Adam Gagnon/CFL.ca
We are always trying to put labels on players and offences. For some reason we feel like labelling them makes us sound smarter, like we know something absolute in our analysis.
Just when you think you know everything about the Ottawa REDBLACKS offence and their leader quarterback Trevor Harris, you have a conversation with the man wearing number seven in red and black only to find out you don’t know as much about Ottawa offensive attack as you thought you did.
Here’s what we do know: The REDBLACKS snap the ball on offence, a lot.
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The tempo they play with defines what the offence feels like, but what it looks like on paper and how it’s executed might surprise you for the simple fact that as Harris says, the offence can’t be defined by a label.
“This offence is not the West Coast offence that everybody else runs in the league. It’s a multiple thing. We’re spread, we’re pro style, we’re run and shoot. We have so many concepts and principles that it’s fun. In the off-season, I can talk to anybody who runs any system and relate to them because we do some of it all here.”
Watch any CFL on TSN live mic game from this season and you quickly gain an appreciation for Harris’ grasp of the offence he controls, especially when Ottawa is operating at peak efficiency and tempo.
Everyone would love to run Ottawa’s fast to the line style of offence regardless of what the design is after the snap, but few have been able to replicate the REDBLACKS style, which made me ask Harris why nobody can do it the way they do?
“Communication,” he said. “If you can be efficient with your communication, that’s when you can start executing at that tempo. Teams have trouble doing it because its tough to get everyone on the same page. I’ve been fortunate to play on the same team with Brad, Greg, Diontae as the full time guy for two years so I’ve been able to acclimate myself to it and push it to the next level.”
Those three names are the three headed monster for any defence that gets in the way of Ottawa’s aerial attack.
Brad Sinopoli serves as the middle man, bouncing off contact and catching balls as a release valve in the flats before bouncing off contact to gain hard earned yards.
Greg Ellingson is a truly dynamic threat capable of hurting you anywhere on the field but especially with the deep ball as evidenced by the 2015 Eastern Final’s final moments.
Diontae Spencer is the quick game dynamo with elite return skills who can beat you over the top as he has in the last two years against Hamilton to the tune of four touchdowns on passes twenty yards or more in the air.
Add on top of those three the emergence of William Powell as one of the best CFL running backs of the past three seasons and you begin to understand why Ottawa won the East Division in the regular season.
Among all this passing, the REDBLACKS run play call percentage has actually increased by 6.8% (24.2% to 31.0%) between the 2017 and 2018 regular season. Ottawa remains run heavy on first down calling run plays 34.3% of the time before that number drops to just 17.0% on second down in 2018.
In those second down passing situations, Ellingson is actually more targeted (23.0%) than Sinopoli (21.4%) while both lead Powell (17.4%) and Spencer (8.7%) in second down target percentage since 2017 against the Ticats defence.
With all that being said, Sinopoli seems to be the engine that drives Ottawa’s passing game in a year he bounced back from shoulder surgery to set the single season record for receptions by a Canadian.
Harris understands the value of his Peteborough born and raised slotback. “I don’t know that you can name a more valuable player in the CFL, he takes us to a new level. He’s not only a Canadian he’s one of the best receivers in the CFL. I’ve been fortunate to play with Brad and I hope to play the rest of my career with him.”
Last year Harris had 60 attempts in his only playoff start, losing to the crossover Saskatchewan Roughriders. His memories of the game are dark, clouded by the never ending feeling that comes when your final game of the season was a loss.
“That game was closer than it seemed. We had a few big mistakes including me throwing an interception in the red zone on the second drive. We put one of those big moments in our favour and we have a chance to win at the end. It’s not quite the catastrophe that everybody thought it was but when you lose in a playoff game it gets magnified which it should because these games mean so much.”
Harris and the REDBLACKS believe Sunday they can take their indefinable offence to new heights earning a trip to the Grey Cup for the second time in three years but this time with Harris at the controls of an up tempo passing attack.
Just watch them play Sunday and decide for yourself what they are.
