Ottawa Redblacks never considered quarterback change in loss to Toronto: Ryan Dinwiddie

Photo: Gord Weber/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Ottawa Redblacks were afforded every opportunity to stage a second-half comeback on Saturday afternoon against the Toronto Argonauts, but couldn’t get the job done. However, at no point in the 44-24 defeat did head coach Ryan Dinwiddie contemplate a quarterback change.

“No, I didn’t. At that stage, we’re trying to push the ball down the field, and you’re going to have to make some plays down the field. Unfortunately, we didn’t,” he told reporters post-game.

“We always point to the quarterback, and rightly so, he’s the guy running the offence, but I’ve got to find ways to help him out, and the guys have got to make some plays to help him out as well. The tough part was we didn’t get the run game going, so (Toronto) just sat there in a five-man box, and they stopped the run in a five-man box, which takes away our quick game. Now we’re trying to push the ball down the field, and those guys are getting deeper drops. We checked it down to Greg a few times; we’ve got to find ways to do a better job with the ball in our hands in space there.”

Starting quarterback Jake Maier completed 25-of-40 passes against the Argonauts, throwing for 281 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He also rushed twice for 14 yards, while getting stuffed on one short-yardage play for a turnover on downs.

Though the 29-year-old produced respectable numbers overall, he struggled to take advantage of opportunities by his own admission. Toronto quarterback Chad Kelly tossed interceptions on three consecutive drives in the second half, but Ottawa generated just two field goals in response and was turned away at the goal line on one opportunity.

“It was frustrating, for sure. Just untimely, or not meeting the opportunity in certain moments, whether it was my third-and-one sneak, or having three opportunities at the one-yard line to make it a six-point game with plenty of time and to not deliver there,” Maier acknowledged. “Those two moments right there stand out probably the most, and then just some bang-bang plays that could have kept drives going. There are just critical moments in the game that we didn’t meet head-on, and we didn’t execute. We got what we deserved.”

Maier was anointed as the Redblacks’ starting quarterback during training camp, supplanting incumbent Dru Brown before he had even thrown a live snap in Dinwiddie’s new offence. That decision came after the one-time Calgary cast-off dazzled in a half of preseason action against the Montreal Alouettes’ projected starting defence, showing the anticipation and decision-making that the franchise’s new head coach coveted.

None of that has been apparent through his first two games under centre. Though the sample size is small, he sits last among CFL starters with a 61 percent completion rate and just 484 passing yards to his name. At a time when many of his peers have produced jaw-dropping aerial displays, he’s thrown only two touchdowns, been picked off twice, and produced two losses as a result.

However, Dinwiddie believes Maier is not at the root of Ottawa’s offensive issues and that a portion of the blame lies on his own shoulders, which he intends to fix this week.

“It’s frustrating. We’re not playing really good football right now. I told the offence I’m gonna try to shrink (the call-sheet) down to about 50 plays,” he said. “Let’s just make sure we get multiple reps at these concepts we feel we’re good at and build confidence in that. Sometimes you have a bunch of plays you like, 80, and then you waste 30 that never get repped in the game, but you rep them in practice. We’ll find ways to shrink it and get good at what we should be good at.”

Maier also remains confident that the Redblacks can turn things around, noting that they have no shortage of weaponry.

“Look at our team. Obviously, Greg Bell is an all-star tailback. It’s only a matter of time until we get things going for him. Keelan White is a tremendous young player. Ayden Eberhardt, I think, showed how good of a player he is. Justin Hardy is obviously an all-star in this league, Geno Lewis is an all-star in this league,” he said. “When you look at the stuff on paper, you’ve got to feel pretty decent about it. But, unfortunately, this game isn’t played on paper.”

If that impressive list of players can’t find actual success between the white lines, there will be nowhere else to look but the quarterback position.

The Redblacks (0-2) will return to action on Sunday, June 28, at 7:00 p.m. EDT when they visit the Montreal Alouettes (2-1).

J.C. Abbott is a University of British Columbia graduate and high school football coach. He covers the CFL, B.C. Lions, CFL Draft and the three-down league’s Global initiative.