OTTAWA — Someone’s losing streak will come to an end when the Ottawa Redblacks host the Edmonton Elks on Friday night.
The Redblacks are coming off a bye week and looking for their first win after starting the season with back-to-back losses, while the Elks are 0-3-0.
Ottawa is well overdue for a win at TD Place having lost its last 13 games at home.
“I don’t consider anyone desperate,” said Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce. “If you’re on a golf course and you bogey the first two holes, you have to play great for the last 16. But if you play desperately, chances are it’s going to be a problem because you’re going to start changing things.
"You have to believe in what you’re doing, believe in yourselves, believe in your teammates and keep fighting through.”
Coincidentally, both teams will have quarterbacks making their first CFL start.
After a solid second-half performance in last week’s 43-31 loss to the Toronto Argonauts, Jarret Doege gets his first CFL start for the Elks. He finished last week’s game with 9-of-11 passes completed for 163 yards and two touchdowns.
The Redblacks were hopeful starter Jeremiah Masoli would be back from last season's leg injury by now, but he’s been placed on the one-game injury list.
Ottawa will turn to Tyrie Adams, who completed 9-of-16 passes for 122 yards and one interception in Ottawa’s 26-15 loss to Calgary. Adams also rushed four times for 19 yards after taking over for a struggling Nick Arbuckle late in the first half.
The 26-year-old Adams could help Ottawa’s ground game as he’s comfortable running. The biggest test for Adams could be choosing between when to be patient and stay in the pocket and when to run.
Adams is well aware of how desperate fans are for a win and would love nothing more than to be the one who creates some optimism for the Redblacks faithful.
“I think there’s always pressure, but not within the organization,” said Adams. “We kind of know what type of team we have and we kind of expect to go do the things that we’re going to do tomorrow night and that’s the biggest thing is just going out and believing in ourselves and we can execute the way we want to as long as we don’t make the minor mistakes.”
Ottawa has yet to score an offensive touchdown this season. Kicker Lewis Ward has six field goals and Brandin Dandridge had a punt-return TD in the game against Calgary.
The Redblacks had a similar issue last year and Dyce made sure to address it with his team in preparation for this week’s game.
“We’re very confident we will score touchdowns this week,” Dyce said. “We have to eliminate turnovers; we’ve had some of those in the score zone and maybe we need to be a bit more aggressive. We’ve got to make sure we finish. I made it very clear field goals aren’t going to be good enough this week. We have to score touchdowns.”
Ottawa will also look to shore up its defensive play. The Elks have given up a league-high 12 sacks this season and the Redblacks want to make things as challenging as possible for Doege.
“Part of our game plan is to disrupt the quarterback with the pressure we bring up front,” said DL Cleyon Laing. “We have a group of guys who continuously pride ourselves on delivering pressure on the QB and getting in their face and make the most plays that we can.”
Laing says disrupting Doege’s timing and rhythm will be key for Ottawa.
Earlier this week, Ottawa announced punt/kickoff returner DeVonte Dedmon would be out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury.
Edmonton will be without receiver Eugene Lewis, who was placed on the six-game injured list.
GETTING STARTED — The last time a game featured both QBs making their debut start was November 2019.
MR. CONSISTENT — Ottawa’s Lewis Ward is the CFL's all-time leader in field-goal accuracy at 88.3 per cent. He has now attempted 202 for his career.
ALL ABOUT THE KIDS — Over three games, Edmonton has now used a CFL-high 15 first-year players in its lineup.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 29, 2023.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
