TigerTown Notebook – September 11

Fraser Caldwell
Ticats.ca

Cortez: Not worried about Fantuz

Ticats Head Coach George Cortez was once again asked to comment on the play of star slotback Andy Fantuz, who has seen little of the football in recent weeks.

Cortez reiterated that while he remains committed to finding Fantuz in the passing attack, defences largely dictate where the ball ends up on any given play.

“Andy’s a good player for us, and we have a variety of ways that we try to do things with him,” said the coach. “Sometimes it works out and he gets the ball, and sometimes it doesn’t.”

“The defence pretty much controls where the ball goes on almost any given play. If they’re playing some coverages, we can almost predict where it’s going to go, but if they don’t play what we want them to play, it doesn’t matter how hard we’re trying to get the ball there.”

Cortez used the example of Chris Williams to further illustrate the point.

“There have been games where I thought Chris Williams was going to catch a lot of balls because of how the team we were playing was playing going into that game,” said the coach. “Lo and behold, they decided they didn’t want Chris to catch the ball, and someone else caught the balls that game.”

Cortez: Peguese and Davis will be in the mix

The Ticats announced a deal on Monday that sent defensive lineman Brandon Peguese to Hamilton from the B.C. Lions, and Cortez spoke to the abilities of his new charge on Tuesday.

“He’s very athletic. In the last game, he played on every special teams situation for the Lions,” said the coach of Peguese.

“I know that he’s a guy that [Ticats Director of Football Operations Bob O’Billovich] was very interested in and I think he’s been talking about him since I got here in January. We finally had the opportunity to bring him in and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do.”

Cortez indicated that both Peguese and fellow addition to the defensive line Torrey Davis would be afforded a chance to impress this week in practice, with the possibility of playing on Saturday.

“We’re definitely going to give them the opportunity to show us what they can do in practice, and if we feel like they know enough to play, that would be the hope,” said the coach.

Burris: Need to score more consistently

Tiger-Cats quarterback Henry Burris reminded the gathered media on Tuesday that his team remains the highest scoring outfit in the CFL as Week 12 gets underway.

Burris indicated that the key to turning that output into success lies in finding greater consistency and efficiency.

“We’re still the leading team in scoring in this league, but we’ve got to do it more consistently,” said the quarterback. “We’d probably be scoring even more points if we did it that way.”

“But we’re our own worst enemies. We know what other teams are going to do, what they’re going to throw at us. But the bottom line for us is that we’ve just got to make sure that we finish drives off.”

“We came away with nine points on our first three drives [in Toronto] and we should have had at least 14 or 17 points. The scenarios are there and they’re not hard to see. But we’ve got to clean those things up right now, and we have the people to do it.”

Burris: “We’ve just got to do our jobs”

Burris argued that there is no shortage of leadership within the Tiger-Cats’ locker room, and that the duty of he and his fellow players is simply to carry out their assignments to the best of their ability.

“Each and every guy understands his responsibility as a player,” said the quarterback. “Right now, we’ve just got to do our jobs. That’s something we’ve voiced as leaders for this team.”

“We have a great week of practice and then get into games and make mistakes and don’t show it. Guys are definitely speaking up and getting after people, letting them know how important their job is.”

Burris suggested that the Ticats must overcome the emotion of the game to play their parts with clear heads and proper technique.

“Sometimes guys get caught up, whether its emotional excitement to play a game or trying to get a half step lead on a guy,” said the quarterback. “Sometimes when guys get beat on a play, they want to make sure that they don’t make that same mistake.”

Burris: Urgency should be constant

Asked whether the Ticats are feeling desperate in the wake of their current slide, Burris contended that urgency should be a constant part of any player’s approach.

“What is desperation,” asked Burris hypothetically. “The thing I always say is that regardless of whether you just lost a game or won a game, you have to come out and play as if it’s your last snap – like it’s the most important thing ever. If you don’t play the game that way, you won’t be successful.”

“Have we made mistakes? Yes, that’s why our record is what it is. Have we made plays? Yes, but we need a whole lot more of those. It starts with me doing it and setting an example for my guys.”