PLAN B NOT BAD AT ALL
Redblacks’ Burris out, Harris starts
So, was Marcel Desjardins smarter than every other Canadian Football League general manager when he signed quarterback Trevor Harris as a free agent, or really, really lucky?
“I knew it was an extremely smart decision back in February, so it’s just justification,” Desjardins said Monday, two days after an injury to the pinky finger on his right hand knocked starting quarterback Henry Burris out of the Ottawa Redblacks’ 2016 season opener against the Edmonton Eskimos.
Harris, who last year led the CFL in touchdown passes with 33 for the Toronto Argonauts, took over behind centre for Burris and torched the Eskimos defence for 17 completions on 19 attempts, 292 passing yards and three touchdowns as the Redblacks rallied for a spirit-boosting 45-37 victory in overtime.
The announced plan had been for the 30-year-old Harris to serve as backup for the 41-year-old Burris in 2016, then succeed him as Redblacks starter next season.
That time, however, is now, at least for the short term, starting with Thursday’s road game against the Montreal Alouettes. Harris will start that contest at quarterback, with Brock Jensen slotted in as his backup and Danny O’Brien returning to the active roster after being assigned to the one-game injured list for the opener.
Burris had been the only CFL quarterback to start every regular-season game in the past two seasons. Add in the two previous seasons with the Hamilton TigerCats plus five playoff and Grey Cup games and he has a streak of 78 consecutive starts. Had, that is. The damage occurred not on the play-action pass that included a fake handoff to tailback Travon Van, as first believed, but actually on the play preceding that, when Burris rifled a pass to slotback Ernest Jackson for an 18-yard gain. He somehow rapped his hand on the helmet of an Eskimos pass rusher on the follow-through.
Harris combined with wide receiver Chris Williams on a 71yard pass-and-run touchdown on the new quarterback’s first play, and the pivot’s play continued to be stellar for the rest of the game. It was a classic example of the value of having a skilled backup quarterback.
“That’s part of the equation, for sure, short-term and long-term,” Desjardins said. “Shorter-term than we had anticipated.”
Burris last missed a start as a CFL quarterback in 2011, when the Calgary Stampeders replaced him with Drew Tate for the last three games of the regular season and the West Division semifinal against the Eskimos. That demotion ended a streak of 69 consecutive starts for Burris, who last missed a game because of injury in 2007, when he separated his left shoulder.
“I kind of looked at this year as a ‘redshirt’ year because, when you play behind Iron Man, he just never gets hurt,” Harris said.
“(Burris) had a freak accident with a finger. Obviously I wasn’t expecting to play early, but the time is here and you have to be ready to go at any time.”
Harris played only one quarter of one pre-season game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, so the extended playing time against the Eskimos should ease the transition into being the starter against the Alouettes just five days later.
The question of what the Redblacks do when Burris is able to return to action remained an academic exercise on Monday. The No. 3 man in most CFL career passing categories and twice the winner of the league’s most outstanding player award, including last year, Burris wasn’t scheduled to see a hand specialist until Tuesday morning.
“I want to be smart, especially when you’re making a decision on your body and especially this early in the season on when to try to push it, or not to push it,” Burris said in the Redblacks’ locker-room after a low-speed, walk-through, on-field session in which he never actually touched a football.
“The thing is, if it’s something that can be short-term, you don’t want to turn it into a long-term problem, and that’s something we’ll definitely take into consideration once we get the results back as far as what’s really going on.”
Signed in January 2014 to be the Redblacks’ starting quarterback and the most visible face of the franchise, Burris has thrown 1,287 passes since then in regular- and post-season play. He was 23-for-31 for 251 yards with one touchdown at Edmonton before being injured.
Every other Redblacks passer has thrown a total of 129, including the 19 by Harris on Saturday night.
Burris vowed to be on the sidelines Thursday at Molson Stadium in Montreal, even though he would be limited to serving as an extra set of eyes for Harris.
“I haven’t felt that emotion (of not playing) in a long time, and it would definitely be a sad time,” Burris said, “but, again, I maintain I’ll be upbeat and positive and support my teammates because we still have a great team out there playing on that field regardless if I’m out there or not. That’s what we have been able to develop over the couple of years that we have been together.”