Fraser Caldwell | Ticats.ca Staff

HAMILTON -- The Tiger-Cats' most recent blowout success has onlookers labeling the team as an enigma.

Though they have been dominant winners one week, players have been unable to build upon their momentum in the next.

That trend is set to change if the Ticats have anything to say about it on Friday, as the team sizes up a crucial road contest in Edmonton.

Henry Burris brings out the buzzword of the moment as he looks forward to Friday’s western trip.

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“Our big thing right now is to be consistent,” says Burris. “I don’t want to feel good this week and then feel sad next week.”

“For me, the most important thing is to be able to justify what we did in the past. To be able to justify this past week’s performance, it’s all about coming out and following it up with another great one.”

But how exactly are the Ticats to find that dependable level that they’ve searched for all season?

Burris believes that the key to constant performance is playing with the same group week-in and week-out, gaining the understanding and timing necessary to execute.

“I always say that consistency starts in the locker room,” says the Ticat quarterback.

“When you have consistent guys that you’re with each and every day, each and every play, you’ll start to gain that consistency on the field.”

The Eskimos will give nothing away cheaply on Friday, desperate as they are to break out of the five-game slump that has inspired a shuffle of their coaching staff.

Edmonton will be a team on a mission in front of an equally desperate fanbase.

Burris concedes that his team will have to be wary of the Eskimos on Friday, but insists that his teammates’ focus should be squarely on their own situation.

"For us, it’s more important that we just take care of ourselves and not worry about what’s going on in anyone else’s house.”

Receiver Dave Stala echoes his quarterback, and suggests that desperate teams become ever more common as a season reaches its closing stages.

“It seems like we play teams like that all the time,” says Stala of the Ticats opponents. “Down the stretch here, that’s what happens.”

“But we’re not going to worry about that. We’re concerned about our own locker room and making plays.”

The last time that these two teams met, it was the “big play” that propelled the Ticats to a commanding 51-8 victory. Last week, Hamilton displayed a more measured, possession-based attack to route the Montreal Alouettes.

Both approaches have been shown to work, but do the Ticats have a preference for their offence?

Stala argues that while a possession game might ease the task for the team’s defence, any means to a victory is a good one.

“As an offence, if you can stay on the field longer that definitely helps out your defence,” says the veteran receiver. “If we’re able to do that and control the game, it’s better to be in a blowout than a shootout.”

“But as long as we score one more point than them, that’s all that I care about.”

Burris says much of the same, suggesting that much of the way in which points are scored depends on the men across the line of scrimmage.

“We’ve been an offence that’s all about opportunities,” the quarterback explains. “Whenever you give us something, we’re not going to force things, because that’s when bad things happen.”

“Whether you’ve got to be highly efficient by getting the high completion percentage or getting the big play, it’s all about taking what they give us.”

The word of the moment comes into play once again.

“As long as you’re being consistent, good things will happen.”