Redblacks' Dyce: 'We have to be better' after tough loss to Alouettes
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The Ottawa Redblacks suffered a 32-15 defeat at the hands of the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday that essentially ended their chances at a postseason bid.
Turnovers ruled the day in Ottawa - the Redblacks committed six and were unable to force any mistakes from the Als.
Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce joined TSN1200 on Monday to discuss what went right, what went wrong and what the final three games of the season may look like for the Redblacks.
"I just felt very early in the game that we didn't come out and have enough focus and attention to detail," said Dyce. "Early in that game I don't think we were focused enough and there could be many different things, reasons, why that happened."
Different issues have plagued the 4-11 Redblacks throughout the season. A string of seven straight losses from the end of July through to the end of September featured defensive meltdowns (a 44-31 defeat to the Toronto Argonauts on Aug. 13, 41-37 defeat against the BC Lions on Sept. 16).
The offence has also had its struggles, scoring fewer than seven points in the first half in consecutive losses to the Edmonton Elks and Hamilton Tiger-Cats in weeks 12 and 14.
"What we talk about is focusing on correcting the errors that we made and maybe we focused too heavily on the result of the game instead of our process," said Dyce.
"We have to get back to our process. At the end of the day our goal is to get better, every single time we step on the field."
Despite the loss to the Alouettes which dropped the Redblacks three games out of a potential crossover seed for the final spot in the CFL playoffs with just three games left on the schedule, Dyce still hopes the team can raise their compete level to finish strong.
"We still have an opportunity and that's the way we still look at it. We control what we do over the next three games and making sure we perform at a very high level," he said.
Ottawa was given a tough test early in the season, when starting quarterback Jeremiah Masoli ruptured his Achilles tendon after attempting just 10 passes in his first game. Rookie Dustin Crum made his 12th start for the team last week, and Dyce is impressed with his progress but reiterates that he can still improve every week.
"Crum did some things well and he's got some things he's going to need to do better," said Dyce. "I think Crum and our offensive skill position players continue to get better every week."
The Redblacks travel to Montreal for the second game of a home-and-home series with the Alouettes next Monday.
Dyce has identified a few areas the team needs to correct in order to avenge their defeat at home this past weekend.
"There's an old saying in coaching: when you sit back and watch the film, it's never as bad as you thought, and it's never as good as you thought, and that was the case this weekend," he said.
"That's not to let us off the hook at all, we have to be better ... we can't control what happens in the other games but we certainly can control what we do in ours," he added. "Our job is to perform at the highest level and we have to get back to that."