The Redblacks head into a bye week this week after 3 straight losses to Edmonton, Hamilton and Saskatchewan which leaves them at 3-7.
Stats and QB situation going into bye week number 2
Going into week 12’s bye, the Redblacks are 3rd in the East division at 3-7, while at 7th place in the league. Along with the Redblacks 3-7 record, Montreal who is second in the East sits at 5-4 while the first place Tiger-Cats are 8-2.
To go with the Redblacks bye week, Montreal also has a bye week this week.
The Redblacks have all eyes on the 1-8 Argonauts as they will play Toronto September 7th at 1:00 in Ottawa, a full week after the bye week. It may seem so far away, but the team needs this time to re-group, as we might see a change at the Quarterback position.
In 8 starts this season, starting QB Dominique Davis sits at 3-5 with 1,846 passing yards, 102 rushing yards and 10 total touchdowns. Although those numbers may look good, its missing one very important stat…
With 14 interceptions thrown this season, the Redblacks looked towards Jonathon Jennings last week following Davis’ 3 first quarter interceptions. Before last week, Jennings had two starts this season where he is 0-2 in.
In an attempt to comeback from a 20 point Rough Rider lead, Jennings passed for over 200 yards which included a 75 yard strike to Dominique Rhymes and Jennings also had 17 rush yards to finish up a very good game on his part which leaves Rick Campbell looking his way to possibly start next week against division rivals, Toronto Argonauts.
Along with our quarterback situation going into the bye week, our running-backs have had a very interesting season.
It all started with Mossis Madu, who’s started 5 games this season rushing and receiving for over 300 to go with a two point conversion in week two against Saskatchewan. After a huge performance in Calgary week one, rushing for 112 yards and receiving for two dozen yards it seemed as if he’d be the starter all season. With all eyes on Madu, the Redblacks brought in John Crockett to return kicks and back-up Madu in week 5 against Montreal.
In the match-up against the Alouettes, Crockett had a 31 yard kick return which would pair with 62 rush yards.
While Crockett had 93 all-purpose yards on just 13 touches, it gave the front office something to think about as the Redblacks faced off against Winnipeg a week later. Mossis Madu did not make the trip to Winnipeg, while John Crockett would start his first CFL game, rushing and receiving for 108 yards, Crockett was full-filling his great opportunity in Ottawa.
Now we fast forward to Today, August 26th, John Crockett just came off a game where he rushed for just 12 yards as he suffered an injury in his upper body. With this injury occurring in the first half, the Redblacks spent a full second half with Greg Morris at running-back. On just his second touch of the season, Greg Morris was turning heads, with a 19 yard rush which also ended in an unnecessary roughness penalty against Saskatchewan which led to a 34 yard gain for the Redblacks.
Unfortunately for Morris, the Redblacks were behind for the whole game, playing pass first where Morris wouldn’t be able to show his full potential. Even though Ottawa didn’t run the ball much, Morris found him self in the pass game also, catching the ball 6 times for 50 yards to go with his 28 rush yards and 19 yard kick return.
Morris finished the game against Saskatchewan with 97 yards on just 14 touches. If John Crockett’s injury sidelines him for another game or two, Morris will be a reliable back-up to Madu, or even if Crockett stays in the lineup, we don’t have to worry about the running-back depth.
Going back to the pass game, our receivers in Ottawa have yet found themselves showing their full potential.
With the team changing quarterbacks every few games, and struggling to spread the ball around, the Redblacks top receiver this season is currently Dominique Rhymes. Rhymes has 3 touchdowns this season, 2 going for 75+ which matches up with 621 receiving yards on 40 catches.
After Rhymes, the receiving group takes a big drop to Brad Sinopoli, who was a leading receiver a year ago is held to just 398 yards and two touchdowns.
With trust not an issue, Brad Sinopoli has yet to find chemistry with either Davis or Jennings which drops his record breaking 2018 season to one of his most unfortunate seasons yet.
After Rhymes, the Redblacks have another big play maker in the receivers group that may have been forgotten after missing time due to a knee injury. Receiver R.J Harris is finding himself in his second season with Ottawa, where he is hoping to be a leading receiver in the league, but heading into week 12, Harris has only played 6 games. Two of those 6 games, he has been injured, therefore his stats went down, and he now sits at 339 yards, and a touchdown on 27 touches.
Going past the offense and towards the defense, the Redblacks defense has one of the best secondary’s in the league, surrounding Jonathan Rose, Antoine Pruneau, Sherrod Baltimore, Corey Tindal and CFL veteran Chris Randle. The secondary has 5 interceptions on the season, but its only possible because of the pass rush and line-backing group the Redblacks have.
With the Redblacks starting 7 containing Michael Wakefield, Avery Ellis, George Uko, J.R Tavai, Avery Williams, Jerod Fernandez and Anthony Cioffi, the team has 15 sacks and 10 fumble recoveries to go with the 5 interceptions in the secondary.
Along with the turnovers, the Redblacks defense have the second best tackler in the league with Avery Williams who has 68 tackles, 1 quarterback sack, a forced fumble and 3 fumble recoveries. The second year linebacker has found himself in a great position in his career, where he may receive an award for being such a great defender on the Redblacks defense.
Tune in September 7th
On September 7th, the Redblacks are back from their bye week and facing off against theToronto Argonauts at 1:00 at TD Place.
This East rivalry game is also going to be the Redblacks’ Family Day game, where the Redblacks will showcase activities for kids while they will also have the opportunity to meet their favorite super heroes and characters from their favorite shows, such as Spider man, Iron man, Paw Patrol and Sponge Bob!
Come out to TD Place September 7th to cheer on your Redblacks and meet your favorite super hero!
JZ MEDIA 