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“(Against Calgary), we went two and out, then we had a fumble (on the first play of the second drive), then we had an interception (on the first play of the third drive), then we had an interception (on the third play of the fifth drive). Turnovers. If we don’t do that, we’re actually in a position of advantage for the offence. It’s not completely on the players, it’s not completely on the quarterback. It’s on our preparation and taking care of those things.

“In the second half, we didn’t have those issues and we moved the ball. There were some drives. If you look at the first game against Calgary, we had an 11-play drive, a 10-play drive. Against Saskatchewan, I believe we had a 13-play drive. We’ve had drives. When you have turnovers early, that messes with the guys. We have to do a better job.”

Two weeks ago against Winnipeg, the Redblacks had just 102 yards passing, as Jonathon Jennings was 6-for-15 for 45 yards and Will Arndt was 4-for-13 for 57 yards. Last week against Calgary, the Redblacks had 125 yards of passing from Jennings, whose 83.3 per cent completion rate (15-for-18) was driven up by a number of short passes. Ottawa’s longest completion was 23 yards for a touchdown to Brad Sinopoli. One other long pass was intercepted.

“We’re still a work in progress,” October said. “If we can take care of the self-inflicted things, we’ll be alright. We’re done with the first third of the season — we’re 2-4 — it’s time for us to focus on the middle third and move forward. I’m confident in the guys we have. I trust our personnel department. These guys can run the system. What’s not lost is we run the ball really well. The other thing that’s a positive thing is our Canadian offensive linemen have meshed really well. They don’t really give up many pressures and they’re a big component to the reason we run the ball so well.”