Ottawa Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce has circled second-half performance as an area for improvement after falling to last place in the Eastern division with Sunday’s loss to the Toronto Argonauts.
The Redblacks suffered a 44-31 defeat in Toronto, dropping them to 3-6 on the season.
Ottawa entered halftime trailing the Argos 28-24, which bucked a concerning trend in the past month where the team has struggled to score in the opening half of games. However, they were outscored 16-7 in the second half, which left Dyce looking for answers once again.
“It was a good start, a lot quicker than we’ve had in the last couple of weeks, but at the end of the day, we have to produce in the second half,” Dyce told TSN Radio 1200 Ottawa on Monday.
ContentId(1.1995760): Dyce: Good to see us start quicker, but we have to produce in the 2nd half
In three of the four games prior to Sunday, the Redblacks failed to score more than eight points in the first half, and while they went on to win two of those contests, it required a Herculean effort in the second half.
“The expectation is that we will be starting games like [we did on Sunday] moving forward,” Dyce said. “There’s no magic formula to this, it’s just a matter of being in the right state of arousal when the game starts and maintaining it throughout.”
One bright spot for Ottawa in the defeat was the play of rookie quarterback Dustin Crum, who had the best game of his young career – he threw for 292 yards and three touchdowns, and completed 81 per cent of his passes – all career highs.
“It’s great to see Dustin’s evolution. Obviously a big part of that was shoring up the pass protection, and he felt a lot more comfortable in there,” said Dyce. “He took some vertical shots that we were looking for and we were able to connect on a couple of them.
“He’s a good drop-back passer… I think some of the initial early success he had running the ball kind of overshadowed that fact so it’s great to see him continue to get better.”
Dyce was excited about the play of the offensive line at times in the game on Sunday, and is looking forward to possibly adding Dontae Bull into the lineup on Saturday against the Montreal Alouettes.
Bull was the first overall pick in the 2023 CFL Draft, but has not yet suited up for the Redblacks.
“Obviously excited to get Bull onto the roster here, he got a little bit of a taste being our extra offensive lineman in our big packages,” Dyce said.
The Redblacks surrendered fiver sacks against Toronto, and Dyce has highlighted pressure on the quarterback as an issue that may not have an easy answer even as they prepare to get Bull in the lineup.
“As a group we have to identify what the main challenges [with quarterback pressure] are, and I think we have it narrowed down to a couple of things but it’s not always the offensive line,” said Dyce.
“There’s a lot of different things that go into it and we have to solidify that area because over the last couple of games we have had too much pressure on the quarterback.”
The Redblacks have now lost three straight, and return home with a key matchup against the Alouettes on deck. They trail Montreal by two-and-a-half games in the East division standings.
“It’s extremely important [to beat a divisional opponent], they’re an Eastern team, we’re sitting at 3-6, we have to start making hay in the East and there’s a great opportunity here with Montreal coming into town to start doing that,” Dyce noted.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
