The Hamilton Tiger-Cats dropped to 0-2 on the season after losing 32-14 to the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field on Sunday night. Below are my thoughts on the game.
The ballad of Bad Bo
The Bo Levi Mitchell era could not have gotten off to a worse start for the player or the team as the follow-up performance to a debut Mitchell admitted was “not good enough” turned out to be an even bigger dud.
Before his injury — we’ll get to that in a moment — Hamilton’s new million-dollar man was awful. He tossed a pair of interceptions in the end zone that killed two of the team’s best drives of the night. The first was a lob to no one and the second was thrown blatantly into double coverage.
In his two games so far this season, Mitchell has failed to eclipse the 200-yard mark in either game and has thrown one touchdown to four interceptions, three of which were almost inexplicably bad decisions by the 12-year veteran.
This also doesn’t take into account his near-picks, either, like the one he threw directly to Adarius Pickett.
His poor play will not be the main storyline of this game, however, as Mitchell left midway through the fourth quarter with a lower-body injury. There’s no word yet on its severity, so we’ll have to wait until the team gets back to practice to know if Mitchell will miss time.
If Bo can’t go, it will be Matthew Shiltz to the rescue once again. Shiltz played well filling in for Mitchell on Sunday night but it’s probably best not to read too much into a stat line that was buttressed by the game already being out of reach.
The Ticats have a quick turnaround this week as they’ll play Friday against the Montreal Alouettes. Given the dearth of prep time, don’t be surprised if the home-opener is the Matthew Shiltz show.
Why so unserious?
It’s only been two games but it’s certainly looking like the undisciplined manner in which the team conducts itself on game day is starting to become ingrained.
After taking some boneheaded penalties against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Week 1, the Ticats continued that trend on Sunday against the Argos.
The Tabbies committed three backbreaking penalties that either resulted in a first down or led to a touchdown.
Mason Bennett was flagged for unnecessary roughness on second-and-16, gifting the Argos a first down on a play that ended well short of the sticks. Mo Diallo committed a facemask on a sack that would have forced the Argos to kick a field goal. Two plays later, they were in the end zone.
Chris Edwards was nailed with a roughing-the-passer call that set the Argos up for their first score of the game and rookie Dexter Lawson Jr., filling in for the injured Lawrence Woods III, gave up 40 yards of field position when he unnecessarily hauled down Damonte Coxie on a desperation heave by Kelly.
The Lawson penalty didn’t result in points for Toronto, but it took time off the clock and flipped field position in favour of the Argos.
White out
If you’re old enough to remember, milk cartons used to feature the faces of missing children to raise awareness for their disappearance. As technology advanced, they did away with the practice, though it might be time to bring it back.
The first face I would put on there is Tim White’s.
White was fine in Week 1 but was nowhere to be seen in Week 2. This is the same disappearing act he pulled early last season that everyone forgot when he went on a late-season tear to lead the league in catches.
White caught five passes for 41 yards against Toronto but most of that yardage came on a single late-game heave when the contest was well out of reach.
The Ticats paid White to be the focal point of their passing attack and he has been anything but so far this season. His chemistry with Mitchell has simply not been there and if the Ticats are to dig themselves out of this winless hole they have created, he will need to step it up.
Tommy’s fault
Offensive coordinator Tommy Condell has been a favourite punching bag of Ticats fans for a couple of seasons now and he’s taking the majority of the blame following another uninspired offensive performance.
While I think Condell has been unfairly scapegoated, the one area where he does deserve some criticism is his predictability.
Whether you were in the stands or watching at home, it felt like you knew exactly what play was coming next. Was it first down? Chances are James Butler will run up the middle for three or four yards.
There also didn’t seem to be any adjustments. Toronto brought a lot of pressure, especially after injuries forced changes along the offensive line, and the Ticats’ offence simply didn’t do anything to counteract that.
Execution more than anything has been the biggest hindrance to Hamilton having a functional offence but Condell’s lack of imagination hasn’t helped matters.
Block this
For the second week in a row, the Tiger-Cats were forced to use defensive lineman Casey Sayles along the offensive line after Coulter Woodmansey and Joel Figueroa had to leave the game due to injuries.
I don’t know why Hamilton doesn’t have seven offensive linemen on the roster but it has now bitten them in two straight contests.
The other issue with the offensive line is that it hasn’t been very good. The pass protection was inconsistent as both Mitchell and Shiltz were forced out of the pocket on numerous occasions. The run blocking was also subpar as James Butler had just 57 yards on 16 carries with a long of 13.
Joel Figueroa, a big-money signing in the off-season, isn’t playing like one of the league’s highest-paid players at his position. His addition was supposed to solve Hamilton’s revolving door at left tackle and he has been just as ineffective as all the players who have come before him the last few seasons.
The Duke of Barton
One positive from Sunday’s debacle was the play of receiver Duke Williams. After being a bit of an afterthought in Week 1, Williams caught six passes for a team-high 102 yards. He made a number of clutch catches over the middle a looked a lot more like the Duke Williams who played in Edmonton in 2018 rather than the one Saskatchewan saw in 2022.
It’s a small consolation given the outcome but Duke Williams becoming that Duke Williams again is a good thing for the Tiger-Cats.
Give him his Flowers
One of the more pleasant surprises in this young season has been the play of rookie defensive back Carthell Flowers-Lloyd. The six-foot-two, 205-pound Stony Brook University product has been a standout on special teams in his nascent CFL career.
He finished with a game-high three special teams tackles on Sunday and seemed to always be around the ball whenever Argos’ returner Javon Leake fielded a punt or kickoff. The 24-year-old was one of the main reasons Toronto never made much headway in the return game, averaging a measly 15 yards per kickoff return and 6.5 yards per punt return.
The Syracuse, N.Y. native has quietly been one of the team’s best players and is quickly establishing himself as one of the league’s premier punt and kick coverage players.
Get me off the hype train
I know I’m going to take heat for this but Chad Kelly was just fine against the Ticats. He certainly wasn’t bad but he didn’t show me anything that diminished my skepticism of him going into the season. He was plum average.
He completed 14-of-23 passes for 213 yards and didn’t throw for any touchdowns or interceptions. He made one very impressive deep throw to Coxie and rushed for three touchdowns, with two of them coming on plunges from the one-yard line. It was a fine performance but nothing special.
Could he be better than I thought? Sure. But after taking a 22-6 lead into halftime, the Argos did nothing offensively during the third quarter. Kelly led the Argos to just one first down and never got the ball beyond his own 41-yard line. Against a competent team with a functional offence, that type of lull would have been a death sentence.
I get that he’s the golden boy and everyone wants to anoint him as the league’s next big star but let’s ratchet the hype down just a tad.
Spear, spear, spear
Argos’ running back A.J. Ouellette found himself in the middle of a wrestling ring for Toronto independent Greektown Wrestling this past week. Ouellette entered the ring sporting his Argos helmet and Grey Cup ring and nailed Trent Gibson with a spear.
In homage, the CFL on TSN panel had Davis Sanchez recreate the moment on Saturday night by spearing Milt Stegall. In my very professional opinion, Sanchez’s spear was superior to Ouellette’s but the Argos’ ball carrier certainly has the chops to make in the world of pro wrestling should he decide to go in that direction.
Up next
Hamilton (0-2) finally opens their home schedule when they take on the Montreal Alouettes (1-0) on Friday night from Tim Hortons Field.
The Ticats are on a short week and are dealing with a host of injuries, with the most concerning being to their starting quarterback while the Alouettes are fresh off a bye.
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This will be the third straight game in which the Ticats will take on an opponent that did not play the week before and doing so on a short week could be cause for concern amongst the Hamilton faithful.
Josh Smith has been writing about the Ticats and the CFL since 2010 and was sporting his beard way before it was cool. Will be long after, too.
