That faith will be fuelled by the franchise’s aggressive pursuit and addition of former Argonaut head coach Ryan Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie arrives in the nation’s capital with a winning pedigree and a history of offensive production, becoming the fourth head coach — and third general manager — in team history.

While the 45-year-old’s hiring resolves a number of issues, plenty of questions continue to swirl around the franchise. Here are five things I’ll be paying close attention to this offseason.

Is Dru Brown Dinwiddie’s guy?

On the surface, the question of whether quarterback Dru Brown will return as the Redblacks’ starter in 2026 seems straightforward. He’s signed through next season on a deal that, per our own Justin Dunk, pays $462,500 in hard money, with a maximum value of $471,500. That’s absolutely not the kind of cash a team would pay someone to hold a clipboard.

Furthermore, although he missed half the season with an assortment of injuries, when healthy, Brown completed 71.5 percent of his passes for 2,389 yards, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. In his nine starts, he had four games with 300+ passing yards. At times when he’s been on the field, Browns has looked like part of the upper echelon of CFL quarterbacks.

And yet, the question isn’t straightforward. To begin with, the team will need to decide if Brown’s frequent absences can simply be chalked up to bad luck or if he’s perhaps injury-prone. There’s also the issue of Brown’s tendency to throw off his back foot and seemingly float passes into high danger areas that result in turnovers. Moreover, there was a distinct lack of willingness to stretch the field on Brown’s part, as he rarely took deep shots in 2025, although he may have been constrained by the system he was forced to operate within.

During his time in Toronto, Dinwiddie did a masterful job of squeezing production out of anyone he put under centre. Hell, he won a Grey Cup with Nick Arbuckle and had him looking like an MOP for much of last season. Given that he’ll be calling plays next season, what Brown’s future boils down to is, does Dinwiddie believe he can help the 28-year-old Brown take his game to the next level? Would he prefer to work with someone he’s more familiar with — aka someone from his time in Toronto? Or is there a pending free agent passer he’s eyeing?

It stands to reason that if the Redblacks choose to move on from Brown, they’d do so before the start of free agency in order to maximize the return.

How will Dinwiddie fill out his staff?

Tommy Condell is out as offensive coordinator, and Will Fields is set to return as defensive coordinator. Although some in R-Nation might not be overly keen to see more of Fields, given how mediocre his unit was in 2025, he won two Grey Cups while part of Dinwiddie’s staff in Toronto, so it makes sense that he would return.

What I really want to know is, how many more familiar faces from Toronto will follow Dinwiddie up the 401 to Ottawa?

Names like Pete Costanza, Kevin Eiben and Mike Miller are all potential candidates for the Argos’ now-vacant head coach position, but if none ultimately get the job, could we see one — or all three — trading their double blue for red and black?

Costanza is an elite offensive mind and has six Grey Cups to his name. In addition to his 11 years of playing experience, Eiben has spent eight years with the Argos, occupying roles from special teams coordinator to defensive coordinator to linebacker coach. As for Miller, he’s been Toronto’s quarterback coach since 2022.

An extra benefit for the Redblacks would be that the more Dinwiddie strengthens his staff by luring former Argos to Ottawa, the more he weakens a division rival.

Which pending FAs are worth bringing back?

Last offseason, fresh off the team’s first postseason appearance since 2018, the theme for general manager Shawn Burke seemed to be ‘run it back and bolster’. Faced with 31 pending free agents, Burke moved quickly to prioritize those he felt could still make meaningful contributions, eventually bringing back 22 players, while shoring up positions of weakness by adding impact players like three-time All-CFL receiver Eugene Lewis, two-time All-CFL running back William Stanback, Canadian centre Peter Godber, and totally overhauling the secondary.

Unfortunately, the 2025 season was what it was. For the fifth time in six seasons, the Redblacks finished with four (or fewer) wins. That could mean that this offseason, faced with 36 potential free agents, Ottawa opts for full-scale change.

Dinwiddie is the new general manager but will continue to work with Burke following his shift to vice president of football operations. Dinwiddie will no doubt want to put his stamp on the team, and even if ushering in a culture change is in the cards, there are still a number of impact players the Redblacks should look to retain.

Topping that list is strong-side linebacker Adarius Pickett. Not only is he one of the league’s best at the position, but he’s also a valuable special teamer. Despite tearing his Achilles mid-season in 2024, the 29-year-old was ready to go at the start of the 2025 campaign and started all 18 games as Ottawa’s biggest contributor on defence. Pickett finished with 84 defensive tackles (a team-high), 14 special teams tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble, four pass knockdowns, and two fumble recoveries.

Another name that should garner strong consideration is Justin Hardy. Even if he’ll be 34 years old at the start of next season, the Washington, N.C., native has shown no signs of slowing down. Not only did he score a career-high eight touchdowns last season, but he also became the first Redblacks receiver since The Buds to post three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Hardy made more catches than anyone else in Ottawa’s receiving corps, and he had the most 100+ yard games with four and the most yards after catch.

Quarterback Dustin Crum, running back Daniel Adeboboye, offensive lineman Jacob Ruby, defensive linemen Aidan Johnm and linebackers Lucas Cormier and Frankie Griffin are others who could be worth bringing back.

Will the crowds come back?

As ugly as the results were on the field in 2025, things weren’t much better for the Redblacks franchise off of it. As the season progressed and losses piled up, it became clear that R-Nation was showing its frustration by staying away. Instead of building off of 2024’s return to the playoffs, quite the opposite happened with attendance decreasing 4.2 percent.

In fact, the Redblacks’ average of 18,136 fans per game only finished ahead of the Argos’ 15,054. For an organization that regularly sold out its 24,000 seats and frequently another 1,000 standing room tickets as recently as 2019, it’s been quite the fall from grace.

Not only did the team record its smallest home crowd ever in 2025 — just 15,054 against the Ticats in July — but only two of nine home games crossed the 20,000 mark. Going 2-7 at Lansdowne surely didn’t help, but the issue is deeper than just losses. As the franchise’s early success of playoff wins, Grey Cup trips, and a championship fades a little more from memory each year, the norm has become the team being an annual cellar-dweller. To make things worse, for much of those underwhelming seasons, Ottawa played a boring and uninspiring brand of football.

Just three seasons with an above .500 record in 11 years have tested R-Nation’s patience, especially when you consider that track record is stacked upon decades of futility from the Rough Rider and Renegade eras.

The good thing is that OSEG has clearly realized that their fan base needs a shot in the arm, which the hiring of Dinwiddie is. But to truly get the franchise back where it needs to be, much remains to be done. The two instances of on-site tailgating in 2025 were a solid initiative, and if tailgating on the Great Lawn at Lansdowne becomes a permanent game-day feature — something that members of R-Nation, such as the Southsiders fan group, have been clamouring for for years — a new Ottawa tradition could be born. All that said, the Lansdowne 2.0 construction, which is already underway, could limit or even make it impossible to tailgate onsite.

Continued aggressive marketing will also help, but you can’t blame those who are in a wait-and-see mode. The talent Ottawa adds this offseason will go a long way towards generating hype and belief heading into the 2026 season opener.

Does Dinwiddie have too much on his plate?

On one hand, Dinwiddie’s addition to the franchise checks a lot of boxes. On the other hand, there are only so many hours in a day, and given that he’ll be filling three different roles — general manager, head coach and offensive coordinator — it’s fair to wonder how he’ll manage to simultaneously be effective at three extremely demanding jobs. Other times we’ve seen a coach attempt to pull off the GM/HC/coordinator trifecta, it didn’t take long for things to go off the rails (see Chris Jones in Edmonton).

What will help is that although Burke’s title is different, he’ll still be an ever-present and experienced voice in Dinwiddie’s ear. As the duo made clear in an interview with TSN1200 earlier this month, Dinwiddie will have final say on roster decisions, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a collaborative process.

Something else that could ensure Dinwiddie succeeds where Chris Jones failed is a strong coaching staff. Even if he’s the one calling plays on game day, if Dinwiddie has someone he trusts implicitly as his right-hand man to be QB coach or pass game coordinator, he won’t have to spend as much of his time directly installing weekly game plans.

Since the implementation of the CFL operations cap, it’s been commonplace for front office staff to hold multiple roles, and Dinwiddie has stated that a large part of the reason he came to the Redblacks was that he wanted the challenge of building the roster he’d be coaching. Still, three jobs for one person is ambitious by any standard.

The post Five burning questions for the Ottawa Redblacks in the 2026 CFL offseason appeared first on 3DownNation.

Instead, the team regressed in every phase of the game and just like last year, their season once again ended with a 20-point loss. Only this time it was in a regular-season game that meant nothing because the Redblacks had long been eliminated from playoff contention. It was also a game in which Ottawa wasted the opportunity to at the very least play spoiler to a divisional rival, perhaps denying them a first-place finish.

Here are all my thoughts on Ottawa closing the book on their 2025 campaign with a 35-15 loss in Hamilton.

1) Although he was given his second straight start — and only the third of his career — quarterback Tyrie Adams didn’t get much time to show what he was capable of.

The 28-year-old oozes potential, even if it’s buried under a layer of rust that’s developed from a lack of playing time or reps in practice. Adams wasn’t lights out against the Ticats — he missed a couple of easy completions and threw a pair of interceptions on ill-advised throws, and yet in limited action he still completed 64 percent of his passes and also threw a touchdown.

REDBLACKS RESPOND!

William Stanback goes diving into the endzone!#CFLGameday
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— CFL (@CFL) October 24, 2025

He flashed mobility to evade pressure and extend plays and completed a 35-yard pass. That’s significant because the Redblacks finished 2025 with just 13 (yes, you read that right) passes that traveled 30+ yards, and that’s including yards after the catch.

Last week, Adams settled in and got more comfortable — in other words, better — as the game went on. That’s what made yanking him after one half of action so bizarre. Speaking of which…

2) In one of his last acts as Ottawa’s head coach, Bob Dyce made the egregious decision to bench Adams and insert journeyman quarterback Matthew Shiltz into the game. It seemed to catch everyone off guard, as it was Adams himself who revealed he’d been benched during an halftime interview with TSN’s Kenzie Lalonde.

Adams seemed to imply that Shiltz was going into the game as he was likely to retire, whereas postgame Dyce suggested that six quarters of Adams was enough and that the decision to play Shiltz was in the best interests of the team.

I’m not going to disparage Shiltz the person. He’s been nothing but a great teammate all season long and he’s certainly played well in the past. With that said, he’s still the worst quarterback on Ottawa’s roster by a wide margin and there was no justification for playing him in Hamilton. Period.

Clearly, there’s a reason Shiltz has been stapled to the bench since his disastrous Week 2 performance against the Alouettes in his lone start of the season. Shiltz was so uninspiring in that outing that despite numerous injuries to their other quarterbacks, Ottawa never once looked his way again.

Dyce spent the week talking to the media about how his team was taking the field to get a win for their fans, but those words ring hollow in hindsight given how he mismanaged the quarterback situation. And if it the decision was fuelled by some misguided attempt to send Shiltz out in style as he truly does plan to retire, that’s even worse because if he’s not going to be part of the future of the team, why give him reps at the expense of a quarterback (Adams) who might be?

If that’s what Dyce wanted to do, Shiltz could’ve been given a possession late in the fourth quarter. It would’ve achieved the same thing and been much less detrimental to the team’s performance.

Upon entering the game, the 32-year-old did his very best to ensure each defensive back in the Hamilton secondary got to pad their stats with an interception. Shiltz finished the game completing seven of the 15 passes he attempted for 78 yards and four interceptions. He was actually fortunate that the damage was limited to four turnovers, as defenders has their hands on three other passes that could have been caught as he stared down pass after pass.

Tip Drill, HAM D is at it again!#CFLGameday
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— CFL (@CFL) October 25, 2025

And what message does the benching send to Adams? After being the fourth quarterback all season long and spending the majority of this season’s practices hanging out with the offensive line during drills — as he wasn’t getting reps to throw the ball — when he finally does get a start, he’s quickly benched. Why would Adams possibly consider re-signing in Ottawa?

Dyce’s decision was disrespectful to fans who invested their time by tuning in to continue to support their team in a season when they were given every reason to tune out. It was one of the most baffling choices in a season that had its fair share of them.

3) Coming into the final game of the season, Tommy Condell’s offence was the worst in the league. Ottawa ranked dead last in offensive points at 22.6 per game, and had the distinction of being the team that had run more plays than any other offence in the league (56 per game), while averaging the least amount of yards per play. Put another way, nobody had the ball more than Condell, yet nobody did less with it. Ottawa was also the second-worst team in the CFL at converting second downs.

Against the Ticats, those trends continued. For the 16th time in 18 games, the Redblacks scored less than three points in the first quarter. Slow starts weren’t just something that happened once in a while to the Redblacks, it was with their modus operandi. Yet again against the Ticats, Ottawa found themselves trailing by double digits and never recovered.

I’m not going to dive deep into the stats from the game because honestly, the only thing that matters is that Ottawa had 13 possessions and only two ended in points. Yet again, Condell utterly failed to get the ball in his playmakers hands (how does it take 56 minutes for Eugene Lewis to see a single target?) and aside from one burst of creativity with the flea-flicker, he failed to generate explosive plays.

The lack of big plays is another defining characteristic of the Redblacks’ 2025 offence, as of the 615 passes Ottawa attempted this year, just 13 gained more than 30 yards.

R-Nation has seen poor offences before — there was the offensive coordinating “by committee” with Joe PaoPao in 2019 and the Paul LaPolice era — but what made 2025 more frustrating than any other year is that the Redblacks had plenty of talent. Justin Hardy, Eugene Lewis, Kalil Pimpleton, Bralon Addison, William Stanback, Daniel Adeboboye, Marco Dubois, and Keelan White are very good players, yet too often their talents weren’t maximized or they simply weren’t a part of game plans.

The story of Ottawa’s offence this season isn’t that it was lacking playmakers, it was that it was lacking someone who knew how to use them.

4) To illustrate how poorly Ottawa’s weapons were used this season, look no further than how they deployed their running backs. William Stanback is a powerful runner whose physical style wears defences down the longer a game goes on. He’s exactly the kind of back who flourishes the more he’s featured in the game plan, and yet despite playing in 17 games this season, he was only handed the ball more than 11 times in a game twice.

Stanback was criminally underused, which is something he has in common with Canadian back Daniel Adeboboye. Selected by Ottawa media as the Redblacks’ nominee for Most Outstanding Canadian, all the 26-year-old did in 2025 was produce when given touches. Adeboboye averaged 5.5 yards per rush and 8.1 yards per reception but in 12 of 18 games, was given four or fewer carries. And in 17 of 18 games he finished with three or fewer receptions. If Ottawa can convince him to re-sign, they should commit to involving him more in the offence going forward.

5) For the third consecutive season, Justin Hardy crossed the 1,000-yard receiving mark. In 2025 he did it in style, diving to secure a flea flicker.

JUSTIN HARDY DIVES TO MAKE THE GRAB!

He is now over 1,000 yards for his third straight season!#CFLGameday
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— CFL (@CFL) October 24, 2025

Hardy is the first Ottawa receiver to record three straight 1,000-yard seasons since (Buds) Brad Sinopoli and Greg Ellingson achieved the feat from 2015 to 2018.

The 33-year-old snagged three receptions for 51 yards against the Ticats and also made two tackles following interceptions. Despite the fact that he will be 34 when the 2026 season kicks off, it would behoove the Redblacks to do their best to ensure Hardy remains in the nation’s capital. He’s sure-handed, consistent, and tough. There should always be a place for that kind of receiver on the roster.

As for the rest of Ottawa’s receiving corps, Eugene Lewis was an afterthought in Ottawa’s attack, securing his first (and only) target for a 12-yard gain with four minutes left. Lewis’ 2025 campaign ends with 75 receptions for 1,012 yards and six touchdowns but it feels like the Redblacks only scratched the surface of what could have been. Lewis barely stretched the field because the Redblacks’ offence rarely asked him to. Having him return would be nice, but will he be willing to return to a place that failed to tailor its attack to his skillset?

The always dangerous Kalil Pimpleton finished with three catches for 60 yards, Bralon Addison made four receptions for 39 yards, and Canadian Keelan White made one grab for nine yards to finish his rookie year with a total of 46 catches for 482 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

6) Statistically, William Fields’ defence was middle of the pack in 2025. It wasn’t great, but wasn’t awful. And yet too often it simply felt like it didn’t make life tough enough against their opponents.

Greg Bell cuts through the traffic and takes off for an impressive gain! #CFLGameday
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— CFL (@CFL) October 24, 2025

Case in point, Friday’s game against the Ticats. It never felt like Hamilton’s offence was ever impeded. The Ticats averaged 5.6 yards per rush and 8.6 per pass. Bo Levi Mitchell wasn’t sacked and rarely pressured, which allowed him to complete 68 percent of his passes and he easily picked against Ottawa’s soft zone looks. As has been the case many times this season, receivers repeatedly caught balls without any defenders nearby.

Kiondré Smith makes the grab!#CFLGameday
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— CFL (@CFL) October 25, 2025

Obviously, Hamilton’s offence had some favourable starting positions due to the half-dozen interceptions the Redblacks’ offence threw, but of the 12 possessions in which the Ticats were trying to move the ball, they scored on nine of them.

A couple of defenders deserve shoutouts for playing hard all the way to the final whistle. Middle linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox made six tackles and strong-side linebacker Adarius Pickett made five to finish as the Redblacks’ leading tackler in 2025. Pickett not only played in all 18 games but was his usual dominant self despite suffering a torn Achilles in Week 11 of last season.

Defensive back Adrian Frye chipped in five tackles and in his return to action from injury, veteran defensive lineman Cleyon Laing made two tackles — including one for a loss — and recovered a fumbled snap for Ottawa’s only turnover of the night.

Defensive back C.J. Coldon made three tackles and could’ve (read: should’ve) had a pair of interceptions.

7) If there’s one player happy that this season is ending it has to be Lewis Ward. The veteran kicker’s nightmare season continued with another miss, this one wide right on a 38-yard attempt. Overall in 2025, Ward managed just one field goal from beyond 50 yards and connected on a career low 76.1 percent of his tries.

Richie Leone also had a tough year, finishing last in the CFL in terms of net punting average. With that said, that can be a little deceiving as net punt average is dependent on cover units doing their jobs, and Rick Campbell’s special teams were second-worst in the CFL at covering kicks. Not only did Ottawa allow a league-high five kick return touchdowns in 2025, they also conceded 13 yards per punt return and were the fourth-most penalized group on special teams.

Ward and Leone are a pair of popular veterans and it’ll be interesting to see how general manager Shawn Burke handles their futures.

8) In a decision that felt inevitable, early Saturday morning the Redblacks announced that they’d fired head coach Bob Dyce. I truly do believe that during his time as Ottawa’s head coach, he showed significant growth. Early in his tenure, Dyce was risk-adverse and overly conservative, and that came back to bite him more than once. But it seemed he learned from that the longer he was in the role.

A staple of Dyce’s time with the Redblacks is that it never seemed like his players abandoned him or tuned out his message. To a man, on and off the record, players continually spoke of how they felt he was a true leader of men and someone they’d run through a wall for. Unfortunately, those sentiments didn’t always translate to positive play on the field. Frequently, Dyce would spend the week speaking to the media of how he felt his group was prepared and ready to come out firing, only to be let down when those same players came out flat.

In one of his interviews to TSN 1200 this season, Dyce spoke of the important of three Es: effort, energy, and execution. While I never doubted the effort his players put in, far too often the latter two Es were absent.

What ultimately doomed Dyce in 2025 was who he chose as his coordinators. To Dyce’s credit, he always had a clear vision of the team he wanted his squad to be. From day one he preached physicality and wanting to be a team that hit people in the mouth and imposed their will.

In 2025, his general manager stocked the roster with players to do exactly that. Ottawa boasted big, physical receivers capable of manhandling defensive backs in run blocks and a pair of tough running backs capable of pushing the pile. Where Dyce went wrong was that despite having the ingredients for what he wanted to cook, he hired a chef who wanted to cook something else. Having an offensive coordinator who clearly preferred a ball control offence centred on passes at or behind the line of scrimmage was never going to jive.

Defensively, it’s tough to talk about being physical and aggressive when your defensive coordinator’s scheme doesn’t bring pressure often and features lots of soft zone coverage. If the defensive line isn’t collapsing the pocket on it’s own, the secondary will naturally be exposed, which is what kept happening.

Finally, although I’m sure having an experienced voice in Rick Campbell on the staff was helpful, in hindsight putting him in a role to coach a unit he hadn’t since 2012 wasn’t great.

As things went off the rails in 2025, Dyce could’ve leaned into his position as head coach to force his coordinators to change their styles, but for whatever reason, he didn’t or couldn’t. Dyce failed as the Redblacks head coach in 2025 not because of his in-game decision making or roster management, but because he failed to influence his staff into moulding the roster into the team he wanted.

And ultimately, it’s a results-based business. Going 18-39-1 since taking over for Paul LaPolice in 2022 and missing the playoffs two out of three years had stretched fan patience to the limit. Thousands of members of R-Nation had become disillusioned with the direction of the franchise and have shown their displeasure by stay away from games in droves.

Firing Dyce isn’t going to magically lure those people back, but it’s the first step in restoring faith that there is a plan and that better days are ahead.

9) With Dyce out of the picture and the news that general manager Shawn Burke will return in 2026, OSEG finds itself in a potentially strange situation. Burke will be heading into the last year of his contract yet is tasked with hiring a new head coach who will presumably be signed for multiple seasons.

Coaches crave stability — and need it to be successful — so will the fact that Burke only has one year left on his deal be an issue as he seeks to hire Dyce’s replacement?

Keeping Burke in his position makes sense given that he’s done a good job of not only attracting top-tier talent to Ottawa, but also in extending his own key free agents. Nobody thought Burke had a poor offseason — the Redblacks drew plenty of praise for the talent they added and many members of the media were high on them when the season started.

With that said, just like with Dyce, it’s a results-oriented business and through four seasons Burke’s rosters have gone 21-50-1 and failed to win a playoff game. Burke inherited LaPolice as a coach but chose to roll with Dyce.

He now has the opportunity to hire a second head coach and it’s a task he must ace, otherwise he won’t get a chance to hire a third.

10) With the loss, the Redblacks end 2025 with a 4-14 record, just like they did 2023 and 2022. Burke has a busy offseason ahead of him, not only needing to select a head coach and help him fill out a staff, but he also comb through his roster to determine who should be a part of the future and who needs to be thanked for their services and moved along.

Fielding a competitive team in 2026 is an absolute necessity given where the fan base is at. In 2025, for the first time ever, the Redblacks averaged less fans at home games than at any point in the Renegade era.

Ottawa is a proud football town but it seems like many in R-Nation are at their limit. Since the return of pro football in 2014, R-Nation has seen their team win 68 regular season games while losing 123 and tying three. They’ve also only seen five playoff appearances in 11 seasons and haven’t celebrated a postseason win since 2018.

It’s high time to turn things around by building a rock solid foundation.

The post Redblacks embarrass themselves in loss to Ticats, fire Dyce (& 10 other thoughts on closing the book on 2025) appeared first on 3DownNation.

For the second time this season, OSEG had set up tailgating on the lawn right beside the stadium — just as Montreal does for all of their home games at Percival Molson. Alouettes fans also packed the stands to the point that they were the main reason TD Place had its second-biggest crowd of the season. And of course, the Ottawa Redblacks did their part by rolling over and allowing Montreal to put on a show, dominating Ottawa by a score of 39-28 in a contest that, like last week, never truly felt close.

Here are all my thoughts on the game.

1) Many, myself included, had been hoping to see fourth-year pro Tyrie Adams under centre for quite some time. That opportunity finally came this week, as Dustin Crum was ruled out with a head injury early in the week.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

While Adams was far from perfect, it’s worth bearing in mind that his play should be graded on a curve. The reality is the 28-year-old was making his first start in two and a half years. And as the third (and more often fourth) quarterback on the roster, Adams sometimes went months without any real reps in practice.

That’s why, despite a handful of overthrows and misreads, it was a solid outing by him against a good Montreal defence. Adams finished the game by completing 61 percent of his passes for 286 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions. Of his turnovers, it should be noted that two were on tipped balls.

PICKED OFF!

Najee Murray has his second interception of the ball game!#CFLGameday
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— CFL (@CFL) October 18, 2025

Furthermore, Adams wasn’t always getting a ton of help from teammates. His offensive line struggled mightily to provide him a clean pocket to step up into, and by my count, at least four passes were dropped.

Still, after a shaky start, Adams settled in and seemed to hit a groove once Ottawa started to call plays that moved the pocket — RPOs (Run/Pass Options), rollouts, and bootlegs. By taking advantage of Adam’s mobility, the offence was able to get into a rhythm and put together some good drives. One thing that Adams will need to improve — and something that will happen only with more playing time — is his touch. Adams’ arm is clearly strong, but at times, it seemed like he put a bit too much heat on throws that would’ve benefited from a lighter touch.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Overall, it was an encouraging performance and ideally leads to another start in the team’s final game of the season in Hamilton.

2) With Adams starting the game, we’ve officially seen four different quarterbacks in Tommy Condell’s offensive system. The main takeaway should be that it doesn’t matter who is under centre, because you’re getting the same thing regardless. From the slow starts — the Redblacks yet again failed to score a point in the first quarter and quickly found themselves trailing by double digits — to the lack of faith in the running game, to play designs that continually have receivers running short of the sticks in second-and-long situations, Condell’s offence has proven thoroughly unproductive.

Against Montreal, Ottawa averaged just 4.7 yards per play and converted only 38 percent of their second-down opportunities. Yet again, the ground game seemed an afterthought, as running backs were handed the ball a total of eight times compared to the 44 pass attempts dialled up. I completely understand that the short passing game can be a substitute (at times) for a rushing attack, but as we’ve seen all season long, the Redblacks don’t stretch the field, which allows opposing defences to squat on the inevitable short routes and swarm to the ball, rendering the endless screens and quick passes to the flats all the more ineffective.

If you’re looking for a silver lining, the Redblacks’ red zone production was good, as the team scored touchdowns on three of their four trips to that area.

3) A combination of a lack of touches and poor offensive line play meant a very quiet day for Ottawa’s running backs. Veteran William Stanback turned seven rushes into 18 yards, averaging just 2.8 per carry. Stanback was somewhat involved in the passing game, snagging three check-downs for 22 yards, with 17 of those coming after the catch.

As for Canadian Daniel Adeboboye, his lone carry went for two yards, but he made four catches for 34 yards (with 24 coming after the catch) and a touchdown. He also made a very heads-up play to snuff out a Montreal fake punt in the second quarter, which led to a turnover on downs.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

4) Nothing demonstrates how much Ottawa’s aerial attack emphasizes quick passes better than the YAC (yards after catch) from this game. Eugene Lewis had five catches for 37 yards and a touchdown, with 18 of those yards coming after the catch.

GENO HAS GOT IT!

Ottawa responds with a touchdown!#CFLGameday
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— CFL (@CFL) October 18, 2025

Kalil Pimpleton’s four grabs went for 39 yards, with 18 coming after the catch. Justin Hardy’s pair of catches were good for 31 yards, with 18 coming after the catch. Canadian rookie Keelan White snagged three passes for 30 yards, with 17 of those coming after the ball was in his hands. Fullback Anthony Gosselin made one reception for 15 yards, with 11 coming after the catch. Only Bralon Addison had less than 50% of his yards come in the air, as his five receptions were good for 78 yards, with just 25 coming after the catch.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

This tells us that the ball is being thrown incredibly quickly, well before any kind of long-developing or deeper routes can be run. Some of those passes can be attributed to wanting to get rid of the ball before pressure gets home, but more of it is due to exactly how Ottawa’s offensive scheme functions.

Through 17 games, it’s safe to say that scheme hasn’t borne much — if any — fruit.

5) With the injuries on the offensive line, Ottawa was always in tough against a strong Alouettes’ front seven. With that said, it doesn’t excuse how much the Redblacks’ big men up front struggled to pick up twists and stunts. Too often, a three or four-man rush was able to collapse the pocket. Multiple times, a blitzing defender was untouched and delivered a huge shot on Adams moments after he fielded the snap.

Mustafa Johnson comes up big with the sack! #CFLGameday
: @MTLAlouettes vs. REDBLACKS LIVE NOW
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: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/PFoZn69Bei

— CFL (@CFL) October 18, 2025

In addition to their struggles in pass protection, Ottawa’s offensive line only mustered 3.2 yards per rush. Obviously, not having Drew Desjarlais (among other regular starters) was a factor, but the group simply needs to be better. Again, if you’re looking for a silver lining, the reps that 2025 second-round pick Sam Carson is getting at left guard should help speed up his development.

6) Outside of a few spark plugs (whom I’ll highlight in a minute), Ottawa’s defence didn’t look overly interested or engaged for long stretches of the game. For much of the 60 minutes, William Fields’ unit lacked energy. Let’s get the negatives out of the way before shouting out those who did come to play.

For the second week in a row, Alouettes’ quarterback Davis Alexander shredded Ottawa’s zone looks, completing 68 percent of his passes and hitting a number of explosive plays. Despite being sacked three times and facing somewhat consistent pocket pressure, Alexander’s big day was possible because his receivers were running wide open. So open that Montreal averaged 10.5 yards per pass.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Even that stat doesn’t tell the real story, but what does is that the Alouettes’ two leading receivers — Austin Mack and Tyler Snead — averaged 21.6 and 16.3 yards per catch, respectively. Montreal receivers routinely caught the ball without an Ottawa defender in the same area code. As for contested catches, forget it.

In terms of positives, defensive end Bryce Carter was a beast, notching seven tackles, two sacks, and a handful of other pressures that rushed throws. Linebacker Adarius Pickett made four tackles, had a knockdown, and, as R-Nation has come to appreciate, was constantly around the ball. Signed two weeks ago, Jonathan Jones — the former Argo and Blue Bomber — worked in as part of the rotation at linebacker and produced five tackles and a sack.

Defensive back Adrian Frye made five tackles and beautifully recovered an onside kick. Canadian defensive tackle Muftah Ageli, Ottawa’s fourth-round pick in the 2025 CFL draft, chipped in with three tackles.

7) It’s fair to say Lewis Ward has struggled mightily in 2025. With that said, you’d never know it from how he kicked against Montreal. After connecting on just 50 percent of his attempts over the last three games, Ward was two-of-two on Saturday afternoon, splitting the uprights from 45 and 46 yards out. He was also good on both conversions and bounced a perfect onside kick attempt that Ottawa recovered.

For the second week in a row, punter Richie Leone had a kick blocked thanks to another breakdown in protection. When he was able to get his punts off, Leone averaged nearly 40 yards per kick. In terms of kick coverage, it was a full team effort in corralling Montreal’s returners, as seven different Redblacks made a special teams tackle.

In his first game action in a month, DeVonte Dedmon was his usual shifty self, breaking a number of long kickoffs as he averaged 31 yards per return, with a long of 46 yards. Due to injuries and limited playing time due to roster management, Dedmon has had a relatively quiet season, but yesterday’s performance shows that he’s still more than capable of gifting his team excellent field position when given the opportunity to do so.

Devonte Dedmon turns on the jets! #CFLGameday
: Alouettes vs. @REDBLACKS LIVE NOW
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: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/1c6gS5URLf

— CFL (@CFL) October 18, 2025

8) On one hand, it was great seeing a crowd of 20,897 pack TD Place. Aside from the ugly visuals of hundreds of empty seats and poorly filled sections, games at Lansdowne this season haven’t had the atmosphere the league has come to expect from Ottawa since pro football returned to the nation’s capital in 2014.

On the other hand, the only reason the crowd was that big and rowdy was because of the heavy presence of Montreal fans. In addition to the team organizing buses that brought hundreds of fans to the game, the Alouettes had plenty of other supporters who made their own way to TD Place.

The result was an animated crowd that drowned out those brave members of R-Nation who subjected themselves to another loss. The blaring of horns that are typically limited to Percival Molson were a constant during Ottawa’s offensive possessions, and there were frequent “Ole” chants following positive Alouettes plays.

I’m sure the influx of visiting fans was great for the franchise’s bottom line, but for R-Nation, it was another humiliation in a season that’s already had its fair share of lowlights.

A year after posting a franchise-best 7-1-1 record at TD Place, the 2025 Redblacks finished their home schedule by going 2-7 at Lansdowne.

9) With the loss, Bob Dyce’s squad falls to 4-13 and has now dropped 11 games in a row to their French rivals.

The Redblacks close out the 2025 season on Friday night in Hamilton, but even a win won’t change where they’ll be selecting in the 2026 CFL draft. Although the Toronto Argonauts finished out their season with a loss to Calgary to finish 5-13, by losing to Montreal, Ottawa locked up the first overall pick due to the Argos’ point differential in their season series with the Redblacks.

With nothing at stake in the standings or in terms of the draft, R-Nation will be looking to see which young players continue to grow, and which veterans play hard, as they make their final case for being a part of the 2026 team.

The post Ottawa Redblacks let Alouettes make themselves at home (& nine other thoughts) appeared first on 3DownNation.

The same issues that have plagued the team for the entirety of the 2025 campaign — a toothless offence, a stout defence victimized by a handful of big plays, and sloppy special teams play — once again reared their ugly heads.

Here are my thoughts on Ottawa’s dispiriting 30-10 loss to the Alouettes.

1) With the team choosing to shut-down Dru Brown for the remainder of the 2025, Dustin Crum made his sixth start of the season in Montreal. Unfortunately, Crum’s career record against the Alouettes fell to 0-4 and the 26-year-old is now 5-15 record as a CFL starter.

It’s not so much that the third year pivot played poorly — he simply didn’t make enough game-changing plays. It was far from his most efficient outing, but it also wasn’t his worst. Crum completed 66 percent of his passes for 162 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He also scrambled seven times for 36 yards on the ground. Although he fumbled twice, Ottawa managed to recover the ball both times.

The main issue against the Alouettes was symptomatic of what Ottawa’s offence has been all year long regardless of who is under centre: there was a distinct lack of explosive plays.

Crum never bothered pushing the ball down the field and it didn’t look like he had many deep options with which to work, which is why it’s no surprise his longest pass of the night went for just 21 yards.

Crum didn’t get much help from his teammates, either — his offensive line struggled at times to handle the pressure Montreal brought, but he also had some throws that were simply inaccurate.

Najee Murray wasted no time to sack the QB! @WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend
: REDBLACKS vs. @MTLAlouettes LIVE NOW
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: CBSSN
: CFL+#CFLGameday pic.twitter.com/dUz6fKToMo

— CFL (@CFL) October 13, 2025

With Tyrie Adams finally dressed on the game day roster, it was somewhat surprising that he didn’t see any playing time when the game was out of reach. Teams can’t sit everyone to see what they have in their depth players just because they’re eliminated from postseason contention, however, given that Adams has only started one game — a win against Edmonton — during his four years in the nation’s capital, it would behoove the Redblacks to give him an extended look so they can approach how they will handle their quarterback position this offseason.

Right now, the team has no definitive answers as to what Adams is or can be, and with Brown not suiting up again this year, why not give Adams one of the next two games to state his case?

2) I’d like to find something nice to say about Tommy Condell’s offence, but it’s getting harder and harder to find silver linings. For the 14th time in 16 games, the Redblacks were held to less than three points in the first quarter. Yet again, they quickly trailed by double digits (11-0) and never recovered.

Condell’s offence mustered a whopping 220 yards of total offence, averaging 4.5 yards per play. Obviously the four turnovers (three on downs) played a factor, but the main culprit is that despite having a plethora of talent play-makers, the Redblacks continually fail to put their players in positions where they can showcase their skills.

Of Ottawa’s 13 possessions, eight gained less than 20 yards. The Redblacks converted only 25 percent of their second down opportunities and went one-for-two in the red zone.

Most damning of all, after starting slow (again), the Redblacks finished worse, managing a single rouge over the game’s final 30 minutes.

3) To illustrate how poorly Ottawa used its weapons, Justin Hardy finished Thanksgiving with zero catches and his only touch was a toss sweep run. Eugene Lewis caught his first — and only — pass of the game in the fourth quarter. Lewis’ 10-yard reception was the perfect example of how the Redblacks fail to maximize the skills of their stars because Lewis was thrown a two-yard screen in which he picked up eight yards after the catch.

The season-long theme of throwing quick, short passes and praying a receiver dodges multiple defenders was yet again on display in Montreal. Bralon Addison’s one catch went for four yards. Canadian rookie Keelan White had four receptions for 22 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per catch. Even the explosive Kalil Pimpleton — who made seven catches — saw 32 of his 47 receiving yards come after the catch.

The Redblacks don’t stretch the field vertically, they do so horizontally. Ask any defensive coordinator what they’d prefer to defend and I’m sure they’d all say the same thing.

I don’t know why it took 16 games, fullback/tight end Marco Dubois was involved in the offence for the first time this season, catching two passes for 38 yards, 34 of which came after the catch. At six-foot-four and 230 pounds, Dubois is a huge target and has repeatedly proven himself to be amongst the fastest players on team. It’s a shame it took until now for him to be more than an afterthought in Ottawa’s attack.

Dustin Crum connects with Marco Dubois for a 21-yard gain to start Q4! @WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend
: @REDBLACKS vs. Alouettes LIVE NOW
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: CBSSN
: CFL+#CFLGameday pic.twitter.com/bHunst9uOc

— CFL (@CFL) October 13, 2025

4) The Redblacks’ lone offensive bright spot was veteran American running back William Stanback. After being lightly used all season long, the 31-year-old was somewhat consistently fed the ball and turned 11 carries into 73 yards. Stanback’s punishing running style resulted in three runs of 10-plus yards. He also caught four check downs for 41 yards, 36 of which came after the catch.

William Stanback finds the pylon for Ottawa’s first score! @WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend
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: CBSSN
: CFL+#CFLGameday pic.twitter.com/at7ptYzlZX

— CFL (@CFL) October 13, 2025

As for Canadian back Daniel Adeboboye, he was given two carries for a total of seven yards.

5) Even if William Fields’ defence didn’t make enough splash plays to tip the balance of the game in Ottawa’s favour, his unit punched above their weight and deserved a better fate.

Ottawa’s defence limited Montreal to just 13 first downs, and nine of Montreal’s 12 possessions gained less than 24 yards. The problem was the Alouettes kept doing just enough (they converted 48 percent of their second down opportunities) to tack on field goals and gradually stretch their lead. They were also two-for-two in the red zone, which was a deciding factor and managed to get behind the defence for a long score.

Davis Alexander hits Austin Mack for a 47-yard touchdown! @WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend
: REDBLACKS vs. @MTLAlouettes LIVE NOW
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: CBSSN
: CFL+#CFLGameday pic.twitter.com/jhj92xzMPx

— CFL (@CFL) October 13, 2025

Leading the way for the Redblacks was Fresno State product Cameron Lockridge. The 25-year-old’s first career start at field-side cornerback resulted in five tackles, two of which were for a loss.

6) As has been the case for much of 2025, Ottawa’s special teams negatively impacted the outcome of the game by gifting the other team points.

This week it was a blocked punt in the first quarter that was returned for a touchdown and Lewis Ward’s fourth miss in the last two weeks. Ward did connect on one kick from 40 yards out, but missed from 47. Of Ward’s 10 missed field goals in 2025, eight of them have come from beyond 43 yards.

Marc-Antoine Dequoy swoops in for the blocked punt, sticks with it and scores the TD! @WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend
: REDBLACKS vs. @MTLAlouettes LIVE NOW
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: CBSSN
: CFL+#CFLGameday pic.twitter.com/0oy0r7kh3R

— CFL (@CFL) October 13, 2025

When Leone wasn’t having his punts blocked, he averaged a 40.6 yard field positional flip per kick. Pimpleton averaged 7.8 yards per punt return and fresh off watching his collegiate team lose the Panda Game, University of Ottawa product James Peter led the way for Ottawa’s kick coverage with three special teams tackles.

Despite having an “onside kick” recovered when Montreal kicker Jose Maltos beamed a kick off Canadian linebacker Zach Philion for a four-yard recovery, no damage was done as the Redblacks’ defence held and forced a punt.

Montreal’s special teams just did WHAT? @WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend
: REDBLACKS vs. @MTLAlouettes LIVE NOW
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: CBSSN
: CFL+#CFLGameday pic.twitter.com/AkcrRTkWIf

— CFL (@CFL) October 13, 2025

7) The loss in Montreal was Ottawa’s tenth in a row against the Alouettes. Just like their meeting in Week 2, the Alouettes once again led from start to finish.

What will rile R-Nation up is that this one immediately went downhill and honestly felt like Ottawa was never truly competitive. The Redblacks have a long way to go if they want to once again be a factor in their own division, and that can’t happen until they get a win against their rivals down the 417.

8) With the loss, Bob Dyce’s team is now 4-12 and is that much closer to locking up right to choose first overall in the 2026 CFL Draft.

Up next for the Redblacks is the team’s last home game of the season at TD Place Stadium against these same Alouettes to wrap up the home-and-home series.

Kickoff is slated for 3:00 p.m. EDT and there will be tailgating allowed on the Great Lawn Lansdowne. That, and the fact that there are only two games left in this miserably disappointing season, are things R-Nation should be grateful for.

The post Ottawa Redblacks are who we thought they were (& eight other thoughts on losing to Montreal) appeared first on 3DownNation.

Although technically the 2025 team’s playoff hopes ended with a 20-13 loss to the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders at TD Place on Friday night, to even the most casual members of R-Nation, the warning signs had been flashing for months.

In a game Ottawa literally had to have, the Redblacks were done in by the same self-inflicted wounds that haunted them all season long. Slow starts, a failure to maximize the talents of their offensive weapons, sloppy turnovers, penalties that wiped out positive plays, and an overall lack of urgency all proved (yet again) too much to overcome.

Here are all my thoughts on the game.

1) Dru Brown’s worst game of the season couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time. The 28-year-old wasn’t the only reason Ottawa lost, but his poor performance — highlighted by three bad decisions that resulted in interceptions– dug his team a deep hole that it never managed to climb out of.

ANTOINE BROOKS JR. PICK-SIX #CFL pic.twitter.com/SxXpSEXOVR

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 4, 2025

Before being pulled in the third quarter, Brown had completed just 55 percent of his passes for 141 yards, no touchdowns, and three turnovers. He was, in fact, fortunate not to be credited with a fourth interception as the deep jump ball he threw (to his running back?!) was ruled incomplete with the defender landing out of bounds.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Sometimes, when a quarterback is picked off, it can be chalked up to bad luck. That was not the case with the trio of interceptions Brown threw. The first was a throw he stared down, and on the second and third, he seemingly didn’t see the linebackers, who were always in the lane.

A.J. Allen says not today!

Saskatchewan snags their second interception of the quarter!#CFLGameDay
: @sskroughriders vs. REDBLACKS LIVE NOW
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: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/d5DYLSmPe4

— CFL (@CFL) October 4, 2025

For much of the season, Brown has had a tendency to throw off his back foot into traffic. Sometimes those seemingly lobbed passes hit receivers in stride for decent gains. Other times, they look doomed from the moment the ball leaves his hands.

That is now the THIRD interception of the game for the Roughriders #CFL pic.twitter.com/ggrL1ejql6

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 4, 2025

Complicating the loss is the questions that will now surround Brown as the Redblacks head into the off-season. Following an injury plagued campaign and this poor performance, will the organization still view him as the franchise pivot he was signed to be? Or will they bring in real competition to push him for playing time?

When he’s in a rhythm, Brown certainly looks like an upper-echelon quarterback. In four of his nine starts, he’s amassed more than 300 passing yards, and he’s crossed the 400-yard mark twice. Overall, he’s completed 71 percent of his passes, albeit in an offence that emphasizes short — and often lateral — passes.

On the flip side, Brown once again struggled to stay healthy, being knocked out of games three different times and missing five starts. He’s also only gone 2-7 as a starter this season.

However Ottawa’s next three games play out, when the Redblacks’ season ends on October 24, they’ll head into the off-season with questions surrounding a position that was seemingly settled.

2) Part of the reason there will be questions about Brown’s future in the nation’s capital is due to the development of third-year pro Dustin Crum.

The 26-year-old has grown by leaps and bounds this season. Not only has his accuracy improved significantly, but he’s also demonstrated that, when given opportunities to stretch the field, he has more than adequate arm strength to do so. Those traits, coupled with his game-changing scrambling ability, make the thought of an offence designed specifically for and tailored to his skill set intriguing.

Against Saskatchewan, Crum entered the game in the third quarter. He only had four possessions to work with the rest of the game, but led the drives that resulted in Ottawa’s only points of the game. Overall, Crum completed 75 percent of his passes for 99 yards and a touchdown.

Is that Crumback music?

Justin Hardy bites the first chunk out of Saskatchewan’s lead.#CFL #RNation #Redblacks
pic.twitter.com/iJOKmtLFhW

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) October 4, 2025

He had a couple of bad overthrows, including missing a wide open Keelan White in the back of the end zone, but for the most part he put the ball where it needed to be. Most importantly, he avoided any turnovers.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

3) When the 2025 season started, I could never have imagined that the Redblacks would struggle to score points. Given the bevy of talent available to offensive coordinator Tommy Condell, it seemed a forgone conclusion that whatever issues Ottawa might have, moving the ball and putting points on the board would not be one of them. Alas, I was wrong.

Who knew slow starts would be a staple of Condell’s offence? The loss to Saskatchewan marked the eighth time through 15 games that Ottawa failed to score a single point in the first quarter. Those deficits loomed large because of the 13 times Ottawa trailed at half-time, they went on to lose 11 of those games.

Who knew that another staple of that offence would be a severe lack of explosive plays? With playmakers like Eugene Lewis, Justin Hardy, Kalil Pimpleton, Bralon Addison, William Stanback and Daniel Adeboboye at his disposal, it’s incomprehensible that the Redblacks rank dead last in big plays — defined as 20+ yard runs or 30+ yard passing plays. Things are, in fact, so dire that of the 477 passes thrown by Ottawa quarterbacks so far this season, just 11 (yes, you read that right) have travelled more than 30 yards — and that’s including yards after the catch. I suppose that’s what happens when you run an offence that prefers throwing short of the sticks and hoping something good happens as opposed to having routes run past the first down marker.

Against Saskatchewan, the Redblacks mustered just 15 first downs. Poor first down production — Ottawa averaged just 4.9 yards per first down play — meant worse second down production, as evidenced by the team converting just 25 percent of their second down opportunities. That lack of execution meant that of Ottawa’s 12 possessions, eight failed to gain a first down.

Finally, in a one-score loss, going one of three in the red zone looms large.

4) What makes Ottawa’s offence so frustrating is that, through 15 games, their attack has no identity. It’s impossible to define one thing the offence does well. What’s their bread and butter?

As we’ve established above, it’s not big plays. And it’s not effective long drives. It’s not play-action, misdirection, or RPOs. And it’s not imposing their will via a run-heavy attack, because despite having two talented running backs on the roster, the Redblacks never truly committed to their running game.

Speaking of which, although William Stanback was given 11 carries for 39 yards, Daniel Adeboboye went the entire game without being handed the ball once, nor was he targeted. Given that he’s averaging 5.7 yards per carry on the ground and 8.3 yards per reception, perhaps he could’ve been useful in a game where Ottawa had to win to stay alive and had nothing going on offence for most of the night.

5) For all the issues the Redblacks had with their offence, their defence also wasn’t great. William Fields’ unit bent — and broke — on the first drive, and then seemed to settle in, as Saskatchewan’s next six possessions ended in punts. That’s a bit deceiving, though, as at times, Ottawa’s best defender was a drop or a rare misfire from quarterback Trevor Harris.

The reality is, the former Redblack shredded the soft zone looks that Ottawa repeatedly gave him, as evidenced by his 82 percent completion rate. For most of the night, it was as simple as pitch and catch.

Tommy Nield is ROLLING!#CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) October 3, 2025

The Redblacks’ secondary wasn’t just porous; almost no catches were contested when Saskatchewan receivers caught the ball. Ottawa’s defenders frequently missed opportunities to wrap them up early and limit the gain. Of Harris’ 341 passing yards, 157 came after the catch (46 percent). A number of players struggled with missed tackles, but perhaps none more than Canadian rookie King Ambers. An eighth-round pick in the 2025 CFL draft, Ambers was a late addition to the game roster as American defensive back Shakur Brown was scratched during pre-game warmups. Ambers did finish with three tackles but had the opportunity to make many more.

DOHNTE MEYERS GETS AWAY AND TAKES IT ALL THE WAY pic.twitter.com/FL3DDZENue

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 4, 2025

Ottawa’s defence held up well against the run, holding Saskatchewan to just 2.8 yards per rush, but gave up 10.3 yards per pass (aka a first down). It was also clear that as the game went on, the Redblacks’ defence wore out. Of Saskatchewan’s 19 total first downs, nine came on their final four possessions.

Defensive back Adrian Frye led the way with six tackles and a sack, while linebacker Adarius Pickett and defensive back C.J. Coldon also each made six tackles. Defensive end Bryce Carter had the play of the game and finished with four tackles, in addition to his fumble rumble.

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

The Redblacks seemed to be out of it but they get a turnover and they have life.#CFL pic.twitter.com/ijkooaJ8iB

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 4, 2025

6) This week’s trade of veteran defensive end Lorenzo Mauldin caught R-Nation off-guard. Even though it’s never easy to see a fan favourite leave town, it was a tidy bit of business from general manager Shawn Burke.

At 33 years old and in the midst of an underwhelming season in terms of actual production, getting a fourth-round pick back for a player on an expiring contract who was likely not going to return anyway makes a whole lot of sense.

With Mauldin in Calgary, the Redblacks started Michael Wakefield and Carter at defensive end. American Chase McGowan and Canadian Aidan John also saw increased snaps, which is never a bad thing for two young players the team will be hoping step into bigger roles next season. Giving them more reps now hopefully fast-forwards their development and growth.

7) As if gifting Saskatchewan eight points off of interceptions wasn’t enough, Ottawa’s special teams made sure to chip in towards the losing effort thanks to their own miscues.

Whether it was Lewis Ward missing another field goal — this time pushing a kick wide right from 48 yards out — or Global linebacker Tyron Vrede erasing a 97-yard punt return touchdown with an unnecessary block in the back, the Redblacks’ special teams had plays that factored into the one-score loss. The 10 points not scored were literally the margin of defeat.

Even though his return touchdown didn’t stand, Pimpleton had a heck of a game returning the football, averaging 12.3 yards per punt return (with a long of 23 yards) and 23 yards per kickoff (with a long of 34). Though he was “limited” (and I do use the term very loosely), it still felt like it was only a matter of time before Pimpleton busted off another long return. He truly is one of the most dangerous return men in the league, and his ability to flip the field in the blink of an eye is why returner DeVonte Dedmon was healthy scratched and likely won’t return to the team in 2026.

It was good to see punter Richie Leone return to the team. His best kick of the night was a perfectly placed 49-yard punt that pinned Saskatchewan on their two-yard line. Overall, Leone averaged a field flip of 37.8 yards per punt. In terms of kick coverage, it was a full team effort, with seven different players registering a special teams tackle.

8) The announced attendance of 18,250 was Ottawa’s third biggest crowd of the season, which really speaks to how far the organization has fallen in the eyes of the fan base. As always, it’s worth remembering that announced attendance is really tickets distributed, because there definitely were not that many butts in seats.

The mood in R-Nation is understandably dour, and it will take drastic measures to restore faith in a fan base that had dwindling patience since the team’s 2018 Grey Cup loss. The on-field results have been in a steady decline since then, and just when it seemed like last season’s 9-8-1 record represented a turning of the corner, the 2025 season has shattered those illusions.

9) So where do the Redblacks go from here? A coaching change seems like the obvious choice since the Redblacks are 18-36-1 since Bob Dyce took over in 2022, but unlike previous seasons, where there were clear head coaching candidates set to be available, there is no real buzz around any specific names right now.

The roster as constructed seems to have enough talent, but it’s fair to question if that talent has been used properly by the coordinators on both sides of the ball. On his way out the door, Mauldin referenced that he felt he was never the right player for the scheme William Fields was running with his defence. That problem is that while coordinators should have their own foundation for their playbooks, great coordinators tailor their schemes to what the players they have available to them do best. Has that been the case in Ottawa in recent years?

There’s also the real issue of injuries. Year after year, it feels like the Redblacks are among the most banged-up teams in the CFL. While the numbers themselves have been staggering at times, it’s not just the quantity but the quality of the players injured. Frequently, it’s been Ottawa’s most important players ending up on the six-game injured list. Perhaps it’s time to review the team’s strength and conditioning program or how the team practices.

Finally, the bigger picture must be considered as Ottawa’s issues predate this coaching staff, this general manager, and these specific players. Ultimately, this is a team that has posted a 27-73-1 record and made a single post-season appearance (which featured them getting blown out) since losing the Grey Cup on a skating rink in Edmonton on Nov. 25th, 2018. That level of futility is damning in any league, let alone one with just nine teams.

Something is off with the franchise, and it feels like it needs a full reset. I don’t know how that is achieved, and there’s certainly no quick fix on the horizon, but it’s clear the status quo isn’t working. Something has to give.

10) With the loss, the Redblacks drop to 4-11 on the season and are officially out of playoff contention. The defeat marks Ottawa’s fourth consecutive loss and firmly plants them at the bottom of the CFL standings.

It’s disappointing because, despite everything that had gone wrong this season, they somehow still controlled their fate coming into this game. Had they managed to win, they would have had an opportunity to put serious pressure on Montreal thanks to an upcoming home-and-home series with their Eastern rivals. Instead, for the first time since their 2017 East-Semi Final win, Saskatchewan left TD Place victorious.

Given that there’s nothing left to play for standings-wise, the Redblacks must use these final three games to see what they have in their younger players and to once more evaluate any veterans they feel can be part of the solution going forward. For that reason, I’d personally like to see quarterback Tyrie Adams get at least one start. Adams has patiently bided his time on the practice roster this season and is on an expiring contract. What better way to see if he should be brought back than to give him a chance to showcase what he can do when the games actually count? These next three games could also be a way to reward other practice squad players who have diligently toiled away at their craft this season.

Some might think fans would accept nothing less than the team continuing to trot out their regular starters in an attempt to win every game, but R-Nation is not a dumb fan base. As long as the team is upfront about their intentions — looking towards the future while coaching aggressively to win — fans will be accepting.

The post Same old issues doom Ottawa Redblacks in elimination loss to Saskatchewan (& 10 other thoughts) appeared first on 3DownNation.

Like many others who love the CFL, I am a traditionalist who cherishes the aspects of our game that make it unique. This doesn’t mean I’m against all change — in fact, I believe it’s healthy for the league to review its structure, rules, and format. Just because something has always been done one way doesn’t mean it can’t be tweaked or improved.

What I’m firmly against is change for the sake of change — adjustments that shrug off decades of tradition as if they don’t matter, and alterations that address problems nobody is complaining about.

Before diving into the incoming changes that I hate, let’s start with the ones I like. Having team benches on opposite sides of the field was long overdue and rectifies a safety issue. Frankly, the CFL is fortunate there’s never been a bench-clearing brawl given the proximity of two teams in heated contests.

I also think that changing the play clock to 35 seconds with it starting automatically is a positive. Though the play clock is technically 20 seconds now, it sometimes takes the referees 20 or 30 seconds to blow play in.

With that said, I don’t understand how Johnston announced this change without explaining how it will impact the final three minutes of a half, which are often the best parts of CFL games. The last three minutes of the half is one of the CFL’s biggest strengths as teams are forced to actually play football — not kneel things out — allowing for epic comebacks.

Not clarifying how the new 35-second clock will work at the end of a half naturally leads fans to speculate that CFL teams will run out the clock at the end of games, as is commonplace in the NFL. “No lead is safe” could quickly become “Most leads are safe.” It appears the rules committee will be tasked with ensuring things stay exciting but Johnston should have done a better job of clarifying this when speaking to the media.

Speaking of which, people need to stop criticizing fans for saying the announced changes Americanize the league to an extent. They do.

While the CFL is retaining some aspects that make it unique, going to a 100-yard field, shortening the end zones, and moving back the goalposts bring the game more in line with four-down football. If the CFL field looks more like the NFL field, it has indeed been Americanized. Period.

Intended or not, making the CFL aesthetically more American was always going to spark a reaction and it especially comes off as tone deaf given the current political climate. Let’s tackle the changes one-by-one.

How can one claim the goalposts must be moved in order for teams to have better access to the end zone, and in the same breath reduce space by shortening them? Smaller end zones will naturally lead to less of the playbook being available to offensive coordinators.

Yes, the goalposts currently force teams to get creative with their end zone passing, but teams still throw to the middle of the end zone. The real issue isn’t the goalposts, it’s the prevalence of teams running quarterback sneaks — a thoroughly unexciting play — near the goal line. Instead of moving the goal posts, why not ban quarterback sneaks inside the five-yard line? Maybe they should be banned entirely.

The two main justifications for moving the goalposts to the back of the end zone were player safety and to present a cleaner visual product.

I’ve been attending CFL games for my entire life and I’ve never heard anyone complain about the current location of the goal posts impeding their view. And as someone who literally watches every game on television, there’s yet to be a highlight TSN’s cameras have missed due to the uprights.

As for safety, while there’s a valid concern about someone running into the goalposts and suffering an injury, the CFL’s explanation video had to go back several seasons to showcase an example of it happening, which highlights how rare it is.

Is moving the goalposts back and eliminating missed field goal returns — one of the most exciting plays in all of football — worth it because once every five seasons someone runs into the padded post or a quarterback “doinks” a pass? I don’t think so.

THE REDBLACKS TIE THE GAME WITH LESS THAN A MINUTE TO GO ON A FIELD GOAL RETURN TOUCHDOWN #CFL pic.twitter.com/ABvPP0NKds

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 15, 2025

That leads us to the changes to the rouge. Johnston talked of how the rouge as it currently stands rewards failure. I find that wording to be misleading and the problem is it instantly frames the rouge as something negative, when it’s not.

Opponents of the rouge love to say you shouldn’t give out points for missing kicks, but that’s not how a rouge works. With where the goalposts are currently located, a missed field goal still needs to travel another 20 yards to be worth a single point. That doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does, an offence is rewarded with a single point for getting into range to score.

If teams don’t want to lose the game by a single point, they should score more in the first 59 minutes of play, not allow the opposition to get that close to the end zone, and return the ball beyond the goal line when a kick is missed.

Why take a scoring method away from teams when sports leagues around the world are constantly looking to increase scoring? Why is removing something that makes the game unique a good thing?

Yes, the rouge will exist next season, but with the goalposts at the back of end zones, we’ll be seeing fewer returns — particularly on missed field goals.

In his various media hits this week, Johnston talked of trading field goals for touchdowns, but are we sure that’s what’s going to happen?

What the CFL will probably be trading is points (ie. field goals) for punts. As things currently stand, a team facing third-and-three on the 40-yard line would probably try a 47-yard field goal. A miss would probably still result in points or lead to an exciting return.

With the new rules, this same situation would require a 62-yard field goal attempt. Coaches aren’t suddenly going to become more aggressive — they’ll probably choose the conservative option and try a coffin-corner punt to pin their opponent deep. It’s folly to believe these changes will suddenly make coaches work against their very nature.

These changes are all the more head-scratching given that, according to the CFL’s own data, scoring is up six percent, quarterback ratings are historically high, return touchdowns are up 80 percent, and big plays are up 13 percent. What happens when the these rule changes (likely) lead to more punts and fewer missed field goal returns?

Is it a stretch to suggest we’ll then start hearing about the need for a fourth down to improve offence and restore excitement? Those fears seem all the more valid as, when gifted an opportunity to promise the CFL would always be a three-down league, Johnston chose to remain non-committal.

Finally, we come to the shortening of the field from 110 yards, as it’s been since 1896, to 100 yards. Not only is such a change against the history and tradition of the league, it potentially screws over U Sports and minor league football, who all have 110-yard fields.

It’s one thing to prioritize secrecy to prevent leaks — it’s another to blindside your feeder league and fail to consult with Football Canada. This isn’t a simply matter of painting lines, it’s a foundational change to the physical structure of where and how the game is played.

The justification for shortening the field is it will be easier for teams to score touchdowns as offences will start closer to the end zone. As mentioned above, I fear the league is merely trading field goals for punts. Scoring is up this season, so is it worth messing with decades and decades of tradition — not to mention the record book — on such a flimsy justification? And does the offence really need another advantage over the defence?

When you put it all together, these changes are being solid as modernizing the game and a way to bring new fans into the fold because it’s a cleaner presentation. To me, “cleaner” seems like a pseudonym for “more American.” More CFL teams need to be profitable, sure, but will any of the announced changes actually put money in the owners pockets?

NFL fans aren’t NFL fans because they love the field dimensions, the location of the goalposts, or small end zones. They’re fans because the NFL marketing machine is a behemoth that runs 365 days a year. They’re fans because they play fantasy football and have spent two decades playing Madden video games. They’re fans because they can consume endless podcasts that dive deep into stats that are freely and easily accessible.

If the CFL wanted to try to attract those fans, they could start with something as simple as having stats on their website that function consistently and predate 2016. For a league playing its 112th Grey Cup this November, you’d be extremely hard-pressed to find any stats more than nine years old.

The league could develop an app or significantly increase marketing campaigns beyond annual 30-second video hits. They could invest in telling the stories of their current players and colourful alumni. They could create a season-long fantasy game, which would allow fans to hold preseason drafts. They could partner to have the CFL accessible as a video game. Perhaps those playing it would become familiar with its unique rules and find an appreciation for the Canadian game’s quirks.

The CFL could also attempt to grow by improving its on-field product with the elimination of the football operations cap, collectively bargain to extend the hours teams are allowed to actually practice, and invest in getting U Sports football on TV. That could create a buy-in from fans at the lower level so that people are hyped for prospects while they’re still in university and let things grow from there.

This week’s Americanization of the CFL isn’t going to magically bring in more fans. A tweak to the rouge and cutting 10 yards off the field isn’t going to cause Canadians who only watch the NFL to suddenly flock to the three-down game.

I’m not arguing the CFL shouldn’t be trying to evolve or change or improve its product, but right now I’m worried the CFL’s board of governors is changing the fabric of the game in pursuit of an imaginary fan that doesn’t actually exist. The problem isn’t the CFL product, it’s the missing elements of how it’s packaged and marketed. The NFL might have more talented players, but the CFL game has always been more entertaining.

If the league continues to remove the things that typify the ‘C’ in CFL, they’ll lose loyal fans and be left with nothing. Then the crisis will really hit.

The post Thanks, I hate it: a traditionalist’s reaction to the CFL’s rule changes appeared first on 3DownNation.

Here are all my thoughts on the game.

1) It was a game that Bob Dyce’s squad desperately needed to maintain any illusions of 2025 being a playoff season, and in theory, things were lining up for them to move back into the win column.

The Bombers came into town on a three-game losing streak and with their backup quarterback under centre. Meanwhile, the Redblacks’ starting pivot returned after missing a month with a knee injury.

And yet none of it mattered. After Dyce spent the week talking about how hope remained and his team controlled their own destiny, the offence and special teams hung their head coach out to dry with poor attention to detail and sloppy play. 20 of Winnipeg’s 26 points came directly as a result of Ottawa’s self-inflicted wounds and mistakes. There were another six points that weren’t scored because of a pair of missed field goals.

A defensive effort that was so good that it only allowed three completions in the entire game and had only conceded six first downs by the middle of the fourth quarter, still wasn’t enough.

It’s honestly unbelievable that Ottawa failed to beat Winnipeg. In the series of lowlights R-Nation has experienced in recent seasons, this defeat ranks near the very top.

2) After missing three games, Dru Brown returned to the starting lineup. While Brown wasn’t the sole reason Ottawa lost, he was a factor.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

The final numbers look good — 33-of-45 for 406 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions — but the reality is a large chunk of that production came when it didn’t really matter. Yes, completing 73 percent of your passes while hitting nine different receivers is good, but that’s kind of negated when only three of the 14 drives you lead result in points, and your pair of turnovers gifts the opponent 10 points.

Brown had a number of excellent throws; he also had a handful of off-target misses and forced some balls into windows that weren’t there.

INTERCEPTED!

Cam Allen gets the pick and flips the momentum!#CFLGameday
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— CFL (@CFL) September 20, 2025

Another lowlight was his failure to throw the ball away on a second-down play in the second quarter that led to a 17-yard sack. Despite having a ton of time to get rid of the ball — sometimes coverage means nobody is open and that’s okay! — Brown clung to it and kept retreating backwards until he was taken down. What made the outcome so shocking was that it was the kind of thing you’d expect from an overeager rookie trying to make a play, not a guy making his 26th career start.

Aside from a handful of pass attempts, Brown never pushed the ball down the field. Given that we’ve seen both Brown and Dustin Crum have extensive playing time in 2025, it’s fair to say that it’s not because either has an inability to do so, but rather because Tommy Condell’s offensive system doesn’t emphasize it.

Speaking of which…

3) When you look at the final stats, you’d think Condell called a great game. The Redblacks finished with 452 yards of offence, 25 first downs, converted 50 percent of their second-down opportunities and went two-of-three in the red zone.

And yet, Ottawa’s attack was anything but effective. Who knew the highlight of the game would be the seven-play, 85-yard opening touchdown drive? After spending so much time lamenting the Redblacks’ poor starts to games, they finally figured it out….except they then proceeded to only find the end zone again on the game’s final play, 55 minutes later, when trailing by 15.

One thing that’s clearly been demonstrated this season is that Condell’s attack doesn’t push the ball down the field. Despite having a speedster in Kalil Pimpleton and deceptively shifty guys like Eugene Lewis and Justin Hardy, who are more than capable of winning jump balls, Condell’s attack tends to have his receivers running sideways and not vertically.

This was evident multiple times against the Bombers. Ottawa threw plenty of passes behind the line of scrimmage (hitch, swing passes, and screens) where one receiver was expected to make multiple defenders miss. The most maddening thing was that on those rare occasions where the Redblacks took deep shots, they paid off. And yet it was a tool rarely pulled out of the box.

Also, with veteran William Stanback out, it was a chance to feature Canadian running back Daniel Adeboboye. The former Argo has done nothing but produce when given limited touches this season. Yet, for whatever reason, he was only handed the ball nine times.

In situations where one might expect him to get the ball, such as on second-and-short during a game where he averaged nearly five yards per carry, his number wasn’t called. And when it made no sense to call a run, such as when it was second-and-10 at midfield late in the third quarter, Condell dialled up a handoff up the gut to receiver Bralon Addison. This isn’t to take anything away from Addison, who has repeatedly proven he’s tough enough to grind out hard yards, but the decision to run in and of itself was puzzling, and to do it with a receiver even more so.

More than once, it seemed like Ottawa called the right play for the wrong situation. I get it’s easy to play armchair offensive coordinator and that the turnovers can’t be laid at the play-callers’ feet, but the job is about putting players in the best position to succeed by maximizing their talents. The Redblacks simply don’t do that often enough.

4) William Fields’ defence should be heated, because they played their butts off and deserved a better fate. When the defence holds the opposing quarterback to three completions and 54 passing yards, that should result in a win. Every. Single. Time.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

The Redblacks’ defence didn’t just play well; they dominated. Of the Bombers’ 14 possessions, 10 went two-and-out. Nine gained less than five yards. Winnipeg finished with 12 total first downs, but half of them came on their final two drives. Ottawa held them to 210 yards of total offence, generated four sacks, limited them to 29 percent on second down, and snagged an interception.

R-Nation has watched some great defensive performances wasted by inept offences (see the 2021 season as Exhibit A), but I’m not sure it’s ever seen such a complete effort for naught. Ottawa’s defence deserves even more credit when you consider they were put in some terrible starting positions by a pair of interceptions by their offence, a special teams fumble, and a long missed field goal return.

Leading the way for the defence yet again was star linebacker Adarius Pickett. The 29-year-old finished with seven tackles, a sack, a knockdown, and a handful of other pressures when blitzing off the edge. But his most impressive play of the night didn’t make the stat sheet.

Pickett absolutely obliterated Keric Wheatfall at the start of the fourth quarter to force an incompletion. It was a thunderous blow, but most importantly, it was clean. Pickett hammered the receiver’s chest with his shoulder, avoiding any kind of contact between helmets. Wheatfall was understandably shaken up on the play, but walked off the field which was a positive sign.

DENIED!

Adarius Pickett holds things down with a big time sack!#CFLGameday
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— CFL (@CFL) September 20, 2025

As for everyone else, Canadian linebacker Lucas Cormier continued his strong play of late, finishing with seven tackles and his first career sack.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Global defensive lineman Blessman Ta’ala notched three tackles and a sack, as did veteran defensive end Lorenzo Mauldin. Canadian defensive end Aidan John also had a trio of takedowns while linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox had Ottawa’s lone turnover.

THAT’S AN INTERCEPTION!

Jovan Santos-Knox takes things into his own hands!#CFLGameday
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— CFL (@CFL) September 20, 2025

Quick shout-out to Canadian receiver Luther Hakunavanhu. He might not play on the defensive side of the ball, but he did well to make both tackles off of Brown’s interceptions.

5) He was held off the stat sheet despite rotating in on the defensive line and contributing on special teams, but it was truly fantastic to see Daniel Okpoko back on the field and hustling around. The former San Diego State Aztec was injured last month and had to be immobilized before being taken off the field in an ambulance.

6) As the Redblacks’ season has gone off the rails, it’s become routine to see some members of R-Nation demand Bob Dyce be fired and replaced by special teams coordinator Rick Campbell. To those clamouring for such a change, I’d ask in all sincerity, what has Campbell done to earn that opportunity or make you believe things would be any different under him?

Ottawa’s special teams have been mediocre to terrible in 2025 and have cost them multiple games. That trend continued against the Bombers.

Yet again, the Redblacks gave up a return touchdown, this time off a missed field goal attempt. Obviously, field goal personnel aren’t the most fleet of foot, but it was a comedy of errors as seven different Redblacks missed a chance to stop the play with a tackle. No “attempted” tackle was poorer than that of Noah Gettman. Ottawa’s replacement punter wasn’t brought in to make tackles, but when that kind of return is happening, you have to do more than run right by the returner and into a block.

SEE YOU LATER VAVAL!

What a return touchdown from Trey Vaval! #CFLGameday
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— CFL (@CFL) September 20, 2025

To be fair, when it came to actually kicking the ball, Gettman averaged 50.8 yards per punt and an average field flip of 39.8 yards. Not too shabby in place of punter Richie Leone, who missed the game due to the passing of his mother (our condolences to him from all of us here at 3DN).

As for the rest of Ottawa’s special teams, as if kicker Lewis Ward pushing two field goals wide right wasn’t bad enough, in his return from injury, DeVonte Dedmon fumbled a punt return right before the half that gifted Winnipeg three free points. Between the Ward misses, Dedmon’s fumble, and the 128-yard return touchdown conceded, the Redblacks missed out on six points and gave away ten. Is it any wonder the team is dead last in the CFL?

I’m going to end this section by ranting about something I’ve already brought up half a dozen times this season. It was risky using Pickett as a returner when Dedmon was out, but with both Pimpleton and Dedmon dressed (as they were against the Bombers), it was coaching malpractice to expose your best and most irreplaceable defender by having him return kicks. I simply cannot understand why Dyce or Campbell continues to insist on doing it. Thankfully, Pickett hasn’t been hurt, but it just seems so unnecessary. Why risk wrecking your defensive system for a short return that could be done by a number of other players?

7) With regular starting right tackle Parker Moorer out with injury, the Redblacks shuffled their offensive line.  Drew Desjarlais, the team’s starting left guard, shifted to Moorer’s spot, and Sam Carson, the 12th overall pick in the 2025 CFL draft, made his first career start in Desjarlais’ usual spot.

In theory, throwing a guard to tackle (a position he’s never started at before) could have been a disaster. Desjarlais was actually fantastic, and the lone sack he conceded was squarely on the quarterback’s shoulders, not his. Given that Desjarlais was frequently left one-on-one with veterans Willie Jefferson and James Vaughters, he more than held his own. As for Carson, he was mostly unnoticeable, which is what you want from a rookie in the trenches.

8) Ottawa’s receiving corps put up some huge numbers, led by Eugene Lewis’ nine catches for 155 yards. Lewis produced on deep shots, contested catches and weaved through defenders on short screens. Most impressively, four of his receptions moved the chains on second down. The 32-year-old has made at least one catch in his last 23 games.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

As for everyone else, Justin Hardy snagged seven passes for 101 yards, several of which resulted in first downs. Bralon Addison had six catches for 69 yards and a touchdown, and turned four handoffs into 16 rushing yards. Rookie Keelan White and Pimpleton each made three catches, good for 31 and 33 yards, respectively. Dedmon made one catch for -2 yards, Hakunavanhu had one for five yards, and fullback Anthony Gosselin’s lone reception was good for seven yards.

THAT BROWN AND ADDISON SYNERGY THOUGH!

REDBLACKS get the touchdown, giving them the early lead!#CFLGameday
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: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/qPrEB6yEK0

— CFL (@CFL) September 20, 2025

 9) The announced attendance of 20,033 was Ottawa’s highest since their home opener back in June. Unfortunately for R-Nation, they weren’t witness to much of a performance. A year after going a franchise best 7-1-1 at home, the Redblacks are 2-5 at TD Place through seven games.

I wonder if the bigger crowd was partly the result of OSEG finally allowing tailgating at Lansdowne itself. The ability to tailgate on the Great Lawn behind the east end zone is something fans have been begging for since pro football returned to the city in 2014. Until now, it had been deemed a total non-starter.

Three hours before kickoff, R-Nation was allowed to set up tents and bring their own food and drinks. The only things prohibited were open flames and propane. There were also food trucks, a beer tent to buy drinks, and games like corn hole and foam axe-throwing set up for people to use. Fans had the option to drop off their tailgate material as of Friday night, and had until 8:00 p.m. on Saturday night to collect their stuff. Things seemed to be extremely well organized and fan-friendly.

It does beg the question, though, why did it take 11 years to happen, and why wasn’t this something that started with the team’s first home game of 2025? R-Nation is a passionate fan base, and in a season where the product on the field hasn’t been a huge draw, lively tailgates could have been useful to pull people into the stadium.

Ottawa has two home games remaining, on October 3 against Saskatchewan and on October 18 against Montreal. Currently, only the latter is set to allow tailgating at Lansdowne. If it’s not possible to implement for the game on the 3rd, hopefully, as of 2026, R-Nation will have the option to tailgate right beside the stadium every time the team plays at home. If so, I could see tailgate culture quickly taking off and making an already strong game-day atmosphere even better.

10) With the loss, the Redblacks drop to 4-10, and while the team is still mathematically alive, Ottawa’s season is effectively over. Not only would the team need to double their win total to this point by winning four in a row, but they would also need help to pass the four teams in front of them, most of whom hold tiebreakers over Ottawa.

I’d love to be proven wrong, but by falling to the Bombers, the Redblacks’ season is effectively over. When the story of 2025 is fully finished and written, it will be another chapter of Ottawa football history rife with failure and disappointment.

The post Ottawa Redblacks give away game, cripple playoff hopes in loss to Bombers (& 10 other thoughts) appeared first on 3DownNation.

In the Ottawa Redblacks’ 38-27 loss in Vancouver on Friday night, the B.C. Lions simply imposed their will and bullied Ottawa in the trenches. The Redblacks couldn’t slow down — let alone stop — the Lions’ offence until it didn’t matter. They also couldn’t protect their quarterback, and thus found themselves in a familiar position — quickly trailing by double digits and attempting to mount a comeback. Unlike last week, Bob Dyce’s squad wasn’t able to complete the rally.

Here are all my thoughts on the game.

1) A week after they needed a herculean effort from their backup quarterback to cap off a furious comeback, the Ottawa Redblacks wasted a stellar outing from Dustin Crum.

Although Dru Brown practiced in a limited fashion this week and was healthy enough to dress for the game as the emergency quarterback, Crum made his third consecutive start. The continued growth shown by the 26-year-old has been fascinating to watch, as Crum was magnificent both rushing and passing the ball.

Yet again, Crum set a new career high in passing yards as he completed 30-of-35 passes (86 percent) for 307 yards and a touchdown. He also ran the ball nine times for 58 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Early in his career — and even earlier this season — it felt like Crum was still not great at gauging when to hang in the pocket to go through his reads and when to take off to run. That no longer seems to be an issue, as Crum hung in the pocket a number of times and absorbed a handful of punishing hits to complete passes. He was also decisive in choosing when to take off and exploit gaps in defensive rush lanes.

Can’t catch Crum!

The pivot avoids the rush and finds Justin Hardy!#CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) September 13, 2025

When it comes to his ability to pass, Crum’s accuracy has improved dramatically. The Kent State product still has moments when the ball sails on him a bit, but overall, he’s hitting receivers in stride and fitting the ball into tight windows. In fact, over the last three games, Crum has completed 80 percent of his passes and thrown for three touchdowns and zero interceptions.

If there’s one area that’s currently lacking in Crum’s game is that he’s not stretching the field by pushing the ball down it. Against the Lions on Friday night, he only attempted a single deep shot, and it was on the first play of Ottawa’s opening possession. The baffling thing is that it was a beautiful ball that hit his receiver in the hands (although it was dropped).

Last week’s game-winning touchdown was also set up by a beautiful deep strike. And yet Crum’s longest play of the game yesterday was a 25-yarder. Since he clearly has the ability to sling it deep, one has to wonder why those deep passes aren’t happening. Is it reluctance on his part, a result of wanting to be overly cautious in avoiding turnovers? Or is he being coached not to do it? Because it’s clear he has the arm strength, and Ottawa’s receivers are capable of taking the top off defences.

Crum’s performance is all the more impressive when you consider he was constantly under siege. The Lions sacked him seven times, but the pocket collapsed nearly every time he dropped back to pass. The third-year pivot’s lone “lowlight” came on a strip-sack that was returned for a touchdown.

STRIP AND SCORE!

Deontai Williams Sr. to the HOUSE! #CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) September 13, 2025

2) Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but offensive coordinator Tommy Condell has to get his offence to start faster. The Redblacks’ issues starting slow have been well documented by myself and many others, but in the last seven games, they’ve been outscored 65-4 in the first quarter. That’s not just bad, it’s atrocious. When you’re constantly chasing, you’re not able to dictate the game flow and depending on how big the deficit is, game plans can quickly be tossed away.

Let’s start with the positives. Despite sleepwalking through another first quarter, six of Ottawa’s ten possessions still resulted in points — four touchdowns and two field goals. The Redblacks also went three-for-five in the red zone, which was encouraging. Finally, they averaged a healthy 7.2 yards per first-down play, which in theory should have set them up for plenty of long drives.

Unfortunately, that didn’t really matter as Ottawa only averaged 3.4 yards per second-down play, which is largely why they converted just 39 percent of their second-down opportunities.

Furthermore, for a team that consistently preaches the importance of the running game, they sure do an odd job of implementing it. In total, Condell handed the ball off to a running back seven times, and only once in the entire first half. Veteran William Stanback finished the game with two carries for one yard. Canadian Daniel Adeboboye averaged 5.6 yards per carry but only had five carries. That will never be a formula for winning football.

The other thing that continues to puzzle in terms of Ottawa’s attack is the lack of big plays and the usage of weapons like Kalil Pimpleton and Eugene Lewis. Both are game-breakers, capable of not only flipping momentum but demoralizing a defence with their big-play ability. Yet neither was targeted more than once, and both came on short passes or hitch screens. It’s like having a pair of Ferraris in your garage, but only using them to drive to your neighbour’s house across the street.

Until the Redblacks can start faster, improve their commitment to the run game and generate big plays, they’ll continue to lose games.

3) An offensive line is at its very best when the big men up front are magically invisible to the casual fan, blending into the field as they provide a clean pocket for their quarterback to operate in. They’re at their worst when every snap seems to feature them desperately backpedalling and trying not to be called for holding as they attempt to shuffle penetrating defenders off to the side. Against the Lions, Ottawa’s offensive line was the latter.

A week after Jonah Tavai gave Ottawa fits — racking up a handful of pressures, a pair of tackles for a loss, six total tackles and a sack — it was Mathieu Betts’ turn to torment the Redblacks. The Laval product was an absolute menace, notching four of the Lions’ seven sacks.

Mathieu Betts has THREE sacks in the first half!#CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) September 13, 2025

What made Ottawa’s inability to provide Crum with a clean pocket all the more frustrating is that the Lions weren’t even blitzing. A number of their sacks came as a result of rushing four, three, or even just two men. Being able to cave in the pocket without sending extra defenders meant B.C. had more players to drop into coverage or to spy Crum with, which they did with limited success.

All in all, it was about as poor a performance as I can recall from the offensive line.

4) Speaking of disappointment, that was an ugly outing from William Fields’ defensive unit. Any time your defence gives up four straight touchdowns to open the game, it’s going to be a long day at the office.

To highlight just how poor Ottawa’s defence played, the Lions didn’t even punt until the fourth quarter, and the only reason they went four-of-five instead of 100 percent in the red zone was due to a ball thrown behind an open receiver.

B.C. averaged 8.8 yards per first-down play, which led to them converting 56 percent of their second-down opportunities. The Lions moved the ball on the ground, averaging 4.2 yards per rush, and through the air, where they averaged 11.8 yards per pass.

Lions’ quarterback Nathan Rourke was excellent, completing 81 percent of his passes for 308 yards and a touchdown, but he also faced almost no pressure. The Redblacks generated a single sack in what was yet another lacklustre outing from their front seven. Ottawa’s pressure problem is two-fold. To begin with, they rarely generate pressure. As a group, Ottawa’s entire defensive line has 13 sacks through 13 games. Second, on those rare opportunities when they manage to collapse the pocket, they often literally let those moments slip through their grasp, failing to secure the takedown.

Compounding the lack of pressure is that the Redblacks’ zone coverage was overly soft for long periods of time. Soft coverage combined with sloppy tackling is never a recipe for success.

Nathan Rourke has completed his first TEN passes! #CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) September 13, 2025

It’s not that Ottawa’s defence didn’t have chances to influence the game; it’s that they repeatedly failed to take advantage of them. On B.C.’s opening drive, the Redblacks had them in third-and-goal from their two-yard line. Instead of getting a turnover on downs, they conceded a touchdown. Later, at the end of the half, Ottawa again had the Lions in third-and-one from their four-yard line, but allowed Rourke to sneak the four yards into the end zone.

Forcing a stop in either one of those moments could have been a massive shift in momentum. Instead, the only turnover the Redblacks forced came with three minutes left to play and the game already well out of reach.

James Butler finishes the job! #CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) September 13, 2025

The loss to the Lions marked the ninth time this season that the Redblacks have given up 30 points.

5) In terms of defensive leaders, defensive back Shakur Brown led the way with nine tackles. Deandre Lamont played safety and made six tackles. In his return from injury, defensive back Adrian Frye had three tackles. Linebacker Adarius Pickett notched two tackles and had a sack, while fellow linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox made five tackles and had a knockdown.

6) It was an impressive outing from receiver Bralon Addison, as he had a game-high 11 catches for 132 yards, with 61 of them coming after the catch. He was also handed the ball on a pair of RPOs (run/pass options) for three yards.

As for the rest of the receiving corps, Justin Hardy turned ten targets into nine catches and had another highlight reel catch, this time in the third quarter for a diving touchdown.

WHAT A GRAB BY JUSTIN HARDY!

After review, this play is ruled a TOUCHDOWN!#CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) September 13, 2025

A week after catching the game-winning touchdown and letting everyone know how much he enjoyed the trash talking and looked forward to dishing out more, Eugene Lewis had a tough afternoon with a single reception, a mid-third-quarter hitch screen that gained two yards. As mentioned above, Pimpleton also only had a single catch — good for 11 yards — while Canadian rookie and Vancouver native Keelan White recorded a pair of catches for 21 total yards. Canadian Luther Hakunavanhu finished without a catch as his lone target — a deep shot off play-action on the game’s first play — was dropped. Stanback and Adeboboye each finished with three catches, for 8 and 23 yards, respectively.

7) Loved to see the Redblacks attempt — and recover — a surprise onside kick. Heads up play by Canadian defensive lineman Aidan John to swat the ball out of bounds to secure the recovery.

Overall, it was a strong outing from Rick Campbell’s unit. Kicker Lewis Ward nailed a pair of field goals from 47 and 24 yards out. Punter Richie Leone was only called upon three times but averaged a net positional flip of 42.3 yards per punt. A week after giving up a punt return touchdown to these same Lions, Ottawa limited B.C.’s longest punt return to just five yards. Linebacker Davion Taylor led the way with two special teams tackles.

The lone negative was seeing Bralon Addison hurt on the team’s second attempt at an onside kick. Addison was rocked by a blindside crackback hit that was unpenalized. It’s the type of contact that is always a flag due to how dangerous it is, so it was shocking to see it ignored.

8) It’s easy to see why so many members of R-Nation are venting their anger online. Since losing the 2018 Grey Cup on Edmonton’s skating rink of a field, the Redblacks have managed just 23 wins to 62 losses. Those six seasons have also failed to feature a home playoff game, and their single trip to the postseason (last year) resulted in a 58-38 blowout loss to the eventual Grey Cup champions.

In 2025, things were supposed to be different, and the team came in with plenty of positive momentum. The roster seemed bolstered by smart off-season additions, and key pending free agents were retained. And yet in seven of their thirteen games, the Redblacks have never even held a lead.

Frustration is high amongst fans because it seems like nothing is working. Ottawa’s changed coaches, changed general managers, changed coordinators on both sides of the ball, and changed quarterbacks. And yet still, wins remain elusive.

I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know that anger turns to apathy quickly. Something must be done to give fans hope.

9) With the loss, Ottawa drops to 4-9 on the season and lets another chance to gain any ground on a weak Eastern division slip away.

A victory would’ve moved the Redblacks into a temporary tie with Montreal for second place in the division and a game up on Toronto. Instead, Ottawa remains, at least, a full game back. If the Redblacks can’t finish second, they’ll need to fight for third place with the Western teams chasing a crossover spot – Winnipeg, B.C. and Edmonton – all of whom Ottawa has lost to.

With five games remaining, Dyce’s squad essentially needs to run the table to guarantee a postseason berth. If they want to keep things interesting and fan any sparks of hope that remain amongst R-Nation for 2025, they’ll need to beat Winnipeg when they host them at TD Place next Saturday.

The post Ottawa Redblacks pushed around in loss to B.C. Lions (& nine other thoughts) appeared first on 3DownNation.

For much of Friday night’s game, it seemed like the same script was being followed, until quarterback Dustin Crum put the team on his back and willed his squad to a 34-33 victory.

Here are all my thoughts on the game.

1) Now in his fourth season as a professional quarterback in the CFL, Dustin Crum remains a work in progress. He isn’t always the most accurate passer, he doesn’t push the ball down the field as often as he should, and sometimes his decision-making will leave fans shaking their heads, such as when he threw a high pass out of bounds on third-and-19 to seemingly end the comeback attempt with 1:32 remaining in the game. And yet for all his flaws, Crum has two things that frequently make up for any other shortcomings: his natural athleticism and his toughness.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

The 26-year-old is a gifted runner and, unlike most quarterbacks who seek to slide or step out of bounds as contact approaches, Crum is more than willing to lower his shoulder to run over a defender or spin through attempted arm tackles. I think sometimes he’s so successful at grabbing a few extra yards at the end of a scramble because defenders are simply not used to facing quarterbacks willing to pay the physical price for them.

CRUM KEEPS GOING!

A massive 26-yard gain for the pivot! #CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) September 6, 2025

In his second consecutive start in place of the injured Dru Brown, Crum threw for a career high 301 yards. He made good reads, quick decisions and protected the football. Not only did Crum complete 75 percent of his passes, but he also extended his current streak of 85 pass attempts without an interception.

More often than not, the Kent State product hit his receivers in stride. If he didn’t see something to his liking, Crum didn’t hesitate to take off and run, as evidenced by his eight rushes for 69 yards and two touchdowns. By finding the end zone against the Lions, Crum has now scored a touchdown in five straight games, which is currently the longest active streak in the CFL.

DUSTIN CRUM CAN’T BE STOPPED!

Second rushing score on the night for the pivot! He has 69 rushing yards overall!#CFLGameDay
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Crum saved his best for last, with his final two passes of the night perhaps being the best two of his career. The first, a deep bomb to a streaking Kalil Pimpleton, was a thing of beauty and exactly why fans wish he’d be more willing to take shots down the field.

KALIL PIMPLETON WITH A CATCH OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE!!!

Ottawa has a chance to take the lead late!!!#CFLGameDay
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The second was a dart across the middle on a tight line to Eugene Lewis for the game-winning score.

CUE THE CRUMBACK!

DUSTIN CRUM TO GENO LEWIS FOR A TOUCHDOWN AND THE LEAD IN THE DYING SECONDS!!! #CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) September 6, 2025

If the Redblacks can count on a couple more performances like that from Crum, they’ll be more than willing to let Dru Brown completely heal up instead of feeling any urge to rush him back.

2) It’s unfathomable how slow offensive coordinator Tommy Condell’s unit continues to be out of the gate. By yet again failing to score a single point in the first quarter, the Redblacks have now managed one single point through the opening 15 minutes of their last six games. In fact, through their entire 12 games in 2025, they’ve mustered just 21 points.

After 15 minutes of play against B.C., Condell’s attack had put up 27 yards and no points. In the first half, Ottawa punted on their opening five possessions before managing a field goal. At the start of the second half, it looked to be more of the same, as things started yet again with a punt. But then the tide flipped. The Redblacks had eight other second-half possessions and managed to score on five of them (four touchdowns and a field goal). For as awful as his unit was in the first half, Condell orchestrated 31 second-half points to help the Redblacks steal a late win.

Overall, the Redblacks finished with 377 yards of offence and 23 first downs. They converted 43 percent of their second down opportunities — largely due to their success in the second half of the game — but most importantly, went four-for-four in the red zone.

Condell’s use of play-action was extremely effective, but it would’ve been nice to see him lean into Crum’s athleticism a bit more. As much as Crum has improved as a passer in recent weeks, asking him to drop back and pass from a static pocket isn’t ideal. Moving the pocket with rollouts and RPOs (run-pass-options) would put even more pressure on opposing defences and lead to coverage busts.

There’s also the fact that the ground game continues to be an afterthought. Although there were some gimmicky runs with receivers (Bralon Addison), the ball was handed off to a running back just 10 times. Obviously, trailing by double digits for the fourth game in a row does somewhat tie a play-caller’s hands in terms of running the ball, but given how effective Ottawa’s backs can be, you’d like to see them even more involved.

3) Speaking of the running backs, good things always seem to happen when Canadian Daniel Adeboboye touches the ball, which is why I’ll continue to advocate for him to get more opportunities. Adeboboye’s lone carry against the Lions came in the third quarter and resulted in a 12-yard gain. He also made a pair of catches for 16 yards, with 13 of those yards coming after the catch.

As for American William Stanback, the veteran turned nine carries into 27 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a pair of check-downs for 21 yards, with 17 of them coming after the catch.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

4) With right guard Dariusz Bladek now on the six-game injured list, the most versatile lineman in the league — Jacob Ruby — once again found himself starting. Ruby was solid, if unspectacular. That’s an assessment that actually extends to the positional group as a whole.

The Redblacks’ offensive line had moments where they did a good job of giving Crum a clean pocket to work from, but also had plays that featured complete breakdowns and total failure to pick up the blitz, as evidenced by the four sacks the unit conceded. The big men up front also struggled to open lanes for their running backs, although the team’s final rush totals (and average rush per play) look decent, which is mainly due to the fact that a mobile quarterback hides a lot of warts.

With all that said, if the Redblacks want to stack wins, they’ll need more from their front five.

5) A couple of interesting milestones were passed by a pair of Ottawa’s star receivers. By hauling in three passes for 31 yards and a touchdown, Eugene Lewis now has 7,001 career receiving yards, which is 57th all-time in CFL history.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

And by snagging four of the seven passes sent his way for 64 yards, Justin Hardy has now passed Jock Climie for ninth all-time among receivers in Ottawa football history (which encompasses the Rough Riders, Renegades and Redblacks).

As for the rest of the receiving corps, Kalil Pimpleton led the way with seven catches for 95 yards, including the 51-yard bomb that set up the game-winning score. In his return from injury, Bralon Addison caught three passes for 39 yards and had two rushing attempts for a total of four yards. Canadian rookie Keelan White caught a pair of passes for 20 yards, and fullback Anthony Gosselin caught one pass for 15 yards.

6) When playing a quarterback like Nathan Rourke, you can’t realistically expect to shut him down, but you have to do your best to contain and limit the damage he does.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Coming into the contest, Rourke had been on fire, throwing for 300+ yards in six of his last seven games. Ottawa’s defence held him to 284, mostly because the coverage was tight (aside from Justin McInnis’ 51-yard third-quarter touchdown) and tackling was much improved from what we’ve seen in recent weeks.

Of Rourke’s 284 yards, only 98 came after the catch by receivers. To put that into context, that means 34 percent of the Lions’ passing yards came after the receivers had caught the ball. That’s a significant improvement over Ottawa’s last few games, in which opposing quarterbacks had generated more than 50 percent of their yards through YAC.

Of B.C.’s 15 possessions, 10 gained less than 30 yards. The Lions converted just 39 percent of their second-down opportunities and went only one-for-two in the red zone. The Redblacks weren’t overly successful in pressuring Rourke, but they did manage to sack him twice and generate a pair of turnovers.

Leading the way for the Redblacks was Canadian linebacker Lucas Cormier. It was Cormier’s first start of the season, and the 24-year-old didn’t disappoint. He managed six total tackles and made a timely diving interception that led to a touchdown.

Another look at the DIVING interception from Lucas Cormier! WOW!#CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) September 6, 2025

Taken 10th overall in the 2023 CFL Draft, the Mount Allison product has battled injuries for much of his pro career. If he can stay healthy, it’s clear he can be a strong contributor.

General manager Shawn Burke had to be smiling as he saw his bye week addition have a strong Redblacks’ debut. Defensive back Mark Milton was acquired from the Toronto Argonauts in exchange for a seventh-round pick in the 2026 CFL draft on August 25. The game against the Lions was his first start with Ottawa, and the 25-year-old halfback notched five tackles, forced a fumble, and sealed the win with an interception on the last play of the game.

Other notable defensive efforts were defensive lineman Lorenzo Mauldin making five tackles and knocking down a pass, Canadian defensive line Muftah Ageli (Ottawa’s fourth round pick in the 2025 CFL draft) making three tackles and a sack in place of the injured Cleyon Laing, and defensive back C.J. Coldon making four tackles. Star linebacker Adarius Pickett had a “quiet” night with just four tackles, but was still always around the ball and a menace when blitzing.

SACKED!

A committee of Ottawa defenders get to Nathan Rourke to force a punt!#CFLGameDay
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7) The Redblacks’ special teams have cost them more than one win this season, and it looked like that might be the case again when Rick Campbell’s unit allowed yet another return touchdown.

SEVEN MCGEE SAYS SEE YOU LATER! #CFLGameDay
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— CFL (@CFL) September 6, 2025

Thankfully, other than that one punt return, Ottawa’s kick coverage was otherwise quite good, as Seven McGee’s other six returns only resulted in an average of 8.1 yards per return. Leading the way in that area of the game were Canadian defensive lineman Aidan John and Cormier with two special teams tackles apiece.

In terms of Ottawa’s kicking game, Lewis Ward was a perfect two for two on his field goal attempts (good from 32 and 39 yards out) but missed a convert. Punter Richie Leone punted eight times but had a net field positional flip of just 23.6, thanks to the above-mentioned 93-yard punt return touchdown.

One thing that I found to be a refreshing change of pace was the Redblacks’ attempt at an onside punt in the first quarter. It was no Dobson Collins scoring the first touchdown in Redblacks history at TD Place back in July of 2014 vs Saskatchewan, but it still planted a seed that the Lions had to consider for the rest of the game. Going forward, it would be nice to see the Redblacks reach into their bag of tricks a bit more frequently. It’s something they do so rarely, they’re likely to catch someone napping.

As for the Redblacks’ return game, Pimpleton averaged a healthy 18.3 yards per punt return but only 12 per kickoff. Speaking of kickoffs, Keelan White fielded one return for 25 yards, and Pickett had one for 5 yards. Pickett was also lined up as a punt returner when the Redblacks chose to have two men back. I’ve said it plenty of times before, but you cannot convince me that the risks of using Pickett as a returner are outweighed by the rewards.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Speaking of which, in a situation that bears monitoring, it was interesting to see returner DeVonte Dedmon give an interview to local radio station TSN1200, stating that he was 100% and ready to get back on the field, only to have him held off the gameday roster.

8) I have no doubt that 16,267 tickets were indeed bought/distributed, but in terms of actual butts in seats at TD Place, Friday night’s game might be the very worst in the history of the Redblacks’ franchise. I’d be surprised if even half of those people showed up. Every single time TSN’s cameras panned out slightly, hundreds of empty seats were on display.

The windy, damp weather certainly didn’t help things, but OSEG has to understand that apathy has set into a section of the fan base, and the organization must work hard to keep those fans engaged. Obviously, winning cures all, and perhaps this dramatic comeback win is a shot in the arm in terms of ticket sales.

A year after posting a 7-1-1 record at TD Place, the 2025 Redblacks are now 2-4 at Lansdowne this season.

9) This week’s stat that might interest only me is that the 2025 Redblacks are now 2-0 coming off bye weeks. They also won coming their bye in Week 8, where Ottawa proceeded to beat Calgary by a score of 31-11 for their largest margin of victory this season.

10) With the win, the Redblacks ensure that mathematically, they’re still alive in the playoff hunt. A loss to the Lions would’ve left Ottawa three games back of B.C. with six games left, and heightened the possibility of a crossover.

At 4-8, the Redblacks remain in last place in the East, but depending on how Saturday’s games play out, they might find themselves only a single game out of second place, and two out of first.

Up next for Bob Dyce’s squad is a trip to the West Coast to finish off the home-and-home with B.C. Playing in Vancouver is always tough for Eastern teams, but at this point of the year, Ottawa’s margin for error is basically nil. They’ll need a win in the worst way to keep their dreams of November football alive.

The post Ottawa Redblacks overCrum mistakes to defeat B.C. Lions (& 10 other thoughts) appeared first on 3DownNation.

For the third game in a row, Bob Dyce’s squad sleepwalked its way to a double-digit deficit (this week by 17 points) before finally putting up any semblance of a fight. For the second game in a row, poor special teams proved costly. And yet again, the defence came up small when it mattered most.

Despite all the mistakes and self-inflicted wounds, like so many other games in recent seasons, late in the fourth quarter, this game was there for the taking. And like so many other games, the Redblacks let it slip away.

Here are all my thoughts on Ottawa falling 30-20 at TD Place to the visiting Edmonton Elks.

1) The most important news coming out of the game has nothing to do with the scoreboard or an individual performance. Instead, it was the post-game update provided by the team that Canadian defensive lineman Daniel Okpoko was responsive and had movement in his extremities.

Ottawa’s second-round pick in the 2024 CFL Draft, Okpoko was involved in a tackle on Edmonton quarterback Cody Fajardo with 2:40 left in the game. Although he initially popped up after making the hit, seconds later, he collapsed on the turf. It was a scary scene, and full props to the medical staff who ensured he immediately had the care he needed.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

The 25-year-old was released from the hospital on Saturday morning after all scans came back negative. Here’s hoping he’s back to feeling like his self in no time.

2) There are plenty of things that can be pointed to when dissecting the Redblacks’ eighth defeat of the season, but I’m going to start with an underperforming unit that has flown mostly under the radar this season.

Rick Campbell’s special teams have been anything but in 2025. It’s one thing if special teams aren’t winning you the game, but at the bare minimum, they shouldn’t be a detriment.

Edmonton beat Ottawa by 10, and 10 of their 30 points came as a result of special teams breakdowns. For the second week in a row, the Redblacks allowed a punt to be blocked. Like last week, the pressure came straight up the middle. That blocked punt gave Edmonton great field position, and the ensuing drive finished in a field goal.

Shortly after, the unit allowed an 80-yard punt return touchdown that featured a comedy of errors with multiple players missing opportunities to make the tackle on Javon Leake.

Javon Leake takes it all the way to the crib!#CFL #GoElks #AlwaysEdmonton
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— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) August 23, 2025

Punter Richie Leone’s 150th career game will be memorable for the wrong reasons. His seven punts averaged just 40.6 yards per kick, but an average field flip of just 25 yards.

On top of their porous kick coverage, Ottawa’s return units had arguably their worst game of the season. On every return, multiple blocks were missed, which led to Kalil Pimpleton averaging just 8.5 yards per punt return and 14.5 on kickoffs.

As much as there might be systemic issues that are the fault of the coaching staff, some of this simply boils down to players not playing well. Heck, even long snapper Peter Adjey, who is typically reliable, had a couple of bad, low snaps.

Finally, something I will continue to rage at is the choice — because it is indeed something that someone, either Campbell or Dyce, is actively choosing to do — to use strongside linebacker Adarius Pickett as a punt returner. Pickett is an irreplaceable piece of Ottawa’s defence. Considering that as a whole, the Redblacks have been decimated by injury, it’s beyond comprehension why the team continues to risk him on kick returns.

Running back Canadian Daniel Adeboboye has proven capable, and there’s a bevy of receivers such as Andre Miller, Keelan White or Luther Hakunavanhu available. At this point, using Pickett as a returner isn’t just playing with fire; it’s coaching malpractice.

3) Quarterback Dustin Crum played well enough to win, but if Dru Brown misses more time, I think Ottawa should bench him in favour of Tyrie Adams. Those two statements seem at odds, but aren’t actually.

To start with, Crum deserves credit for completing 79 percent of his passes for 277 yards and a touchdown. He was safe with the ball and avoided any kind of mistake that would put his team in a hole. The problem is that safety meant there was a severe lack of aggression. Crum’s longest completion of the night was 28 yards, and he only attempted one other deep shot that landed incomplete but drew a defensive pass interference flag.

The lack of big plays through the air isn’t something new with Crum under centre. Yes, he is electric when he takes off to run. Against Edmonton, he scrambled ten times for 59 yards, and three of those runs resulted in first downs. But when it comes to the passing game, Crum simply doesn’t stretch the field or put any kind of fear in opposing defences.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Through 18 career starts, Crum has attempted 552 passes. Just 13 of those have resulted in big plays (meaning gains of 30+ yards). That means one in every 42 passes he attempts is a big play. He’s also never had a 300-yard passing game.

I’m not trying to bury the guy, as I legitimately do believe he was efficient against Edmonton. For example, I thought he did an excellent job of making pre-snap adjustments by faking the hard count to see how the defence would react and checking in and out of plays, but I do think that, given the weapons Ottawa has at their disposal, playing a quarterback who doesn’t stretch the field puts the team at a disadvantage.

The reason I suggest Ottawa should go to Adams is that with the season slipping away, it’s essential they see what they have in the 28-year-old. He’s flashed potential, but has had so little playing time through his four seasons with the team. Veteran Matthew Shiltz is what he is, and clearly, the team hasn’t felt like going back to him since his disastrous Week 2 performance. Why not see if Adams can elevate Ottawa’s passing game until Brown returns?  Crum’s 18 career starts have resulted in exactly four wins through three seasons, so what’s really the downside?

4) It’s one thing to admit there’s a problem and acknowledge that you need to fix it. It’s another to actually do the fixing. Offensive coordinator Tommy Condell’s offence isn’t just starting slow; it’s forgetting to wake up until the team is already so far behind that fans have already mentally checked out.

After spending the week talking about the need to start quickly, the Redblacks came out of the gate with exactly 0 points and 36 yards through the game’s opening 15 minutes. Through 11 games this season, Ottawa has only managed 21 first-quarter points. That lack of production is crippling when trying to build any kind of momentum or game flow.

For the third week in a row, Ottawa was down by double digits before they even got onto the board. Expecting to recover and come back from three-score deficits week in and week out is simply not sustainable, which is what we’re seeing.

Obviously, not having Dru Brown under centre requires Condell to change things up, but that’s what coaches are supposed to do. You change the plan of attack depending on who you have at your disposal and tailor your system to their strengths.

Against Edmonton, Condell did an excellent job of allowing his offence to run no/quick huddles and gave Crum the freedom to check in and out of plays. There was a good amount of play-action, which typically led to positive plays. What would’ve been nice to see was more rollouts and misdirection to take advantage of Crum’s mobility. There weren’t many RPOs, but when Ottawa called them, they found success.

The Redblacks finished with 371 yards of offence and converted 59 percent of their second-down opportunities. What looms large in a 10-point loss is going 50 percent (two-for-four) in the red zone.

Even without his starting quarterback at his disposal, it feels like Condell is underutilizing some of his best players. Justin Hardy had two catches on the game’s opening drive, then didn’t see another target until the third quarter, and didn’t make another catch. Eugene Lewis has made a career out of making big catches down the field, yet he rarely runs routes that stretch it. Speaking of which, does anyone remember the last time speedster Kalil Pimpleton took the top off a defence? Ottawa’s entire strategy with him seems to be to throw him a hitch and hope he makes a handful of people miss.

On defence, you could make the case that with the number of injuries Ottawa is dealing with, the drop in the standard of play is a reflection of the fact that many on the field are typically backups or playing out of position. On offence, that simply isn’t the case. The players suiting up are extremely talented, but the way they are being used is questionable.

5) Coming into the game, priority number one for defensive coordinator William Fields was containing Elks’ running back Justin Rankin. In a sense, it was mission accomplished as Rankin managed just 2.6 yards per carry, but he still found a way to gouge Ottawa by catching five passes for 58 yards.

As has been the case all season long, a litany of injuries meant Fields’ unit shuffled a handful of players around. Jovan Santos-Knox flipped from middle linebacker to weak-side, which meant “Ace” Eley started in the middle. Deandre Lamont started at safety as Bennett Williams and Justin Howell both moved to the six-game injured list. Gavin Heslop flipped from cornerback to halfback, and Canadian rookie King Ambers started at halfback.

While Ottawa’s defence wasn’t terrible, it also wasn’t overly effective. The unit gave up 5.1 yards per rush and 9.6 yards per pass. Edmonton converted 57 percent of their second-down opportunities and went two-for-two in the red zone.

The real issue for the Redblacks is that whenever they put themselves into a situation where they truly needed a stop, they came up short. There were a number of moments where Ottawa’s defence could’ve made a clutch play, but didn’t.

Edmonton quarterback Cody Fajardo repeatedly made them pay with his legs, scrambling for 57 yards. Every time he escaped the pocket, he moved the chains. In addition to hurting Ottawa with his legs, he also completed 79 percent of his passes for 270 yards. Yes, Ottawa picked him off once, but they seemingly had no answer for Fajardo’s patience.

Someone should probably tackle that man!#CFL #GoElks #AlwaysEdmonton pic.twitter.com/ZGfYfDhgGh

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) August 23, 2025

Time after time, Edmonton completed short passes that turned into gains that moved the chains. The Redblacks had no answer for the dinking and dunking of the Elks’ offence as they moved down the field. Although there were a couple of contested catches, more often than not, the Elks were catching the ball in space. Worse yet, when Ottawa’s defenders did close in for the tackle, too many defenders were guilty of going for a big hit and not wrapping up. That’s how Edmonton racked up 153 yards after the catch.

In terms of stats, Eley led the way with seven tackles and Ottawa’s lone turnover.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

As R-Nation has come to expect, Adarius Pickett continued to play with his hair on fire. He was only credited with four tackles, including one for a loss, but was extremely effective blitzing off the edge. In fact, the only times Ottawa had any kind of decent pressure on Fajardo were when they sent Pickett.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Defensive backs Gavin Heslop and Shakur Brown both finished with four tackles, and each made one for loss. Defensive lineman Michael Wakefield also had four tackles and notched a sack. Canadian defensive lineman Aidan John made a pair of tackles, and both were for a loss.

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

6) It absolutely sucked seeing offensive lineman Dariusz Bladek pounding the ground in frustration after hurting his leg in the third quarter. It was Bladek’s 100th career game, and he’s been an excellent, steady presence since joining the Redblacks in 2024, suiting up for 28 of a possible 29 games.

Following his exit from the game, versatile veteran Jacob Ruby filled in. Overall, Ottawa’s offensive line was decent, although they did allow three sacks. That said, a couple of those were as a result of Crum failing to get rid of the ball in a timely manner. Only one sack came directly because of a lineman (Parker Moorer) being cleanly beaten.

In terms of the ground game, they managed to open some decent lanes for William Stanback, as evidenced by his 5.3 yards per carry. It would’ve been nice to see the big men up front given more of an opportunity to impose their will and wear out the Elks’ front seven, but Stanback was only given nine carries.

How many tackles did Will Stanback just break on this rush!? #CFL

Elks vs. @REDBLACKS LIVE NOW
: TSN, RDS
: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/j8kuFxKTRP

— CFL (@CFL) August 23, 2025

7) Ottawa’s receiving corps deserves kudos for bailing out their quarterback on a number of high throws. There were at least four passes that seemed overthrown, yet were turned into catches by Hardy, Lewis, and White fully extending with impressive jumps.

Justin Hardy got UP for this grab. #CFL
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: TSN, RDS
: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/JL69aMcpKi

— CFL (@CFL) August 22, 2025

Despite not being listed as a starter, Canadian rookie Keelan White led the way with a team-high 68 yards on five catches. Most impressive was that three of his catches moved the sticks on second down. He was also inches away from scoring his second touchdown of the season.

Crum finds Keelan White! Ottawa is in business at the 1!

Elks vs. @REDBLACKS LIVE NOW
: TSN, RDS
: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/qUOsv6ZNSi

— CFL (@CFL) August 23, 2025

 Andre Miller did an admirable job filling in for the injured Bralon Addison, snagging three passes for 58 yards and a touchdown.

Don’t. Go. Anywhere.

Andre Miller touchdown! 6-point game in Ottawa! #CFL

Elks vs. @REDBLACKS LIVE NOW
: TSN, RDS
: CFL+ pic.twitter.com/uU7UVFBFrS

— CFL (@CFL) August 23, 2025

Lewis finished with four catches for 41 yards but also dropped an easy hitch screen that had the potential for a good gain. Hardy had the above-mentioned two catches on the team’s first drive for 38 yards and then appeared to be an afterthought in the attack. Pimpleton finished with three catches for 18 yards, with his longest gain of the night coming on a crosser that went for 12 yards.

8) Shoutout to the 17,469 members of R-Nation who came out to the game last night. Given that it used to be normal to see TD Place packed and sold out, it’s dispiriting to see so many empty seats in every section of the stadium any time TSN zooms out or shows a crowd shot. Those who continue to show up and make plenty of noise deserve full credit.

9) With the loss, the Redblacks drop to 3-8 on the year, fail (yet again) to take advantage of a Montreal loss, and now trail every Western team in a potential crossover situation.

It’s hard to say where Ottawa goes from here. The Redblacks need to win at least five of their remaining seven games to have any hope of a playoff spot, and even then, it wouldn’t be a guarantee. Of their remaining seven games, four will be played at TD Place, but only three come against Eastern foes. Given that the franchise publicly stated before the season that the goal was to improve on last year’s return to the playoffs, nobody will be throwing in the towel. But the question remains of how to move forward.

With the team heading into their second bye week, it’s another opportunity for a reset, but what does that reset look like? Head coach Bob Dyce just signed an extension in April and has a deal that runs through the 2026 season. Changing offensive or defensive coordinators mid-season almost never works, plus it’s not like there are a bunch of qualified candidates sitting at home waiting for a phone call. It’s also not as if there’s a marquee player that could be traded for or signed that would suddenly turn things around either.  It’s far from a satisfying outcome, but it’s likely the team sits pat, prays they get healthy during the bye and that things suddenly start clicking.

The trick becomes how the organization manages fan expectations going forward. Doing nothing won’t be an easy sell, but with the hole the team has dug itself, there aren’t any easy answers to be had. Ottawa fans are die-hard, but if OSEG isn’t careful, anger will turn to apathy, and that can take years to reverse.

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