Ottawa Redblacks aim to use final tuneup as tempo setter for 'Grey Cup or bust' season
Getting back to the playoffs last year was nice, but expectations for the season to come are much bigger than that.
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The Ottawa Redblacks have a singular goal this season.
“Grey Cup or bust, man,” said James Peter, the former Ottawa Gee-Gee who will start at middle linebacker for the Redblacks when they take on the Montreal Alouettes in their preseason finale Friday at TD Place. “We’re going Grey Cup, all the way. I totally believe it.
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“We definitely have the guys here to do it. We have the coaches, we have the players. We’re super adept at all our positions. So I really feel like we have the room to really get this Grey Cup for Ottawa.”
The Redblacks finished third in the East Division last season with a 9-8-1 record, thanks largely to a home mark (7-1-1) that was best in the Canadian Football League.
Quarterback Dru Brown, who was good enough in his first year as a starter to get a contract extension, should be even better in 2025.
Geno Lewis, one of the CFL’s best receivers, was signed as a free agent and joins a core group of American pass catchers that includes the exceptional Justin Hardy, Bralon Addison and Kalil “The Thrill” Pimpleton.
Three-time 1,000-yard rusher William Stanback might have been an even bigger get for general manager Shawn Burk, as he gives Ottawa a running game it lacked after Ryquell Armstead was released for undisciplinary behaviour midway through the 2024 season.
Not to be overlooked is the addition of solid veteran centre Peter Godber, who will help open holes for Stanback and provide protection for Brown.
If a veteran defence sprinkled with all sorts of star power can match/exceed its capabilities under new co-ordinator William Fields, there’s no reason not to expect the Redblacks to contend for their first championship in nine years — and Ottawa’s second Grey Cup since 1976.
“It’s a whole different scheme of football that we have compared to the last two years, but it’s more adaptable for us to play fast, physical football,” Peter said. “We have guys able to fly to the ball a lot more, just based on how the scheme is run. On top of that, guys don’t have to think as much, just play freely and play the football that they’ve been God-gifted with. In terms of our defensive scheme and everything like that, it’s all super simple for us.
“So the whole mindset for us is to go out there and dominate.”
The Redblacks didn’t get the media attention they would have if they had held their training camp in Ottawa, but there were benefits from spending two weeks in the dorms at Queen’s University and in a smaller community like Kingston.
“You spend a lot of time with the teammates, and you get to build bonds on the first day, two, three days,” said Daniel Adeboboye, who was acquired from his hometown Toronto Argos in a January trade and will be the Redblacks starting running back against the Alouettes. “By the end of training camp, it’s like your family.”
A strong special-teams player like Peter, Adeboboye won two Grey Cups with the Double Blue.
He senses the Redblacks have an intangible for success that was prevalent with the Argos.
“I wasn’t the No. 1 running back in my time there, but something that I did understand is that, on teams, when everyone knows their role and they do it to the best of their abilities, those are the teams that win,” he said. “I’ve been on teams in the past when guys were not content with their job, and they wanted to do this or that. There might not be as much buy-in. But, when you have everyone on the field that wants to win, who wants to be the best at their position, whatever it may be, those are the teams that go the furthest because they understand what it takes. That’s when championships are won.”
At the very least, there will be pressure on the Redblacks to go further than they did in 2024, when they lost the Eastern semifinal 58-38 to Adeboboye’s Argos.
But Peter doesn’t see that as a problem.
“We had pressure that we instilled on ourselves last year, so it’s kind of just a carry forward,” he said. “The expectations are still the same. The only expectation that’s different is to actually win that Grey Cup. So, with that, it’s more so that everybody has got to be that thermostat in the room and just turn it up.
“In terms of us on the defensive side of the ball, we’ve got to go out there and just play fast and physical football, and expectation-wise, it’s also the same. We just have to be the dominant group that we are, just carry forward how we were last year, and be even 10 times more dominant, 10 times more physical, and just go there and have fun.”
Peter plans on doing just that Friday, the last team tuneup before things get real.
“My mindset is to go in and just show that I’m physical, I’m dominant, I’m able to command a defence, I’m able to get everybody aligned, assigned, and make sure that we’re all ready to go and play,” he said. “We’ve just go to go out and show that, ‘Hey, we are the Redblacks and we’re here to win a Grey Cup.’ At the end of the day, go out there and ball.
“It really is a tempo setter.”
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