Walter Tychnowicz/CFL.ca
If what the Ottawa REDBLACKS are going through is a Grey Cup hangover, they better down some water and Advil, guzzle coffee or whatever other hangover remedy they can find because their winless start is putting them into an early hole.
The current stretch of four games in 16 days is into the back end of the series and they have nothing to show for it, as close as they’ve come to winning.
This week they have two games before heading into their bye week and both against the two East Division counterparts above them in the standings. To say it’s time to put some wins together is an understatement.
RELATED
» Power Rankings: REDBLACKS in free fall
» Steinberg: Ottawa is a CFL sleeping giant
» Eskimos stymie late REDBLACKS comeback
Rick Campbell’s club has two chances to find its first win in Week 5 (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
They’ve been frustratingly close. Every game has come down to the last three minutes of the game. They have one tie to show for it. Losses of four, one and two points.
Yes, you’re allowed to tear your hair out, R-Nation.
It’s not like the REDBLACKS are bad by any means. They are middle of the pack in offence and in the back half of the pack on defence. They just need a bounce.
But they can’t rest on that. They can’t feel good about themselves through the first four weeks of the season with no wins to show for it. They need that sense of urgency to possibly force that bounce, rather than wait for it.
It starts on Wednesday against Montreal. Then again on Monday against Toronto.
The easy thing to point the finger at is the quarterback because their Grey Cup Champion Henry Burris started a broadcasting career in the off-season, leaving Trevor Harris the starting job … again.
Harris, however, is No. 3 in yards, No. 1 in touchdowns, No. 1 in TD to interception ratio and No. 2 in quarterback rating.
Harris is just fine to lead the REDBLACKS to victories but they are missing the X-factor. Whether it be the departures of some key receivers or inconsistency in who is running the ball, or maybe it is the losses of key personnel that came on defence as Rick Campbell and Mark Nelson try to figure out who the best men are to lead them to victory.
They certainly don’t take the ball away. The REDBLACKS rank last in takeaways, which highlights their league-leading eight turnovers (including a league-high four lost fumbles).
Arnaud Gascon-Nadon chases down Mike Reilly during Saturday’s contest (Walter Tychnowicz/CFL.ca)
Is that the difference? They’ve lost the turnover battle in all three losses.
The team has to force opponents to more mistakes or the losing will continue, no matter how Trevor Harris plays.
Is it too early in the season to start off alarm bells? Certainly not!
But when you think about the team starting 0-5-1 if it were to lose its next two games going into the bye week, and the power still in the West Division and already looking like the crossover is in play, you see Ottawa’s plight.
The REDBLACKS need to win at least one, if not both, of these two games to start keeping pace with the top two teams in the division — because third place may not make the playoffs yet again.
Ottawa, Hamilton and Montreal all danced on that playoff line for much of 2017 and because they started with a completely opposite 3-0-1 record in 2016, they were able to build a cushion that allowed a 5-9 record the rest of the way to not completely derail their season.
Instead, they were tops in the division and eventual Grey Cup Champions.
The wear and tear building up over the first two games of this tough stretch four game stretch isn’t ideal to turn a season around. But that’s the reality Ottawa is facing for not pulling out some late game heroics.
Tough luck.
Nobody is going to feel sorry for you … well, not anybody out side of R-Nation, anyway.
