‘It’s just beyond me’: Ryan Dinwiddie unloads on Ottawa Redblacks for poor ‘football intelligence’

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Ryan Dinwiddie’s feelings could be described in a lot of different ways after the Ottawa Redblacks’ latest defeat at the hands of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Flabbergasted. Dumbfounded. Exasperated. Bewildered. Aghast.

The only thing he wasn’t was at a loss for words.

Ottawa’s head coach and general manager unleashed one of his characteristic post-game rants following Friday’s 27-22 loss, which dropped the Redblacks to 0-4 on the season. Dinwiddie took aim at several aspects of his team’s performance, making clear that his players failed to execute on any of their keys to the game.

“It’s just beyond me, some of the stuff we’ve done. We talked about special teams; we’ve got to make sure we don’t give them any big returns — they take one to the house. We get some momentum going, we fumble on the punt return — another key point we talked about yesterday,” he told the media. “When we get going, and we’re up 10-nothing, then we found a way to get them back in the game. You can see the potential in that locker room, but we’re self-inflicted.”

The former CFL Coach of the Year appeared to be particularly incensed by his team’s lack of discipline. Despite the fact that they only committed six penalties for 37 yards, which was lower than any CFL team’s per-game average entering Week 5, he called out the Redblacks for what he perceived as egregious infractions.

“You can’t practice not taking penalties,” Dinwiddie said, absolving himself of responsibility.

“The penalties are beyond me. One of our punt returns, we had a guy tackle a guy; this ain’t WWE! That is just beyond me. I told those guys they’ve got to look in the mirror a little bit. I can’t go out there and play for you and not take penalties. We preach it all the time; they’re on the field, they’ve got to make sure they understand that. Our FBI — football intelligence — ain’t there yet. We’ve been in every game, but we’re our worst enemy right now.”

Those wearing striped jerseys weren’t safe from Dinwiddie, either, as he took issue with several referee decisions. The 45-year-old cited a missed tripping penalty that resulted in an injury to linebacker Michael Brodrique, as well as what he believed to be an incorrect spot on a second-effort from receiver Cade McDonald and an illegal recovery on Kalil Pimpleton’s fumble.

However, the veteran coach, who has been around the CFL since 2006, seemed completely unaware of the rulebook on the latter two decisions, erroneously claiming that an elbow touching the ground does not constitute being down by contact, and believing that a player who inadvertently goes out of bounds while in contact with an opponent should be permanently ineligible.

“They said (McDonald’s) elbow hit the ground, and his knees weren’t down. What’s the difference between an elbow and putting your hand down to keep yourself up?” he asked rhetorically. “And then even on KP’s fumble, the guy went out of bounds and came back in bounds. They said, ‘Well, he was forced out of bounds’ — not the case. It’s tough when you don’t get the calls that go your way, and the way we’re playing football right now, it just kind of snowballed on us.”

Despite the other mistakes, the Redblacks trailed by just five points late in the game and had a chance to knock off the defending Grey Cup champions. After marching to the Saskatchewan 16-yard-line, short-yardage quarterback Bryson Barnes lined up for a third-down sneak with 2:41 remaining and was stuffed by safety Jaxon Ford for a turnover on downs. The Riders never gave the ball back, icing the game.

Dinwiddie was understandably unimpressed by his short-yardage unit’s execution on the deciding play and others prior.

“It wasn’t a full yard, and you’ve got to be able to knock guys off the ball. I think Bryson might have went a hair wide. I haven’t got a chance to look at the iPad, but we’re working a double team, guard and tackle; we’ve got to be inside of that. We call it the spear,” he explained. “We did have some decent runs; Bryson had the one. He probably would have scored if we would have just kept going up field with our blockers; they turned it into the hole. It was tough. We’re just finding ways to hurt ourselves.”

“It’s tough to be under centre. You get both edges, but we only dressed six o-linemen. (Anthony Gosselin) had a tough day at the office, and you’ve got to count on your fullbacks to come in there and help you move the ball and take hits off your receivers.”

Not even starting quarterback Jake Maier could escape criticism. The 29-year-old, whom Dinwiddie installed as QB1 in a surprise move during training camp before shipping incumbent Dru Brown out of town, had a respectable outing, completing 23-of-30 passes for 259 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. Even so, a couple of misses will loom large when the two men dissect the performance in the film room.

“I think there’s some plays we want back. I think the one we threw to Geno (Lewis) out of bounds in the end zone, we had Justin (Hardy) on that one,” Dinwiddie recounted. “We talked it out. They were playing what we call pinch coverage, and we knew they had a new boundary halfback. It was an opportunity to pick on him. Maybe I talked too much on the one to Geno, but I’ve got to look at it. There was a few plays that we’ve got to have better play at the quarterback position.”

Dinwiddie has yet to record a victory since defecting from the Toronto Argonauts this offseason. Though the two-time Grey Cup champion was insistent that his new team were “absolutely” in a position to win the game, he didn’t attempt to sugarcoat Ottawa’s situation after yet another missed opportunity.

“No doubt we’re in quicksand,” he acknowledged. “It’s a long race, but we’re far behind. Hopefully we can get it going to be a four-by-one relay team, but we’re in a tough spot right now. We’ve got to get a win, find a way to win, do the little things it takes to win, and get some momentum going. I think a win would do a lot for that locker room. We’ve got potential — you can see we’ve been in every game — but not playing good enough football to win.”

The Redblacks (0-4) will return to action on Thursday, July 9, when they visit the Edmonton Elks. Kickoff is slated for 9:00 p.m. EDT at Commonwealth Stadium.

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.