It's crazy. Despite just one win in six games, the Ottawa RedBlacks are still in the CFL East playoff hunt. Right in the thick of it.

They, of course, can't count on Montreal and Hamilton, each also with one win, to be bad for the whole season, though the Alouettes have, for the most part, been hold-your-nose stinky. And the first-place Toronto Argonauts have just one more win than Ottawa.

In Saturday's 38-17 loss to the Calgary Stampeders, quarterback Henry Burris wound up connecting on 20-of-29 passes for 281 yards after going just 8-of-13 for 58 yards in the first half. Two of his misses wound up in the arms of Stampeders defenders. He's frustrated, yet hopeful.

"I'm tired of saying the same things every week," said Burris. "I'm just ready to start winning, period. Winning teams take advantages of opportunities.

"There are opportunities for us to make plays. When we started making plays, we had a penalty and the receivers and I were on a different page on the interceptions. Penalties and missed assignments killed us. We can't keep talking about that stuff. We have to own up as men and do our jobs. Effort has never been a problem with this team. It's just the execution part.

"We have a good week of practice, then we come out here and when we make a play, we find ways to negate it. That stuff has to stop. It seems like the entire East is trying to do that right now. We need to become the team to overcome that. (Offensive co-ordinator) Coach (Mike) Gibson had a great game plan. There were plays to be made. But we have to make the plays and stop shooting ourselves in the foot."

So what has to happen for the RedBlacks? How do they put four solid quarters together, especially in a stretch of games against tough West teams?

Ottawa coach Rick Campbell believes his players are working hard, but says they need to be smarter on the field -- carry out their assignments and avoid those silly penalties that especially in recent games have bogged them down.

"You have to be at your best on every play," said Campbell. "If you take any plays off, it can cost you. I'm not questioning the effort of the guys. But you have to be there mentally on your assignment knowing what you're doing.

"We started chipping away (against Calgary). We find a way to make a couple of plays where we're not shooting ourselves in the foot and going backwards. If you do those things, it's going to be a battle to the end.

"It's frustrating in that we have a good group of guys. They give good effort. We're a couple of things away from being a team that can compete week in and week out, which we had done earlier in the season. I choose to believe that we can do that again."

A RedBlacks drive late in the game was the perfect example of what's going wrong. Burris connected with Matt Carter for 60 yards, down to the three. The RedBlacks took three penalties from there and failed on a third-and-goal gamble.

"To me, that was it in a nutshell," said Burris. "We had an opportunity to put points on the board, then we got penalties ... bang, bang, bang. We find ways to negate the drive. We find a way to mess it up. That's been the story of our season so far.

"We don't want to embarrass ourselves in front of our teammates. We want to do our jobs to make the job easier for the guy next to you. We're a young team, but we need to make that happen."

And so, the RedBlacks will look at the film from Saturday's game, some of it ugly, and move on. Edmonton is next, Friday at TD Place.

"I don't know what's going on in the East, but it's there for the taking," said defensive lineman Justin Capicciotti. "We can still go and get it. It's still wide open. Any team can finish in first."

"There's a ton to play for," said Campbell. "It's going to be what team in the East gets better each week. That's going to be the team that makes the playoffs. We have to make sure we find a way to improve on things to give ourselves a chance."

"You never expect the East would get off to this slow of a start," said Burris. "But it is what it is. We need to take full advantage of it. It's sitting right there for us. People say it's mission impossible. I think it's possible."

BY THE NUMBERS

Passing

Bo Levi Mitchell, 26-of-38 for 289 yards

Henry Burris, 20-of-29, 281 yards

Receiving

Wallace Miles, 5 for 102 yards

Matt Carter, 3 for 75 yards

Marcus Henry, 6 for 50 yards

Rushing

Rob Cote, 6 rushes for 32 yards

Chevon Walker, 8 rushes for 22 yards

Total rushing

Calgary 94 yards, Ottawa 39 yards

Sacks

Calgary 4, Ottawa 1 (Justin Capicciotti)

Penalties

Calgary, 13 for 120 yards

Ottawa, 12 for 131 yards

Tackles

Jasper Simmons, 9; Antoine Pruneau, 8

First downs

Calgary 25, Ottawa 15

tim.baines@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @timcbaines