REDBLACKS AREN’T PANICKING
Players still confident in each other and feel only a couple of wins from contention
For all the Redblacks fans disgusted and worried by their team’s start to this CFL season — just a tie to show for four games, with a combined losing margin of seven points — fullback Patrick Lavoie points to the 2011 B.C. Lions.
It’s not like Lavoie is satisfied with the results the Redblacks have produced, but he believes in his teammates, his coaches and what this team is capable of.
“In 2011, the Lions started the season 0-5 — it was a bad 0-5,” Lavoie said following the Redblacks’ walk-through on Tuesday before facing the Montreal Alouettes at TD Place on Wednesday. “After that, they went 11-2. The Grey Cup was in B.C., they killed Winnipeg (34-23).”
That B.C. Lions team didn’t win a game until Aug. 5.
“We’re not panicking,” Lavoie said. “(Coach) Rick (Campbell) says the same thing every year, the CFL season is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Right now, we don’t have the start we want. But we know we have all the tools to finish strong. The season’s so young. We might play the same game the next four games and we could win all four of them. Clean up the little things and we’ll be good.”
Finishing the season like the 2011 Lions would be awesome, but the Redblacks need to hope they don’t wind up more like the 2015 Saskatchewan Roughriders, who lost nine straight to open the season and finished 3-15. Darian Durant, now the Alouettes’ starting quarterback, was with the Riders in 2015.
“If you start losing tight games and it happens over and over and over, you get that sense of desperation,” Durant said. “You start playing out of character; that’s not the way to go about it. I understand where they are. We have a lot of veterans in our locker-room who understand the ups and downs, who’ve started off with 5-0 records, who’ve started off with 0-5 records.
“Once the first quarter begins and the opening kickoff happens, all those emotions go away and you’re focused on playing football. We have to make sure we execute and play good football on the road in a hostile environment in order to get this win.”
The Redblacks speak about playing a full game, making fewer mistakes and forcing the opposition to make more mistakes. With back-to-back games against East Division opponents (they’re in Toronto next Monday), they know the urgency involved.
“We need to take it a game at a time, put all our marbles in one bucket for Montreal; then once we get that win, we move on to the next,” defensive back Jonathan Rose said. “The most depressing part is we haven’t won, the most inspiring part is we could be right back on top of the division with two big wins. When you know you’re capable of so much more, you hate to settle for less.
“It’s kind of like baseball, once you get your swing and your rhythm, you make contact with more balls. Once we get this win, more wins will follow. Confidence can really be the maker or the breaker.”
When asked if it was a mustwin situation, Redblacks coach Rick Campbell answered: “No. But there’s great urgency for us to win every single game because we only have 18 cracks at this thing. Does this game make or break our season? No, that wouldn’t be the truth.
“But do we feel great urgency to win every game? Absolutely.”
Ottawa quarterback Trevor Harris, who has thrown for 1,379 yards and eight TDs already this season, knows he has to be more consistent. He also knows his team has to take a step forward.
“We look in the mirror and say, ‘We need to be better in certain plays,’ ” Harris said. “It almost sounds like a broken record every week for the past few weeks — ‘If we would have done this, we would have won.’ We need to stop that and make sure we do get a win.”
ABOUT THAT SCHEDULE
It’s worth repeating that this particular section of the CFL schedule is not only unfair, but unsafe. Let’s see, game Friday in Edmonton, a travel day Saturday, an off day Sunday, practices on Monday and Tuesday, game at home Wednesday, off Thursday, practices Friday and Saturday, travel to Toronto on Sunday and game Monday.
While nobody’s raising much of a stink (the CFL tends to fine guys who say negative things), Harris said: “I just trust whoever made the schedule played pro football and they say it’s scientifically and medically safe to play three games in 11 days. I’ll just trust the fact they know what they’re doing.”
COMING IN ON A HIGH
The Als were very good in last Friday’s 30-23 win over Calgary. Montreal coach Jacques Chapdelaine, who is trying to establish a culture in his locker-room, said: “For me, the key to success is being able to balance confidence and humility. Confidence comes with preparation.
“If you look at some of the top athletes in the world, they’re the ones who want to have the ball in their hands to make that last shot. At the same time, they have enough humility to be in that gym longer than anybody else, to be on that court longer than anybody else — whatever it takes. They’re not quite sure they’re good enough, but come game day, they’ve got that swagger and confidence that they want that critical play.
“We preach that on a weekly basis. Unless you’re humble enough to prepare so you can feel good about yourself, success won’t come.”
Right now, we don’t have the start we want. But we know we have all the tools to finish strong.
EIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH
The Redblacks have tumbled down to eighth place in the CFL Nissan Titan Power Rankings, ahead of only Hamilton. Edmonton is ranked first, while Montreal is sixth.