For the first time since 2018, the Ottawa REDBLACKS are in the playoffs. This season, the team finished with nine wins, more than in the 2022 and 2023 seasons combined.
The REDBLACKS are something of an enigma this season. In the confines of TD Place, they were the best team in the CFL, winning seven games, tying one, and losing one.
Of the six teams in the playoffs, they are the worst on the road, with two wins and seven losses. As they travel to BMO Field to take on the Argos, they will face a team with the second-best home record.
While the odds don’t seem to be in the favour of the REDBLACKS, this season was a bit of a mixed bag.
On the one hand, the REDBLACKS had a much better season and were in first place in the East for many weeks. A certain level of respect was restored to Ottawa football. TD Place was somewhat of a fortress in that only one team, the Montreal Alouettes, could get a win at their stadium.
It was disappointing that they were only able to win one game in their last six—against the last-place Hamilton Tiger-Cats—and it came in the last seconds of the game. But, we can take the regular season and throw it out the window because the playoffs are a whole new ballgame.
That being said, the two wins the REDBLACKS got on the road were against teams that didn’t make the playoffs (Calgary and Edmonton). Can the REDBLACKS erase a year of on-the-road difficulties and defeat the Argos? Can the REDBLACKS ensure they don’t go down 28-0 against Toronto as they did on October 19?
If the REDBLACKS can do what they did in the 2016 Grey Cup: turn BMO Field into TD Place 2.0, then the Ottawa REDBLAKCS just might book a ticket to Montreal and the Eastern final.
All these questions will be answered when the REDBLACKS and the Argos take the field on November 2 at 2 p.m.
PHOTO: Courtesy REDBLACKS