OTTAWA \u2014 This was hardly the start Ryan Dinwiddie envisioned when he took over as head coach and general manager of the Ottawa Redblacks.<\/p>\n
The two-time Grey Cup champion coach is facing an 0-4 record after a tough 27-22 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo doubt we\u2019re in quicksand,\u201d admitted Dinwiddie. \u201cIt\u2019s a long race, but we\u2019re far behind \u2026 We\u2019re in a tough spot right now but you know we gotta get a win, find a way to win, do the little things it takes to win and get some momentum going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dinwiddie liked his team\u2019s start after it jumped out to a 10-0 first quarter lead, but a few penalties and missed opportunities proved to be the difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, you can\u2019t practice not taking penalties right?\u201d said Dinwiddie. \u201cIt\u2019s just beyond me some of the stuff we\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ottawa took six penalties for 37 yards, but it was the type and the time of the penalties that were frustrating to Dinwiddie. There was one taken on an offensive punt return, and a time-count violation on third and two while trying to draw the defence offside that forced them to settle for a field goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told those guys they\u2019ve got to look in the mirror a little bit,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t go out there and play for you and not take penalties. We preach it all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ottawa managed to contain Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris to just 243 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.<\/p>\n
Redblacks\u2019 QB Jake Maier finished 23-for-30 for 259 yards and one touchdown.<\/p>\n
Despite being held to his lowest passing-yardage total of the season, Harris moved past Tom Clements into 12th on the CFL\u2019s all-time passing list with 39,115 yards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have my best game,\u201d admitted Harris. \u201cI wasn\u2019t on my \u2018A\u2019 game in terms of how I\u2019ve been playing this year, but you know when your team needs you to step up and make a play we\u2019re able to kind of come up with a touchdown drive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris showed why he\u2019s considered one of the league\u2019s best early in the second quarter when he put together a 10-play drive that resulted in a 13-yard touchdown pass to Dhel Duncan-Busby to leave the Roughriders trailing 10-7.<\/p>\n
The teams went on to exchange field goals and headed into the half tied 13-13.<\/p>\n
A turning point in the game was a 101-yard Mathew Sexton punt return early in the third quarter that gave Saskatchewan its first lead of the game.<\/p>\n
Ottawa started the half well but saw a drive halted when rookie receiver Cade McDonald was grounded on his way to a first down. Ottawa was forced to punt and Sexton capitalized.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what it is about this place, it\u2019s hard to play, weird stuff happens,\u201d said Roughriders head coach Corey Mace. \u201cWe responded when we needed to. As always tons to look at to get better, but we needed to get back to 1-0 this week and we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Things don\u2019t get any easier for the Redblacks with a short turnaround before they face the Elks on Thursday in Edmonton.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no denying players are starting to feel frustration with how the season has unfolded. For veterans like fullback Anthony Gosselin this is all too familiar, but he believes the Redblacks are better than their record indicates.<\/p>\n
He believes Dinwiddie has assembled a solid roster and players needed time to learn a new system and to jell as a group and went as far as calling a Redblacks win in Edmonton.<\/p>\n
\u201cI call a win every week,\u201d said Gosselin. \u201cBut this week we have to believe it. We\u2019ve already played Edmonton, we know them a little better so I think we\u2019re going there on a business trip, we\u2019re going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2026.<\/p>\n
UP NEXT<\/p>\n
Roughriders: Host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday, July 12.<\/p>\n
Redblacks: Visit the Edmonton Elks on Thursday.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2026.<\/p>\n
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 This was hardly the start Ryan Dinwiddie envisioned when he took over as head coach and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739,82],"class_list":["post-782133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}