Tiger-Cats goal-line stand derails REDBLACKS

It was a rough night at the office for the Ottawa REDBLACKS, as they fell 16-12 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The REDBLACKS’ offence was held to just 272 net yards, with 144 of those yards coming in the fourth quarter, as they pushed for yet another late-game comeback. In the final seconds, Ottawa was once again in a position to win the game, but just didn’t have enough gas to get it done this time around.

While many will look at the final handful of plays as the difference maker, REDBLACKS Head Coach Bob Dyce’s scope is wider.

“I don’t think the game should have come down to the last drive,” he said. “Especially as we go back and look through the film, we’ll see a lot of reasons [for the loss]. Any time your defence gets five interceptions, you have to capitalize and score touchdowns. Late in the game, we have to tackle and cover their returner, so there are different things throughout the game where we weren’t successful.”

In only his third professional start, Dustin Crum hit the bumps in the road typical for rookie quarterbacks. He faced heavy pressure, going down seven times for sacks. Nothing came easy, as the TiCats limited passing options, and took away running lanes for Crum all at the same time.

“It’s on me,” Crum said. “They did a lot of things, and they have a lot of good players, you have to tip your hat to them and give them respect when it’s due, but at the end of the day, it’s on me, I have to be better. There were many times when the receivers won, and I have to find a way to get them the ball. A lot of the sacks aren’t on the offensive line, so it’s on me to fix it.”

While Crum’s body of work on the night was below the ballooning expectations that have been placed on his shoulders, it was ever so close to being enough. Moral victories are no consolation for a group that believes they can beat anyone, on any night, but on this occasion, all that can be done is move forward.

“A lot of this is a learning process,” Dyce said. “[Crum] going to continue to learn, he’s going to continue to get better, so we’ll correct the negatives, accentuate the positives, and move forward from there.”

That learning process goes well beyond Crum, through all of his teammates and the coaching staff, but one of the things the REDBLACKS are hoping to limit, in particular, is the number of hits their quarterback has taken in his short career. Whether it has been sacks, or hard hits on his runs, Crum has been popped a few times.

A quarterback who poses a legitimate threat to take off is something the coaching staff isn’t looking to stymie, and Crum has no plans to quit, but Dyce wants to make sure his pivot is taking care of himself.

“As you’ve seen for almost four weeks in a row now, Dustin is an extreme competitor, and he’s going to do whatever he can for the team,” Dyce said. “In essence, he’s sacrificing himself, and we need to make sure he understands the bigger picture, we have to do a better job with that.”

Defensively, there was nothing perfect about the outing, but Dyce says there are plenty of positives to take away. Of course, the five interceptions against Bo Levi Mitchell – a two-time Most Outstanding Player in the CFL – stand out, but they did a stupendous job at limiting yardage on the ground, one again.

“To hold a team to 16 points in the CFL takes a hell of an effort,” he said. “Obviously, there are still things that we need to correct on that side of the ball, but credit to those guys, they turned the ball over repeatedly, and I’m proud of them.”

The REDBLACKS now have some time to recompose themselves before heading to Regina for a Week 9 clash with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and anticipate a couple of days off being helpful in the long run.

“We had a short week after the game against Calgary, and don’t get me wrong, that’s not an excuse, but it’ll help because these guys get a chance to rest their bodies,” Dyce said.

After the quick rest, it’s right back to work, with the loss flushed as if it never happened.

“You just put your head back down and get to work,” Crum said. “Work works, we’re going to grind it out and get better.”