REDBLACKS REWARDED FOR RECORD SEASONS
Ward, Sinopoli among the East Division finalists for the CFL’s year-end awards
Did Ottawa Redblacks quarterback Trevor Harris get robbed? Some people figure so with a snub that saw Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli chosen as the East Division’s nominee for the CFL’s most outstanding player (he’ll go against Calgary’s Bo Levi Mitchell). The CFL award winners are decided by 68 voters from the Football Reporters of Canada, along with head coaches from each of the nine teams. But rather than focus on the could-have-been/shouldhave-beens, let’s focus on what did happen. It was announced Thursday that Ottawa’s Rick Campbell is up for CFL coach of the year (against Saskatchewan’s Chris Jones), receiver Brad Sinopoli is up for most outstanding Canadian (against Winnipeg’s Andrew Harris) and kicker Lewis Ward is up for two awards (most outstanding rookie against Saskatchewan receiver Jordan Williams-Lambert and most outstanding special teams player against B.C. punter Ty Long). Both Redblacks players up for awards are former University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. Following Thursday’s hour-long practice, they were also each presented with a beautiful framed collage that included a jersey and photos. Ward, of course, has been sensational. The rookie long ago booted his way past Rene Paredes’ record for consecutive field goals (39) and wound up the regular season with 48 straight (also going past the NFL record of 44 set by the Indianapolis Colts’ Adam Vinatieri). His field-goal percentage for the season (he missed one in Week 1) was 98.1, beating Paredes’ record of 94.7. Ward has a good chance of being the league’s rookie and special teams player of the year. “It’s pretty cool,” said Ward. “But I’ve said it before: awards aren’t something I’m super motivated by. It’s something that’s kind of a product of what I’m doing. I come in every week trying to be the best I can. You put it in the back of your mind. When it happens it happens and then you have other things to focus on. It’s still something pretty special.” Asked if he was surprised by what the rookie kicker has been able to accomplish, Sinopoli said, “Yes. I don’t think anyone ever expects someone to go in and break a world record. But I’m not surprised at his demeanour, what he does and his consistency. He just took it up a notch.” Sinopoli is coming off a record-setting regular season of his own — his 116 receptions by a Canadian were four better than the former record held by Montreal’s Ben Cahoon. Sinopoli finished third in the CFL in receiving yards with 1,376 and had 36 second-down conversion catches. It’s now back-to-back years that Sinopoli will go against the defending award winner Harris (who led the league with 1,390 rushing yards and also had 58 catches for 451 yards). Asked if what he’s done in 2018 is the best of his eight CFL seasons, Sinopoli said, “The stats say it is. I don’t really look at where this ranks. Honestly, my focus and mindset is to stay consistent, go out and don’t try to do too much, catch the ball. I just happened to catch a few more passes this year.” Asked about the players and their accomplishments, Campbell said, “It’s pretty remarkable when you think about it. When this game’s been played for as long as it has, for those guys to get a couple of significant records like that is pretty awesome.” Campbell was also up for coach of the year in 2015, ironically enough winning the award over then-Edmonton coach Chris Jones. It was Jones, though, who won the bigger award — the Grey Cup. “The award we’re interested in is the one no one votes on,” said Campbell. When pressed about being the East’s representative for coach of the year, he said, “Obviously that’s not my award, that’s our coaching staff, our players, really our whole team. I’m proud of anybody on our team who gets an individual recognition, but I always say football is the ultimate team game because it takes so many people to do it right. So it’s a reflection of our team.” Asked about what it’s like to play under Campbell as a coach, Sinopoli said, “I’ve known him since Calgary (they were both with the Stampeders). He’s just very, very smart. He understands his players very well. He puts us in good positions to be successful — that’s very hard to do. He doesn’t feel like he has to yell at us. He treats us all with respect and he demands the same thing back. It’s simple, but there’s a lot that goes into it. Whenever he speaks, you’d better sit up and listen because you know it’s important.” Oh, and let’s get back to the Harris-Masoli debate. Both put up great numbers. Masoli had 5,209 passing yards (he threw for more than 300 yards 12 times) and had 28 touchdown passes. Against playoff teams this season, Harris is 7-4, while Masoli is 2-9. Injuries played a factor. Over the course of the season, Masoli lost four starting receivers to injury, each one of them a huge blow. No question, he’s been great, but Ottawa’s two wins over Hamilton near the end of the season changed the way I was going to vote. “All I’ll say: there are a lot of good players in this league, we’re just glad Trevor’s our quarterback,” said Campbell. “There’s nobody we’d rather have being our quarterback going into the East final.”
BUZZED ON ONE BEER?
Under the category of things that make you roll your eyeballs, a TMZ Sports story on Jon Gott chugging a beer as a touchdown celebration last week has the headline: “I played buzzed.” Except nowhere in the story does it say that. Gott did tell TMZ: “You’re playing on an empty stomach and you crush a beer, yeah, I felt it a little.” Now, feeling it a little and playing buzzed, that’s a world apart, especially when we’re talking about a 300-pounder who wasn’t exactly at his first beer rodeo. Plus he’s Canadian. A one-beer buzz, TMZ? Asked if he was buzzed, Gott said: “No. All I did was tell him I felt it a little bit, then they went with I was buzzed.” Asked if he could get buzzed on one beer, Gott smiled and said, “C’mon now.”
GREY CUP WINNER WILL BE ...
Six CFL.ca writers were asked to predict who would win the Grey Cup. All six of them said the winner would be from the West, giving Ottawa no chance. Asked about people picking against the Redblacks, Campbell said, “Good. No problem. We won’t worry about that. There’s nothing wrong with being underestimated. All of this is talk. It’s fun to talk about the best players, the best teams, who’s going to win and who’s not. Really, the proof ’s in the pudding as far as what happens in the game. That’s what our guys are focused on. They know no one votes on who wins the game, so we’ll try and get ready and find a way to win the first one (the East final Nov. 18 at TD Place versus the winner of Sunday’s game between B.C. and Hamilton).