How much has play-calling played a part in the Ottawa Redblacks' offensive struggles?

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On the list of “correctables” the Ottawa Redblacks have to correct is their play-calling in specific situations.

They have lost both of No. 1 quarterback Dru Brown’s starts by six points, and in each instance they had possession near midfield late in the first half with enough time on the clock to at least kick a field goal — and on both occasions came away with zip.

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The most recent case was Sunday in Edmonton during a 39-33 loss to the Elks that dropped the Redblacks into the Canadian Football League basement with a 1-4 record.

After scoring 14 points in less than three minutes to narrow a 22-3 gap, they had the ball on their own 51-yard line with 14 seconds left before intermission.

Facing a second-and-one situation, Brown handed the ball to running back Daniel Adeboboye, who gained five yards to get the first down, but at the expense of nine valuable seconds that ticked off the clock.

The next two plays were short passes that moved the ball a total of 34 yards, but it was too little too late.

While the play-calling duties belong to offensive co-ordinator Tommy Condell, head coach Bob Dyce shouldered at least part of the blame this week when he admitted he was “hesitant” to call one of the team’s two timeouts because it was a close game.

“But, in retrospect, I probably could have used it there,” Dyce said. “Partly playing into the decision (of not calling a timeout) was knowing the yard line we had to get to (for a Lewis Ward field-goal attempt), going into the wind, and whether we were going to get to that spot or not. In retrospect, you look at every decision that you make, and that might be one that I could have made a different decision.”

With the completion of even one deep ball on the three chances they had — a different problem we’ll touch on below — the Redblacks would have been in position for Ward to do his thing.

But it was the clock-eating running play when they needed more than just a first down that was most confounding.

“I call the play that’s called,” Brown said, choosing his words carefully. “And I try to get the guys urgent, whether that’s changing personnel … obviously we’re looking back on it now and it’s like, oh yeah, we should have handled that better. That’s also from me, getting the guys to be more urgent, getting them on and off the field and going from there.

“It’s hard to say that we don’t know what we’re doing in those situations because we won like seven games last year in those situations,” he added. “So it’s not like we just up and forgot, right? But, yeah, it’s definitely something we talk about and we emphasize, situational awareness and stuff.”

Asked about his thought process on the series of plays in question at Commonwealth Stadium, Condell explained that he was trying to get the Redblacks into field-goal range with a catch-and-go-down “surrender play.”

Would he call the running play again if he had a chance for a redo?

“We needed to get the first down, and we did,” he said after stating that he was “confident in all calls, so I was good (with that one).”

“Hindsight is 20-20  for all of us,” Condell added, “but to me we have to be able to get down and get a chance to do it. We didn’t get far enough, we didn’t kick it, so we had to go on.”

Condell took over as Redblacks offensive co-ordinator last season and guided the team to the second-most passing yards (5,445) in the nine-team league. Along with helping the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to the Grey Cup games in 2019 and 2021, he was quarterbacks coach of the Toronto Argos when they won the Grey Cup in 2017.

Condell has been questioned for his selection of plays in the past, but what OC hasn’t?

Either way, he understands it comes with the territory.

“I have to be able to always put these guys in the best position possible, and it’s always evaluated from game in and game out,” Condell said. “I’ve got to be able to do that for them, so I think that’s the most important thing.”

Why has the Redblacks’ offence struggled to make “explosive” plays so far?

The easy answer is that they’ve been without Brown for three of five games. But the Redblacks have had their top gun for a couple of starts, and they’ve generated a league-low three 30-plus-yard passing plays. Hamilton, Saskatchewan, and  Winnipeg have had the next fewest with seven each, while Toronto, with backup quarterback Nick Arbuckle behind centre, leads the CFL with 11.

Brown, who has accounted for two of the 30-yarders, says the hip injury that sidelined him for a couple of games is not preventing him from airing the ball out.

What is?

“It’s a better question for the defensive co-ordinators around the league than me,” Brown said. “Because it seems like at times we get different coverages than some folks. I would do it, too. I would make us take 12 plays, string success together, and either get a stop on second-and-long or get an interception or a (Redblacks) penalty and the drive stalls. I can get down with that motive, that strategy. I think it’s smart. But that’s kind of where we’re at.”

So the Redblacks have to be better with calling and executing first-down plays.

“I think if we have better first-down efficiency, it might organically happen,” Brown added. “But I think we’ve been in a lot of second-and-longs … You’re not dictating, you’re kind of out of the mode of where you get to dictate, whereas you get to second and four (and) someone has to play man coverage. Man coverage with a waggle is tough. But they want to get more guys in the box to stop the run because there’s a chance that you’ll run. You’re not running on second and 12.”

Ottawa also has the highest two-and-out percentage (42) in the CFL, which, of course, is not a good thing.

“I think we’re in way too many second-and-long situations, which make us a little more one-dimensional, completely one-dimensional,” Brown said. “You don’t get a ton of opportunities to dictate to the defence, being in second-and-long. I think everyone in the stadium or watching knows what is going to happen.

“So why did that happen? Negative plays on first down, whether it’s an incomplete pass, a poorly executed play or a penalty. We’ve got to get rid of those and stay on schedule, and we should be cooking.”

Said Condell: “I think the biggest thing that we have to be able to establish is to have some rhythm in the whole game. What does that mean? Be able to get the play call in, out, make sure everyone gets it, and we don’t have those penalties, anything of that nature. To be able to establish that, you get more opportunities. The explosive plays will come when those things happen. When you’re not establishing that rhythm, it makes it a lot harder.”

Why has Ottawa taken four more offensive penalties (22) than any other team in the league, and how does that get fixed going into Hamilton?

Brown blamed himself for the missteps in Edmonton, which included a time-count violation and an illegal forward pass, as well as an offside call on wide receiver Kalil Pimpleton, a procedure call on guard Drew Desjarlais and a holding penalty on receiver Eugene Lewis.

The communication issues might be explained by the fact that Brown missed a month had he not practised all week leading up to the game and run Condell’s offence for more than a season.

“There are times when maybe you can do a little bit less,” Brown said. “So we can have less responsibility and less thinking and just go. We don’t want to necessarily put that ceiling on anyone because guys continue to improve and get better, and we feel like with our offence, we have a lot of guys that are not just good players, but good thinkers, and we want to take advantage of that. So you’ve got to balance that.”

At the same time, Brown offered a little perspective when he conceded that offside and illegal-procedure penalties were “a lack of discipline and a lack of focus.”

“In that moment, it’s hard, especially if you have other things going on,” he said, using the centre position as an example. “Like if you’re in charge of protection. He has 100 calls a week that he has to be prepared for, and he is, and then in the moment something happens and then he’s communicating, and I’m talking. That’s how those things happen. So those things we communicate in corrections, and we’ll get fixed.”

Can the O-line and QB injuries be used as an excuse for Ottawa scoring an East Division-low 113 points?

Even the Argos, who have played one less game than the Redblacks, Tiger-Cats and Alouettes, have put 128 points on the board. Did we mention they’ve had to use their backup QB to date?

“That’s part of the job,” Condell said. “The other guys are here for a reason, and they need to play. We expect them to produce the same way the other guys produce.”

Does the 1-4 start sometimes feel like it’s a big mountain to climb?

“I don’t think past today, just the routine and the preparation,” Brown said. “Playing football for this long, I think that’s how you’re kind of molded. At the end of the day, you just stack good days, and you stack wins together, and then you look back and you might be like, dang, we were one and four. But things can change if we start playing good football.”

Is there an increased sense of urgency to win Saturday in Hamilton so they don’t fall even further behind?

“There should be urgency no matter what situation you’re in,” Dyce said. “Every single week.”