“The danger is you look at the record and think you’re playing their record, and not the team.”
-Hamilton Head Coach George Cortez on the pitfall of playing the 1-5 Bombers. Hamilton Spectator
“We need to stop Chad Simpson, stop their running game. We do that, everything else will go the way we planned. He’s their guy. If we shut him down, we have a great chance of winning.”
-Tiger-Cat defensive lineman Greg Peach on the importance of improving his team’s run defence tonight. Hamilton Spectator
“Coach is telling us that we’re 1-1 in the last two games, and we have to build confidence around each other. There’s going to be people that doubt us, but we have to believe in the people in the locker-room.”
-Bomber quarterback Joey Elliot on the continued confidence among his teammates. Hamilton Spectator
“I’m concerned with winning a football game. I think sometimes people gloom and doom. Things that are out of my control are out of my control. That’s what people think is the news and the most important thing. I think it can be a negative for us.”
-Winnipeg Head Coach Paul LaPolice on focusing on the task at hand amid questions regarding his job security. Hamilton Spectator
“We’ve performed just about like our record: We’re 3-3 and we’ve played well at times and not all that well at other times. Inconsistent.”
-Coach Cortez on his team’s level of play so far this season. Hamilton Spectator
“We know that this team is going to be pumped up and doing what they can to get back in the standings. It’s wide open until somebody creates the pace for the race. I said to the guys: ‘Let that be us.’”
-Tiger-Cat quarterback Henry Burris on setting the tempo tonight. Hamilton Spectator
“I’ll watch everything he’s done in the pre-season and if there’s tape from previous years. I’d like to see what kind of reads he has: a lot of guys have signals that can help us get into the right position before he snaps the ball.”
-Tiger-Cat linebacker Kevin Eiben on his approach to preparing for Elliot. Hamilton Spectator
“They’re a little bit different so for me to say that the game plan wouldn’t change slightly would be foolish.”
– Tiger-Cat Defensive Coordinator Casey Creehan explains that the Bombers are a different team from the one he was involved with. Hamilton Spectator
“It’s tough in that we might not have a full awareness of what his skills are when things go bad because he might not have been in that situation. But most teams don’t have the ability to radically change their offence in three days of practice.”
-Cortez on the impact he expects Joey Elliot to have on Winnipeg’s offence tonight. Hamilton Spectator
“I remember that game. It was the second-to-last game, a must-win game. It was 13-13 going into overtime, and for his first start, he seemed like a pretty poised quarterback. We’re treating him like a veteran starting quarterback and that’s what we’re going to prepare for.”
-Peach recalls his experience against Elliot in the quarterback’s debut start in 2010. Ticats.ca
“You’ve got to be honest. You can’t expect something out of him. You’ve just got to play against what you see. I think we have a game on Elliot. He’s more like Kevin (Glenn) in that he doesn’t want to run. He’s not like Buck (Pierce). He’s more of a pocket passer, and you’ve got to keep him in there and compress the pocket and give him some different reads. As the game goes on, we’ll see what he’s trying to do. Definitely by the second half, we’ll have a good bead on him.”
Tiger-Cat linebacker Rey Williams on confronting an unfamiliar quarterback tonight. Ticats.ca
“We’ve been in position to make plays and it’s just one of those years where we haven’t been making them. Teams are playing their best games against us and when they’re playing other teams, they don’t look so great. It’s just been one of those years and we’ve just got to keep plugging away.”
-Last season’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player Jovon Johnson on his teams lack of success so far this season. Winnipeg Sun
“We’ve been doing as much as we can. I feel like we’ve still been getting around the ball. But we’ve been giving up a lot … We’ve just had a lot of mental breakdowns and errors. So, we’re gonna get that fixed up and as long as we do that with everybody on the field, we’re gonna cause some trouble. Hopefully, it starts with Hamilton. It should start with Hamilton.”
-Winnipeg linebacker Jonathan Hefney on how his team is going to turn things around. Winnipeg Sun
“We’re getting a lot of the key veteran guys back on defence so hopefully, we can show the real team we are,”
-Winnipeg rookie defensive lineman Jake Thomas believes Winnipeg will shine when they play Hamilton on Thursday, Winnipeg Sun.
“He’ll have good opportunities to make a play on that tailback, because that tailback is fast. They’re a fast football team.”
– Winnipeg Head Coach Paul LaPolice speaks about Winnipeg second year linebacker Henoc Mumba and how he’ll match up against Hamiltons offence. Winnipeg Free Press
“During the bye I watched every throw from pre-season and we want to see what Joey can do. Alex has done OK, but we want to see if a change helps us in our pass game.”
-Winnipeg Head Coach Paul LaPolice on giving Joey Elliott a chance to take the helm. Winnipeg Free Press
“It doesn’t seem like it’s a 1-5 team, Guys are flying around like we’re 6-0. Might as well go out here and have fun and enjoy what you’re doing. If you take it too tough, things will get tougher. This week it seems like guys really enjoy bei
ng out here. I don’t see a reason to be down. Players have to believe in the course this team is taking. You gotta believe in that. If you don’t, there’s no reason to be out here. The players do believe.”
– Winnipeg receiver Terrence Edwards believes the teams attitude will turn the team around. Winnipeg Sun.
“He’s more vocal than a lot of quarterbacks and will tell you how he wants it done and as a receiver you respect that. He’s always been a vocal guy. He wants you to execute the plays as well as he’s going to execute them. He wants perfection. I think he’s going to do a tremendous job.”
– Winnipeg’s Terrence Edwards speaks about his starting quaterback Joey Elliot prior to Thursdays game. Winnipeg Sun
“It wasn’t a sombre mood. It was a good environment these last few days. Guys were running around like we were 5-1, not 1-5, so that’s a good sign — that people care about their craft and what they’re doing. That really put a spark in me because I know these guys care about this team and care about the position we’re in.
-Terrence Edwards on the mood surrounding the team. Winnipeg Sun
“We’ve got guys that really care about this organization and this football team. We’ve got guys who are not only here to get a paycheque. They’re here to win games and win Grey Cups. Then you know you’ve got guys who can turn it around.”
-Terrence Edwards on how winning is everything. Winnipeg Sun
“I’d say we’re a frustrated football team, we’re frustrated because we need to play better. We’re one-third through and we’ve got an opportunity to fix that. We’ll start that process.”
-Paul LaPolice on righting the ship with a win. Winnipeg Sun
“Every game from now on is a statement game. That’s point blank. And the statement is we’ve got to win.”
-Terrence Edwards explains the importance of Thursday’s game. Winnipeg Sun
