Fraser Caldwell
Ticats.ca
Cortez: Wednesday as an evaluation
Following his team’s morning walkthrough at Ron Joyce Stadium, Ticats’ Head Coach and Director of Football Operations George Cortez addressed his approach to the team’s opening preseason tilt on Wednesday.
The Black and Gold’s bench boss indicated that while a win is always desirable whenever his team takes the field, the priority during the exhibition schedule is to use such contests as part of the player evaluation process.
“It’s like any game in that we want to win the game, but we also want the players to be in the best position that they can be in to show us what they can do,” said Cortez of his squad’s Ivor Wynne debut. “It’s still an evaluative program. We haven’t picked the team yet, and there’s competition at positions. Hopefully we’ve got them coached up so that they know what we’re going to try to do, and we’ve eliminated the things that they might not know how to do.”Looking to let their players’ strengths shine through in a competitive environment, Cortez stated that he and his coaching staff would be keeping things simple in Wednesday’s encounter.
“We’re running the stuff that we run, but we’re not trying to trick the guys though,” said Cortez. “Which eliminates a lot of the things that we practice, because you can get things in at practice and coach them off of tape, but when we get into the game I don’t want a receiver who’s only been here for two weeks to blow a gasket because of a cute little formation.”
The Ticats’ coach also spoke his team’s mentality, which he believes to be gaining intensity as training camp moves forward and the Black and Gold’s prospective players because accustomed to the physical rigours of practice.
“I think in the last few days, because we’ve gotten past the “blahs”, there’s been a lot more chirping going on in practice,” said Cortez. “I count that as a positive because it probably means that they’re not nearly as tired as they were.”
Burris: striking a competitive balance
The Ticats’ star pivot, Henry Burris was reached for comment after completing the Tuesday morning walkthrough and spoke of the need to balance game-time intensity with decision making when facing a preseason contest.
A day out from his first competitive outing as a Tiger-Cat, Burris stated his hope that his experience will help him to avoid unnecessary risk at this early stage, while still maintaining the level of engagement needed to compete.
“After the hundred years that I’ve playing this game, I’ve tried to make good decisions and be smart with what I do with myself in given circumstances,” said the veteran quarterback. “In the preseason you want to go out there and do what you can to improve yourself within the offence – get better timing and chemistry – but to also get better at some things you might not be as good at in practice.
“But now with the live bullets flying you want to make good decisions and make sure that you come out of the game with a great feeling as to how you executed on offence. But there’s no sense in trying to run over two guys to get an extra yard for a first down in this situation. Let’s be smart, get down and save yourself because the game that really counts is on June 29th when Saskatchewan rolls into town.”
