What we've learned about the Ottawa Redblacks through two games of the CFL season
The soundtrack of post-game quotes emanating from the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday was more like a broken record than the missed opportunity of tying one.
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For the second straight week, their own fingerprints were all over the weapon that killed their chances of breaking into the win column this season.
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They added a new mode of death with four turnovers on three interceptions, but the word 'penalties' is prominent in the obit of their 39-18 loss to the Montreal Alouettes
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The Redblacks aren't 0-2 just because they were flagged 11 times for 98 yards against the Alouettes and now have taken a total of 23 penalties for 224 yards — or slightly more than the length of a football field per game.
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In their home opener, for instance, they proved to be inferior to their nearest division rival in almost every way.
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But the handkerchiefs tossed Ottawa's way remain a pressing problem for a team that also led the Canadian Football League in penalty yards last season.
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'We have to understand that we can't let two turn into four,' receiver Eugene Lewis, who was unable to bring his consecutive games touchdown streak to a CFL-record tying 10 games, said of the number in the loss column while there's still a zero under the W. 'It's still early in the season. This doesn't define us as a team, but we've got to be way more disciplined.
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'We can't have as many turnovers, we can't have the penalties because that's always a recipe for losing. We know that, and we know what we've got to do to get better.'
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Lewis blamed the fouls for interrupting the team's 'rhythm' on drives.
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'When we did have a positive play, we'd go back minus five,' he said.
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But even more damaging than the four offensive penalties — a time-count violation by quarterback Matt Shiltz, an illegal procedure call on rookie tackle Darta Lee and the offsides committed by receivers Bralon Addison and Kalil Pimpleton — were the five by the defence.
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While head coach Bob Dyce pointed a finger at himself for not doing a better job of getting the players to realize the 'challenge' penalties created — 'When you work hard to earn things, you can't give things away,' he said — he does pound the message into them daily.
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