1. Tiger-Cats expecting Burris to play, despite sitting out practice again
Redblacks quarterback and former Ticats pivot Henry Burris sat out practice for the third straight day today, leading to further speculation that Thomas DeMarco may make the start in Hamilton on Sunday.
Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell stated that he was unsure of who the starter would be on Sunday, but Burris was adamant that he’d play if the choice was up to him. The Redblacks starter suffered a knee injury in last week’s victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Despite the mixed reports, the Ticats are preparing and expecting to see #1 line up under centre for the Redblacks.
“We’re expecting him to play,” said head coach Kent Austin. “It doesn’t mean we’re not prepared if he doesn’t, but we’re expecting him to play.”
Through 16 games this season, Burris has surpassed 300 passing yards in nine games and it’s safe to say that the Redblacks offence would be seriously handicapped if he were unable to start Sunday’s game at quarterback.
2. Redblacks’ defensive success has not gone unnoticed by teams
All the talk surrounding Ottawa this season has been about the Redblacks offence; and while Henry Burris and the Ottawa pass offence have warranted the attention they’ve received, it has stolen the focus away from the Redblacks stalwart defence.
The Redblacks offence leads the league with 388.6 yards of offence per game and 33:05 time of possession per game, but their defensive unit has been equally impressive. And while the defence has received far less attention from the media, it has not gone unnoticed by opposing teams.
“They’re a good defence, they’ve played well and they’ve gotten turnovers,” said Coach Austin. “We’re going to have to protect our quarterback and control the line of scrimmage, we know all those things.”
The Redblacks are league-leaders in both sacks (52) and interceptions (24) and they have scored 116 points off of turnovers this season.
Ticats QB Jeff Mathews is well aware of the defensive pressure that the Redblacks have generated and the poor decisions that it has forced upon other quarterbacks, acknowledging the need to execute and be strong up front.
“Obviously when you’re doing that you’re doing some good things,” said Mathews, “I think those two things [interceptions and sacks] go hand in hand, they get pressure on the quarterback and force quarterbacks into bad decisions.”
3. Mathews focused solely on football
With the biggest game of the Ticats season on the horizon, quarterback Jeff Mathews was completely oblivious to the fact that Halloween is right around the corner.
“I know we’ve got Ottawa this week, that’s it,” laughed Mathews.
Those expecting Christmas gifts from Mathews may be disappointed as well; the quarterback knows the date of the holiday but is not exactly the type to keep a countdown.
“I know it’s the 25th every year but I don’t know how far that is,” said Mathews, “it’s after the Grey Cup.”
In four starts this season the rookie quarterback has passed for 896 yards and six touchdowns, while completing 70.7% of his pass attempts. If Henry Burris is good to go for Sunday’s game, Mathews will go head-to-head with a quarterback who is 16 years his senior. Mathews was seven years old when Burris took to the field for the Calgary Stampeders in his first career CFL game.
