The Ottawa Redblacks have the worst defence in the CFL, giving up 36 points a game. The Saskatchewan Roughriders have the best defence giving up 27 points a game. On Aug. 7, the Riders scored 42 points over the Redblacks’ 20. They could have had more.
The Riders were facing an Ottawa defence designed by new defensive co-ordinator Jeff Reinebold. The Riders’ preparation was limited as they did not have film on a Reinebold defence.
I think what changes Reinebold made had less to do with the Riders being limited to 13 points in the first half than the errors made by the Riders offence. Trevor Harris and his receivers shared miscues in the half.
Harris overthrew an open D’Sean Mimbs running a corner route on the Riders’ first drive. The play would have been a touchdown if the pass had been completed.
On the second possession, Harris tried to fit a pass into Quali Conley on a bender but could not get it over Ottawa linebacker Lucas Cormier, who intercepted the pass.
On the third possession, KeeSean Johnson dropped a slant pass. Harris completed a pass to Conley on the next play, but it was for seven yards and the drive was over.
On the fourth possession, Harris was high on a throw to Dhel Duncan-Busby running an out route.
The fifth possession saw the Riders drive 83 yards to the Ottawa seven-yard line. Harris again tried Duncan-Busby on an out route. The Riders were lucky Ottawa defensive back, Shadwel Nkuba II, dropped an interception that would have been a 110-yard pick six. It was to be the last mistake of the night for Harris.
I asked Harris why he threw five passes to KeeSean in six plays on that drive.
“Honestly, it was credit to (offensive co-ordinator Marc) Mueller,” Harris said. “He was part of the primary. I think maybe one time he was a backside, but he was open and so we make sure we get it to him and tonight was one of those nights where we were down Sam (Emilus), Schaf (Kian Schaffer-Baker), A.J. (Ouellette) and then Quali (Conley) goes, we’re down two offensive linemen that we use very regularly, starter and our starting guy for our monster package.
“I told KeeSean before the game, I said, ‘This is times where you got to lean in to, people like him and myself,’ and we’ve got to make sure that we are making the plays to give this team momentum, belief, and that’s, that’s who KeeSean is. He’s an elite receiver in the league, and I know he’ll probably just tell you that he’s thinking about the two that he dropped today. But we’re always going to go right back to that guy. He’s elite.”
On the sixth possession, the Riders overcame a second dropped pass from Johnson and moved the ball crisply down the field on a drive for a touchdown. That drive ended with a pair of completions to Johnson.
Harris was clearly comfortable. The drive consisted of eight passing plays. On one play, Harris scrambled for a few yards that were not counted when Ottawa had an illegal contact penalty. Of the seven passes thrown on the drive, Harris completed six.
I felt the Riders offence was ready to dominate the second half.
They stalled on their first drive of the second half when Mimbs dropped a pass. It was to be the last drop by a Riders receiver and the last incompletion of the half.
On the second drive, I thought the key play of the game occurred on the second play when they were second and 14. Harris squeezed a pass to Mimbs going down the seam for 21 yards.
I asked Harris what took him back to Mimbs on the next pass after the dropped pass.
“It was one of my favourite throws of the night,” Harris said. “We had a deep in route, and there’s kind of a diamond of defenders. They were converging and I always tell the receivers I pride myself on communication by location with the football. If they feel the football is between their lower rib cage and the middle of their thigh, I’m telling them to get down. I kind of tried to layer the ball between the DBs and underneath the safety. He was on the same page, so he lowered his body down, was able to make a great catch. I just wanted to make sure he was avoiding taking a big hit. That guy’s a good player.”
The Riders were unstoppable after the completion. They scored a touchdown on that drive after five more plays.
On their third drive, the Riders methodically moved the ball 96 yards on 12 plays with eight passing plays and four running plays.
On the fourth drive, they needed but five plays to go 80 yards for the touchdown.
On their fifth drive of 43 yards, they attempted one pass play. Tommy Stevens and Thomas Bertrand-Hudon ran over the Redblacks on the other seven plays.
In the first Riders-Redblacks game in July, I had been critical of the Redblacks not stacking the line to stop Stevens at the end of the game. They put more defenders on or close to the line Friday night late in the game, but it didn’t matter. They could not stop Stevens whether he went left or middle or right.
While Harris was flawless in the second half, Jake Maier was average on the three possessions to start the half when the game was on the line.
The official stats had Harris completing 14 passes in a row in the second half. I say 15 as he also completed a pass for the two-point convert. He completed his last five passes of the first half. Including those five, he had 21 completions in his last 22 passes.
Maier was able to take the Redblacks to a touchdown on their first drive of the second half. The second drive ended when he was low on a curl route and on the next play could not escape a Riders blitz. He was short on the third drive, throwing off his back foot on a deep corner route. Jonathan Edouard became the first Riders defensive back this season to intercept a pass.
Coach Corey Mace spoke of the offence setting the tempo in the second half by attacking and using a bit of hurry-up offence to keep the defence on their heels and executing at a high level.
Four touchdowns in a row in the second half. The Riders offence could not have executed at a higher level after their first drive of the third quarter.
