Burris better in Redblacks' Grey Cup rematch win over Esks, but defence key too

Heading into Saturday's Grey Cup rematch against the Edmonton Eskimos, Ottawa Redblacks' quarterback Henry Burris was obviously frustrated with the criticism he took from analysts at TSN and elsewhere after his dismal performance in last week's loss to Toronto. He made that very clear in a halftime interview where he told "all those guys at TSN" to "shove it," and he managed to turn that motivation into a much-improved showing; his passing yardage rose from 218 to to 341, his completion percentage rose from 58.8 per cent to 66.7 per cent, and he tossed two touchdowns to one interception instead of the other way around. However, Ottawa's 23-20 loss to the Argonauts last week wasn't solely about Burris, and their 23-20 win over Edmonton Saturday (the second win they've posted against the Eskimos this year) wasn't solely about him either. It also didn't prove that he's beyond criticism.

There's no denying that Burris did play much better this week, and that his performance played a key role in the Redblacks' victory. He generated much of their offence, as Ottawa running backs Nic Grigsby (nine carries for 33 yards) and Kienan LaFrance (five for 28) only combined for 61 yards on the ground. He was more accurate and more efficient than we saw last week, and did a better job of taking care of the ball. The Redblacks' defence also was imperfect last week, though, allowing Toronto's Logan Kilgore to throw for 322 yards and a touchdown (albeit with two interceptions) in his first career CFL start, and it improved this week. They held CFL veteran and 2015 Grey Cup Most Outstanding Player Mike Reilly to just 255 yards with a 61.0 completion percentage, kept him from throwing a touchdown pass, and picked him off once in the process. That was well behind the 269 yards, two touchdown-no interception performance he turned in against them in November's Grey Cup, and that was a big part of why this turned out different for Ottawa than that 26-20 loss.

Still, Burris' play here was impressive, and it suggested that he can still be a capable pivot for the Redblacks. That wasn't so obvious after his struggles last week, which is what led to much of the analysis he was so annoyed by. This is just one game, though, as that one was, so neither's necessarily a definitive conclusion about where he's at. It will be interesting to see how he does going forward, and how Ottawa elects to use him once Trevor Harris returns from injury. It's not just external criticism from TSN, either; there are plenty of fans and media in Ottawa unconvinced Burris is better than Harris at this point.

Burris certainly has a better shot of hanging on to the starting job now than he did after last week's game, but it's far from a resolved decision yet, especially considering the level Harris was playing at. Burris may have gotten the edge over his critics for one night, but there's a lot of football left to be played still. How he does in future weeks will have more to do with what's said about him than anything he says will.