Adarius Pickett and the Redblacks defence are loud and proud

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It should be no surprise that the Ottawa Redblacks defence had such a thundering impact in the team’s 14-point victory over the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday.

As the first game between the two teams this season, it was a long-awaited opportunity for Adarius Pickett — the Redblacks’ best defensive player and, as “the party starter,” its motivational leader — to remind the Argos that they made a mistake in allowing him to walk as a free agent.

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In the 41-27 drubbing, in which the Argos scored 17 points in fourth-quarter “garbage time,” the Redblacks became the first team to record six sacks and six turnovers (four interceptions, two on downs) in more than three years — since Saskatchewan had a half dozen of each in a game against Hamilton on Aug. 14, 2021.

“That’s an outstanding performance by those guys,” head coach Bob Dyce said of the unit working under defensive coordinator Barron Miles. “When you create six turnovers, you’re putting your team in a good situation to capitalize and get a victory.”

Pickett added to his usual stellar showing with some colourful post-game words about Toronto quarterback Chad Kelly and head coach Ryan Dinwiddie to TSN’s Claire Hanna.

He said he hit Kelly in the backfield early, and “Chad looked like he was seeing ghosts from there.

“He looked just like he did in the East Final game, you know what I’m saying?” Pickett added, referring to Kelly’s performance (21-of-36, 246 yards, one touchdown, four interceptions) in Toronto’s 38-17 loss to the Montreal Alouettes. 

That happened to be the last game Pickett played for the Argos.

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After earning CFL all-star honours with 124 tackles and six sacks, Pickett left the team via free agency, blaming coach Ryan Dinwiddie for his departure.

“We don’t tolerate no disrespect from nobody,” Pickett, who chirped at Dinwiddie throughout Saturday’s game, told Hanna. “At the end of the day, there’s love for my teammates over there but he know. I ain’t get one phone call in the whole off-season from him and that’s why I left at the end of the day.

“Love Coach Bob Dyce, love Coach B. Miles, man. We holding it down over here right now.”

Following Wednesday’s practice, Pickett was asked about the comments, and whether the lack of respect from the Argos was an inspiring factor on Saturday.

“I definitely didn’t get the respect, but it’s not a motivating thing,” said Pickett, whose 66 tackles this season is second-most on the Redblacks (behind Deandre Lamont) and eighth-most in the league. “I’m just playing football. I’m having fun with my teammates. Blessed to be here. We have a great team. We’re moving in the right direction right now, sitting at 8-3-1 eight, three and one, and having the chance we do to clinch a playoff spot. I’m really excited.”

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He also admitted that it was extra sweet to defeat his former team and acknowledged that he did what he could to put some added fire into the bellies of his teammates.

“I think that’s embedded into being a party starter, right?” said Pickett. “Making sure that everybody has that energy, everybody has their belief, and we’re all on the same accord. I think that once people see the energy that I have and I can get the party started, essentially everybody falls along.”

Not talked about enough this season has been defensive tackle Michael Wakefield, who recorded one of the sacks against Toronto.

He now has six on the season, which along with equaling a personal high set last year gave him a share of the league lead with five other players.

Wakefield agreed that six sacks isn’t very many for a league leader two-thirds of the way through the season, and thinks that’s the result of teams paying extra focus on keeping their quarterbacks clean.

He also thinks the sacks will ramp up in the final third of the schedule.

“Somebody is going to get to double digits and I plan on being one of them,” said the 30-year old veteran, who didn’t have a set number of sacks as a personal goal entering the season. “I just knew I wanted double digits. I didn’t really put a cap on it whatever it is. That’s what I’m shooting for.

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“I’ve always been a guy to get to the quarterback,” Wakefield added. “I’ve just had a different eye for the ball this year … I’ve just found myself at quarterback a lot. So I’m looking for that double digits.”

Asked what identity the Ottawa ‘D’ has established for itself this season,” Wakefield said “our tenacity in making plays, our aggression, our ball skills in the back end. That’s what I would call our defence.”

Is the unit getting the respect it deserves?

“I really don’t care if we do or we don’t,” Wakefield replied. “I love being the doubted ones, the underdog. So they think we not as good as they say. It’s all good. The teams are finding out when we go play them. That’s all that matter.”

GOING DEEP

On Wednesday, all CFL teams had to reveal 10 names off their negotiation list, which in the case of the Redblacks previously was the method they used to secure WR Kalil Pimpleton and QB Dustin Crum. The following is the list of names Ottawa GM Shawn Burke made public: WR Ayir Asante (Wyoming), DL Levi Bell (Texas State), WR Tarik Black (Texas), QB Max Brosmer (Minnesota), DL Curtis Brooks (Cincinnati), DL Andre Carter (Indiana), QB Dante Chachere (Portland State), QB Kyle McCord (Syracuse), QB Cam Miller (North Dakota State), OL Andrew Trainer (William & Mary). Marshall Ferguson, the former McMaster Marauder QB who now does play-by-play of CFL games, likes Black off Ottawa’s list, calling him a “6-foot-3, 217-pound terror who knows how to high point and setup coverage with the best of them.” In his piece on CFL.ca, Ferguson added of Black: “If he could learn the CFL game, his frame is so enticing, especially alongside Nick Mardner and Dominque Rhymes, to offset the size disadvantage of Justin Hardy and Bralon Addison.” The 5-foot-10, 192-pound Hardy seems to be doing okay with his size disadvantage. He’s second in league receiving yards with 910 yards on 68 catches … DB Tobias Harris, who suffered a knee injury against Edmonton on July 19, was returning kicks at practice on Wednesday. Is there a chance he could play Saturday. “There’s always a chance,” said Dyce. “We’ll see. He was making his progress day-by-day, we did some work away from the return gaming yesterday, and he felt comfortable enough to come out and catch them live in our periods today. So if he keeps progressing, yeah, there’s an opportunity. With someone of Tobias’ talent, if we can get get him back there, that would be fantastic.” … In the absence of American DE Bryce Carter, Canadians Aidan John and Kene Onyeka have performed well at defensive end, allowing the Redblacks to take American Frank Centers off the practice roster and use him at right tackle in place of Zack Pelehos (ankle) without having to disrupt the ratio. “That’s massive,” said Dyce. giving credit to Burke and the personnel department, as well as John and Onyeka. “The development of those two continues to go up  and they give us the confidence to be able to do that and play out there. They’ve played at a high level … every time they get an opportunity they make plays.”

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