Photo courtesy: Chris Tanouye/CFL.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats survived on Saturday night in their first regular season clash with the Toronto Argonauts.
The 24-23 victory moved the Ticats to 3-3 on the season and gave Hamilton second place in the East Division. It was a game that saw Hamilton almost give up a fourth quarter lead, again, but ended with a victory. A new starting quarterback, some defensive woes and a moment that shifted the momentum were all in the cards on Saturday.
What did this victory tell us about Hamilton?
RESILLIANCE
To start both halves of football, we saw the offence and the defence pick each other up.
I was disappointed by the Ticats defence on the opening drive of the game. They could not get off the field on two separate occasions forcing the Argonauts to second and long. Nick Arbuckle ultimately punched the ball into the end zone after a 10-play, 64-yard drive that ate up over five-and-a-half minutes of game clock. With the struggles Hamilton’s offence had a week ago and the unknown of Tre Ford getting the start at quarterback, I thought that was the worst possible way for the Tiger-Cats to begin the game.
Then Ford led a touchdown drive of his own, he was superbly poised and made plays we have been accustomed to when he’s on his game, it ended with a touchdown pass to Kenny Lawler.
In the second half, the Argonauts were forced to kickoff to Hamilton 15-yards back from the original spot because of a penalty on the final play of the opening half. The Ticats’ offence took over at midfield and were forced to punt the ball away.
Then the defence picked them up. Jamal Peters jumped a route and intercepted Chad Kelly to give the Ticats possession on Toronto’s 31-yard line.
Hamilton would lose Trevor Reid, their starting left tackle, on the opening play of the drive. The second play was a second-and-four and Hamilton ran right behind Brandon Revenberg who shifted to left tackle and picked up a first down on a gain of five.
Jake Dolegala finished the drive with three consecutive quarterback sneaks that lead to a touchdown. He drew a face mask call on third and inches that put the ball on the one-yard line before punching it in on the ensuing play.
I talked about it last week, Hamilton needs their defence and their special teams to be at their best with Bo Levi Mitchell out of the lineup. They need to give the offence an opportunity to score and be in the football game. On Saturday, each unit leaned on each other, allowing them to move on successfully throughout the game and not allow the seed of ‘what if’ doubt creep in.
That is an impressive feat considering how poorly things went for Hamilton six days ago in Regina. This should be a night to build off for the Ticats as the benchmark to be successful.
STACKING INJURIES
While the Ticats are already dealing with an injury to their star quarterback, they had more on Saturday. Two of Hamilton’s six dressed offensive lineman went down, forcing Global tight end Max Mang to play guard in the second half. I praised Mang a few weeks ago for his strong blocking in addition to being a weapon in the passing game. However, being 267 pounds and playing guard is different.
Typically, your tight ends will assist the tackles with blocks setting the edge in the run game or be a second set of hands on passing downs. We have seen Hamilton run Mang in ‘wham’ blocking schemes this season too. He will line up a yard off the line of scrimmage in his tight end spot. On the snap of the ball he sprints across the line of scrimmage. The centre or guard will allow the defensive tackle through, giving him the feeling he has an open lane to the running back. Mang will hit the defensive tackle at full speed and allow the running lane to open for his running back.
On Saturday, Mang had to go one-on-one with Ralph Holley in the middle of the trenches. There were more reps than not he lost, but he did hold his own at points and kept competing.
It is a difficult situation to ask a tight end to go in the middle of the line and ask him to try and help your team win a football game. One of the benefits that Mang had was the athleticism of Ford at quarterback. Already holding the dynamic ability to make defenders miss, Ford was able at points to evade issues created with Mang in at guard.
I would not expect this to be a regular occurrence for the Tiger-Cats, however more injuries will not help the offence moving forward. The more starters filtering through the offence, the more difficult it will be for them to find a rhythm without Bo Levi Mitchell.
TRE TURNING TABLES
Ford did not break records or completely dominate the Argonauts defence, but he was good enough to win. Credit needs to be given where it is due, and Ford deserves his credit for his performance.
I will stand behind my observation from the loss to Winnipeg that Ford continuously gave Hamilton the best opportunity to win. Would he have given the Ticats a chance to win last week? Unlikely, based on the rest of the offence’s performance. On Saturday, he extended plays, made his throws on time, and looked in control. With a week of practice knowing he was going to be the starter, Ford looked like the best version of himself.
It felt as though the Hamilton coaching staff did not put restrictions on him, they allowed him to be dynamic. While the issue for Ford in the past has been his consistency in the pocket, what makes him a threat is his ability to improvise.
This was on display on the first two plays of the game. Ford’s first throw was an incompletion to Myron Mitchell, a play he would surely like to have back. On the following play, while trying to break free, Ford was wrapped up at the line of scrimmage. While he was falling to the turf, he was able to flip the ball to Larry Rountree III and Hamilton got a first down. At the end of that drive, Ford stepped up in the pocket again, this time he pointed to Lawler to direct traffic and found him in the end zone for the Ticats’ first score of the game.
While the interception was a mix of Lawler slipping and not a confidently thrown ball, there will be mistakes from Ford. To expect him to be something he is not would be an issue. However, I go back to my assessment from the preseason between the Hamilton quarterback options. Ford may have lower lows than Dolegala, however his highs are far greater. Hamilton needs the best option to help win them football games and that is Ford now. He showed that on Saturday and should be under centre Sunday, July 26 in Montreal.
CRACKS IN ARMOUR
Hamilton’s defence took a step back this week. The first half was mostly good, aside from the opening drive. The second half? That was arguably their worst half of meaningful football this season. Part of this is the Argonauts offence making plays. Kelly had some great plays, and his second half was impressive. We saw the Ticats run into some old issues again on Saturday though.
The biggest issue that has faced the Ticats defence this season has been getting off the field on second down, especially on second and long situations. The opening drive for the Argonauts saw Toronto convert on a second-and-10 on the second play of the game. Two plays later, Hamilton sacked Kelly. Unfortunately for the Ticats a face mask penalty negated a punt situation. Toronto took full advantage, punching the ball in from the one-yard line later in the drive.
The biggest flaw I saw from the Ticats was on the Argonauts final drive of the game. Hamilton went into cover zero on a second down, bringing pressure and all defensive backs were in man-to-man coverage. There is no safety help over the top. When defensive backs are in man-to-man their responsibility is the receiver. When it is zone coverage or match coverage, there is more special awareness. Unless you are playing over the top and you have been beat, your eyes are in the backfield on the quarterback.
When Hamilton ran cover zero, what they failed to do was contain Kelly. By allowing the Argonauts quarterback to get around the edge and into open space, Hamilton gave up a first down. Eventually, this play did not cost Hamilton the game, but it should have. Luckily for the Ticats the blunders they had did not cost them a victory when it could have. The later the game gets, the more each mistake is magnified.
The Ticats, who have blown fourth quarter leads twice already this season, almost did it again. As good as Hamilton’s defence has been through the first seven weeks of the season, they need to get better in close games at the end.
THIRD UNIT
Special teams were front and centre in the game. Toronto’s kicker Lirim Hajrullahu missed an extra point to tie the game and the game winning field goal. Again, the later in the game the more mistakes are magnified. With both misses coming in the fourth quarter, they are the big talking points.
For the Tiger-Cats, kicker Marc Liegghio had an ugly miss of his own in the contest. Again, it did not cost the Ticats a victory, but it was not a visual that sits well with fans. The ball missed the uprights by a large margin and Toronto was able to start a big return while they had begun mounting a comeback. Liegghio has been very good this season, so one miss is not the end of the world. You hope that whatever force plagued the kickers late in the game at Hamilton Stadium does not shift to Montreal.
As for the coverage for Hamilton, another game where it took a step back from where it has been. Far to often the Argonauts were able to break off big returns and flip the field position in their favour. Last week in Saskatchewan the issue was tackling. On Saturday in Hamilton the issue was lane integrity and being in the right spot. This is also while Toronto was missing their lead returner Janarion Grant. This needs to be a priority for Bob Dyce to limit opportunities for opponents to start further down the field than they should.
RESULT
Overwhelmingly, it looked like the Ticats were poised for a third heartbreaking loss at home to begin the season. Déjà vu was setting in as the Argonauts marched down the field and set themselves up for a game winning field goal attempt, but the Ticats were let off the hook. Toronto left four points on the board in their final two drives and lost by a single point. Coaches will tell you that a win is a win, and they are going to learn from games like this.
Hamilton can takeaway a few things from this game. The first is that this was the worst we have seen the defence perform. Doing it in a win makes it more palatable for the team to review and fix. The second is that despite having a quarterback situation, the Tiger-Cats offence was able to produce. Mix in the injuries on the offensive line and Hamilton will be happy with how the offence performed given the circumstances.
This could have been a catapult for a third consecutive loss and the season starting to fall off the rails for the Tiger-Cats, but they did enough to put themselves in a position to win — that is ultimately the most important thing. The Ticats will have their work cut out for them heading to Montreal on Sunday, July 26 to take on the Alouettes. Montreal sits first place in the East Division with a 5-1 record.
