CFL.ca
Ahh, it’s sometimes good to reminisce, back to that first bye week of the season, the week where the Ottawa REDBLACKS ‘vaulted’ to the top of the standings in the CFL East, without ever setting foot on a field.
Short of that first — and only — REDBLACKS win to date, it might have been the high point, so to speak, of the REDBLACKS inaugural season to which REDBLACKS head coach Rick Campbell jokingly said he’d take a bye every week if that were how things worked.
Well 10 weeks later, the just completed bye week was just as welcome as it was in Week One.
And oddly enough the REDBLACKS only lost points to one East rival, meaning if the expansion club could ever find a way to score on even a modestly consistent basis, playoff push is no more absurd than it seemed back in early July.
It’s just that instead of looking down on the rest of the East, even if it was with a 0-0 record, the REDBLACKS are now looking up at the rest of the East at 1-9 and wondering when, or even if, a second win is in the cards.
The upstart REDBLACKS head west to Regina to face the Roughriders four points removed from an improbable post-season spot with a game in hand on two teams they might have the best chance of passing to make it a reality.
That’s even with a losing streak that now numbers seven straight and with offensive totals of 14, 17, eight, seven, 10 and five in the last six of those defeats. Do the math and that’s an average of just a fraction over 10 points a game over 24 quarters of football.
| Munoz a huge add |
|---|
|
There’s still plenty of time left in this season, but either way the REDBLACKS have bolstered their defence both now and for the future with the addition of linebacker Damaso Munoz. |
Yes, the REDBLACKS defence has been outstanding but not even some of the great Ottawa Rough Riders defences in the 70’s could turn these losses into wins.
Just the same, the REDBLACKS keep up the hope.
“We’re going to throw our hat in the ring and see what we can get done in the final eight weeks,” said Campbell, after the players enjoyed a full week away from TD Place, not that the coaching staff did likewise. “We have to see what we can do.”
We are becoming a more veteran team week by week. As the weeks go by, we keep becoming more of the team we want to be.
“I know we didn’t score points but we’ve done some better stuff.”
There’s still a ways to go.
“We have got to get better and win some games. The guys deserve it.”
As is the case, and it should be the case with an expansion team in any sport . . . there’s always new arrivals as the REDBLACKS went back to work.
But first, REDBLACKS general manager Marcel Desjardins chose the return to the field as an opportunity to clarify a previous week filled with rumours that the face of the REDBLACKS — quarterback Henry Burris — would move to Saskatchewan to replace the injured Darian Durant.
Desjardins confirmed Burris would be going to Regina but with a return ticket and not to stay for a second go-round with the ‘western Riders.
The GM said no team had placed a call on his quarterback’s availability and he was “not at all” looking to trade the main guy in Ottawa, who will turn 40 during next year’s training camp.
In Burris, the REDBLACKS trust, contrary to what some in the media speculated would be a natural trade destination in return for future help for the REDBLACKS.
“All that speculation, the people who wrote the articles, from what I am hearing, aren’t CFL personnel,” said Burris, who unlike last season will need a ticket to this year’s Grey Cup. “So I’m not even paying any attention to it.”
“I’m just focused on getting better here. I want to make sure this offence becomes the offence it can be.”
The quarterback and the GM did discuss the speculation and it wasn’t a deep conversation.
Burris has quickly become one of Ottawa’s highest profile athletes and had made the move here permanent for the foreseeable with kids enrolled in school and the local minor hockey programs.
Who knows? Burris may even have a position in the club’s front office when his Hall of Fame career finally comes to a close.
While some of the blame for the REDBLACKS averaging just 14.1 points per game, by far a league low, has to fall to Burris, there’s many reason why the REDBLACKS just can’t seem to find the end-zone.
“Henry is doing everything we ‘re asking him to do,” said Campbell. “He’s battling hard, he’s working hard, and we’re trying to get better, him and everyone else on offence.”
Just about every week around the REDBLACKS, Campbell and Desjardins speak of finding more ‘pieces’ to what they hope will be a more competitive product in Year Two and beyond.
The extra days off coincided nicely with the arrival of six new bodies, including two players with a reasonable resume of CFL experience, those being running back Jonathan Williams and linebacker Damaso Munoz.
Campbell and Williams crossed paths last season with the Calgary Stampeders when Williams briefly filled in for an injured Jon Cornish.
“He’s a very tough runner,” said Campbell, of the East Carolina University product. “Strong guy, very athletic, very fast.”
Munoz, meanwhile, averaged 80 tackles a season over three years with the Edmonton Eskimos, before trying his luck with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The other newcomers includes running back Jeremiah Johnson, who saw time with the Toronto Argonauts, linebacker David Hinds, defensive back Brandon McDonald and national defensive end Michael Dadzie.
The REDBLACKS are always looking and will continue to bring new people in or sign others for 2015.
“A lot of times (new players arriving) is a function of timing,” said the GM. “As much as sometimes you want to put guys off and wait, sometimes you can’t.”
For the eternal optimist sorts, the REDBLACKS will not be out of playoff contention for anytime soon.
