The Redblacks were right there again Saturday night, tying it up 24-24 in the fourth quarter against BC before the wheels came off late. And once again, the story wasn't a lack of talent or effort — it was a team beating itself.
Ottawa piled up close to 150 yards in penalties, several of them the self-inflicted kind that a head coach can't stomach. Asked directly whether the flags were something the team needed to get under control, the Redblacks coach didn't hedge.
"You know, it just— the details aren't there, and we're not playing good enough football to overcome some of those things," he said.
The breakdowns weren't subtle. Ottawa had a chance to bury BC in a 1st-and-20 hole after a holding call on Niles, only to hand the down back with a 15-yard penalty on the very next play. The coach pointed to a specific sequence where Ottawa tried to draw BC's quarterback offside with a double cadence — and got him offside three separate times, only to negate it with false starts of their own.
"He's Got to Own That"
The coach didn't shy away from naming names, either. He called out veteran defensive captain Niles Wake directly, saying leadership at that position has to come with better discipline.
"Niles knows better than that. He's a veteran guy. Shoot, he's our defensive captain right now... he's got to own that as well. I mean, he's got to be an example, you know, in the right ways. And that led to points as well, right? And that's unfortunate."
Compounding the problem is a run game that's been stuck in the mud all year, which the coach acknowledged puts extra strain on a passing attack that's actually been one of the bright spots. He singled out Keelan White and Justin Hardy as players showing up consistently, even as the offense struggles to stay out of second-and-long. "It's tough as a play caller when you want to stay out of second and long," he said. "If we can just get to second and 6... we still have a run game available on second down. And it's just been a problem all year."
Maier: "We're Not Going to Be a Bunch of Quitters"
Quarterback Jake Maier saw a different game from the field level, one where Ottawa matched BC punch for punch into the fourth quarter before Aiden Eberhardt and Keelan White put together what he called some of their best performances of the season.
"I thought Aiden obviously was the story of our team tonight," Maier said. "And I felt like we were doing a pretty good job. And I thought a guy like Keelan White played a heck of a game."
With Ottawa on the verge of going a full calendar year without a win, Maier was asked directly about the mental toll of a slump like this. His answer leaned on something bigger than football.
"This is obviously challenging, the spirit of a man... but we're not going to lay down and we're not going to quit and we're not going to be a bunch of quitters. We're just going to continue to show up every day because that's what a man is supposed to do."
Pressed on whether he'd ever gone through anything like this stretch before, Maier said no — but added that adversity has a way of revealing character. "I'm a man of faith, so adversity and hard times brings out the best in individuals if they want it to be that," he said. "I see the growth from guys from the start of the year till now."
Bringing In Jim to Overhaul the Approach
With the bye week arriving and the CFL roster expansion window opening soon, the head coach confirmed he's already leaning on new personnel evaluator Jim to reshape how Ottawa scouts and recruits.
"We're going to expand our roster here in a few weeks. So we got to bring in some new players. So we're looking at our approach of how we're going to change our scouting approach as far as recruiting a little bit harder... We got to be aggressive in our recruiting approach."
The two have history — the coach spent three years coaching alongside Jim in Montreal — and he said that familiarity is already paying off. "Jim's obviously battle-tested. He's been in this league for a long time, a lot of success... I lean heavy on him and we're changing kind of our approach of how we're going to design the scouting department moving forward."
What's Next
Ottawa uses the bye week to get healthy — the coach cited seven defensive injuries Saturday alone that limited rotation — before heading to Toronto to face the Argonauts. Maier was blunt about what has to change: "The biggest thing I'll say in looking at the 11 games is like the complementary football isn't there for us... we're playing good opponents, other professional players, and that's not going to get it done at the end of the day."
Seven games remain. For a team still hunting its first win, the margin for error on penalties and missed run-game production has run out.