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“They’re a good team, give credit to them,” said Redblacks offensive lineman Evan Johnson. “But it’s apparent we’re not playing our best football right now. We can get a lot better. Just like Coach Campbell says, ‘It’s never as good as it seems, it’s never as bad as it seems.’ ”

Photo by Adrian Wyld

Now with a 2-2 record, tied with the Alouettes for second in the Canadian Football League’s East Division standings, the Redblacks will get a tough test Friday in the ‘Peg against the undefeated Blue Bombers.

Offensive struggles, eh? The Redblacks didn’t get a first down until late in the first quarter of Saturday’s contest, on a two-yard run by Mossis Madu, who wound up with 47 yards on 11 carries.

“We have to go out and play a perfect game,” said Madu. “We can’t make stupid mistakes like we keep doing. When we get rolling, we’re hard to beat. We can’t keep doing these two-and-out things and shooting ourselves in the foot. It’s very frustrating, it makes me mad. We know we can do way better. This isn’t us you’ve seen the past two weeks.”

QB Vernon Adams Jr. completed 23 of 30 passes for 327 yards and two touchdowns for Montreal. Ottawa QB Dominique Davis completed 23 of 37 for 268 yards.

“If we play up to our standard, we can be really good,” said Adams. “We can lead the East and do some good things.”

The score was tied 9-9 at halftime.

On the game’s opening drive, Davis tried to throw a pass to Brad Sinopoli, but Montreal’s Tommie Campbell stepped in front and made an interception, returning the ball to Ottawa’s 17-yard line. Three plays later, 2:40 into the game, Boris Bede booted a 16-yard field goal to give the Alouettes a 3-0 lead.