How are the Ottawa Redblacks planning to cut down on penalties that are contributing to losses?
In their four losses, they have averaged 104 yards in penalties, or just less than the length of a football field in each contest.
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Penalties have cost the Ottawa Redblacks momentum, if not a win or two, but to blame head coach Bob Dyce for the discipline problem is wrong, one veteran player says.
Middle linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox rolled his eyes and muttered “so stupid” while being told that Dyce was taking heat from fans for the team’s propensity to take flags that stall drives or, as was the case in Sunday’s six-point loss to the Edmonton Elks, wipe out a touchdown.
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The players, Santos-Knox believes, have to do a better job of policing themselves.
“That’s exactly what it is,” the 31-year-old leader said after Wednesday’s practice at TD Place. “Every great team I’ve been on, the coaches will obviously tell us what not to do, and I’ll give it to (the Ottawa coaching staff): They’ve been emphasizing this since the preseason. So at this point it has nothing to do with them. It’s a player thing. We’ve been handling it internally because I think a player-led team is probably the best way for teams to succeed. With us, I know guys are holding each other more accountable. Whichever way we do that, we do that, but it definitely has to be somewhat player-policed because you’re letting your brothers down, and most importantly we’re letting Coach Dyce down.
“The common fan might think he’s not doing anything about it, he’s just letting us run around. That’s so far from the case. He’s doing everything he can in his control. We just have to live up to our side.”
The Redblacks led the Canadian Football League in penalty yards last season and, with a 1-4 record that has spiralled them into last place, own the same dubious distinction thus far in 2025.
Ottawa has taken the most offensive penalties (22), the most defensive penalties (19) and the second-most special teams penalties (nine) in the nine-team league.
In their four losses, the Redblacks have averaged 104 yards in penalties, or just less than the length of a football field.
Asked if he had a word with teammates who had been guilty of drawing too many flags, Santos-Knox said, “Oh, yeah.”
“The cool thing about this team is it’s not just me,” he continued. “We have so many leaders across the board that guys are not afraid to call somebody out in terms of a penalty or stuff like that, things that we know that we can’t be having. That’s where you need the player leadership to step in. I think the penalties will be eliminated once the players get that point across. I think we’ve done that so far this week at least, but you don’t know until game day.
“That’s something we want to put behind us. We just want to talk about football. We don’t want to be talking about penalties. The guys know that. They don’t want to be dealing with that.”
Both Santos-Knox and quarterback Dru Brown said the solution came with guys “locking in” and “paying attention to details” on every play.
“The aggressive penalties, the PIs (pass interference), the ones where guys are trying to make a play on the ball, you can live with those,” Santos-Knox said. “It’s the preventables, the offsides, the pre-snap stuff, things you can control, those are the ones you want to cut out. Playing DB up here is probably one of the hardest positions in all of sports. When a guy is competing, every now and then he’s going to get a PI. But the post-play penalties, those are the ones that we completely control, and those are the ones that just have to be eliminated.
“We’re a play or two away each week, an explosive play the defence will give up, or a dumb penalty we’ll give up, that’s what’s been hurting us,” he added. “When we play a complete game and we’re complementary, we’re a very tough team to play. But, when you start shooting yourself in the foot and putting yourself in bad positions and off of controllable things, that’s where you run into some trouble. If you are going to mess up, you want it to be a 20-yard mess-up, not a 50- or 60-yard mess-up, where you’re flipping the field. That’s what it feels like they’ve been.”
Dyce did something Sunday he’d never publicly done before when he singled out defensive back Robert Preister and linebacker Frankie Griffin for their part in the nine penalties for 118 yards the Redblacks took in Edmonton.
Priester, a multi-time offender who was benched for part of the game, was back at his usual spot for Wednesday’s practice.
Griffin, who had seven total tackles, but erased his own sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery when he was flagged for roughing the passer, was absent with a knee issue that is expected to put him on Ottawa’s still ridiculously long injury list for Saturday’s game against the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton.
“There are some people who are definitely getting the benefit of the fact that we’re down on bodies and going forward I’m not able to do things, but they know exactly where they’re at,” Dyce said, presumably referring to Priester. “It’s a very slippery slope that they’re on.”
Asked if he felt handcuffed by the injuries, Dyce said: “I’m never going to say I’m handcuffed, but yeah, injuries are what they are. At the same time, you have to win games, and those penalties are stopping us from winning games. So it’s a delicate balance in that regard. Some of the guys down in the secondary chain really affect what you’re able to do.”
So the players should police themselves?
“Naturally, that’s how it should be,” Dyce said. “We’ve got to be disciplined in what we do, right? The implications, things pretty much correlate. When I talk about one thing, it’s not just one thing. But, if you talk about penalties and you look at the number of penalties we have and you look at the game we won and the number of penalties we had (four), you can see it’s a big factor in what we do and our success.”
Who is returning from the injury list this week?
Right tackle Zack Pelehos, who has been sidelined since injuring a foot in training camp, practised with the first team on Wednesday and, barring a setback, will return to play in Hamilton.
Getting the 6-5, 300-pound former Ottawa Gee-Gees star back will be a big boost.
“Obviously, we’re very happy to have Zack back,” Dyce said. “As I think back, throughout his whole career, every year, he’s just gotten better and better and better, and he was on pace to continue that until he had the unfortunate injury. But, even though he was hurt, he attacked his rehab and came back quicker than we had thought.”
The offensive line had perhaps its best game of the season in Edmonton as Ottawa rushed for 89 yards and gained 316 yards through the air without Brown taking a sack. American tackle Parker Moorer, who played his first CFL game as Pelehos’ replacement, received kudos for his work from Dyce.
“They played a really good game,” Pelehos said. “It’s just one of those things where in our group you have to be in sync with everybody. So, as the games keep going on, the weeks keep getting longer, that stuff’s just going to keep collecting.”
Canadian linebacker Lucas Cormier (ankle) could also be back to face the Ticats, and is a consideration to replace Griffin.
Rookie defensive lineman Muftah Ageli, another Canadian, practised in full after missing the Edmonton game with a head injury.
Who else is joining the Ottawa injury list?
Along with Griffin, there’s DeVonte Dedmon, who had what appeared to be a gruesome leg injury on a punt return.
“DeVonte wasn’t as bad as what we had thought, which is fantastic,” Dyce said Wednesday. “But, still, he looks like he’s going to be down for probably the six-week area.”
Charlie Ringland’s hamstring injury was also not as bad as anticipated, but he, too, will likely miss Saturday’s game, so, yes, the Redblacks are down another Canadian safety.
Counting Ty Cranston, who retired before training camp, the list of Canadians at the position to go down has included starter Alonzo Addae (elbow), Justin Howell (foot) and now Ringbland.
American Bennett Williams is looking like this week’s choice to start at safety.
With one full practice and a walk-through still to go before Saturday’s game, the injury list looks like it will have 10 players (six Canadians) on the one-game and another four, all Canadians, on the six-game.
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