Johany Jutras/CFL
You’re rooting for Ottawa aren’t you? Don’t worry, there’s no shame in hopping on the bandwagon so late in the season. At this point your team has already been eliminated and you are searching for the best possible rooting interest for the 103rd Grey Cup presented by Shaw. So unless you call Edmonton or Hamilton your home I think it’s time to start cheering for the REDBLACKS.
This is the moment that I should explain to Edmonton why I am not trying to be disrespectful towards your team and if you want to send any hate mail I spell my last name Dunk, first name Justin. I love what Edmonton’s done this year. At the beginning of the year I proclaimed the Eskimos as the most talented team in the league and the odds-on favourite to win it all. Nothing has swayed that opinion. I believe the Eskimos will win — they’re the better team, plain and simple.
But as someone with zero skin in the game at this point, I am just rooting for the best possible story and the idea of Henry Burris and the Ottawa REDBLACKS winning a Grey Cup is the best possible outcome. Edmonton winning is the easy and likely storyline. Plus I have no doubt that Mike Reilly and the Eskimos will one day be crowned champions but this could be it for Ottawa.
So why should you be hoping for an Ottawa upset? Let’s count the ways:
1. Edmonton already has two Grey Cup wins in the past dozen years, winning it all in 2003 and 2005.
The last time Ottawa was the last team standing was in 1976. I was one year old at the time, heck I bet many of you reading this weren’t even born yet. The only person on the field this Sunday who was alive when Ottawa won is of course Henry Burris. Hell, Ottawa has gone through two name changes since the last time the city was treated to a Grey Cup parade. For a reminder about how many decades it’s been here is the entire 1976 Grey Cup, check out this YouTube video (I’ve highlighted this video before. Once I go down that rabbit hole of old CFL highlights it’s hard to get me out)
2. Everyone loves backing David over Goliath. Everyone loves rooting for the rags to riches story which is exactly what our nation’s capital is.
I went back to our 2015 season preview articles and looked up the Ottawa section. The poll question was: Are the REDBLACKS a playoff team in 2015? What should come as a shock to no one 62 per cent of the 2362 people who voted said “No”. Back in late May no one gave Ottawa much of a chance and really you can’t blame the fans. The team had just returned to the CFL one year earlier and had ended the year with just two wins.
Yes, the team had added a completely new set of receivers for Burris to play with, but I never believed the team’s passing game would be totally in synch with so many fresh faces playing a position where success is so closely tied in with timing and familiarity. The preview actually focused on the impact that newly acquired running back Chevon Walker would have, and he is no longer on the team. What I am trying to say is that we were all wrong about our prognostications with Ottawa which is what makes the REDBLACKS’ story that much more remarkable.
3. Speaking of the team’s turnaround I’m not sure enough is being made of the defence.
Ottawa didn’t exactly go out and make significant changes to a defence that ranked last or second last in just about every important defensive category. The most important addition was rookie Abdul Kanneh who led the team in interceptions. This was a group of veterans like Jovon Johnson and Keith Shologan mixed with young impact players like Justin Capicciotti (double digit sacks for the second year in a row) and Damaso Munoz who collectively grew as a unit that finished first in yards allowed and sacks.
4. Of course in the end everything comes back to Henry Burris.
Out of all his achievements this year the most remarkable has to be his health. We saw so many young, talented quarterbacks missing significant time this season yet the oldest player left standing had 123 more pass attempts than the next closest passer. Burris has been in the league since 1998; let’s put that in perspective in terms of just how long that is.
Back in 1998, Calgary, Burris’ team as a rookie, would win the Grey Cup led by Jeff Garcia. Mike Pringle rushed for 2065 yards in 1998 for Montreal. Only two teams that season had more rushing yards collectively than what Pringle did on his own. Wow have times changed offensively! In 1998 Kerwin Bell was voted as the best quarterback in the East and that was the same year that Ben Cahoon was drafted. Cahoon played 13 seasons as one of Anthony Calvillo’s most dangerous weapons and was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2011. Finally in 1998, Mike Reilly was 13 years old. A lot has happened since Burris threw his first CFL pass and yet he’s still playing at an elite level.
A game to be played
In the end, once the game starts, all these feel good storylines mean nothing. Ottawa needed a dropped interception and a once-in-a-decade, ‘how the hell did that just happen’, 93-yard touchdown catch by Greg Ellingson on second-and-25 to beat a team down to its fourth string quarterback. We could easily go another twenty years before we see a play like that again.
Meanwhile, Edmonton took care of business against the defending champs on the strength of a touchdown drive at the end of the half and another to start the third quarter. How many times have you seen Calgary trail by 30 points heading into the fourth quarter? No the Stampeders didn’t quit down the stretch, but this game was dominated by the Eskimos, who scored on their first drive and never gave Calgary much of a chance. Few wins this season were as impressive as what we witnessed on Sunday. Burris may win the MOP but no one had a better game on Sunday than Mike Reilly, who finished with 400 total yards, five touchdowns and zero turnovers.
What makes this Grey Cup so compelling is that it is a matchup that no one could have seen coming two years ago. In 2013 Edmonton was 4-14, Chris Jones was the defensive coordinator for the Toronto Argonauts and the Ottawa REDBLACKS were a year away from returning to the league. Mike Reilly was putting up miles of empty calorie passing yardage in losing efforts while completing less than 60 per cent of his passes and serving up 18 interceptions second only to Henry Burris who in 2013 was leading Hamilton to the Grey Cup.
My head says this is a close game until late in the third quarter when Edmonton pulls away. My heart is hoping for a similar ending to the one we saw in the Eastern Final with Henry Burris coming away with an improbable win. That would make for a hell of a story.
