PLAYOFF BERTH IN SIGHT
Redblacks win Friday would clinch
Thanks to a little help from their friends, the Ottawa Redblacks moved closer to qualifying for postseason action without playing a snap on the holiday weekend.
Because the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the B.C. Lions and the Toronto Argonauts held off the Montreal Alouettes, the Redblacks’ prerequisite for earning a Canadian Football League playoff spot was reduced to the bare essential: They’re in if they beat the Blue Bombers at home at TD Place stadium on Friday.
Other possibilities include an Alouettes loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday and two combination results: a Redblacks tie against the Blue Bombers plus a B.C. Lions loss to the Edmonton Eskimos on Saturday; or ties in both the Redblacks-Bombers and Alouettes-Ticats games.
“I think guys are seeing, too, that one more win gets you in the playoffs. It’s hard not to know that,” Redblacks slotback Brad Sinopoli said following practice Tuesday.
“I think you’re always aware of where you are. It’s not to say you’re playing harder by any means know that because you’re always playing hard, but I think that, towards the end of the season, you start thinking about those things, and it kind of gets you fired up a little bit.”
The Redblacks (8-6) lost two of the past three games in a span of 11 nights, both against the Toronto Argonauts, sandwiched around a convincing victory against the Alouettes (5-9). However, their players then had four consecutive days off before resuming a normal CFL practice schedule.
Sinopoli talked about using that time to relax, reflect and push a re-set button for not only Friday’s game, but also a Oct. 24 rematch with the Blue Bombers (5-10) in Winnipeg and the season-ending away-and-home games against the Tiger-Cats (9-5), who share first place in the East Division with the Argonauts.
Offensive tackle Sir Vincent Rogers used his mini-break to travel home to Texas to see his monthold son, Sir Vincent Jr., and sevenyear-old daughter Aaliyah. His perspective upon returning was that the Redblacks needed to be better than they were against the Argonauts, who swept the threegame season series.
“You watch the film and you make the corrections,” was Rogers’ prescription for self-improvement. “If there are things that need to be corrected, you’ve got to talk about it.
“We talk about those things and how we can get better as a group, but we trust that we’re going to put the work in and we’re going to make those corrections. We’ve already started making those corrections. Things are already corrected and we’ll be ready to go.”
A season-ending foot injury for tailback Jeremiah Johnson against the Argos on Oct. 6 means the Redblacks’ current rushing leader is quarterback Henry Burris (224 yards), and it’s not in their best interest to have the 40-year-old league leader in pass attempts, completions and yards carry that responsibility, too.
Now starting beside Burris in the backfield is William Powell, who has only been on the active roster for three games, and mostly as a kickoff returner (12 for 244 yards), although he rushed seven times for 49 yards in one half of action as Johnson’s injury replacement.
“We’re a very confident team, but, at the same time, we don’t take any team lightly,” Powell said. “Every game is a big game from here on out, and we’re going to take it one big game at a time. We’re going to focus in, play our best, play our hardest.
“If anything goes wrong, we know it won’t be for the fact that we weren’t playing hard enough.”
Johnson will be placed on the six-game injured list, while Ronnie Pfeffer has already been transferred back to the active roster so he can practise in preparation for another assignment at punter after the release of Brett Maher.
Another intriguing possibility is rookie receiver Jake Harty. The Redblacks’ second-round pick in the CFL college draft, 10th overall, Harty has been on one injured list or another during the regular season because of a hamstring injury, but has practised at full speed this week.
Head coach Rick Campbell said he didn’t anticipate significant changes to Friday’s starting lineup, but Harty and others will be subjects of discussion before the roster is finalized.
As for what Friday’s game could mean for the second-year Redblacks franchise, Campbell’s mantra remained "one step at a time.
“Our first stated goal was to find a way to get in the playoffs, and we have an opportunity to do that,” he said. “But, regardless of what happens, who wins or loses, we know we need to win as many games as we can to put ourselves in the best position. That’s goal No. 1.”