Fraser Caldwell
Ticats.ca
Positive attitude with home opener approaching
In the aftermath of his team’s Wednesday morning workout, the Ticats’ Head Coach and Director of Football Operations George Cortez expressed his satisfaction with the attitude displayed by his players. He noted that the members of the Black and Gold were particularly talkative on the practice field, which he takes as a sign of preparedness for the task ahead.
“We were awfully chirpy today, so I hope that means that we’re refreshed and looking forward to playing on Friday night,” said Cortez. “It’s definitely better than them being mum out there.”
Impressed with offensive line early on
The offensive line has seen much change from the 2011 season, but Cortez indicated on Wednesday that he is very pleased with what he has seen from the revised group thus far. The coach reserved special praise for the members of his top unit, but warned that the regular season would pose an entirely new challenge.
“They’ve actually performed quite well in the preseason, especially the guys who played with the first team,” said Cortez of his linemen.
“They did a nice job in the preseason and the regular season brings a whole different level of intensity. We have high expectations of everybody on the team, and if we didn’t, they wouldn’t be here.”
Burris at home with offence
With the preparedness of Henry Burris once again appearing as a topic of discussion as it has throughout the Ticats’ preseason, Cortez took a moment to confirm that his starting pivot feels very comfortable in the Tiger-Cats current offensive setup.
He very well should, considering his previous experience with the playbook, and Cortez argued that the primary challenge for both Burris and himself lies in establishing the new references to time-honoured routines.
“Since he’s run it for years, he knows it very well,” said Cortez of his quarterback’s familiarity with the Ticats’ offensive system.
“It’s the same offence, just different ways to do things. We changed a lot of the names of the plays, that’s the hardest part. It’s harder for me. Some things that used to be one thing are now something else and every now and then I have a flashback to other years. But he’s done a very good job of getting reacquainted with what we’re doing.”
On fan access and information gathering
Events in Saskatchewan this week have created a stir throughout the CFL, as the Roughriders closed two of their practices to the public in response to a fan’s leaking of tactical information. Asked for his opinion on the incident, and what such a threat means for the Ticats, Cortez indicated that such concerns were inevitable in the age of the smart phone.
“Anyone here have a phone that has a video recorder on it? We have a policy against it in the league, at least as far as the media goes. We try like in most other places that I’ve been to look in the stands and if someone’s up taking video with their cellphone, we send someone up to them. In some cases they run before we can get there, to be completely honest.”
Cortez pointed out that leaks are particularly damaging in the opening week, before rosters have entirely cleared themselves up and the course of play has made a team’s tendencies more apparent.
“I read the stuff that the guy put up on the internet, and it’s a matter of wanting to know more than everybody else and proving that you’re smarter than everybody else,” said the coach. “If it’s correct, it’s some good information. Some of it wouldn’t be all that good once the season gets going, but in the first week you don’t know for sure when you’ve only declared 46 players and you’re not sure about the injuries.
“But I understand why [Saskatchewan] did it. I mean, you don’t want to give information to your opponents. I don’t have time to go onto chat rooms and all of that, but I do glean some information from local media to see who they talk about and who’s practicing, maybe someone who worked at a different spot. Sometimes the most simple little things that don’t seem to tell you anything tell us something because it’s out of the mode that they’ve been playing in.”
