Tale of the tape: Ottawa REDBLACKS offence

10/31/2024 03:03 PM

The 2024 season was much more like it for the Ottawa REDBLACKS offence, a unit that had struggled in the past handful of seasons.

Under Offensive Coordinator Tommy Condell, they scored 419 points on offence, and finished fourth in net offence. Certainly, they'd have liked the point totals to be higher, but considering starting quarterback Dru Brown either missed or was unable to finish five games, and went 8-3 in the ones he did complete, there is reason for positivity.

With where the offence is at right now, coming off the back of five quarters of football where they scored 62 points, Condell has seen plenty of growth, even if there have been blips on the radar over the 21 weeks of regular season football.

"I think it’s always going to be a process," he said. "Throughout the year, you want a straight line of improvement, but it’s not naturally like that. A lot of times, you have injuries that take place, and then you have new people that come in. There’s going to be another learning curve that you have to take."

"What I do like is the process of continual improvement and wanting to be improved. Now, when we get new people coming in and being injected into the offence, I feel like they have been up to speed. I’ve been pleased, not satisfied, and I’m certainly not ecstatic until we get the Grey Cup, that’s how I see it."

When Brown has been the starting quarterback of the REDBLACKS – and has been healthy – good things have come. The first-year starter has thrown for 3,949 yards and 18 touchdowns, but it's his work away from the field that has made the greatest impression on REDBLACKS' coaches and his teammates.

"It’s his competitiveness when the lights aren’t on," Condell said of his franchise quarterback. "He’s constantly prepared. We spend a lot of time together – I spend more time with Dru than I spend with my wife at this point. He wants to be on the same page. Hopefully, we challenge each other to improve and get better daily, not only from a schematic sense, but from a mechanic sense, and a read sense. He constantly strives to do that."

In himself, Brown has seen the continual growth from the time he was backing up Zach Collaros in Winnipeg to now, when he's hoping to lead his own team to the Grey Cup.

"There is a certain ceiling that you reach without playing, and then there’s this whole other manual that you have to go through yourself as you play," Brown said. "Really, it’s the mental part that separates people."

Condell backs that up, too.

"One of the things that he continues to do is learn," he said. "When he makes a mistake, he rarely makes the same mistake twice. That is an elite trait, and that’ll take him for the long haul. He’s a cerebral guy, certainly, but he can also throw the ball with great location, with some great accuracy, as well."

Going into Toronto, protecting the ball is obviously important. The Argos have one of the most opportunistic defences in the CFL, but it doesn't intimidate the 27-year-old from Palo Alto, California.

"Some interceptions are stupid, and I’ve had a few of those, and then there’s interceptions that happen," Brown explained. "Sometimes they make a play or something happens. The big thing is that you stay aggressive, you don’t let that make you gun shy, which I pride myself on. I won’t ever let someone do that to me ever again."

Of course, the battle in the trenches is always going to attract a lot of attention from football fans, with even the most casual watchers understanding that what goes on at the line of scrimmage is the lifeblood of the sport. There has been lots of talk online about the Argos front especially, which boasts Jake Ceresna and Ralph Holley, who finished tied for first in the league in sacks with Ottawa's Lorenzo Mauldin and Michael Wakefield, and Edmonton's Elliott Brown.

You can't forget Folarin Orimolade, Derek Parish, and Robbie Smith, either, who have all made lives difficult for opposing quarterbacks this year.

"You want to talk about physicality, the strength of their team is in their front," said REDBLACKS guard, Dariusz Bladek. "Offensively and defensively, we have to come out there and bring the first and last punch. I think that will take care of everything, to be completely honest."

The REDBLACKS have relied on the pass to win games many times, but there have been big games on the ground, as well. Condell isn't too keen to spill the secret beans ahead of the game, but no matter what the play call is, you can expect everyone to go full out on their assignment.

"I’m gonna block what’s called," Bladek said. "Everything’s situational. If we need to throw the ball 50 times to win a game, we’ll throw 50 times, and we’ll pass block every single time. If we have to run the ball 25 or 30 times to win the game, we’re going to come out there and do that either way."

In terms of weapons, Brown has his pick of the litter. Justin Hardy topped the CFL in receptions in 2024, and nearly claimed the yardage lead, Dominique Rhymes eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards on the final day of the year, Jaelon Acklin has been as reliable as ever, and it doesn't even end there.

Kalil Pimpleton has been a spark plug for the REDBLACKS offence, picking up 715 yards and three touchdowns, and Bralon Addison has returned from injury with a bang, scoring a trio of majors in the past two games.

The pieces are in place for this REDBLACKS team going into Toronto, and they know that, but they don't want to squander the opportunity in front of them by underestimating their opposition, because they know how good the Argos defence is.

"I think you've got to be really efficient," Brown said. "You can’t take negative plays. That’s the standard, but it’s harder to crawl out of that hole with the way that they do things. I like what they do, it’s smart, and they've got good players."