Ottawa Redblacks dig big hole for themselves early in the CFL season

Calgary Herald

07-07-2025

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The Redblacks want to be an aggressive team, but they're not being very smart about it.
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They did show they know how to play within the rules just once this season when they were flagged just four times for 26 yards in their only win.
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In their four losses, they have given away an average of 104 penalty yards.
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The worst of the Ottawa infractions on Sunday was committed early in the third quarter by linebacker Frankie Griffin, who wiped out his own sack, fumble recovery and touchdown because he hit quarterback Tre Ford in the head.
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Instead of taking what would have been their only lead of the game, the Redblacks presented the Elks a fresh series of downs and the ability to escape the shadows of their goalposts.
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Dyce showed his frustration on the post-game show when he called out players by name — Griffin and defensive back Robert Priester, who was called for a facemask on Edmonton's early first-quarter touchdown and has now taken bad penalties (including a pair of horse-collar tackles against Montreal) in at least three games.
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'Honestly, people won't play,' Dyce said when Jakubec asked him how the penalty problem gets solved. 'Priester took the one and sat him for that quarter. We have to evaluate whether he'll have an opportunity going forward. Frankie took two two unnecessary roughness penalties on the quarterback and at the end of the day, we have pretty stiff rules about that.
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'So I've got some decisions to make.'
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Dyce had similar words after the Redblacks took 11 penalties for 98 yards in their home-opening loss to the Alouettes, but if something was done, it wasn't evident in the transactions report.
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Compounding the issue, of course, is the fact that Griffin is a good player who is starting at WILL linebacker for the injured Davion Taylor.
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So are they now to bench Griffin and to a third-stringer?
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And then there's the injury problem as a whole.
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On Sunday, the Redblacks saw return specialist DeVonte Dedmon carted off the field in the second quarter with what looked to be a serious leg injury.
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They also lost their third Canadian safety, Charlie Ringland, to a hamstring.
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That's at least two more players added to an injury report that, before they landed in Edmonton, already carried 16 names.
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But the injuries are bad luck. The penalties are bad football.
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Shouldering the blame for at least three flags was quarterback Dru Brown, who showed he is fully recovered from the hip injury he suffered in the season opener by completing 31-of-43 passes for 316 yards and a pair of TD tosses without an interception.
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'We've got to clean up procedural penalties,' Brown, who was also called for an illegal forward pass, told Jakubec. 'I take that as my responsibility in my communication with the guys up front and the receivers. The game's too hard to win in the first place, so we can't be moving backwards.'
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Asked about the team's mindset heading into a crucial away-and-home series with the much-improved Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Brown replied: 'I don't think that waivers with the guys that we have. We have a bunch of guys who love football and love to compete and love to work. It is early, obviously, but there's a level of urgency that we have and that we need to continue to have to improve. I don't think we're necessarily playing bad football schematically. We're hurting ourselves with penalties.'