Redblacks, Eskimos ready to rumble
After week of practice, prep and pageantry, CFL’s best raring to suit up for Sunday’s game
WINNIPEG— For Henry Burris and Mike Reilly, it’s time to play.
The Ottawa Redblacks and Edmonton Eskimos held their final practices of the season Saturday, making last-minute preparations for their showdown Sunday night at the 103rd Grey Cup.
For the opposing quarterbacks, the CFL championship game can’t start soon enough.
“We’ve been watching so much film right now,” said Burris, the Ottawa quarterback who Thursday was named the CFL’s outstanding player. “It’s time to get on the field and put it all to work now.”
Reilly, who has led Edmonton to nine straight wins since returning to the starting lineup, agreed.
“We’ve been here for long enough, we’re ready to get on the field and get this thing started,” he said. “We were ready to play Monday but you’ve got to go through the process, you’ve got to go through your weekly preparation.
“But if you’re not ready to go now, you won’t be.”
Ottawa also comes into the title game on a nice roll, having won five straight.
The Grey Cup game is indeed a matchup of the best teams in the East and West divisions. Ottawa (12-6) finished atop the Eastern conference after winning just two games in its inaugural 2014 season, while Edmonton (14-4) finished tied with Calgary for the league’s best record but secured top spot in the standings after winning the season series with the Stampeders.
Burris’s 93-yard TD strike to Greg Ellingson with just over a minute remaining earned the Redblacks a thrilling 35-28 home win over Hamilton in the East Division final, securing Ottawa its first Grey Cup berth since 1981. Edmonton dispatched Calgary in the West finale to reach the CFL title game for the first time since 2005.
That’s also the last time Edmonton won the Grey Cup, while Ottawa’s last league championship came in 1976. Tony Gabriel’s late TD grab rallied the former Rough Riders to a memorable 23-20 victory over Saskatchewan.
A sellout gathering of 36,634 will attend Sunday’s game. The contest was officially sold out Friday but will be the secondsmallest Grey Cup crowd since 1975.
Sunday’s forecast calls for a game-time temperature of -6 C, according to The Weather Network. That’s about average for this time of year in the Manitoba capital but will feel more like -11 C.
There’s only a 10-per-cent chance of precipitation but of more importance to the two teams will be the 12-km/h winds. The 1991 Grey Cup in Winnipeg was one of the coldest on record, with a game-time temperature of -17 C.
Spectators at Investors Group Field can also look forward to being warmed by the pre-game and half-time entertainment Sunday.
Juno Award-winning country star Dean Brody headlines the pre-game show, after recently concluding a 22-city, 7,000-kilometre national tour.
“We’ve been here for long enough, we’re ready to get on the field and get this thing started.” ESKIMOS QB MIKE REILLY
He’ll head to Nashville next year to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.
Grammy-nominated rock band Fall Out Boy will take the stage at half-time.
The Grey Cup game will be broadcast in the U.S. on ESPN2, which also includes a worldwide audience in Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Rim. Additionally, the contest will be available to more than 150 other countries via YouTube.
Both teams looked loose and comfortable Saturday. The Eskimos players broke into dance during their walk-through while Campbell kept things light during his media sit-down with Burris.
First the Redblacks coach quipped his 40-year-old quarterback will play another 10 years, before giving Burris a shout-out for singing a verse from Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” “All right, a Billy Joel reference,” he said. Jones, for one, was pleased to see his team’s light-hearted approach.
“We found out last year we don’t play good when we’re all tense and tight and nervous,” said Jones, whose team lost 43-18 to Calgary in last year’s West final.
“(At walk-through) we’re ready to do our work and everybody zones in . . . but we try to create an atmosphere that’s a lot more relaxed.”