Redblacks’ Price lets football world know: ‘We’re going to win’
All four teams still competing for the 2015 Grey Cup title are good, Maurice Price says.
That means the Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders and the East-finalist Hamilton TigerCats, too.
However, the Ottawa Redblacks wide receiver says he and his mates have reason to be proud of winning 12 of 18 regular-season games, finishing first in the East and earning the right to host the Tiger-Cats in the division final with good reason to believe they can win.
“We did a lot of good things,” Price said Wednesday following the Redblacks’ first full on-field practice since clinching home-field advantage for Sunday’s game at TD Place stadium. “Why not? Why not win on Sunday? So, yeah, we’re going to win.
“If I say we’re going to lose, that would be even crazier, right? I’m not really too big on politically correct answers. You asked me a question, and, yes, we’re going to win. And I think if you ask everybody else that, too, if they don’t say it, they’re going to be thinking it. I’m thinking it, so I’m going to say it.”
Price, who spent his first three CFL seasons with Calgary teams that went to West finals, winning twice, made sure to credit the Ticats for finishing second in the East at 10-8 despite losing two quarterbacks to injury.
“Obviously everybody wants to win the Grey Cup, everybody wants to win (the East final),” said Price, who had guaranteed a playoff berth during his first appearance in the Redblacks locker-room in February. “But what we are focusing on and what coaches are preaching is focusing on the process and letting the results take care of themselves.”
General manager Marcel Desjardins pooh-poohed a suggestion the Redblacks might become overconfident about their chances of defeating the Tiger-Cats again to earn a trip to the Grey Cup game at Winnipeg on Nov. 29. This, he said of the second-year franchise, is a 12-6 team that hasn’t proven anything yet.
“Winning this game would prove a lot, and our guys understand that,” Desjardins said.
The spin provided by head coach Rick Campbell was that the TigerCats were two-time defending East champions and remained champions until knocked off that perch. “We have to find a way to get where they have been the last couple of years.”
‘BEST LINEUP POSSIBLE’
Price, who didn’t finish the regular-season finale against Hamilton after receiving a concussion in the third quarter, was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice. So were running back Jeremiah Johnson, hoping to return after dislocating his left foot in early October and defensive halfback Jerrell Gavins (hamstring). Punter Ronnie Pfeffer (sprained left ankle) remained on the sidelines.
Campbell said the potential returns of Johnson and Gavins would provide options before the active roster for the East final was declared Saturday.
“We are going to field whatever we think the best lineup is to try and beat these (Tiger-Cats),” Campbell said. “We are going to let practice play itself out over these next couple of days. I don’t anticipate a lot of changes, but, if there’s a change to be made that we think can help us, we’ll do it.”
HE’S A WEATHER EXPERT, TOO
Price is a 30-year-old Floridian and still lives there during the offseason, but his three seasons as a Stampeder have made him familiar with the concept of late fall weather in Canada. Maybe that was why he wasn’t fretting excessively over the possibility of snow on Sunday and what impact it might have on the pass-first Redblacks offence.
“Snow and rain does have an effect on what you can do in the passing game,” Price said.
“As you could see when we played in Hamilton (on Nov. 1), it was really windy, and that affected out down-the-field passing game. There was a lot of short, underneath stuff. The weather is real and you have to adjust to it and be heads-up about it.”