By: Don Campbell
Just 12 months ago, it wasn’t even safe to look in on the expansion Ottawa REDBLACKS without wearing a hard hat as they moved into their new permanent home at TD Place.
There were cranes on the roof of the condominium in the west end-zone. Scaffolding and scissor lifts on the buildings towards Bank Street. Temporary railings in the stands made out of 2x4s. Cement trucks lined up to enter off Queen Elizabeth Place. Concession equipment being airlifted into the stands. Security checkpoints throughout the grounds to allow tradesmen access to their specific work sites.
And that’s nothing to say about the work in progress out on the turf at TD Place where some of the building blocks to respectability were going about their paces while labourers watched on their lunch breaks.
Well, the heavy equipment has disappeared and the patios and restaurants and shops are open and fans can freely walk about without danger of falling objects from overhead.
Yes, a whole lot has changed on Bank Street in a year, not the least of which is the Ottawa REDBLACKS open the home half of the 2015 schedule Saturday night against the B.C. Lions with a first road win already under their belt, an achievement never accomplished in nine attempts in 2014.
And now they get to make an early season statement of sorts against a Lions team that won seven more games a year ago than the REDBLACKS and enjoyed a Week One by and will have had 14 days to prepare for the REDBLACKS since their last pre-season back on June 19th.
‘(Last year) we had very good players but we still needed to create a good team,’ REDBLACKS quarterback Henry Burris said Friday. ‘We now know we have the potential to do something great here.
‘We have put the pieces together and now it’s time to show the fans that.’
By kickoff at 6 o’clock, the REDBLACKS will be eight days removed from an impressive enough -though at many times frustrating-20-16 comeback win over the Montreal Alouettes in Week One.
The best aspect of the opening week win is that the REDBLACKS persevered through adversity which had them trailing most of the night, before pulling out the win. They trailed 13-5 at the half and didn’t fold. They were down 16-13 after three quarters and still found a way to win.
‘At halftime, I said let’s calm down and let’s go out there and do it,’ said Burris. ‘Then we did a good job in the second half and executed.’
Due to the FIFA Womens World Cup obligations at TD Place, the REDBLACKS have been virtually without a home until just this week, not unlike a year ago: no home exhibition games training camp at Carleton University.
Looking back, the tight construction timeline around TD Place forced the REDBLACKS to open the 2014 season with a pair of games on the road, predictably losses in both Winnipeg and Edmonton by a combined score of 63-39.
It wasn’t until July 18 that the REDBLACKS hosted a game which turned out to be a thrilling 18-17 victory on the strength of six field goals by the now departed Brett Maher.
But finally, REDBLACKS fans get a first-hand look at the all new and vastly improved receiving corps of Ernest Jackson, Greg Ellingson, Maurice Price, Chris Williams and Brad Sinopoli, who combined for 232 of Ottawa’s 263 yards passing against Montreal.
Last year, the REDBLACKS had 11 games where they did not match that passing yardage figure and the 263 yards is just 52 yards off the club’s season high.
But that was last year and not even the Lions want to do that.
The Lions were thought to be legitimate contenders a season ago and peaked at 7-4 on September 13th only to lose five of their last season down the stretch with those two wins over the two last-place teams: 41-3 over the REDBLACKS (Oct. 11) and 28-23 over the Winnnipeg Blue Bombers two weeks later.
The Lions then closed out the season being drubbed 37-3 by Edmonton and 33-16 by Calgary before being blown out 50-17 in the East semifinal in Montreal.
For those lacking in mathematical skills that’s three losses to close out 2014 by a combined score of 120-36 which is a major reason former CFL quarterback and longtime head coach at the University of California Golden Bears Jeff Tedford is a rookie CFL head coach heading into his first game at the helm of the Lions.
Head-to-head in ‘14, the Lions swept the season series, winning a 7-5 ‘classic’ September 5th in a monsoon-like rainstorm at TD Place, then blowing out the REDBLACKS one month later, even without No. 1 quarterback Travis Lulay, who has played in parts of only four games since injuring a shoulder in September of 2013.
The bad news for the REDBLACKS is that Lulay is back and 100 percent healthy, hoping to revert to the form that made him the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player in 2011.
The Lions did go 0-2 in the pre-season but the fact their go-to guy at quarterback is good to go was what the exhibition season was all about.
‘He’s athletic and he’s looking like his old self,’ said REDBLACKS head coach Rick Campbell earlier this weel. ‘We want to limit the damage he can do with his feet. He does a great job of making plays by improvising. We need to pressure him any way we can.
‘‘We have to be at our best (versus B.C.) and put Montreal behind us. We were resilient (in Montreal). We kept battling.
‘Good football teams give themselves a chance to win they find a way. And you develop a belief.’
The REDBLACKS can make their fans believe with a strong outing in the home opener.
