When I found out early in the week that my friend, my teammate Frank Beltre was not going to be able to play this week, I took it upon myself as well as the rest of the defence. Frank is a big part of our defence and special teams. He’s a leader, he’s like a captain, so I knew we had to rally together and come out here and play 60 minutes.

It opens up so much for whoever lines up on the opposite side of him because Charleston speaks for himself. You have to respect him. No matter where he’s at, if he’s on the quick side or the rush side or lining up at linebacker, no matter where he’s at, you have to respect his game because the proof is in the pudding. You go and turn on any film from any game and Charleston is making an impact. He’s either making the plays or still impacting the play by opening it up for everyone else on the defence.

Winnipeg is a great team, don’t let their record fool you. I know most people judge records, but they’re a great team and they clawed to the end. We knew that going into the game that they would do that. We got up early the first half and we knew it was still going to be a dogfight because anything can happen in a 60-minute football game. When we came out in the second half we were a little bit sluggish and they had all the momentum on their side, and it showed. They were making plays left and right and we just had to rally together, pull ourselves back together and play our style of offence and our style of defence and our style of special teams.

Actually the heat and humidity didn’t bother me at all. It felt just like being back at home in Texas, so I was used to it. It was like playing in the backyard again. I know some guys were complaining about it, but I felt great when I stepped out on the field.