Defence flops as Redblacks lose playoff game to Argonauts

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Argonauts 58, Redblacks 38

On a day the Ottawa Redblacks defence was completely exposed by big play after big play, a particular shortcoming of the offence probably didn’t matter in the end.

Still, Ottawa should have been ahead by at least 15 points rather than three at halftime, and who knows for sure what would have happened from there?

Make no mistake, the Toronto Argonauts were clearly the superior team and deserve full marks for their 58-38 victory in the Canadian Football League’s Eastern Division semifinal at BMO Field.

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It’s just that it would have been nice to see them have to work a little harder for it.

You wouldn’t know it if you only looked at the final score, but the Redblacks owned the ball in the first two quarters.

Their edge in the time of possession was a mind-boggling 24:11 to 5:49 for the Argos.

Quarterback Dru Brown was on pace for a 500-yard day, completing 26 of 31 passes for 256 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Toronto’s Chad Kelly almost kept pace with a 70-yard TD throw to rookie Makai Polk and a 41-yard scoring strike to DaVaris Daniels.

But the Redblacks’ red-zone problems came back to haunt them in their first playoff appearance since 2018.

They were up 23-20 after two quarters because they had to settle for two Lewis Ward field goals of 17 yards and another of 20 yards rather than the three touchdowns they needed against a Toronto team out for redemption after a postseason flop 12 months ago.

During the regular season, the Redblacks had the fifth most (53) red-zone opportunities, but they were dead last in red zone touchdowns (22) and red-zone efficiency (41.5 per cent).

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Along with the 12 points they lost with three field goals rather than three trips to the end-zone, the Redblacks gifted the Argos a field goal with six seconds left in the opening half because they decided to have Richie Leone deliver a squib kick rather than put one deep.

The ball hit an Argo who recovered it, and, with time for just one play, Lirim Hajrullahu came out to successfully boot a season-best 53-yard field goal.

“Just bad luck,” Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce told TSN1200’s A.J. Jakubec. “We wanted to put the ball on the ground and kick it deeper into the middle of the field. It was a little lower than we anticipated, and it happened to bounce off their guy.”

A day earlier, Dyce said he had a belief that his special teams could do a good job on the Argos sensational return specialist, Janarion Grant, so there was no need to keep the ball away from him, and it turns out that belief was justified, so the call for a squib at that point was bewildering.

It gave the Argos three points they weren’t expecting and momentum heading into the third quarter.

It was the turning point of the game.

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THE GOOD

Along with two interceptions in desperation time, Brown completed 46 of 61 passes (yes, you read that right) for 476 yards, with a pair of touchdown passes to Bralon Addison and another to Jaelon Acklin. With Brown throwing 61 passes, the Redblacks’ offensive line deserved much credit for giving up just two sacks against an Argos defence that led the league with 48 during the regular season … Ottawa’s Lorenzo Mauldin had a hard-hitting sack on Kelly and Mike Wakefield also had two sacks. That was about it for highlights from Ottawa’s defence … Addison had his best game with 10 catches for 103 yards, while Kalil Pimpleton caught 13 of 15 targets for 123 yards.

THE BAD

While the Ottawa defence was torched, Brown threw a couple of Pick Six interception returns for touchdowns while trying to play catch-up in the second half. “We’d like to capitalize, maybe score some more majors when we had the opportunity in the score zone,” Dyce told Jakubec.  “And you don’t, can’t give up explosives. Sometimes it’s not just one guy. Everybody’s got to do their job every single time. We had some lapses, you know, whether it be guys getting to the right spots or them making plays, and they did a good job of it” … Kelly threw just 20 passes and was able to complete 18 of them for 358 yards, including four for touchdowns … The Redblacks had virtually no ground game. Addison had four carries for 17 of the team’s 23 net rushing yards … Defensive back Tarvarus McFadden was signed by the Redblacks earlier in the season, after he was cut by the Argos, then re-signed with the Argos after he was cut by the Redblacks. After scoring on a Pick Six against the Redblacks in the final regular-season game, McFadden visited the end-zone again on Saturday after Wynton McManis picked off Brown inside Toronto’s 25-yard line, then pitched the ball back to McFadden, who went on a long run through open field.

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THE UGLY

Kelly was sent to the sidelines to be checked out for a concussion after he took a high hit from Frankie Griffin. He objected to leaving, but it was CFL protocol. It looked like that was explained to him at the time and then again later as he sat on the bench beside backup Nick Arbuckle, when referee Andre Proulx came over with a smile to give fist bumps to both players … The Redblacks appeared to stray from their game plan of throwing under coverage when they fell behind … Brown completed just five of nine passes for 42 yards in the third quarter.

GOING DEEP

According to TSN’s Rod Smith, the 96 combined points tied a CFL record for most scored in a playoff game. “It’s tough, obviously,” Brown said to Jakubec of his first playoff start. “It’s different from other losses because it’s over. I appreciate the group that we had. (This season) is something I’ll remember for a long time. It’s just hard. Tough. It’s going to sting for a while. It’ll probably always sting” … When Dyce was asked if he could some consolation from the fact the team had nine wins this season after 14 combined in the previous four, he replied: “Maybe in a couple of weeks I’ll feel that way. Right now, I’m just very disappointed. I felt this was a game we could come in and win and move forward.”

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