OTTAWA — The Ottawa Redblacks would love nothing more than a little retribution.
After suffering an embarrassing 46-17 loss to Edmonton last week the Redblacks couldn’t be happier to be host the Eskimos on Friday night at TD Place.
There were few positives taken from the lopsided loss, but after a week of solid practice the Redblacks (2-1) say they’re ready for the rematch. Ottawa will need to be better in nearly every area as bad decisions, missed opportunities and penalties were the theme of last week’s loss.
“We’ve been watching film and it’s really been pissing a lot of us off,” said QB Henry Burris. “They made us look bad last week. We want to make sure we come out and play the type of game we know we can play and we didn’t do that last week.”
Despite winning the first two games of the season many wondered if Ottawa could be taken seriously as a contender. The Redblacks say in no way should last week’s performance dictate who they are as a team and while they don’t want to put too much emphasis on one game they know Friday’s performance will have a significant impact.
“What it comes down to is how we react to difficulty and how we overcome it, is what this game is going to be about,” said defensive lineman Keith Shologan.
“It’s kind of going to define who we are right now as a team. The season’s a long season, 18 games, and you don’t know a team until week nine so we’re still building and it’s still a process, but this is going to be a big challenge for us just because of what happened last week.”
With a number of young players on its roster the Redblacks know youth and inexperience will play a factor in games, but Burris says last week’s loss will be worth it if it helps create this team’s identity and he’s excited to see how they respond.
“We felt last week’s game was an anomaly to what we truly are,” said Burris. “We know we can bounce back from it. This team is unfazed.”
The Redblacks give Edmonton (1-1) full credit for the win, but at the same time plan on making things a lot more difficult for the Eskimos.
“We know we’re going to have a better effort this week to beat them,” said Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell. “If our guys play the way they typically play it should be a good, close game (Friday) night.”
Zack Evans, who scored the lone Redblacks touchdown last week, says the team is angry with themselves for failing to put forth a better performance.
“It wasn’t anything they did, it was what we did,” said Evans.
“We always focus internally. I never blame the other team, I always blame us. That’s what you have to do in football. That just wasn’t us last week and we know that and we’ll come up firing.”
Notes: DL Moton Hopkins will replace DL Jonathan Williams, while Justin Cappiciotti will be back in the lineup after missing last week’s game. Justin Cudworth will make his CFL regular season debut as he steps in for LB David Hinds and Pat Lavoie will be a game time decision.