (two scores).

Just as fans want to see growth and evolution from players, you’d hope for the same from the coaching staff when painful lessons are learned.

4) Defensive coordinator William Fields’ unit had some big moments — including a turnover on downs and a sack — but was ultimately victimized by misdirection, big-plays, and penalties.

Yards: 74
Tackles attempted: 0

Justin Rankin romps through the Ottawa defence completely untouched!#CFL #GoElks #AlwaysEdmonton
pic.twitter.com/chvI6iT6py

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) July 7, 2025

A perfect individual illustration of this was linebacker Frankie Griffin. The 29-year-old finished the game with six tackles and made a number of impressive open-field takedowns. He also got excellent penetration on a handful of tackles for a loss and seemingly notched a sack, forced fumble, and scored a defensive touchdown, only for that great effort to be wiped out because he hit Edmonton quarterback Tre Ford in the head with his hands.

Later in the game, he also effectively allowed the Elks to run out the clock when he was again flagged for roughing the passer thanks to his decision to drive Ford into the ground. Those kinds of mental errors are doing the team no favours.

Overall, the defence gave up 368 yards of offence and allowed the Elks to convert just 29 percent of their second-down opportunities. Of Edmonton’s 14 possessions, nine gained 19 yards or less.

Strong-side linebacker Adarius Pickett led the way with nine tackles, while defensive end Bryce Carter had three tackles and the team’s lone sack.

5) With Bralon Addison out, Eugene Lewis looking for revenge, and Dru Brown healthy enough to play, everything seemed to be lining up for a big game from Ottawa’s star off-season addition.

Instead, while Lewis’ final stat line was respectable — eight catches for 75 yards and a touchdown — it probably wasn’t what he or anyone else imagined. And for the third week in a row, Lewis dropped a very catchable ball.

Over-the-middle and into the end zone to none other than Geno Lewis! ?⚫️ pic.twitter.com/NUYSLNy3t0

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 7, 2025

As for the rest of the receiving corps, Kalil Pimpleton was the Redblacks’ most dangerous threat, as evidenced by the fact that 40 of his 68 yards came after the catch. Pimpleton finished with six receptions.

Hardy made five catches for 45 yards, but did almost all of his work on fly sweeps or quick hitch passes in the flats. Andre Miller made four catches for 29 yards and a touchdown in Addison’s spot and Canadian rookie Keelan White finished with four catches for 47 yards, with two of his catches moving the chains on second down.

Andre Miller makes it interesting late.#CFL #RNation #Redblacks
pic.twitter.com/iS8Bs0ryQB

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) July 7, 2025

6) After giving up a league-high 12 sacks through four games, something had to give for Ottawa’s offensive line. The team cut Darta Lee, the American who had been starting in place of the injured Zack Pelehos all season long. American rookie Parker Moorer got the start at right tackle and was extremely solid in his CFL debut.

As a unit, Ottawa’s offensive line did an excellent job of protecting Brown. Not only did the group not concede a sack, Brown was rarely under pressure. It should be acknowledged that part of that was indeed due to how quickly he was getting rid of the ball.

The Redblacks didn’t run the ball much but had success when they did as Daniel Adeboboye averaged 4.3 yards per carry and William Stanback averaged 7.6 yards per carry.

7) Hopefully, DeVonte Dedmon’s injury isn’t as serious as it looked, but in the one angle TSN gave the television audience, the way his foot was twisted looked brutal.

Dedmon was brought back this off-season specifically with the intention of having him handle all return duties as he’s one of the best in the league at what he does. His absence will be noticeable but Ottawa is fortunate in that they have depth behind him.

Pimpleton taking the first punt he fielded following Dedmon’s departure 97 yards for a touchdown surely went a long way towards soothing any concerns R-Nation might have.

IT’S ANOTHER LONG PUNT RETURN TOUCHDOWN… WHAT IS GOING ON?! ?

KALIL PIMPLETON WITH THE 97-YARD TOUCHDOWN FOR OTTAWA? pic.twitter.com/U6lnPh0KcW

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 7, 2025

That said, given Pimpleton’s value on offence, it remains to be seen whether he will handle a majority of the return duties, or how that works gets divided. Against the Elks, Ottawa had Pimpleton, White, and Miller line-up as returners at various points.

8) As for the rest of the special teams, Lewis Ward was a perfect four-for-four, connecting on field goals from 42, 42, 43 and, 28 yards out. Punter Richie Leone blasted the football, smashing seven kicks for an average of 52.4 yards per punt. Unfortunately, his average field position flip per punt was just 27.9 yards, but that’s due almost entirely to the 94-yard Javon Leake touchdown return.

A 94-YARD PUNT RETURN TOUCHDOWN FOR JAVON LEAKE ?? pic.twitter.com/cpYp6DMVJx

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) July 6, 2025

Fullback Marco Dubios deserves a shoutout for almost catching Leake. It seems like at least once a season, Dubios chases someone down from behind when they least expect it. The veteran gives pure effort every time he takes the field, which you have to respect.

In terms of kick coverage, Bennett Williams led the way with three special teams tackles, followed by James Peter with two.

9) Coming into the game, the Redblacks were the league’s most-penalized team. Against the Elks, they were flagged another nine times for 118 yards. Flags wiped out a fumble recovery inside Edmonton’s two-yard line, multiple second-down stops, and multiple second-down conversions.

In a league where the margins between winning and losing are so thin, shooting yourself in the foot is not something you can get away with doing more than once or twice a game, let alone nine times.

Dyce has repeatedly stated that the flags are unacceptable, selfish, and that consequences will be handed out. We got a taste of what they might look like going forward when defensive back Robert Priester was benched for a quarter following his facemask flag.

10) With the loss, the Redblacks fall to 1-4 on the season and dead last in the East Division. Most discouragingly, their last two losses have come against teams that were a combined 0-6 before they played Ottawa.

It’s too early to panic — especially given the state of the rest of the East Division — but the fan base is becoming unruly as patience runs out. Some are calling for a coaching change, but given that the team just extended Dyce’s contract through 2026, that seems unlikely.

The fact of that matter is Ottawa isn’t far from winning games. They’ve got the roster, they’ve got the talent, and they’ve got the experience. It’s cliche to say (and no disrespect to their opponents) but the main thing stopping them right now is themselves.

11) Up next for the Redblacks is the first leg of a home-and-home with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday night. If the team can stack a couple of wins over their division rivals, a lot of the noise starts to fade. If they don’t, things could get ugly.