Team won’t let up in season finale
With a first-round bye locked up, they still plan to play hard in season finale
The Ottawa Redblacks could treat their final regular-season game, Friday night at home against the Toronto Argonauts, like a vacation.
It means nothing in the standings — the Redblacks locked up first place in the East on Saturday with an impressive 30-13 throttling of the Tiger-Cats in cold, windy, rainy conditions in Hamilton.
So whatever happens against Toronto won’t change what happens the following week — Hamilton will play the B.C. Lions in the East Division semifinal, with the winner of that facing Ottawa in the East championship game Nov. 18. So will they load up the game-day lineup with practice-roster guys?
The thing is, that’s not necessarily how the Redblacks are looking at it. Surely, they will rest any players who are banged up and maybe give quarterback Trevor Harris a bit of a breather, but remember, they have a bye the following week, so for anybody not playing against the Argos it will be three weeks between game action. Rustiness is something no team can afford.
Asked about removing some key players from the lineup for next week’s game, Redblacks coach Rick Campbell said: “We’ll see. You can’t (rest everybody) in the CFL, there aren’t enough people on the roster. We’ll choose wisely and try to be as healthy as we can for the playoff game.”
It was a happy plane ride home Saturday night after beating the Ticats, but the celebration won’t last long.
Harris, who was brilliant in, at times, extremely tough conditions, said: “By no means is the sentence finished. There’s no period yet. Put a comma in there, the sentence is still going.”
Receiver Diontae Spencer, who had a huge game Saturday — 116 yards receiving and two touchdowns, along with 130 yards on five punt returns, giving his team terrific field position — said, “We’re trying to embrace the moment, but we’re not finished.
“We have to keep this mentality, keep this energy, stay focused and play Redblacks football. We’ve accomplished this, but the race is not over. The big goal is the Grey Cup.”
Offensive lineman Sir-Vincent Rogers said: “We’ve battled through a lot this year. We’ve grown as a team. It feels good to do something like this with these guys.”
Defensive back Sherrod Baltimore, who had an interception for the second straight week, noted “the job has just started.”
“This is when the season really starts. You do all that preparation, work hard in the off-season — just to get ready for these games. We’re going to tighten up.”
Harris, who said the key to throwing the ball in the wind was “keeping the nose (of the ball) down, putting it high and inside and letting him run underneath it,” completed 23 of 30 passes for 267 yards. Backup quarterback Dominique Davis also tossed a 55-yard touchdown pass to Greg Ellingson as he rolled out on a third-and-one situation that usually calls for him to run for the first down.
Asked about Harris, who now has 5,116 yards passing — 93 behind Hamilton’s Jeremiah Masoli and 126 behind league-leader Mike Reilly (Edmonton) — Campbell said: “I sure like the guy. Some other people doubt him, but I sure am glad he’s on our side.”
Ellingson said Harris is “always playing at the highest level. He’s one of the best in the league, in my opinion. Other people are starting to see that now.”
Harris gave credit to others. “My O -line’s kept me healthy, the guys have pushed me and Jaime Elizondo is a good offensive coordinator — I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves.”
Ottawa and Hamilton didn’t seem to like each other much Saturday. There were some violent collisions, some jawing and heightened activity all over the field.
“That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Rogers said. “We’re divisional foes, we’re fighting for position in the East — it’s going to get like that sometimes.”
At one point, the helmets of Rogers and Hamilton defensive lineman Julian Howsare became locked and had to be separated by an official.
“It happened last game, but we were able to get it apart ourselves,” Rogers said. “We collided and we were stuck. I didn’t want any penalties so I just threw my hands up until the ref could get it out.”
Ottawa won all three meetings, but the Redblacks and Tiger-Cats could meet a fourth time yet. Hamilton first has to get past the Lions, who they beat 40-10 on Sept. 29.
Ottawa doesn’t plan to be caught flat-footed, no matter which team they play.
Getting the bye “puts you one home game away from the Grey Cup,” Campbell said. “It’s hard to win on the road in the playoffs so it’s a big deal to get a home game. At this time of the year, you can ask any player when they’ve played 20 games if you include the pre-season — it’s a lot of football. So it’s an advantage (to have a week off ). We won’t go home or anything like that, we’ll practise during the bye week.”
In a season where the Redblacks have struggled to put everything together for long stretches, they seem to be hitting their stride.
“We’re on a nice little stretch, we want to play our best football,” Baltimore said. Ellingson agreed.
“It’s a little nostalgic right now, it kind of went this way the year we won the Grey Cup, putting ourselves in first place, then hosting the East final. One more game to go, the focus is on win No. 11. Then it’s just one win and we’re in the Cup.”
We’ve battled through a lot this year. We’ve grown as a team. It feels good to do something like this with these guys.