Fraser Caldwell
Ticats.ca
Burris: focus lies squarely on the Argos
Following an off day, the Ticats returned to the practice field on Tuesday to begin preparation for this weekend’s match up with Toronto. When asked what message his coaches had for the team to open their week, Tiger-Cat quarterback Henry Burris indicated that players and staff alike are looking solely to the future.
“Right now, it’s all about getting ready for Toronto,” said the veteran pivot of the practice priority. “We know that it’s a very big game for us, because the last thing that we want to do is put ourselves in a hole at 0-3. So that’s what we’re focused on: getting ready to go for a big game. We’re looking forward to the future, because we know that the future is bright for us. We want to make sure that we’re focusing on that and taking advantage of it.”
Burris: looking to use late momentum
With the Black and Gold’s offensive unit still looking to improve their chemistry and understanding, Burris stated his hope that the group can build on its success in the late stages of last week’s loss to the Lions.
“That’s one of the big things that we’ve been working through,” said the quarterback of his offence’s acclimation process.
“Some things happened in the second quarter the other night but it’s something that we’ll learn from. We’ll take some of the things that have happened and those that haven’t gone as well for us as we wanted them to and use those as building blocks for us.
“We took it into the second half and did a lot better with it, but now we want to take the momentum from the way that we finished that game into this one. We’re going to need that, because Toronto’s been playing some good football. They did a great job against Calgary and that defence that they have there. We’re going to have to come out well, because (Toronto Defensive Coordinator) Chris Jones is going to have his guys flying around and making plays.”
Cortez: preparation eliminates over-thinking
In the wake of his squad’s Tuesday morning practice, the Tiger-Cats Head Coach and Director of Football Operations George Cortez spoke of the necessity of further preparation with Saturday’s date with the Argonauts quickly approaching.
Cortez argued that practicing correctly would allow players to play on instinct alone, and eliminate the problem of over-thinking on the part of players.
“That’s one of the things that I talked about after practice,” said the coach. “When you do the preparation, you have an anticipation for what is going to happen. When you see certain things on the field, no matter what position you play, you’re ready. At that point, you don’t have to think, you just react to what’s happening.”
Cortez: constant adjustment on special teams
Cortez admitted on Tuesday that special teams remain an area of concern for his team, while pointing out that the Ticats are hardly alone in looking to improve their performance on coverage.
“I don’t think anybody in the league is happy with their special teams at the moment,” said the coach.
“Everybody’s happy with their return game, and nobody’s happy with their cover games. The key thing that probably would have helped us in the game is that we missed a lot of tackles. I know that that’s a constant in most good returns. Most good runs are built around missed tackles too. It’s a big field, and good players in space make it tough. You’ve just got to constantly look to improve on that.”
That improvement is an ongoing process, and one that Cortez argued to be dependent on a team’s opponent from week to week.
“Special teams are a lot like offence and defence,” said Cortez. “You look at what the other team is doing and you tweak what you do to find the best way for you to attack in your coverage or your returns. When we’re getting ready to prepare for somebody – when we get to the point where there’s a lot of games – the good returners’ returns will be different every game because they’re always tweaking and trying to make it better. We’re no different when we look at the coverage and what they’re doing, who they’re doubling, who their best cover guy is and we’re always tweaking.”
Cortez: pass rushing is about more than sacks
Asked to address the progress of a pass rush that has only registered one sack through the first two weeks of the 2012 campaign, Cortez stated that sacks are only one aspect of a successful pass rushing presence.
“The biggest thing, more than the sacks, is being around the quarterback and disrupting him,” said the coach.
“We disrupted Travis a lot, because he had to bail out, but we didn’t do a good job of containing him when he did. If we had, he probably would have stumbled into some sacks. We had enough pressure to make him move, but we weren’t in the right position to make the right play at the end of it.
“Pressure is a funny thing. When I coached the offensive line in Calgary, we had games where we had great protection and gave up three or four sacks, and we had games where we had crappy protection and gave up none. It’s not sacks so much as what you make the quarterback do. You make him move around and make him uncomfortable. A defensive lineman who has fifteen sacks has had a heck of a season, but what did he do on the other 1,155 plays?”
