12 Audibles: Can the Redblacks continue their remarkable run?

Welcome to this week's edition of 12 Audibles, our regular look around the CFL. This time, we start in Ottawa, where the Redblacks are off to a 3-1-1 start and sit at the top of the East. That's remarkable considering...

1. Where Ottawa's coming from. Given that the Redblacks won the East in both the regular season and the post-season last year as well, it's sometimes easy to forget that this is a team that only entered the league in 2014 and went 2-16 that year. They improved to 12-6 in 2015 and have been one of the CFL's best teams so far this year. They're also finding off-the-field success; fan support was strong even through that dismal inaugural season, but it's jumped even further with the team posting wins. They've turned into one of the league's best draws both at the gate and on TV, which is partly thanks to some skillful marketing and efforts to create a great stadium atmosphere (the sideline logging is particularly brilliant, and the move to plant a new tree for each home touchdown this year is terrific), but also has a lot to do with that on-field success. A key factor in the uptick in the team's on-field fortunes has been...

2. The Redblacks' receivers. A major issue in Ottawa's inaugural season were receivers who couldn't consistently get open and frequently dropped passes when they did. That all changed last year, with the team bringing in Chris Williams, Greg Ellingson, Brad Sinopoli and Ernest Jackson, all of who went on to have 1,000-plus yard seasons and were key to Henry Burris' Most Outstanding Player award. Burris and the rest of the offence (coordinated that year by Jason Maas, now the head coach in Edmonton) improved too, of course, but the rise in the calibre of the targets he was throwing to was crucial to the Redblacks' success.

It's been a big part of what's worked for them so far this year, too. When Burris went down in the first game, Trevor Harris stepped in and has been brilliant, and when Harris went down early this week against Saskatchewan, rookie Brock Jensen stepped in and almost pulled off a win, with Ottawa only losing 30-29 in the end. All of those quarterbacks have played very well in their own right, but it helps that they have excellent receivers to throw to: Williams leads the league with 570 receiving yards (from 32 catches on 40 targets), Ellingson is fifth with 460 yards (from 28 catches on 38 targets), Sinopoli is sixth with 422 (from 28 on 34), and while Jackson is further down with 251 yards, he has 24 catches on 29 targets. Whoever will be under centre when the Redblacks host Toronto Sunday has the advantage of a strong receiving corps to throw to, which is good, as...

3. We don't know who will be under centre. As of Tuesday afternoon, there hadn't been an update on Harris' status. It's possible he could still get the start against the Argos, or it's possible that Burris could return from that six-game list early (although that would hurt Ottawa's cap flexibility), or it's possible that Jensen might get the call again. If it's the latter, that's a bit concerning for the Redblacks; yes, Jensen was decent in relief and impressive for a guy playing his first CFL game, but he's nowhere near the level of Burris or Harris at this point, and Ottawa wasn't good enough to get a win against previously-winless Saskatchewan (also missing their starting QB) with him at the controls. That could spell trouble against Toronto. Of course, it may help that...

4. The Argos have their own quarterback issues. Ricky Ray was terrific in Toronto's 30-17 win over Montreal Monday, but left the game in the fourth quarter with what appears to be a knee injury. If it's the MCL sprain head coach Scott Milanovich thinks it might be, that likely means Ray is gone for four to six weeks. The Argos' backup situation doesn't look all that great, with both Logan Kilgore and Cody Fajardo being relatively inexperienced, but this team has managed to produce excellent backups who turned into starters elsewhere before, including Zach Collaros and Trevor Harris. Still, it would be easier to have confidence in Toronto's QB situation if they still had...

5. Mitchell Gale. When the Argonauts traded Gale to the Saskatchewan Roughriders along with offensive lineman Matt Sewell (who chose to retire rather than report to Regina) for defensive end Shawn Lemon and a conditional draft pick earlier this month, it seemed like a trade that could work out very well for the team. Lemon added to their already-strong defensive line, while Gale was unnecessary as long as Ray was healthy. However, now that Ray's gone down, things are a little different. Lemon has been good (he had two sacks Monday), but the Argos could use a more experienced backup like Gale, who filled in for injured Saskatchewan QB Darian Durant Friday against Ottawa. It was still Gale's first career start, but at least he's been in the league for a few years, and he did pretty well, throwing for 354 yards and a touchdown. His 58.3 per cent completion rate could use a boost, but he did enough to help the Riders get their first win this season, and that's good news for their fans considering that...

6. Durant is still questionable. It sounds like Durant's still battling the sprained ankle that kept him out against Ottawa, and he may not be ready to go when the Roughriders face Montreal Friday night. Saskatchewan's lucky they have Gale, who did very well against Ottawa indeed when you consider that he's only been with the Riders for a couple of weeks. However, Durant is still the more proven option, and Saskatchewan will be hoping to get him back as soon as possible. We'll see if that happens to be Friday. The Riders may still have a good chance to win even if they have to rely on Gale, though, as...

7. The Alouettes have their own struggles. Montreal has the opposite problem to many of the teams we've discussed so far, as they now have a healthy starting quarterback in Kevin Glenn, but have a ton of other top players injured. S.J. Green is gone for the year and Kenny Stafford's on the six-game injured list, significantly depleting the receiving corps. Starting running back Tyrell Sutton is also on the six-game list, and the team was also missing a key piece in Canadian safety Marc-Olivier Brouillette Monday. This team hasn't looked that great even when everyone's healthy, but they're really struggling the past few weeks with these injuries. The offence in particular has had issues; while Glenn completed 24 of 28 passes (85.7 per cent) for 285 yards with a touchdown and an interception, many of those yards came when the game was already out of reach, and only Duron Carter (six catches for 124 yards) and Nik Lewis (eight for 81) really had good receiving games in that loss to Toronto. Saskatchewan's defence has had issues so far, so maybe things will turn around for Montreal this week, but they'll need some significant progess. Another team that's looking to improve this week after a tough loss is the Edmonton Eskimos, who gave up...

8. A comeback to remember. Hamilton's 37-31 win over Edmonton Saturday came after being down by 25 points early in the third quarter. That marked the largest comeback in Tiger-Cats' history and the worst blown lead in Eskimos' history, and it tied for the fourth-biggest comeback in CFL history. It was remarkable on several levels, and one was that it was an almost-complete swing; the Eskimos were dominant in the first half on both offence and defence, but both of those units fell apart in the second half, while the Ticats' offence couldn't do anything early on and couldn't stop Edmonton, and then managed to achieve both of those goals in the second half. For the Eskimos, there's a lot to think about this week, and a particular subject is...

9. The importance of continuous effort. There's been a lot of discussion of Edmonton's effort since that game, with quarterback Mike Reilly saying the team "fell asleep at the wheel." That was certainly true on some levels, with the offensive line that had been so good in the first half suddenly giving up sack after sack, the receivers making drops and the defence proving unable to get stops. The Eskimos did take their foot off the gas, and that can't happen in a league where no lead is safe. Expect them to have a lot of intense practices and heated discussions about continuous effort this week leading up to Thursday's game against Winnipeg. However, credit also needs to go to the Ticats for their adjustments and their second-half execution, and particularly to their quarterback...

10. Jeremiah Masoli. Masoli's time in the CFL (he started with Edmonton in 2012, then was traded to Hamilton in 2013 and has been there since) has had its ups and downs, including injuries and ineffectiveness, but his performance Saturday against the Eskimos was perhaps his best yet. He got off to a rocky start, but was on fire in the second half, completing 23 straight passes to break the CFL record set by Jason Maas in 2008 (as Maas, now Edmonton's head coach, watched in disgust from the opposing sidelines). Masoli finished with 31 completions on 38 attempts (81.6 per cent) for 396 yards and three touchdowns, and he earned a nod as the league's top performer of the week. That may not lead to him getting another start right away, as the Ticats have a bye this week and starter Zach Collaros seems to be close to coming back, but if Masoli can reach this level more often, Hamilton can have more faith in him as a backup. Another backup in the spotlight is...

11. Matt Nichols. Following Winnipeg's 33-18 loss to Calgary Thursday, Blue Bombers' head coach Mike O'Shea announced that Drew Willy will be benched and Nichols will be starting this coming Thursday against Edmonton, his former team. Winnipeg had to make this move; Willy hasn't been effective or efficient at all this year, and has especially struggled to complete deep balls. The numbers he has put up have largely come after games were already out of hand, and the Bombers need to try something different. However, the question is if Nichols can find much success; he's been an okay backup in both Edmonton and Winnipeg, but hasn't shown much star potential to date, and a star performance may be needed given the Bombers' struggles in a variety of other areas. Things won't be easy against the motivated Eskimos. However, at least Winnipeg isn't facing the two teams above Edmonton in the standings, 3-1 B.C. or 2-1-1 Calgary, and those teams are facing each other in...

12. The clash of the titans. Friday's Lions-Stampeders matchup is a battle of two of the CFL teams that have been the best so far, but they're succeeding in different areas. For the Lions, it's all about the defence, led by linebackers Adam Bighill and Solomon Elimimian. B.C. has allowed a league-low 73 points to date, and while quarterback Jon Jennings and the offence have flashed some potential at times, it's been the defence that's let these Lions survive and thrive during times when the offence has stalled. Calgary's defence is strong too, allowing just 86 points (the only other CFL team to concede less than 100 so far), but they also have a star quarterback (and Pokemon Go trainer) in Bo Levi Mitchell. Mitchell's performance by the numbers has been a little less dominant than some QBs, especially in completion percentage (his 66.2 per cent mark isn't bad, but it's not near the leaders this year), but he's thrown for an average of 305 yards and two touchdowns per game. It will be interesting to see what he can do against the Lions' dominant defence.