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The Ottawa Redblacks failed to earn their first win of the season on Sunday after squandering a 17-point fourth-quarter lead to lose 36-34 in overtime to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
As the team heads into a bye week at 0-6, head coach and general manager Ryan Dinwiddie realizes he and his colleagues are fighting to stay employed.
“We’re fighting our ass off for our jobs — all of us, so not what we wanted. I’m sure not what our owners want right now. I’m disappointed that I haven’t been able to deliver for them in a bit, but I think our players, just looking in their eyes, talking to them after the game, they’re frustrated, absolutely,” he said postgame.
“The coaching staff, we need to find ways to get better. I’m not worried about keeping the coaching staff positive, it’s going to be more, ‘Let’s get our ass in gear, let’s find ways to get better.’ The players, I want to keep it positive with them. We got better tonight, but we didn’t win a game, and that’s where we’re at — we’ve gotta win football games.”
“We’ve been in every game. It’s close, but we’re not finding ways to win, and sometimes we’re finding ways to lose. It’s frustrating for everybody involved.”
The Redblacks have missed the playoffs in five of their last six seasons. Bob Dyce, who took over the head coaching role on an interim basis in 2022, was fired at the end of last season despite leading Ottawa to a rare playoff berth the year prior. He finished his tenure 21-45-1.
Dinwiddie, who won two Grey Cups and one Coach of the Year award during a recent five-year stint with the Toronto Argonauts, was hired to right the ship, a move that has yet to bear fruit. Though he remains in his first year with the club, many fans have clearly lost faith in the organization.
Through four home games, Ottawa has averaged crowds of just 14,571, a year-over-year decline of almost 20 percent. The club is on pace for a 55-year attendance low, even falling below the average from 1996 — the last year before the Rough Riders folded.
Dinwiddie isn’t ready to give up on the year, and believes his players remain united despite the poor start.
“We’re hoping … that we’re gonna turn this thing around, and I feel like the locker room has stuck together for the most part. Actually, they have — they’ve stuck together, but it’s tough,” said the 45-year-old.
“There’s positive strides, but we’re in a win-loss result business, and we’re rebuilding it a bit. I know we had high expectations in here, and we built a roster we thought we can win with, and we still believe in those guys. I thought the locker room stuck together. It’s tough. You don’t have all the words to explain things, but us as men in this organization, we’ve got to find our way out of this situation.”
Jake Maier, the team’s starting quarterback, echoed Dinwiddie’s sentiments regarding a positive locker room atmosphere.
“The nice thing is that there’s so many good people in our locker room, there really aren’t a lot of point-the-finger guys at all. There’s actually a ton of accountability, and that makes it really easy. Everybody’s shaking hands and hugging each other in the locker room after a game like that,” said Maier.
“I would argue it was one of the better games we played all year against a team that I would think can contend for a Grey Cup this year. The nice thing is that the accountability is really high, and that’s going to be what we’re going to do going forward, just keep holding each other accountable and keep working, and eventually we’ll bust through.”
The 29-year-old has the lowest quarterback rating (87.9) among CFL passers with multiple starts this season. He’s completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 1,716 yards, eight touchdowns, and eight interceptions. The only quarterback with more interceptions is Chad Kelly with nine, though he also ranks second league-wide with 15 touchdown passes.
Maier is aware of the criticism that’s been levied his way, which has only grown since Dru Brown was traded to the Blue Bombers last month, though he’s not letting it get to him.
“People can say whatever they want. It used to probably bother me when I was a younger player, but it really doesn’t bother me anymore,” he said.
“I care about the opinion of my teammates, and I feel like that’s really strong. I feel pretty good about my head coach as well in terms of where he sees me fit and what we’re doing, so that’s all I focus on. I’ve got a loving family, I’ve got a loving locker room. Whatever it is that’s said, that’s OK.”
Maier and Brown developed a close friendship during their brief time together in Ottawa and both spoke highly of one another after the trade was announced. They’ve maintained close contact over the past month, with Brown indicating they speak almost every day.
“(Maier) fought his ass off, he’s a really good player,” said Brown, who threw for 317 yards and two touchdowns in the win. “He doesn’t get enough credit, in my opinion. I know how that can be tough when you play that well and you don’t get a win. It’s not an easy game, it’s not an easy position to play up here, but I think very highly of him.”
At 0-6, it’s tough to imagine the Redblacks earning a playoff berth. The team is four points back of the Argonauts for third place in the East Division standings. They also dropped the first of three head-to-head meetings back in Week 3, which means they’ll have to sweep the two remaining games in order to win the season series.
“You definitely can’t feel sorry for yourselves,” said defensive back Demerio Houston. “It’s definitely frustrating, but we just can’t soak in it. It’s a long season. I feel like we’re still in the first third of the season. We just have to get on it quick before we get too far behind the eight ball.”
“We’ve got a long ways to go as far as getting ourselves in a playoff position,” said Dinwiddie. “I think those guys have handled it the proper way, but it’s going to be tough. We’ve got a bye week and I told those guys to get with their loved ones and family members, and hug on the people that love you, and not worry about the outside noise and narrative. I told those players to let me handle that.”
The Redblacks are heading into their second of three bye weeks, but there won’t be much rest for the coaching staff.
Ottawa has a tough schedule over the next month, as the team will host the first-place Montreal Alouettes in Week 9 before road dates against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Blue Bombers, and Alouettes. Barring a turnaround, the Redblacks could realistically fall to 0-10.
Dinwiddie already has a plan for how he’ll tackle the extra time off.
“I’ll try to get some time with my family, but we already kind of got a schedule. We’re going to self-scout. We’ll run the stats and look at all our schemes, and then we’ve got to watch every play of the season and see where we’re at, and have a detailed write-up of what we can do better and what we need to improve on, and why we’re not getting certain schemes ran properly, so a lot of self-reflecting,” he said.
“I’ll be working on the bye week.”
