By Kevin Thompson
Let’s begin with your thoughts on the Labour Day Classic win over the Argonauts…
MB – “It was a good victory, an important victory for us playing against our rival in a four-point game so I’m very happy with the outcome.”
Your offence didn’t surrender a sack and had no turnovers. Talk about how your team took care of the quarterback and the ball…
MB – “Well those were critical things, not only were there zero sacks and zero turnovers but there was also zero plays for a loss so we kept ourselves ahead of the down and distance which was important. That is a key component in the game. I thought we did a great job of protecting our quarterback and giving him time to throw.”
Describe your first Labour Day Classic as head coach of the Tiger-Cats…
MB – “For me personally it was a lot of fun, it’s the first time I have been at the stadium when it’s full. I have been here as a guest you might say with other teams over the past nine years. It’s also been rowdy and crazy like that and I really admired it so it was a lot of fun this time around. It was a great opportunity for our players to experience the energy and hopefully the fans will continue to come to the stadium for our remaining home games.”
On Monday, there were several heated moments in the game and a couple of players were ejected. Do you expect the same level of intensity in Toronto this week?
MB – “I certainly do… will we have ejections and all that other stuff? I don’t know because Labour Day is a different game altogether, but I certainly expect [the Argos] to be intense and play hard, and I expect the same out of our players as well.”
Dave Stala had a great game against the Argos and was named the CFL’s Canadian Player of the Week. How has he contributed to the offence on this team?
MB – “Dave has been very steady, you can always count on him and that has been one of the critical things. When you need a play and we get the ball to him, we know that he is going to catch the ball and make a play for us. It is nice for the quarterbacks to know that and have someone like that to go to.”
As a unit, the defence played very well on Monday and gave up only 15 points. What was the key to their success?
MB – “The first thing was they played hard, they flew around the field and they made plays. They had a great level of enthusiasm and intensity. Secondly, they executed, they understood the game plan, they understood what they had to do to stop Toronto’s offence and they did a good job of it.”
This is a very short week with only four days between games, talk about the challenge of preparing your team within such a short time frame…
MB – “It’s challenging because you have to make some adjustments but you have to balance those adjustments with how much the players can digest in a limited amount of practice time. It’s all about finding that happy median.”
Kevin Glenn has had two impressive starts in a row… he threw for 273 yards and two touchdown passes in his last outing. Should we expect to see him starting on Friday in Toronto?
MB – “We’ll see, we will make a decision at the end of the week.”
What are the keys to beating the Argos on Friday in front of their home crowd?
MB – “Turnovers will be critical again for both teams, protecting our quarterback, getting after their quarterback and then explosive plays. You have to limit their explosive plays next game and we have to create explosive plays.”
