Burris: ‘If I’m a Hall of Famer, then why do you want me out of the game?’

The way Henry Burris sees it, some people are still handing him lumps of coal. He keeps putting them in his furnace.

The lumps of coal, that is, not the people. Although there was that time earlier this season when he looked directly into a TSN camera and told his critics to “shove it.”

Henry Burris, 41-year-old quarterback of the Ottawa REDBLACKS, a Grey Cup Champion (1998, 2008) and a two-time Most Outstanding Player Award winner (2010, 2015), with 63,031 yards in passing, is still using his critics’ words as fuel. Still irritated by those he sees as being either unjust towards him, or just plain old inconsistent. Here he is, back in charge of the Ottawa REDBLACKS’ offence after being the starter, getting injured, starting again and then being benched while Trevor Harris was elevated to number one.

All in one season.

As the REDBLACKS search for a consistent finish to what has been a maddeningly mercurial campaign, Burris is back where he believes he ought to be, after starting the last two games, including Friday night’s 39-36 loss to Hamilton. Asked to reflect on how he felt when he was healthy, yet standing on the sidelines as the back-up to Harris, Burris is his usual straightforward self.

“The fact is we were having our struggles and Trevor was playing very well but the thing I always said to myself is ‘man, if I’m the MOP of this league, why am I still on the bench and, you know, we’re just dealing with our inconsistencies?’”

Darian Durant (left) and Henry Burris (right) meet after dueling earlier this year (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)

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Henry Burris is dead sure of his capabilities, maybe more than you are, and that ticks him off. Still.

“Trevor, he did a great job out there and he has a great future with the REDBLACKS and within this league in the future but I still felt my time was now and given an opportunity to go back out there and do my job… you know, I still feel this is my team,” says Burris, speaking as he wheeled his car through the streets of Ottawa, heading for his 10-year-old son Armand’s hockey practice. “Until that role changes, I wanted to be out there with the guys.”

I’ll point out that Burris emphasized the word “team” in that last passage, rather than the word “my.”

Now, I’m not out to be Henry Burris’ PR guy here. It’s fair enough if you think he’s been unfairly characterized as a whiner, just as it is fair for you to believe he’s a crybaby. Up to you. But I do think tone can easily get lost when the spoken word becomes the written one and with that in mind, I feel it’s necessary to point out that Burris and I spoke for nearly twenty minutes, talking about his critics, about the circumstances in which the REDBLACKS find themselves and about his compatriot, Harris. At no time did he seem terribly angry. Perplexed? Sure. Agitated by what he feels are ongoing and unwarranted broadsides from his critics? Absolutely. Although we spoke over the phone, I did get the impression that Hank was smilin’ through gritted teeth at times.

“Of course, I was gonna support Trevor a hundred per cent of the way,” says Burris, continuing to talk about being a healthy bystander in Weeks 10 through 15. “And I felt, also, that he should’ve gotten a shot to come back and redeem himself, but once the call was made for me to get out there, I had to get back to focusing on gettin’ the job done and gettin’ back on the same page with my teammates.”

That’s what Burris is attempting to do now as Ottawa (7-8-1) fights tooth and nail to hold on to top spot in the East, with the first of very tough back-to-back games against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10-6) coming up on Saturday afternoon.

“A game like this, against a very good Winnipeg defence, is one that would definitely give you the momentum going forward, especially going on the road,” says Burris, wondering if that kind of tough opposition could bring the REDBLACKS’ blurry ways into sharp focus. Can you still hope to get on a roll with a good game, against a quality opponent, even at this time of year?

“You definitely can,” says Burris. He hopes so, anyway. Because Burris is still in need of another championship. “For me to win one more Grey Cup is what really inspires me right now,” he says.

He’s remarked before that he’d like to win so that his youngest son, seven-year-old Barron, could eat some breakfast cereal from The Cup, the way his older brother did. But you do get the impression that Burris could use another ring in his ongoing uneasy coexistence with his detractors. Something for them to shove, perhaps?

“When, somebody in the media says ‘Burris can’t (do the job), it’s time for them (the team) to move on’ but in the next breath they say ‘but he’s a bona fide Hall of Famer,’ I’m just, like, okay, you’ve gotta make up your mind. If I’m a hall-of-famer, then why do you want me out of the game?”

Henry Burris

Ah, yes. The detractors.

Burris is still fighting them, still using their critical words to stoke that fire.

“As athletes, we always try to find that extra little something to get us going, to pee us off and to really get our blood boiling,” he says, as we discuss the lingering effects of what he feels to be unfair judgements. He’s not sidetracked by the emotion of it, he insists.

“I can deal with that in the moment but still keep the focus to go out there and do the job in the second half.”

He was referring, pointedly, to his famous halftime interview on the night of Aug. 6, the one where he popped off on the critics. He hadn’t brought it up out of the blue; that answer was part of a larger talk we were having about that night. I wondered if he’d smoothed it over with the targets of his ire, which most believed to be members of TSN’s football panel.

“It wasn’t the panel,” says Burris. “It was more some reporters out there – you might know a couple of the guys I’m talking about but I won’t say any names – they’ve always been people that, if you ever read their articles, there’s never been anything positive towards Henry Burris.”

I’m curious as to why, after such a long career, complete with those 63,000-plus passing yards and the trophies on his shelf, he’d care.

Why, I ask, does that kind of thing even matter anymore? It seems that Burris is ticked at what he sees as the inconsistency between people saying, simultaneously, that he’s a Hall of Famer but also not a candidate to be the main man right now. For him, those concepts do not or cannot co-exist. Burris is not interested in be fitted for a jacket while he’s still content to pull on a jersey.

“If there’s any little tidbit that’s there, when, somebody in the media says ‘Burris can’t (do the job), it’s time for them (the team) to move on’ but in the next breath they say ‘but he’s a bona fide Hall of Famer,’ I’m just, like, okay, you’ve gotta make up your mind. If I’m a hall-of-famer, then why do you want me out of the game?”

“Does it bother me? No. Does it make me laugh? Yes. But do you use it as motivation? Heck, yeah. As an athlete you have to do that. When people say ‘you can’t,’ that’s part of athletics. When you go out there and you get it done, in your heart, you may not have to say it but I can tell you probably a hundred per cent of athletes will say ‘I told you so,’ but they just don’t have to say it vocally.”

Watch: Burris sparks REDBLACKS’ late comeback

The REDBLACKS, in real need of a couple of regular season-ending performances that are reminiscent of the ones they offered up on the way to the Grey Cup Championship in 2015, have a fired up Henry Burris at the helm and he has put up good numbers in his last two starts. A touchdown pass and 393 yards in a win over the Ticats two weeks ago. Three more touchdown passes and 418 yards in last week’s loss in the return match. That one, however, came with two interceptions and Burris was stripped of the ball in overtime as defensive end John Chick rounded the corner and whacked his arm as Burris got set to let a pass fly.

“We didn’t need those mistakes at that time,” says Burris, adding that the REDBLACKS are way too prone to hurting themselves with turnovers and penalties.

“Offensively, I think we’re moving the ball at a good pace but the thing is all the negatives that we’ve had have superceded the positives. It hasn’t developed into wins for us and that’s the most important thing at the end of the day.”

“Thankfully, we’ve been able to a good job to improve, but just not enough. Because we needed that big win this past week.”

Now, they need a big win this week.

Having a stoked Henry Burris could be a plus. If he plays with a chip on his shoulder, that’s alright, he says, it makes him better. And Burris believes he has reason for what seems to be an ever-present chip.

“I’m at that age now, at 41, where they can always find a guy who’s younger than you to take over the reins. You’re definitely a marked guy, always.”

You can feel free to tell Henry Burris he’s a hall-of-famer.

Just don’t hurry him along, is the thing.

Burris: ‘We’ve got a great one-two combo here’

The REDBLACKS’ two pivots meet with Offensive Coordinator Jaime Elizondo (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)

If Burris had been feeling that he needed to be on the field and not the sideline earlier this season, it does not mean that he had lost sight of the bounty that is having two seasoned starters ready to play.

“The thing is, we’ve got a great one-two combo here. It’s a 1A-1B situation and the team put (itself) in a great position to have good quarterbacking regardless of who’s in there playing.”

Burris has been impressed, as many before him have been, in the preparation that Trevor Harris invests in, no matter the situation.

“He’s on top of everything, from the game plan, the mental side, also the physical side,” says Burris.

“Once his number is called again, he’s able to get out there and continue doing what people know he can do.”

Until then, Burris says he’d like to lead the REDBLACKS to a few wins, and maybe leave Harris with a few more insights into the position.

“Hopefully I can show him a couple of things that help make him a better quarterback during this time,” he says.