Quarterback Dru Brown has enjoyed success against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers when he’s been able to start and actually finish the game against his former team.
Unfortunately for the Ottawa Redblacks, that has happened just once in three tries.
When the two teams meet Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.) at TD Place in a showdown with huge Canadian Football League playoff implications, Brown will make his first start since suffering a third-quarter knee injury Aug. 14 in Winnipeg.
The Redblacks lost that game, 30-27, just as they fell (25-16) to the Blue Bombers last July 5 in Ottawa when Brown exited in the second quarter with a head injury.
In the 2024 season opener — five months after acquiring the free agent rights to Brown from Winnipeg for a fifth-round pick — the Redblacks reaped immediate rewards in a 23-19 victory.
Brown’s numbers (20-for-33 for 238 yards and a touchdown) weren’t spectacular, but he did have a better day than his close friend (and the guy he backed up for three seasons) Zach Collaros, who completed just 15 of 31 attempts for 285 yards, with two interceptions.
Collaros’ status for Saturday is in doubt as he recovers from his latest head injury.
“Dru will be the starting quarterback this week and we’re excited about it,” Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce said. “He’s done a good job of staying in it mentally while he’s been recuperating.”
Dyce added that Brown had looked back to being 100 per cent at practice this week.
“Probably the biggest thing that I was looking at was to see how he was able to move around,” Dyce said. “There are opportunities in practice where we do get pressure on the quarterback, and he slid around the pocket very well. If he had to move and take off, he was able to do that. So he looked very good to me.”
When it comes to moving around with the ball, Brown is certainly no Dustin Crum.
The Redblacks’ backup QB is the CFL’s ninth leading rusher, with 69 carries for 385 yards and a CFL-leading 11 touchdowns.
Brown is eighth in passing yards, with 1,842 in eight games, while Crum is ninth with 1,510 in 13 games, so the Redblacks will get a boost with the return of their No. 1 QB against a Winnipeg defence that is third-best against aerial attacks in the nine-team league.
But Saturday’s outcome could be dependent on what happens in the trenches.
Ottawa’s offensive line allowed the very durable Crum to be sacked 11 times in back-to-back games with the B.C. Lions, including last week’s 38-27 loss in Vancouver.
Despite the absence of American right tackle Parker Moorer (knee), the protection should be better against the Blue Bombers, whose 16 sacks through 13 games are second-fewest in the league, ahead of only Ottawa’s 14.
It will be up to the Ottawa O-Line to make sure Brown stays around to the end.
Redblacks punter Richie Leone has been away from the team and will miss Saturday’s game against the Blue Bombers following the death of his mother.
Can the Redbacks win one for their punter?
Popular veteran ball booter Richie Leone will miss Saturday’s game to attend the funeral of his mother in Atlanta.
“Richie is obviously in a very challenging situation in this life as his mother has passed away, and we really felt it’s important for him to be with his family at this sad time,” Dyce said after informing the media. “I just wanted you guys to know that, and him to know that all of us here in the Redblacks miss him deeply. I know how much it hurts him to be away, but him to know that he’s in our thoughts and prayers.”
Leone, who recently played in his 150th CFL game, will be replaced by American Noah Gettman, a 6-4, 202-pounder who will not only be making his CFL debut, but also playing his first game since 2022.
Gettman, who attended Redblacks training camp this spring, spent the 2022 season with the University of Akron Zips after four years at Sacred Heart.
He had a 40.6-yard average in 12 games with the Zips.
Leone is averaging 45.84 yards per punt this season.
“We saw Noah at training camp, and that’s what made the transition for this game easier,” Dyce said. “He knows our operations, he knows our adjustments. So I thought he did a good job when he was here, and now, through a regrettable situation, he’s getting an opportunity to go out and show what he can do for the Redblacks.”
How are the Redblacks approaching the final five games of the season?
The answer is with optimism, despite having the worst record in the CFL at 4-9 and being two games out of a playoff spot.
“I showed the guys the list of the standings, and took out the top three (Saskatchewan, Calgary and Hamilton),” Dyce said. “I said, essentially, there are six (other) teams (Winnipeg, B.C., Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa) and three of them are going to make the playoffs.
“We’ve put ourselves in this position. We have the toughest road, but, out of those games ahead of us, we play Winnipeg this week, and we play Montreal twice. We control our destiny and what we want to attain. So we’ve just got to make sure, starting this week, that we’re locked into focus.”
While the Blue Bombers (12 points), Lions (12) and Elks (10) are still vying for a spot in the West Division semifinal, one of them could crossover and play in the Eastern semifinal if it has more points than the third-place team on this side.
The Alouettes (12 points) and Argos (10) square off in Toronto on Friday.
“We talk about faith, and sometimes you have to build faith on something you can’t see,” Dyce said. “But they have the faith of seeing how they’ve fought in the second half of games, and how they’ve come back and played better than the opposition. You know that it’s there inside of them. We’ve just got to do it for 60 minutes.”
Running back Daniel Adebobye said the mood in the locker room was still positive.
“When we look at our team and see the amount of skill that’s on this team, we understand that we have everything that we need to win,” he said. “It’s just how the game works. Sometimes you just don’t pull off the win. But we have the resilience, we have the fight. We have five more games left in the season and we’re going to try and win every single game. We’re just gonna leave it out there. There’s nothing but optimism in the locker room.”
Cornerback C.J. Coldon echoed that sentiment.
“Everything we want is still in front of us,” he said. “We’ve just got to stay focused. It’s the back end of the season and, when you hit that wall of fatigue, you have to focus on finishing through the season and just finishing everything that we do on the field.
“The way our season has been going, every game has been a playoff game for us. So that’s got to be our focus and our mindset, that every game is any given game. We have to come out prepared and be ready to win. Do anything to win. Scratch, claw, whatever we’ve got to do, we’ve got to win.”