“He’s progressed … liking the direction that it’s going.”
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Dru Brown took first-team reps when the Ottawa Redblacks returned to practice on Wednesday, but the first-year starting quarterback still has some hurdles to clear before he’s declared good to go for this weekend’s game in Edmonton.
Brown exited Friday’s loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with less than two minutes remaining in the first half after taking a hit to the head from linebacker Redha Kramdi.
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“He’s progressed,” said head coach Bob Dyce. “There’s going to be a couple more tests as we go forward, to see whether he’s going to be 100 per cent, but liking the direction that it’s going. Again, when it comes to something like a concussion, things can go sideways. So we’ll just take the safest manner and follow what the medical staff says.”
At 2-2, Ottawa is tied for second place in the East Division with the Toronto Argos despite an offence that, generally speaking, has not been very good.
Through four games, the Redblacks are averaging 21 points per outing, which is second fewest to the Blue Bombers’ 19.8 per game.
Ottawa’s offence has scored a league-low six touchdowns, while also compiling a league-low 74 first downs.
The problem hasn’t been the run game.
Coming off his first 100-yard game and scoring his first touchown, Ryquell (Rock) Armstead is the CFL’s second-leading rusher with 275 yards, just 36 fewer than the B.C. Lions’ William Stanback, who has played one more game.
Meanwhile, the Redblacks are second-last in passing yards (921) and passing TDs (three) while last in pass attempts (124), completions (75), completion percentage (60.5) and passing first downs (36).
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“One of the positives out of that game is the physicality that our offensive line played with and the physicality that our backs played with, and our receivers did a fantastic job blocking,” said Dyce. “Those are things that we have to build on. We never went into the season saying we’re going to throw for 400 yards a game. We want to be a very balanced team, and that should be our calling card and we have to rely on that.”
If Brown can’t play Sunday against the winless Elks, Dustin Crum will once again stand behind centre.
In Winnipeg, Crum completed eight of 11 passes for 102 yards while running eight times for 55 yards.
He also threw an interception and fumbled.
Both Dyce and offensive co-ordinator Tommy Condell point to turnovers as the reason for the struggles of the offence, especially where they occur on the field.
Along with the two by Crum, Armstead fumbled on the Winnipeg 28-yard line just before the intermission, preventing the Redblacks from picking up at least three points and some momentum heading in the second half.
“Turning over the ball is something that’s going to always be a challenge, but some of our turnovers have been in the fringe score area,” said Dyce. “When you’re in a game that was as close as that one was in Winnipeg, you can’t afford for those things to happen. You can’t take a minimum of six points off the board by turning the ball over. We have to be better in that regard.”
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Crum, who will mentally prepare as if he is starting this week, acknowledged the challenges of entering a game already in progress. But he’s also more comfortable stepping on the field now than he was 12 months ago, when he took over as the Redblacks’ starter after arriving at camp as the fourth-string quarterback.
“You kind of want to be the spark plug for your team and get your guys going,” he said. “It was funny, I made a comment to Coach Condell that there were times I was like back there, and I just kind of knew exactly what they were doing and what we were doing.”
He said, as a quarterback, you should have a mastery of knowing everything that is happening simultaneously on the field.
“At times last year, that was challenging for me to do because I was trying to learn everything on the fly,” he said. “So being able to have that, and have that more consistently I think will allow me to play better.”
While Crum runs the ball as well as most quarterbacks in the league, he’s also guilty of holding it too long when dropping back to pass.
“You want to be able to increase his ability to throw the football,” said Condell. “I think that’s important for his growth, to be a passer that can really run well.”
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GOING DEEP
The Redblacks have added former Calgary Stampeder running back LeVante Bellamy to their practice roster. The 5-foot-9, 189-pounder played in seven games with the Stamps last season, carrying the ball 23 times for 70 yards and pulling in five passes for 22 yards while adding 95 yards on four kick returns. To make room for Bellamy, Ottawa released cornerback Tarvarus McFadden … Special teams mainstay Nigel Romick left the Winnipeg game early with a hamstring injury that is likely to keep him out of action for awhile. “We’re going to take precautionary measures with that, so he’ll be down a little bit, but I don’t think it’s going to be all that long. Nigel’s a guy I’ve coached for a long time; I know he’s going to battle through everything and if he’s available early, we’ll use him early.” … As he did on radio after the game, Dyce defended Armstead’s mistake of not jumping on a loose ball after the Crum pass slipped through his hands. Clearly, he thought it was an incomplete forward pass and not a fumble of a lateral, which officials ruled it was. “Rock caught five passes his whole college career,” said Dyce. “When you come to the CFL, it’s such a different game, and so there’s going to be a learning curve on certain things and different rules.”
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