The Canadian Press
Ticats.ca
Justin Dunk
With the grind of training camp in the rearview mirror, the Ticats look straight ahead at their first regular season opponent. Each time professional athletes step out on the field for a game or practice, they’re looking to solidify their position, but the focus now turns to preparation.
“Training camp you’re really just preparing against yourself and you’re trying to learn plays,” starting middle linebacker Renauld Williams said. “This week coach threw a lot of new plays at us.”
“It’s still transitional, doing scout teams for the first time, we’ve put a new meeting structure in that we haven’t had in the last two years. So that takes some getting used to for all the players and coaches,” head coach Marcel Bellefeuille said after the Tiger-Cats first ‘day one’ of the 2011 campaign.
“You want the same intensity at practice, you want the same speed and tempo that they had when they were competing for jobs to make you better in games — it’s about demanding more of the same.”
Just because training camp is over doesn’t mean the hard work stops.
“It’s not really a let up. In fact, we’ve got to step on the gas even more,” starting guard Peter Dyakowski said. “We’ve got the first regular season game coming up, the first one that really counts.”
The black and gold kick off the games that count in the standings for the second consecutive year against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and the players are anxious in doing their homework for a team in different colours.
“We get to focus on the team we’re playing, we get to see their looks, we get to really start priming for a team, rather than just playing against ourselves the whole time,” Dyakowski said. “Now were watching our film again on the bad guys and getting everything squared away.”
Offensively, the number one unit got their first look at the Bombers 3-4 defence, which lines up in multiple fronts, from the scout team. Coach Bellefeuille could be heard at practice on Monday quizzing his offence on what the defensive fronts were after each rep.
“We’re seeing new looks, we’re seeing new fronts, we’re seeing new configurations on the defence,” Dyakowski said. “We’re getting ready for it.”
“We’re preparing for more, especially the first week because you don’t know what you’re going to see,” Bellefeuille said of the Bombers multiple defensive fronts and looks on defence. “You prepare for every and any possibility and it makes it more challenging on the players. Hopefully you prepare enough so that when it gets to the game time it’s easier.”
Williams mentioned the first day of preparation for the Bombers was a little crazy, but they will look at the film and get out on the field and get better for day two. The former Pittsburgh Steeler and Saskatchewan Roughrider points out one key factor; shutting down the Bombers attack.
“We’ve got to stop the run, we have to stop [Fred] Reid. Pierce likes to run as well, so we have to keep an eye on him because he will take off and make plays with his legs,” Williams said. “So we have to stop the running back first and make sure we keep Pierce in the pocket.”
