REDBLACKS QB BURRIS LOOKS AHEAD AGAINST FORMER T EAM
Even as Ottawa Redblacks players savoured victory in their first regular-season home game, Henry Burris was thinking about what is coming next. Burris watched the conclusion of Friday night’s contest between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Calgary Stampeders on television. The Stampeders won 10-7, leaving the Tiger-Cats, Burris’ team for the previous two seasons, 0-3 overall and last in the Canadian Football League’s East Division. Burris tried to express sorrow at the loss by friends and former teammates, but couldn’t contain himself. The 1-2 Redblacks play the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton next weekend. “It wasn’t sad, it was good to see them lose because they are an Eastern opponent,” Burris said Saturday, the day after the Redblacks thrilled a capacity crowd of 24,326 by defeating the Toronto Argonauts 18-17 in the franchise debut at TD Place stadium. “You want to see good friends always be successful, but hey, we are both trying to get that same piece of bread.They played hard. I know Kent (Austin, Tiger-Cats head coach) is going to have those guys ready to play. I’m looking forward to going back there, but I’m looking forward to going back there and doing what we can to become a better football team.” Being “better” would primar- ily involve increased production when the Redblacks have the football. Burris and his offensive teammates haven’t scored a touchdown in more than six quarters. Against the Argonauts, four of Brett Maher’s six field goals came from less than 30 yards, including the gamewinner late on. “We are going to have bad games, we are going to have bad quarters, we are going to have bad series, but we can’t let that bring us down and we just have to keep building,” said tailback Chevon Walker, who ran 12 times for 60 yards, but also had a 44-yard romp nullified by a penalty. Walker is also a former Ticat. Unlike Burris, released in late January and signed by the Redblacks as a free agent days later, the 27-year-old Walker was left unprotected and claimed by Ottawa in the December expansion draft.