Slumping Ottawa Redblacks lose quarterback Dru Brown and another game to Hamilton Tiger-Cats
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The Ottawa Redblacks are spiralling into their first bye week of the CFL season.
Not only did they lose for the second time in eight days to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, but in falling to a CFL-worst 1-6 record, they also lost starting quarterback Dru Brown to a possible concussion on a hit that incensed head coach Bob Dyce.
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While the 30-15 defeat in front of just 15,054 fans at TD Place on Sunday night doesn’t dismiss their chances of making the playoffs, the Redblacks qualified as the third seed last year with a 9-8-1 record.
Using that gauge, they’ll likely have to win at least seven of their last 11 when they return from the bye.
At this point, it seems like a tall order.
Along with dropping their fourth straight contest, the Redblacks lost Brown early in the second quarter when he dropped back for a pass and was bulldozed by Hamilton defensive back Dashaun Amos, who sent the quarterback’s helmet flying with an illegal hit.
The “unnecessary roughness major grade 2” cost the Tiger-Cats 25 yards of real estate and Ottawa its No. 1 signal caller.
“We say we’re going to protect quarterbacks, but I don’t know how that’s not an ejection,” Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce told TSN’s Claire Hanna at the intermission.
The Redblacks, however, responded positively to the adversity.
Upon entering the game with his team trailing 10-3, backup Dustin Crum breathed some air into the attack by combining a running game that was missing in the opening quarter.
In the final 12 minutes of the second quarter, he completed 10-of-10 passes and, with Lewis Ward kicking four field goals, Ottawa trailed by just one at halftime.
The 12 points the Redblacks put on the board were the second most they’ve scored in a first half this season.
Ottawa had a chance to build on that small bit of momentum with its first possession of the third quarter, but Geno Lewis allowed the ball to be stripped from his hands past the first down marker for Crum’s first incompletion after he had connected on 11 straight.
Forced to put the ball, the defence looked like they’d get the ball right back after Michael Wakefield’s second sack of the season put the visitors in a second-and-18 situation.
But Bo Levi Mitchell found Kiondre Smith for a 63-yard gain to the Ottawa three, and Treshaun Ward scored with a run up the middle on the next play.
A familiar foe produced the early hole.
After not throwing an interception in his two and a half games, Brown coughed up his third in three quarters when he was picked off by Stavros Katsantonis at the Ottawa 47 nine minutes into the night.
Two plays later, Kenny Lawler sped by Redblacks cornerback Alijay McGhee for a 41-yard touchdown catch.
It was Lawler’s third TD in two games against Ottawa and league-leading eighth on the season.
Along with Brown, the Redblacks lost veteran Canadian defensive tackle Cleyon Laing to an apparent leg injury early in the first quarter.
Ottawa is now on its first bye week of the season before returning on July 31 to host the West Division co-leading Calgary Stampeders.
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