Burris, Reilly ready to play Grey Cup game

Ottawa’s last Grey Cup win was in 1976, a 23-20 decision over Saskatchewan.

Ottawa Redblacks coach Rick Campbell says he expects minimal lineup changes for Sunday’s Grey Cup game against the Edmonton Eskimos. And it’s one where most experts are giving the slight edge to Edmonton.

The Ottawa Redblacks are focused on the present – winning the 103rd Grey Cup.

“He’s one of the best quarterbacks in CFL history and if he can go out there and win this game, he’ll certify that”.

The league balls are “conditioned”, said Johnson.

“They’re working for one another”, said defensive back/linebacker Antoine Pruneau.

The primary motivation was playing for family, friends, teammates and the cities in which his teams were based, Burris added, “but, if there’s any imbedded emotion and, not so much vindication, but things that motivate me, it’s the fact that, when people tell you you can’t, I think of that little train that says, “Yes I can, yes I can”.

James “Wild” West won two Grey Cups as a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The Redblacks have enjoyed this storybook season – the kind that makes sappy sports scribes salivate. There’s a reason they’re getting all the accolades. “And when you’ve got a good defence, that means that offensively they’re staying on the field”. “But Burris has seen just about everything you can throw at him”.

There, too, at quarterback, the Eskimos have finished a distant second in the media.

“But Mike Reilly is a competitor”.

Burris also helped Ottawa (12-6) engineer an unbelievable turnaround, finishing atop the East Division standings after winning just two games in its inaugural 2-14 campaign.

But it was a bonding exercise, he said, all that losing.

The 40-year-old quarterback was named the CFL’s outstanding player for the second time and also received the Tom Pate award for community service.

Reilly said he would go to Odell Willis after each loss and say: “Remember this, man. Because we’re going to talk about this at some point and laugh about it. We’re going to say, ‘Man, that sucked, but we had to go through that to find success'”.

“Chris, congratulations on your great year, I hope it ends badly”, Campbell said with a smile.

“All week long Henry has been saying he wants to play mad because he’s exhausted of being disrespected”, Stegall explained.

The Grey Cup game will be broadcast in the US on ESPN2, which also includes a worldwide audience in Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland, South America, the Carribean and Pacific Rim.