It might be surprising to some that there might not be a head coach in all of professional football more proud of his team than Rick Campbell.
Certainly, there’s no way any head coach could be more proud of a team now 1-10 and on an eight-game losing streak with its playoff hopes now downgraded from guarded to downright critical.
Rather than just use the CFL standings as the sole measure of his expansion team’s progress, the Ottawa REDBLACKS rookie head coach has his own methods of assessing progress.
And with his club coming off its best performance all season – albeit a heart-breaking loss in Saskatchewan last Sunday – Campbell is thinking somewhere along the way his players deserve a win and why not this Friday at home to the 4-8 Montreal Alouettes?
A sixth-consecutive sellout crowd at TD Place would like nothing better.
“We have two criteria when we look at what we’re doing here and the first is winning games . . . that’s always going to be the top priority,” said Campbell, with just two full practices to get ready for what amounts to a must-win versus Montreal.
“The second criteria involves an arrow on how we’re doing and whether the arrow is going up or going down,” Campbell continued “That arrow indicates whether we are improving as a team and as individuals and that’s what we have to think of too.”
“When I say I have a sick feeling about losses to Winnipeg (eight-point loss), Edmonton (two-point loss), B.C. (two-point loss) and Saskatchewan (35-32), it’s just that we played every one of those games to the point where one or two plays would have made the difference and we just couldn’t make those one or two plays.
“So we are not very far from getting it done. I like to say we are hopeful, not hopeless, and there’s a big difference there.”
The REDBLACKS, who are running out of games in Week 14, begin a stretch of five of their last seven against East Division rivals. The math is as simple as the REDBLACKS just about have to sweep two each from Montreal and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and then hope for help to get to the post-season.
The entire East gained a couple of points on the REDBLACKS last week and it’s just about now or never for the first-year club.
Week after week, Campbell has shown amazing patience with his young team, praising the good things and always singling out the work ethic and the upbeat attitude.
He speaks often of the number of current REDBLACKS who will stay the course and play on a winner in Ottawa, given time.
Campbell is not one for excuses and as the REDBLACKS season wears on, it’s becoming more and more obvious that Campbell knew full well what he was getting into with taking his first head coaching position with an expansion outfit.
Maybe not to the point he ever thought his team would be 1-10 but Campbell is never too high and never too low, which is a saviour when the team hasn’t won since July 18th and has still yet to score an offensive touchdown at TD Place in what amounts to 20 quarters and counting.
Expect fireworks along the Rideau Canal if the REDBLACKS come anywhere close to matching the four majors in Saskatchewan which contributed to
a season-high 32 points, That point total was two points more than the REDBLACKS had scored in their previous four games and the first time they had scored more than 20 in a game since back on July 26th.
“We’re trying to have urgency to win games,” said Campbell. “At the same time, we’re in the process of building something here.
“We’re not tearing anything down here with a veteran team. We are in a complete building mode. And we have got to be smart enough to realize all the good things we are doing.”
Still no loss hurt as much as the loss to the defending Grey Cup-champion Roughriders. The REDBLACKS owned an eight-point lead with less than two minutes to play and really deserved better.
Players and coaches speak of “learning to win” and the REDBLACKS seem to be slow-learners at times.
“When we first got here, I said the No. 1 thing we have to do is learn how to win,” said quarterback Henry Burris, who faces a Montreal defence that is one of three defensive units to allow more than 300 points to date. “That means regardless of what the circumstances are, we do the little things it takes throughout the game to get the job done.”
Burris enjoyed his best game of the year in Regina and the home fans would like to see more of it, more of Burris making plays with his quick feet as well as his rifle arm.
One thing for certain, the schedule didn’t give the REDBLACKS much time to look back.
Monday was a travel day back from the west and Tuesday a virtual off day so Wednesday practice was just about it for preparation.
“We might have moped around for a moment or two,” said Campbell. “But we can also build off it.
“The process here is to build something and we’re shown some strides.
“And now it’s time to win some games. I wish a win for these guys so bad. With the work ethic they’ve shown and the way they have bought in, they should be rewarded with a win.”
The REDBLACKS season, at least the part about the unthinkable shot at the post-season, depends on it.
