Defence leads Redblacks to best Ottawa football start since 1978

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It’s been generations — 46 years is the exact count — since the last time Ottawa’s Canadian Football League team was 4-0 at home and had a better seven-game start than the one the Redblacks have enjoyed in 2024.

That 1978 Rough Riders squad finished 12-4 with 11 players named to the Eastern Division All-Star team, including eight on offence (QB Condredge Holloway, RB Mike Murphy, SB Art Green, TE Tony Gabriel, WR Jeff Avery, C Donn Smith, OG Charlie Brandon, OT Jim Coode) and three on defence (DT Mike Raines, DE Mike Fanucci and DB Larry Brune).

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After the Redblacks won their fourth straight against no losses at TD Place while improving to 5-2 overall on Friday night, they would have needed to give out multiple game balls.

The star-parade in their 33-6 plastering of the Calgary Stampeders was led by Kalil (The Thrill) Pimpleton, who showed everyone how he became the 2021 Mid-American Conference Special Teams player of the Year by totalling 209 return yards, with 47 from one kickoff and 162 on eight punts, including a 99-yarder for a touchdown.

“Every time we came out, it’s ‘1-2-3 house call,’” The Thrill said. “It’s just a little motivation. We were determined to bring one to the house. We believed in it.”

Playing just his third CFL game, Pimpleton is making an early bid for rookie of the year honours.

Along with the house call, he was the Redblacks leading pass catcher against the Stamps, hauling in seven for 80 yards, leaving him with a career average of 96 receiving yards per outing.

Also a standout was quarterback Dru Brown, who spread the love among seven different pass catchers while completing 81 per cent of his throws for 325 yards.

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Unheralded by most observers, but mentioned in post-game interviews a few times was veteran receiver Bralon Addison, who caught three passes for 42 yards, but more importantly stepped in to be the team’s running back after Ryquell Armstead was ejected in the second quarter for taking his second “misconduct” penalty of the night.

“Something that should be noticed is that we play for one another,” Brown said. “The locker room is very special. We don’t have any selfish players. You’ve got Bralon, who plays receiver, and he was able to step in at tailback. I mean that’s just a microcosm of the type of guys that we have in the locker room. They’re willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to win.

“When you get a ton of guys in the same locker room with that mindset, then you have the ability to do special things.”

Head coach Bob Dyce was naturally not pleased with the lack of discipline shown by Armstead, who earlier this season was slapped with a CFL fine for verbally abusing an official.

“They came out with a rule a couple years ago, if you get two objectionable conducts in a game, you’re going to get ejected,” Dyce said. “They were both penalties, and so the refs did their job and kicked him out of a game.

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“It’s a frustrating thing because it puts stress on the whole roster. DeVonte (Dedmon) is our normal (second) tailback and he wasn’t up this week. We’ve got a lot a locker room full of winners in there, and you just can’t do those types of things. We want to be a dominant team and we need all hands on deck.”

Not to be overlooked, either, was 24-year old offensive linemen Drake Centers, who came off the practice roster to play his second CFL game and first this season, starting at left tackle while Dino Boyd stepped away for the birth of a child.

The O-Line deserves credit for giving Brown the time to pass for his second highest yardage total of the season, even though it allowed three sacks to a Calgary team that entered the night with just five, and Armstead is a big part of the protection plan.

Also, with no true running back, the Redblacks still out-rushed the Stampeders 79-77.

“When I told them at 9 o’clock (about Boyd), Drew Desjarlais texted me and said, ‘I’m gonna meet with Drake and (offensive line coach Pat) Perlis,’” Dyce said. “That’s a group you’ve seen battle through injuries all year. All this group does is fight. They want to be good. It’s just a pleasure to coach.”

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The one knock on the offence would be that, while totalling 380 yards and 24 first downs, it crossed the goal line just twice: a 14-yard reception by Jaelon Acklin in the first quarter and a one-yard plunge by Dustin Crum in the fourth.

With Pimpleton’s return touchdown and Lewis Ward’s 4-for-4 field-goal night along with his three extra points, offence was outscored 21-12 by special teams.

“We’re 5-2, but we’re certainly not perfect,” Dyce said. “On our (locker room) wall is the word ‘Finish,’ and that’s what we have to do. We have to finish drives.”

Meanwhile, if there was only one game ball to be handed out, it would have to go to the defence.

The Redblacks only allowed Calgary three opening-half first downs, and Jake Meier, the most productive quarterback in the league last week against the mighty B.C. Lions, had just 136 passing yards.

You have to go back three games — nine quarters and eight seconds, to be precise — to find the last time an opponent entered Ottawa’s end-zone.

“We’re feeling good right now,” said rookie linebacker Davion Taylor, whose four tackles included a pair for losses. “Our biggest thing coming into into this game was just to stop the run. We did that in the first half, we shut them out.

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“I just feel like we just got to keep on stacking these games, and hopefully we can become the best defense in this league.”

Turning in another strong effort was Lorenzo Mauldin, who had a quarterback sack and three tackles, including one for a loss.

“Week in and week out we tell ourselves we’ve got to play our defence, we’ve got to play Ottawa Redblacks defence,” Mauldin said. “If we do that, we’re going to come out with a win.”

You know what they say: Defence wins championships. Those 1978 Rough Riders, with eight all-stars on offence and only three on defence, finished 12-4, but they lost in the division final to the Montreal Alouettes.

“We’re playing pretty good ball right now,” said Brown, whose team is about to enter a bye week and doesn’t play again until an Aug. 8 meeting at home with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. “But I still think the best is ahead of us.”

After their great start, it’s going to be very interesting to see how the Redblacks finish.

dbrennan@postmedia.com

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