Hamilton Tiger-Cats gift Alouettes too many opportunities, lose another playoff heartbreaker (& 10 other thoughts)

The drought continues.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats lost in gut-wrenching walk-off fashion, 19-16, to the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL East Final. The Alouettes advance to play the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Grey Cup on November 16.

Hamilton failed to cash in on an excellent defensive performance in the first half, were far too conservative on third down, and made one too many costly mistakes against an Alouettes team that does not beat itself.

Here are my thoughts on an all-too-familiar playoff soul crusher.

The worst time to go cold

Given the momentum the Alouettes came into the East Final with, the Hamilton defence provided exactly what the doctor ordered when they did not allow a score in the first quarter.

However, Hamilton’s offence ran drives of four, six plays, and four plays in the opening quarter, resulting in two punts. The third drive ended with an interception from well within Marc Liegghio’s range on a badly underthrown ball from Bo Levi Mitchell intended for Kenny Lawler on the first play of the second quarter.

This was the first of multiple times that the Cats left points on the board in a game ultimately decided by a walk-off field goal. Hamilton failed to cash in when their defence slowed Davis Alexander and the Alouettes’ offence, and it was one of the many reasons the Als punched their ticket to the Grey Cup.

Utter stupidity 

I love Jordan Murray as a player. I’ve interviewed him on the podcast, and I think he’s an important piece of the Ticats’ O-line. I think he would be the first to tell you the 25 yards on two penalties he took to push the Cats out of field goal range were downright stupid. On first down at the 35-yard line after not scoring all quarter long, Murray let his emotions cost his team points.

Again, a costly, avoidable mistake took potential points off the board in a three-point game. Hamilton moved back into field goal range on this drive and tied the game 3-3. They had enough yardage to put the ball in the end zone on the ensuing drive, had Murray not taken 25 yards in penalties.

Playing not to lose

I might as well get this out of the way now, because I’m going to argue for it in a bigger spot down the line. I am an advocate for going for it on third-and-less-than-three.

Hamilton’s offence just had their best drive of the game end in an interception, and the defence bailed them out by forcing a two-and-out thanks to a massive sack from Julian Howsare. Montreal then kicked out of their end zone, and the drive began at their 46, only to have the Ticats march two yards in two plays and stall out on third and eight from the 44. Montreal then drove the field and picked up its first points of the game.

Given their chance to respond, Hamilton started to put a drive together. Greg Bell ran up the middle for seven yards before Mitchell found Lawler for a first down. After two short gains from Bell, one on the ground for two yards and one a six-yard catch, the Tiger-Cats were faced with third and two at the Montreal 50. I would have gone for it 1,000 out of 1,000 and lived with the outcome.

There was no reason not to trust the defence, especially after their first 25 minutes of play. They needed two yards in opponents’ territory and had the option of either Greg Bell or the short yardage game, and they punted the ball away.

Old school mentalities die hard for a reason. Kicking the ball away and trusting your defence, especially near midfield, is not uncommon. The data on going for it on third down, and data from every other professional football league in the world, says go for it. The thought of kicking on fourth-and-two at midfield would not cross the minds of many NCAA coaches. Even the previously punt-happy NFL has adapted to a go-for-it-on-fourth-down league.

If you trust your defence kicking it away, why can’t the defence be trusted to get a stop on a short field? When Liegghio tied the game 3-3 with his first field goal of the day, the line of scrimmage was nine yards in front of where the Ticats kicked it away on third down.

They played not to lose instead of playing to win. Another time, potential points were left off the board.

The Als picked up one first down before punting on third-and-seven on the ensuing drive.

Foreshadowing

The Alouettes took over at their own 40 with 38 seconds to go in the half and promptly marched to the Hamilton 28. Tyler Snead held on to a 21-yard pass after getting absolutely lit up by Stavros Katsantonis, and it was enough to move Montreal into field goal range.

After a failed shot at the end zone, the Als kicked on second down with seven seconds to go. Giving up a field goal to end the half is not ideal, but football is more about how you respond.

It took the Tiger-Cats all of one half to forget what the Alouettes could do in a two-minute situation.

If they knew they were watching their demise two quarters before it played out, they may have had the nerve to be aggressive on third-and-two with the ballgame on the line.

Trading touchdowns 

After a half of being kept out of the end zone resulted in a three-point deficit for the Tiger-Cats, the Als made Hamilton pay for their inefficiency on offence. Davis Alexander put together a methodical drive to open the second, capping it off with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Snead.

In response, Mitchell and the Tiger-Cats put together their best drive of the game. A drive starting at their own 33 went 10 plays and ended in Hamilton’s only major of the game, a three-yard touchdown pass from Mitchell to Shemar Bridges. Credit to the Hamilton offence for a huge response; this game was over if they did not make it a one-score game on this drive.

Right where they wanted ’em 

The fourth quarter has been Hamilton’s best all year long. After all of the inconsistency and missed opportunities, Hamilton was only down a field goal with 15 to go.

The offence finally found pay dirt, and Hamilton’s defence was putting pressure on a limping Alexander frequently. Despite a wildly inconsistent, conservative first three quarters, Hamilton had every opportunity to seize control of this game. They didn’t.

Legs Day

Liegghio continued the incredible form he showed over the regular season in this one, hitting all three of his field goals, including the game-tying 23-yarder.

Liegghio cut a six-point lead to three early in the fourth quarter and later tied the game with 1:47 to go. It was a fitting end to a season in which he hit an incredible 93 percent of his kicks.

Playing not to lose…. again

Here is where I’m sure I will lose some of you.

There’s no shot I am kicking to tie the game on third-and-two with 1:47 to go. After what I just saw the Als offence do in the two-minute drill in the first half, I am not giving Alexander more than a minute and a half to get into field goal range.

Teams work on their two-minute drills to the point they’re nearly as scripted as opening drives. Hamilton had no control over what the Montreal offence did, and had a full playbook at their disposal to come up with two yards.

Though they could not run it out, Hamilton could have all but drained the clock with a first down. I understand coming up short means game over. It turns out so did playing it safe and tying the game.

With the ball in the hands of Mitchell, with all of the weapons they had at their disposal, I can live with going for it and coming up short on third down. Play to win. If you told me this offence needed two yards to keep their Grey Cup hopes alive at the beginning of the year, I’d have taken that every single time.

The quarterback is expected to be the leader and own a loss. Their success is measured by their ability to deliver championships. You cannot take the ball out of Mitchell’s hands there.

The trademark Hamilton Tiger-Cats moment

In every single heartbreaking playoff loss the Tiger-Cats have suffered, there has, without fail, been a ginormous ‘what could have been’ mistake.

A block in the back in 2014. Tim White taking a knee with 35 yards of open space in front of him, down two points in the Grey Cup at home. Jaelon Acklin dropping a ball in the end zone in overtime of that same Grey Cup.

Add Devin Veresuk’s missed tackle to the list.

My intent is not to pile on or lay blame. A football game is not lost or won on one play, and Vereskuk has been a key piece on his side of the ball as a rookie.

But, calling a spade a spade, he had Charleston Rambo dead to rights one-on-one and he overpursued. If he makes a sure tackle, as he had dozens of times throughout the year, Hamilton gets the ball back, and the game goes to overtime at the very least. The air left my chest the same way it did during every single one of those critical game-changing moments in past Grey Cups.

You can point to 100 things the Ticats could have done better in the lead-up to this moment. No matter how you look at it, if Veresuk drops Rambo, the Als do not walk it off with zeros on the clock.

What does the future hold? 

The sense around Tiger town will be one of uncertainty to go with the disappointment of extending the CFL’s longest Grey Cup drought.

Mitchell put together a 5,000-yard season, Hamilton had three of the top 10 receivers in the league, the defence created more takeaways than anyone in the league, they had a decent running game, and a kicker hitting at a 93 percent clip.

At their best, they showed they could play with anybody in the league. Their biggest hurdle all year was being unable to put it all together at the right time.

When the offence was rolling, the defence could not get a stop, and when the defence was hot, the offence ran cold. Complimentary football was rare, even in the wins, save for one stretch in the middle of the season.

The East Final itself was a microcosm of this trend. Nobody played particularly poorly.  Mitchell threw for 261 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Bell had 66 yards on the ground and averaged 6.6 yards per carry. Lawler had nine receptions for 117 yards, and five different receivers had at least four receptions.

Defensively, they held Alexander to 210 yards through the air, forced a pick, and won the sack battle with two to Montreal’s one. As much as a missed tackle or dumb penalty hurt the Tiger-Cats, so too did conservative play-calling and the inability to feed off of the opportunities the defence gave them. It’s almost fitting that the offence waited for the worst drive of the night from the defence to come to life and find the end zone.

Still, in terms of raw talent and potential, this was one of the best teams Hamilton has rolled out this century. So, where do they go from here?

How many years, if any, does Mitchell have left in him? Will Taylor Powell even stick around for another season as a number two behind Mitchell, and if not, what is the plan for the future? Will the secondary look the same? What about the defensive line? Are the Cats going to be able to lock up Julian Howsare?

What about Tim White and the rest of the receiving corps? Will they be back in 2026? These are all questions the Tiger-Cats front office will have to address, without the architect who built the roster in the first place.

Add in the fact that teams experience turnover every year, regardless, and this season feels like even more of a missed opportunity.

For now, it’s questions without answers and another year of what could have been.