Hapless RedBlacks hit road to tangle with Roughriders

Sep 17, 2014 - 3:25 PM Regina, SK (SportsNetwork.com) - Being the new kid on the block is never easy, but when it comes to being the latest addition to the CFL, the Ottawa RedBlacks appear to be reaching new lows.

Ottawa, which returned to the CFL this season, has won a grand total of one game in 10 opportunities, and that was by a mere point against Toronto, 18-17, during Week 4 action. Since then, the RedBlacks have dropped seven in a row, a streak that the squad hopes to bring to an end this weekend as it visits the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium.

Very little has gone right for the RedBlacks to this point, obviously, and there is little reason to think there will be a change in the trend in the immediate future.

The last time Ottawa took the field, back on Sept. 5, it hosted British Columbia and managed to keep the scoring low, but even then the team could not muster even a single major, leaving the RedBlacks on the short end of a 7-5 decision. It marked the third time in four games that Ottawa was limited to single digits in the scoring column and in all but two outings the club has been held to 18 points or less, which explains why they are dead last in the CFL in scoring heading into play this week with a paltry 14.1 ppg.

To say that the Ottawa offense struggled versus BC would be an understatement, as the hosts logged only 11 first downs and 220 yards in total. Perhaps the poor effort would be better explained if Ottawa hurt itself with constant penalties, but the team was flagged just six times for a loss of 30 yards.

Quarterback Henry Burris, who was third on the team in rushing in the meeting with four yards on two carries, converted 21-of-32 passes for 188 yards and an interception, all while being sacked three times. The so-called rushing attack put up a pitiful 16 yards on 12 carries.

In addition to being next-to-last in the league in yards per game (284.9), ahead of only Montreal by less than 17 ypg, the RedBlacks have displayed the weakest defense (outside of the BC meeting) by permitting a massive 393.8 ypg.

As bad as the season has been for the RedBlacks, they might be in store for a bit of positive news, given that Saskatchewan is having to go with backup quarterback Tino Sunseri after Darian Durant went down with an injury a couple weeks back.

Durant, who has thrown for more than 24,000 yards and 133 touchdowns in his nine seasons with the Riders, suffered a significant arm injury during a 30-24 win against Winnipeg earlier this month and has subsequently been placed on the six-game injury list, leaving open the possibility that he might be available for the postseason, but that's wishful thinking right now.

With Durant out of uniform, the Riders turned to Sunseri versus Hamilton last week and were exposed in a miserable 28-3 loss on the road. Sunseri converted only nine of his 21 pass attempts for 88 yards and an interception, while suffering five sacks. Reserve signal caller Seth Doege completed both of his pass attempts for 12 yards, but still the team was kept far from the end zone.

With a scoring average of 23.7 ppg this season, the Riders have shown that they can produce on offense, but last week there were also signs of how they could easily be managed by an aggressive defense. Clearly, the change in quarterback had a lot to do with Saskatchewan's poor performance, but there have to be other players who can step up for the Riders and make the transition a bit smoother moving forward.

As if it were any surprise, the Riders won the first meeting of the season during Week 6 action with a 38-14 blowout on the road in Ottawa. Saskatchewan not only led 24-0 after the first 15 minutes of action, the visitors were also ahead 32-0 in the second quarter before the RedBlacks finally put points on the board, courtesy of a fumble recovery in the end zone by Dobson Collins.

Saskatchewan managed just a pair of field goals in the second half, but by then the damage had already been done. Running back Will Ford reached the end zone twice as he produced a game-high 74 yards on 20 rushing attempts, while Rob Bagg helped to move the chains with his six catches for 123 yards for the visitors.

Durant missed on only six of his 25 passes, leading to 294 yards and a score.

Burris and Thomas DeMarco handled the passing responsibilities for the RedBlacks the first time around, combining to hit on 22-of-39 passes for 301 yards, but the pair was sacked three times and the former picked off twice.

The RedBlacks certainly didn't do themselves any favors while being hit with a staggering 19 penalties for a loss of 168 yards. Because of all those miscues the team was often taken out of scoring range and the result there had kicker Brett Maher missing all four of his field goal tries in front of the hometown crowd.

While the RedBlacks may be new to the league this season, there have been CFL teams based in Ottawa previously, which explains how Saskatchewan could have a 39-23 advantage in the all-time series between the two.