OTTAWA — The hardest part is over with.
That’s the feeling for the Ottawa REDBLACKS just days after falling in the Grey Cup Championship, a 26-20 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos in Winnipeg.
The REDBLACKS cleaned out their lockers on Tuesday and faced the media for the first time back in Ottawa, the dust finally settling on what was – even with the loss – most definitely a Cinderella season for the nation’s capital.
The answers were fairly consistent from all of the participants at TD Place on Tuesday: The loss was a tough one, but the franchise’s second season was an important step forward.
“Now that the dust has kind of settled for us, it was an unbelievable year I think to go from where we were in mini-camp and to be in the last game of the season,” said first-year REDBLACK Brad Sinopoli.
“Unfortunately we didn’t finish it off but we grew as a team and as players . . . I thought as a team we matured really well.”
The REDBLACKS won two games in 2014, their first season in the league, and few had pegged them as a contender this season even after several high-profile acquisitions during the off-season. Yet after one of the worst seasons of his career, Henry Burris came back with his best year yet.
Ottawa boasted the CFL’s number one passing attack and second-ranked defence, and the best part is most of the players and coaches that made it happen will be back next season.
“I don’t think there’s anything specific,” said General Manager Marcel Desjardins. “I don’t think we have a glaring weakness like we had last year, so we’re going to be smart in everything we do in terms of finding other guys.
“It’s not going to ‘be sign guys to sign guys’.”
Between now and a year ago, the difference is black and red. Instead of going into next season just hoping to prove everyone wrong while wondering inside whether or not the REDBLACKS could really be a contender after winning a measly two games the previous year, now being successful is the expectation.
The REDBLACKS entered 2015 as a sleeper team facing low expectations, expectations they shattered within the first month of the season. The start of next season will be different, which is exactly what Head Coach Rick Campbell had hoped for.
“I think it’s a healthy thing any time there are expectations,” said Campbell, “and we talked about that from day one.
“We wanted to turn this into a good place to play football where you expected to win football games.
“Winning football games is not easy in this league or any other league,” he added. “You’ve got to keep working hard and doing your thing but we’ve set a foundation for us to do that.”
The biggest game-changer for the REDBLACKS came under centre, where Burris once again proved countless detractors wrong. Many had predicted his career was coming to an end after a rough and tumble 2014, but a revamped offence with five new receivers helped rejuvenate his career.
An MOP award later, Burris is ready to get rested this off-season then return in top form next May for training camp.
“For me right now it’s just getting through the soreness,” said Burris. “Of course the body’s sore, I took some big hits and things like that but this is what you play the game for.
“Now it’s all about spending time with the family, watching the kids play hockey and cheering them off and being there to support them and getting out in the community and helping out people here in Ottawa.”
So far the REDBLACKS’ trajectory is a good one. This year’s winner, the Edmonton Eskimos, had their resurgent season a year ago, bouncing back from a four-win season in 2013 and enjoying plenty of regular season success before bowing out in the playoffs.
This year it was the same for the REDBLACKS, who went on a run of nine wins in 11 games before losing in the Grey Cup. They’ll look to do next year what the Eskimos did this year.
“I think sometimes it’s good to lose because you feel it a little harder,” said defensive back Jermaine Robinson. “Everybody wanted the fairytale story but sometimes it doesn’t happen like that – sometimes you’ve got to take a step back before you can take a step forward.
“I think next year we’ll definitely accomplish that.”
