2015 Ottawa Redblacks season

The 2015 Ottawa Redblacks season was the second season for the team in the Canadian Football League. The Redblacks improved upon their unimpressive 2–16 record from 2014 after just five games when they collected their third win in week five against the Calgary Stampeders. Ottawa clinched a playoff berth in week 17 with a victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on October 16, 2015.^[1] The Redblacks became the first Ottawa-based CFL team to have a winning record since 1979. They were also the first Ottawa-based CFL team to finish first in East Division since the 1978 Rough Riders and the first Ottawa-based team ever to finish with at least 12 regular season wins.

2015 Ottawa Redblacks season
General manager	Marcel Desjardins
Head coach	Rick Campbell
Home stadium	TD Place Stadium
Results
Record	12–6
Division place	1st, East
Playoffs	Lost Grey Cup
Team MOP	Henry Burris
Team MOC	Brad Sinopoli
Team MOR	Forrest Hightower
Uniform
← 2014 Redblacks seasons 2016 →

The Redblacks posted the fifth best winning percentage posted by a second year expansion team in any established North American professional sports league after the 1951 Cleveland Browns, the 1995 Baltimore Stallions, the 1996 Carolina Panthers and the 1997 Montreal Alouettes – although of those four teams, only the Stallions and Panthers were expansion teams in the same sense as the Redblacks and only the Panthers had a losing record in their inaugural season.

On November 22, 2015, the Redblacks defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 35–28 in the Eastern Final to advance to their first Grey Cup game, which they lost 26–20 to the Edmonton Eskimos. It was the first time that an Ottawa CFL team advanced to the Grey Cup game since the 1981 Ottawa Rough Riders.

Off-season

Trades

On January 15, 2015, the Redblacks traded Jasper Simmons and Dan Buckner to the Calgary Stampeders in exchange for Maurice Price. Ottawa is hoping that Price can provide the offense with some explosiveness which the team lacked during its inaugural season.^[2]

Free agency

Within the first two days of the start of the free agency period, the Redblacks made four substantial acquisitions. On February 10, 2015, the Redblacks signed Ernest Jackson from the BC Lions to a two-year, $270,000 deal. The next day Ottawa announced they had signed Greg Ellingson (from the Tiger-Cats), SirVincent Rogers (from the Argonauts), and former Ottawa Gee-Gees quarterback and current wide receiver Brad Sinopoli (from the Stampeders).^[3] On April 21, 2015, the Redblacks announced they had signed wide receiver Chris Williams. Williams had a very productive two seasons with the Ti-Cats accumulating 153 receptions for 2,362 receiving yards 17 receiving touchdowns, 1,198 punt return yards and five punt returns for touchdowns.^[4]

CFL draft

The 2015 CFL Draft took place on May 12, 2015. The Redblacks had six selections in the seven-round draft, including the first overall pick where they selected Ottawa native Alex Mateas.^[5] The club traded their third-round pick to Calgary for Justin Phillips.^[6]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	1	Alex Mateas	OL	UConn
2	10	Jake Harty	WR	Calgary
4	28	Tanner Doll	LS	Calgary
5	37	Jefferson Court	FB	Utah State
6	45	Kienan Lafrance	RB	Manitoba
7	54	Alexandre Leganiere	OL	Montreal

Training camp

The Redblacks conducted their spring mini-camp at TD Place Stadium on April 27–29. Rookies reported to training camp on May 27, with veterans following a few days later on May 31.^[7] Training camp was held at Keith Harris Stadium on the campus of Carleton University.^[8]

Preseason

Due to the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup taking place in June at TD Place Stadium, the Redblacks played their home pre-season game at Telus Stadium in Quebec City, Quebec on the campus of the Université Laval.^[9] It was the second game that an Ottawa CFL franchise played in Quebec City, with the first being in 2003, and the second consecutive year that the Redblacks played their home pre-season game away from Ottawa.

Week	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Results		TV	Venue	Attendance	Summary
				Score	Record
A	Mon, June 8	7:30 p.m. EDT	at Hamilton Tiger-Cats	L 10–37	0–1	None	Tim Hortons Field	N/A	Recap
B	Sat, June 13	7:30 p.m. EDT	vs. Montreal Alouettes	L 9–26	0–2	RDS	Telus Stadium (in Quebec City)	4,778	Recap
C	Bye

^[10]

 #  Games played with colour uniforms.

Regular season

Standings

East Division view talk edit
Team	GP	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
Ottawa Redblacks	18	12	6	464	454	24	Details
Hamilton Tiger-Cats	18	10	8	530	391	20	Details
Toronto Argonauts	18	10	8	438	499	20	Details
Montreal Alouettes	18	6	12	388	402	12	Details

Schedule

Week	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Results		TV	Venue	Attendance	Summary
				Score	Record
1	Thurs, June 25	7:30 p.m. EDT	at Montreal Alouettes	W 20–16	1–0	TSN/RDS/ESPN2	Molson Stadium	21,524	Recap
2	Sat, July 4	6:00 p.m. EDT	vs. BC Lions	W 27–16	2–0	TSN/RDS2	TD Place Stadium	24,376	Recap
3	Thurs, July 9	9:00 p.m. EDT	at Edmonton Eskimos	L 17–46	2–1	TSN/RDS2/ESPN2	Commonwealth Stadium	29,904	Recap
4	Fri, July 17	7:00 p.m. EDT	vs. Edmonton Eskimos	L 12–23	2–2	TSN/RDS	TD Place Stadium	21,078	Recap
5	Fri, July 24	7:00 p.m. EDT	vs. Calgary Stampeders	W 29–26 (OT)	3–2	TSN/RDS	TD Place Stadium	23,018	Recap
6	Bye
7	Fri, Aug 7	7:30 p.m. EDT	vs. Montreal Alouettes	W 26–23	4–2	TSN/RDS/ESPN2	TD Place Stadium	24,427	Recap
8	Sat, Aug 15	10:00 p.m. EDT	at Calgary Stampeders	L 3–48	4–3	TSN/RDS/ESPN2	McMahon Stadium	27,566	Recap
9	Sun, Aug 23	4:00 p.m. EDT	at Toronto Argonauts	L 24–30	4–4	TSN	Rogers Centre	14,748	Recap
10	Sun, Aug 30	4:00 p.m. EDT	vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders	W 35–13	5–4	TSN/RDS2/ESPN2	TD Place Stadium	24,468	Recap
11	Bye
12	Sun, Sept 13	4:00 p.m. EDT	at BC Lions	W 31–18	6–4	TSN	BC Place	19,833	Recap
13	Sat, Sept 19	9:00 p.m. EDT	at Saskatchewan Roughriders	W 30–27	7–4	TSN/RDS2	Mosaic Stadium	30,480	Recap
14	Sat, Sept 26	7:00 p.m. EDT	vs. Toronto Argonauts	L 26–35	7–5	TSN/RDS2	TD Place Stadium	24,586	Recap
15	Thurs, Oct 1	7:30 p.m. EDT	vs. Montreal Alouettes	W 39–17	8–5	TSN/RDS	TD Place Stadium	21,607	Recap
16	Tues, Oct 6	7:30 p.m. EDT	at Toronto Argonauts	L 35–38	8–6	TSN/RDS2	TD Place Stadium	15,011	Recap
17	Fri, Oct 16	7:30 p.m. EDT	vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers	W 27–24	9–6	TSN/RDS2	TD Place Stadium	22,867	Recap
18	Sat, Oct 24	4:00 p.m. EDT	at Winnipeg Blue Bombers	W 27–20	10–6	TSN/RDS2	Investors Group Field	23,773	Recap
19	Sun, Nov 1	1:00 p.m. EST	at Hamilton Tiger-Cats	W 12–6	11–6	TSN	Tim Hortons Field	24,340	Recap
20	Sat, Nov 7	4:00 p.m. EST	vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats	W 44–28	12–6	TSN/RDS2	TD Place Stadium	24,459	Recap

^[10]

 #  Games played with colour uniforms.

 #  Games played with white uniforms.

 #  Games played with alternate uniforms.

Post-season

Schedule

Week	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Results		TV	Venue	Attendance	Summary
				Score	Record
East Semi-Final	Bye
East Final	Sun, Nov 22	1:00 p.m. EST	vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats	W 35–28	1–0	TSN/RDS	TD Place Stadium	25,093	Recap
103rd Grey Cup	Sun, Nov 29	6:00 p.m. EST	Edmonton Eskimos	L 20–26	1–1	TSN/RDS/ESPN2	Investors Group Field	36,634

 #  Games played with colour uniforms.

 #  Games played with white uniforms.

Team

Roster

2015 Ottawa Redblacks roster
Quarterbacks  1 Henry Burris 17 Thomas DeMarco  5 Danny O'Brien Running backs 29 William Powell 37 Kienan Lafrance Fullback 81 Patrick Lavoie Receivers  7 Maurice Price  8 Jake Harty  9 Ernest Jackson 16 Marcus Henry 80 Chris Williams 82 Greg Ellingson 83 Scott MacDonell 84 Jamill Smith 88 Brad Sinopoli		Offensive linemen 53 Matthew Albright C/G 55 SirVincent Rogers LT 56 Alex Mateas C/G 63 Jon Gott C 64 J'Michael Deane LG 66 Nolan MacMillan RG 67 Colin Kelly RT Defensive linemen 44 Justin Phillips DE 47 Nigel Romick DE 52 Shawn Lemon DE 74 Keith Shologan DT 75 Jonathan Williams DT 90 Andrew Marshall DE 92 Zack Evans DT 93 Justin Capicciotti DE 95 Moton Hopkins DL 97 Kalonji Kashama DE		Linebackers 20 David Hinds 36 Nick Rosamonda 38 James Green 45 Damaso Munoz 48 Jonathan Beaulieu-Richard Defensive backs  2 Jovon Johnson  6 Antoine Pruneau 14 Abdul Kanneh 21 Brandon Sermons 22 Jeff Richards 25 Brandyn Thompson 32 Jermaine Robinson Special teams 30 Chris Milo K 50 Kevin Malcolm LS		Injured List  3 Reggie Dunn WR  4 Brock Jensen QB 15 Ronnie Pfeffer K 18 Alex Pierzchalski WR 23 Forrest Hightower DB 24 Jerrell Gavins HB 31 John Boyett DB 33 Jordan Verdone FB 43 Travis Brown 98 Marlon Smith DE 6-Game Injured List 10 Malik Jackson LB 13 Khalil Paden WR 27 Jeremiah Johnson RB 43 Travis Brown RB 85 Matt Carter WR 91 Aston Whiteside DE 99 Connor Williams DT Practice Roster 19 Travell Dixon DB 28 Charles Hugh RB 34 Travon Van RB 39 Backus Quinn LB 49 Ettore Lattanzio DL 51 Aaron Wheaton OT 59 Jake Silas OL 79 Matt Acree DL 94 Vincent Desloges DL Suspended Disabled Territorial Exemption Italics indicate International player Roster updated 2015-11-29 Depth Chart • Transactions 46 Active, 10 Injured, 7 Six-Game Injured, 9 Practice → More rosters

Coaching staff

2015 Ottawa Redblacks staff
	Front office Owner – Jeff Hunt President and ceo – Bernie Ashe General manager – Marcel Desjardins Coordinator, Football Administration – Chantal Covington Video Coordinator, Braun Gheller Towel Folder, Colin Farquharson Pro Scout, Kenny McClay Head coaches Head coach – Rick Campbell Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks – Jason Maas Running backs – Jordan Maksymic Offensive line – Bryan Chiu Receivers – Travis Moore			Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Mark Nelson Defensive line – Leroy Blugh Defensive backs – Ike Charlton Defensive assistant – Derek Oswalt Special teams coaches Special teams coordinator – Don Yanowsky → Coaching Staff → More CFL staffs