It’s in their hands
Second-place Redblacks can win East Division by running the table
After four seasons of complete ugliness, the Ottawa Redblacks are currently sitting quite pretty.
Not only will they clinch a playoff spot in the East with a victory over the last-place Hamilton Tiger-cats on Saturday afternoon at Tim Hortons Field, but they can also leapfrog the Montreal Alouettes and steal the division title by running the table.
It's a very tall task, without a doubt, but the Redblacks' fate is in their own hands.
Here's how it works:
At 8-3-1, Ottawa is in second place, three points behind 10-2-0 Montreal.
To erase the deficit they have to win out, which means defeating the Alouettes next Saturday (Sept. 21) at TD Place and again in Montreal on Thanksgiving Monday, Oct. 14.
Along with those two dates and the upcoming showdown in Hamilton, the Redblacks are in Saskatchewan on Sept. 28, in Toronto on Oct. 19 and back home to face the Tiger-cats in the regular season finale on Oct. 29.
Of course, Ottawa doesn't have to go 6-0 to take top spot if the Als lose a couple of other games over the final third of the season, and Montreal has a more difficult schedule down the stretch.
After travelling to Calgary for Saturday's game the Stampeders — and along with the Ottawa games — the Als hit the road to play in Toronto and in B.C., before ending the season by hosting Winnipeg.
The Lions and Blue Bombers are presently tied for top spot in the West with 7-6 records.
To fully comprehend why first place should be so important to Ottawa, you have to know that along with a bye into the East Division final it gives the Redblacks home-field advantage in the battle for a Grey Cup game berth.
Ottawa is the only team in the CFL with an undefeated (6-0-1) record on its own turf.
“We know how good we play at home,” said Kene Onyeka, a Nigerianborn former Carleton Raven who, with an injury to American Bryce Carter, has quite capably joined forces with Halifax native Aidan John to fill in as a starter at defensive end. “We've done a good job so far, and we've got to keep going. The most important thing is to not get complacent, because in this league, at this level, on and any given Sunday, any given Saturday, whatever, any team can win. So we don't want to let our foot off the pedal. We want to just keep going and just keep progressing. The most important thing is that you want to hit your peak right around the Grey Cup cup.
“There's no point in making the playoffs if you're just going to lose the first game. If you're going to make the playoffs, you might as well go all the way.”
Like everybody else, Onyeka has a tough time pinpointing why the Redblacks have six wins and a tie in seven home games at TD Place and are 2-3-0 everywhere else.
He theorizes that if could have something to do with the game-day rituals of players and, in the case of games out west, different time zones that mess with one's body clock.
“I think it's a plethora of factors involved,” said the 27-year old who is in his fifth season with the Redblacks. “We're just happy it's going our way. I've been here when we didn't win a game at home (the 2022 season).
“Personally, I talk about it to my friends every game. Like, after we won last game, I said this is twice as many games as we've won in one season, and we have six games left. Now that we've gotten here I feel like everything is a milestone. You reach that milestone and you're always looking forward.
“So, okay, cool, we've won eight games and we're going to be in the playoffs, realistically. I think we all know that. The next goal is now we look at the other playoff teams. Are we good enough to beat these guys? And if we're not, okay, what do we have to do in practice every day? What are we going to do every day just to get to the level where we need to be?
“Because at the end of the day, like I said earlier, there's no point, in my opinion, to be a playoff team if you're not going to win something when you get there. So you might as well just gear yourself towards winning.”
Yes, it's a remarkable turnaround for a franchise when you think that after winning just 14 games (against 54 losses) over the last four seasons, the Redblacks can wind up with that many victories in 2024.
And that if you take away blowout losses against Montreal in Week 3 and B.C. in Week 13, the only two games the Redblacks have not won were against Saskatchewan (a tie) and Winnipeg, and in both of those they lost starting quarterback Dru Brown to an injury in the second quarter.
While Onyeka is excited to suit up for his first CFL playoff game, he also feels Ottawa getting behind the Redblacks.
“I know how much the city loves winning, I know how much people here love the Redblacks, I know how much they love football,” he said. “I remember being around when they did win that Grey Cup. I remember the buzz. We haven't seen that kind of buzz since.
“Everyone's excited now, but I think once we really hit the playoffs and really hit that ground running, get back into the Grey Cup game and do what we think we can do, I think that's when we can really get it back to where we need to be.”