Fraser Caldwell
Ticats.ca
Short week is physically challenging
Tiger-Cats Head Coach George Cortez addressed the media in the wake of his team’s abbreviated Wednesday workout at Ivor Wynne.
Cortez indicated that the most challenging aspect of a short week the likes of which his team faces this time around is assuring physical fitness.
“One of the challenges is trying to get the guys as rested as possible,” said the coach. “It’s one of the reasons that we did what we did today and that we’ll handle the rest of the week the way we will.”
“It’s the nature of the CFL. Everybody deals with one of these during the season. This one isn’t as bad as some of the other ones. It’s not just the first game. It’s the second game too, because it becomes three games in 11 or 12 days.”
The Ticats will have little time to dwell on the result of Labour Day. But Cortez argued on Wednesday that the potential mental advantage of a short memory is counteracted by the physical difficulty of an abbreviated week.
“I don’t know that there’s an advantage in playing in a short period of time, because it’s hard physically,” said the coach. “It’s a very physical game. The physiological setback outweighs the mental edge.”
“The major thing we have to make sure of is to just get as well rested as we can.”
Can only make “tweaks” on a short schedule
Cortez suggested on Wednesday that a week such as this won’t allow for many changes to his team’s approach as they prepare to face the Argos again on Saturday.
“It has to be enough time [to prepare],” said Cortez of the shortened week. “It doesn’t matter whether it is or not.
“Most teams in the second game of the back-to-backs from my personal experience only make tweaks. Now, there are always things that you didn’t get to in the game, things that didn’t fit the game because of how it went but that you practiced the whole week before. You can use them because it’s the same team.
“But you can only make so many changes, because you don’t have as much meeting and practice time.”
Pressure to succeed is “internally driven”
When asked whether the pressure on his shoulders’ was mounting with half of the Ticats’ schedule in the books, Cortez disagreed that he faced any greater burden than previously.
He contended that he placed the most consistent pressure on himself, as did his players.
“The pressure on me is mostly internally driven,” said Cortez. “I want to be successful every week.”
“The pressure to win is probably greater every week than people understand, because that’s what professional athletics are about. Especially in a sport when you only play 18 games, not 82 or 162. Every game has a very great amount of importance to it.”
Burris has had an “up and down” season
Cortez was asked on Wednesday to assess the season enjoyed by quarterback Henry Burris at the midpoint.
The coach argued that his star pivot’s experience thus far has been one of peaks and valleys, with well-publicized highs and crucial lows.
“It’s been up and down,” said Cortez of Burris’ season thus far. “I think he’s got the highest number of touchdown passes in the league, and I think when I last checked, he had the lowest interception percentage.
“But we’ve had some bad plays. Anything you do playing quarterback – any bad play at the wrong time – is completely magnified. We had one of those last game and the fact that we came back and scored a touchdown became a moot point.”
