Can backup QB Matt Shiltz lead Ottawa Redblacks to first home win over Alouettes since 2018?
Article content
On Friday, the Ottawa Redblacks will try to break a bad habit they've carried for 2,498 days.
Article content
They will attempt to beat the Montreal Alouettes at TD Place for the first time since Aug. 11, 2018.
Article content
Article content
For that 24-17 victory seven years ago, Ottawa quarterback Trevor Harris completed 44 of 54 passes for 487 yards, but only one touchdown.
Article content
Current Redblacks Eugene Lewis and William Stanback were members of the Alouettes at the time, as was Matt Shiltz, who was a backup QB in his second year in the Canadian Football League.
Article content
Article content
Shiltz signed up for the same job with the Redblacks this past winter, but he's been elevated to the starting role for Week 2 of the 2025 season by a hip injury to Dru Brown.
Article content
Article content
According to footballdb.com, it will be Shiltz's 90th CFL game, but just his 14th start.
Article content
'It's a great opportunity, obviously,' the 32-year-old former Butler Bulldog said after Thursday's walk-through. 'It's tough seeing Dru go down when you see how much work he puts in and know how much work he puts in during the offseason. But, like any other position in sports, it's a 'next man up' mentality, and we really have that team environment, not only in the whole locker room, but especially in the quarterback room.
Article content
'We know how much work we all put in, and in that quarterback room the thought is that we're better together, that it kind of takes a village to make the game plan each week and get out there and compete. So we're all excited.'
Article content
Article content
Dustin Crum and Tyrie Adams will emerge from offensive co-ordinator Tommy Condell's QB room as available backups, while Brown will not dress for the game.
Article content
Over his CFL career, Shiltz has completed 64.2 per cent of his passes for 4,795 yards and 21 touchdowns, along with 20 interceptions.
Article content
Listed as two inches taller and 10 pounds heavier than Brown, the 6-1, 210-pound Shiltz has also shown he is capable of doing damage with his legs.
Article content
In 10 games with the Calgary Stampeders last season, he had 14 carries for 133 yards and a touchdown.
Article content
'I think they're a great complement together,' said Lewis, who could write a great storyline of his own by tying the all-time CFL record with at least one TD catch in 10 consecutive games. 'I played with Shiltz in Montreal for a few games. He's probably one of the only quarterbacks I've had multiple touchdowns with in one game … two bombs against Toronto. I know what he's capable of. He's going to play ball. He's going to give us a chance, an opportunity to help him and help our team.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Post
16 minutes ago
- National Post
Argonauts drop to 0-2 after 29-19 loss to Stampeders
Vernon Adams Jr. and Dedrick Mills scored fourth-quarter touchdowns to lead the unbeaten Calgary Stampeders past the winless Toronto Argonauts 29-19 on a breezy Saturday afternoon. Article content Adams Jr.'s eight-yard scamper at 7:43 put Calgary ahead 26-11. It came after Lirim Hajrullahu's 47-yard field goal at 5:08 cut Toronto's deficit to 19-11. Article content Mills put Calgary ahead 19-8 with a one-yard scoring run at 1:19. Both Adams Jr. and Mills capped 70-yard scoring drives. Article content Toronto's Nick Arbuckle made it interesting with a 46-yard touchdown pass to Damonte Coxie at 9:50. Then the '24 Grey Cup MVP ran in for the two-point convert to cut Calgary's lead to 26-19. Article content But Rene Paredes cemented the win for Calgary (2-0) with a 23-yard field goal at 13:45. A BMO Field gathering of 17,902 watched the Argos (0-2) raise their Grey Cup banner before the opening kickoff. Article content Calgary earned the victory despite losing all-star receiver Reggie Begelton (knee). Begelton went down on the second play from scrimmage and needed help to leave the field. Article content Begelton later returned to the Stampeders sidelines on crutches and ice taped to his right knee. Article content Toronto lost middle linebacker Wynton McManis (knee) and starting running back Deonta McMahon (ankle) to first-half injuries. Article content Adrian Greene had Calgary's other touchdown. Paredes booted three field goals and a convert. Article content Hajrullahu booted three field goals and a single. John Haggerty added a single. Article content Article content Hajrullahu's 45-yard field goal at 13:06 of the third cut Calgary's lead to 12-8. Article content Paredes' 23-yard field goal into the wind at 5:38 gave Calgary a 12-4 lead. Haggerty's 83-yard punt single at 6:32 pulled Toronto to within 12-5. Article content Hajrullahu's 45-yard field goal to end the second quarter cut Calgary's halftime lead to 9-4. It followed a successful pass-interference challenge by Argos head coach Ryan Dinwiddie that put the ball at the Stampeders' 45-yard line with 13 seconds to play. Article content Both offences struggled establishing the run in the first half as Toronto had just 28 yards, three more than the Stamps. And neither unit was able to navigate effectively with or against the wind. Article content Greene staked Calgary to a 9-1 lead with a 40-yard pick-six at 8:56. He stepped in front of Nick Arbuckle's pass for David Ungerer III and ran untouched into the end zone. Article content There was no convert attempt due to an errant snap. Article content
Vancouver Sun
3 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
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. 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. 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 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. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. In their home opener, for instance, they proved to be inferior to their nearest division rival in almost every way. 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. '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. '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.' Lewis blamed the fouls for interrupting the team's 'rhythm' on drives. 'When we did have a positive play, we'd go back minus five,' he said. 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. 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. What else does he plan to do? 'I have ways,' Dyce said. 'We'll go forward and take care of that this week.' That could be bad news for American defensive back Robert Priester, a five-year veteran who has won a couple of Grey Cups with the Toronto Argos. Against the Alouettes, Priester was Ottawa's co-leader in defensive tackles with five, but two (not one, but TWO) were illegal horse-collar personal fouls that came just snaps before a Montreal field goal and touchdown. If that wasn't enough, in the third quarter Priester was called for unnecessary roughness — a penalty Dyce has labelled 'selfish' — in the scrum that started when teammate Adarius Pickett was flagged for roughing the passer. Would the Redblacks release Priester, who was signed as a free agent in the offseason, and move Bennett Williams, who is used mostly on special teams, into his job as the boundary side DB? Williams, who is primarily a backup for Pickett at strong-side linebacker, did sub in for Priester at one point against Montreal, a game in which he was one of the Redblacks' most productive players with two total tackles, one for a loss and a forced fumble. We'll learn what repercussions Dyce imposes when the Redblacks return to the practice field in preparation for next Saturday's game in Calgary against the Stampeders. Well, for one thing, the extra couple of inches he has on Dru Brown wasn't much of an advantage. Two of his interceptions were deflected at the line of scrimmage, while the other was gobbled up by defensive end Lwal Uguak on the first offensive play of the second quarter. 'It's frustrating as heck,' Shiltz, the 32-year-old veteran backup, said of the interceptions. 'As a quarterback, you think you're seeing the field. You're not necessarily making a bad decision (when) throwing it to the other team, it's more so defensive linemen making those plays at the line of scrimmage. It's something that we're going to have to watch to see how we can mitigate those.' Shiltz completed 68.8 per cent of his passes (22 of 32) for 205 yards, which included a third-quarter TD toss to Addison that kept the Redblacks in the game. But, by his own admission, Shiltz didn't do enough to help Ottawa pull out a victory. 'And that's goal number one,' he said. 'You always want to put your best foot forward, especially in that backup role, and getting an opportunity to show what you can do. And, then, most importantly is mind everything out there for your team and want to get the win for them. Obviously, we didn't play good enough as an offence, as a team, and Montreal did.' Dyce liked seeing the offence have more success in the second half after producing just three points in the first, but the penalties were still on his mind when he gave his overall assessment of the game. 'At the end of the day, there's no moral victories or anything like that,' Dyce said. 'Our job is to work and be a consistent, physical football team and not hurt ourselves.' As for an evaluation of Shiltz's play without the benefit of looking at the video, Dyce again referred to the flags. 'There were obviously a few timing or procedural things, but we practised with this group all week, so that should have been worked out,' he said. It was in his hands. Shiltz hit Lewis at the goal-line with a 30-yard third-quarter toss, but, while Montreal's Lorenzo Burns was called for pass interference to set up the Redblacks' first touchdown on a Dustin Crum one-yard plunge, Lewis noted it should have never reached that point. 'I dropped it,' he said. 'I ain't gonna lie to you. Literally, a touchdown hit my body. I even kind of timed it up for that. I thought I was gonna catch it and just drop in the end-zone. I've done it before. It just popped out.' Lewis said the streak wasn't on his mind in the fourth quarter. 'Honestly, at that point I was thinking about winning,' he said. 'When you're doing that much, that's when you don't want to be selfish because then people will start noticing that you're just thinking about yourself. So if I went to the sideline and said, 'Listen, we're down 20, let's just try to get the touchdown now,' that's not right. If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. If it's not gonna happen, it's not gonna happen. Like I told Coach Bob Dyce, let's start another one.' 'We're grown men,' Lewis said. 'We've been playing this game for a long time. We get paid to do this, and we gotta do what we're asked to do. That's part of having a job. The penalties will never help you in any sport. Hockey, football, basketball, soccer, anything. You don't want to have penalties because, at the end of the day, that's a recipe to lose the game.'
Ottawa Citizen
4 hours ago
- Ottawa Citizen
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. Article content 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. Article content Article content 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 Article content Article content 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. Article content Article content In their home opener, for instance, they proved to be inferior to their nearest division rival in almost every way. Article content 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. Article content '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. Article content Article content '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.' Article content Lewis blamed the fouls for interrupting the team's 'rhythm' on drives. Article content 'When we did have a positive play, we'd go back minus five,' he said. Article content 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. Article content 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.
