BY PERRY LEFKO
sportsnet.ca
It was a familiar place without a familiar result when George Cortez returned to Toronto on Sunday for a meaningful football game.
Cortez is the first-year quarterbacks coach of the Buffalo Bills, who played at the Rogers Centre against the Chicago Bears and lost 22-19, their eighth defeat in as many games this season and last overall in the National Football League.
His former Canadian Football League team, the Calgary Stampeders won a Grey Cup in 1992 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Cortez was the Stamps' offensive line coach.
"I'd be foolish to say I didn't have fond memories of playing here in '92 when we won the Grey Cup," he said. "I enjoyed my time in the CFL very much."
Cortez' name came up as a potential head coach candidate when Eric Tillman, a longtime friend, was hired as Edmonton's GM in September. There is speculation that if Tillman decides to replace current Eskimos' head coach Richie Hall he may consider Cortez. But that is far from Cortez's thoughts.
He is focused only on the Bills, although he politely declined to talk about the team's season and their latest game due to protocol in which coaches are only allowed to talk to the media on Friday.
Cortez said he hasn't been able to follow the CFL action too closely other than looking at the scores and watching the occasional game picked up by the NFL Network or channel surfing on the Internet.
Cortez said he talks or texts on a weekly basis to Calgary general manager/head coach John Hufnagel, with whom he worked on two separate occasions, including two years ago when the Stamps won the Cup.
Cortez won the '92 Cup on the Calgary staff of Wally Buono, the current GM/head coach of the Lions, who play this Sunday in Regina against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The winner advances to the West final against Calgary.
"The Stamps were playing on Friday (against Winnipeg) and I think I fell asleep at halftime," Cortez joked.
Cortez said he was pleasantly surprised by the turnaround of the Lions, who started off 1-7 and rallied to finish with an 8-10 record. They won their final game in Hamilton, about two hours south of where the Bills play in Buffalo. He watched the Stamps play in Hamilton earlier in the season before the NFL training camps began.
"Sometimes you just start playing better," Cortez said about the Lions and the Eskimos, who both turned around their seasons after terrible starts. The Eskimos won five of their last seven games to finish at 7-11, but missed the playoffs losing the last game of the regular season. "I got no idea what kind of personnel moves anybody made or any of that stuff and couldn't even comment on what the difference was. I'm happy for Richie. We worked one year together in Saskatchewan.
"I look forward to following the playoffs from afar. I probably won't get to see any."
