The Hamilton Tiger-Cats fell to 0-3 after a 38-12 loss to the Montreal Alouettes on Friday night at Tim Hortons Field. Below are my thoughts on the game.
Acting a fool
There was a lot of trepidation amongst the Ticats faithful when the team announced the signing of mercurial defender Chris Edwards. His antics following the East Final in 2021 when he was a member of the Toronto Argonauts were still fresh in a lot of people’s minds and it was going to take some time before he was fully embraced.
Doing what he did post-game will not help an antsy fanbase come to accept him any quicker.
Following the final whistle, Edwards two-hand shoved Als’ receiver Austin Mack after feigning a friendly handshake. Edwards was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty but that is immaterial as the game was over.
This type of cowardly buffoonery is exactly why many were not happy to see Edwards signed by the team despite his immense talent.
Edwards displayed more bravado after the game than he did during it, which speaks to his level of play on Friday night. A player being frustrated after getting their tail kicked is nothing new, but taking a cheap shot at a guy because he showed out is the type of behaviour that should be beneath professional athletes.
Austin Mack was a major benefactor of Hamilton’s defensive ineptitude but if Edwards wanted to take out his anger, he should have directed it toward his own teammates. It’s not Mack’s fault Richard Leonard failed to wrap up the former Ohio State Buckeye and gave him a clear path to the end zone.
Edwards is no stranger to losing his cool and acting a fool; these types of antics have followed him wherever he has gone. There is no doubt in my mind that Edwards should be suspended. If the Ticats wanted to make an example of him and release him, I would applaud them for doing it.
It’s one thing to lose because you are just not good enough but allowing this type of selfish behaviour to continue could further darken the franchise’s reputation. Whatever the Ticats do will tell you loads about where they see themselves and what they value in their locker room.
Uninspired and unmotivated
Friday night’s defensive effort was one of the worst I have seen from a Tiger-Cats team in quite some time.
While you can’t hang all 38 points on the defence — the Als found the end zone thanks to their defence and special teams as well — the Tabbies have given up 112 points in their first three games while allowing at least 30 in each.
Getting shredded by the Bombers is one thing; getting scored on by an Alouettes team that couldn’t hang 20 on the Redblacks is another thing altogether.
They may have brought him down four times, but Cody Fajardo looked like in-his-prime Doug Flutie on Friday. He was escaping the pocket, finding the open receiver and making plays with his feet.
Everyone likes to point at the offence and ask for change — and maybe they should get it — but at what point do we start questioning Mark Washington’s job security?
His defence looked great in 2019 but, much like the entire team, it’s been all downhill since then. Time and time again on Friday, Alouettes’ receivers were wide open for big gains or key second-down pickups and it felt as if the defence could never make the timely stop.
Case in point, Montreal had a first-and-20 from their own 10-yard-line and the very next play was a 25-yard completion to Keshunn Abram. Six plays later, the Als were in the end zone to take a lead they would never relinquish.
The Tabbies spent a lot of money on a defensive line that has been mediocre at best and that leaves an inexperienced secondary exposed and easily beatable. Not all of that is on the coach but it certainly doesn’t seem as if Mark Washington is putting his players in the best position to succeed.
Chuck it deep and hope for the best
While I have been more supportive of Tommy Condell’s continued employment than most, Friday night’s performance was exactly why so many wish to see him replaced.
Hamilton’s offensive game plan against Montreal seemed to be to throw it deep and hope a receiver came down it.
It worked sometimes. Tim White had a couple of very long gains, Matthew Shiltz put up some big passing numbers, and both White and Duke Williams had over 100 yards receiving on the night. But it led to exactly zero touchdowns and all the gaudy passing numbers do not mean anything if you can’t produce more than field goals.
The Ticats have consistently struggled with red-zone play calling during Condell’s tenure. That reared its head again, as the Tabbies scored just three points on two trips inside Montreal’s red zone and came away with just nine points on drives that made it to at least Montreal’s 25.
That is simply not good enough. That would not be good enough if Condell was calling plays for a local Hamilton high school, let alone the city’s professional team. As the chorus for a change grows louder, I find myself agreeing with the mob more and more.
Matty Ick
While it was probably the best quarterback performance the team has had all season, let’s not confuse that with being actually good. While Matthew Shiltz didn’t make a fool of himself, he certainly did not do anything to make a quarterback controversy an actual topic of discussion.
Yes, Shiltz threw for more yards against the Alouettes than Bo Levi Mitchell had in his two starts combined but a lot of those were empty yards, coming well after the game was already in hand. He also threw two horrendous interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. He struggled on some deep throws as well, overthrowing Tim White and Tyler Ternowski in the end zone.
Shiltz’s box-score numbers might look decent but the game film will be a lot less kind.
Little piggies
I know injuries have hit the team hard but Hamilton’s offensive line was awful on Friday. They may have only given up two sacks and did well enough in pass protection, but the run blocking has been an issue in every game so far this season.
James Butler finished with five carries for 14 yards, with his longest rush of the night being eight yards.
Eight. Yards.
Hamilton paid a lot of money to solidify their offensive line. Sure, most of that was on the sideline last night, but the unit was still not good enough.
Not so special after all
Special teams won’t skate on criticism either. We’ll delve deeper into the bogus punt return touchdown but they did allow that while having no success in the return game themselves.
Lawrence Woods has just not looked like himself this year, returning six punts for an average of 12.3 yards and five kickoffs for an average of 17.6 yards in this one. The blocking in front of him was not present and he seems to be too indecisive with the ball in his hands.
Perhaps the team should think of removing one of the items from his plate, allowing him to either focus solely on being the team’s returner or the field-side corner. Woods doing both just does not seem to be working at all.
Curious call
Maybe I don’t know the rules as well as I should, but I do not know how Chandler Worthy’s punt return touchdown was allowed to stand.
Initially, there was a flag thrown and while it was obvious that Stavros Katsantonis was well inside the five-yard halo, it also seemed equally as obvious that he was pushed in from behind by an Alouettes’ blocker.
The flag for no yards was picked up because it was deemed that Katsanonis was pushed into the five-yard zone but the block was not deemed a penalty and the Alouettes took a lead they would never lose.
The outcome of the game would have probably still been the same but it still feels like the refs missed this one. I will be curious to see if the league starts making apologies for the missed call next week.
Roughing the what?
Ticats’ head coach Orlondo Steinauer was once known as a very shrewd play challenger, with a success rate that was tops in the league. However, his choice to challenge for roughing the passer when Matthew Shiltz was 10 yards downfield and clearly a runner was one of the most bizarre I have ever seen from a coach.
Not only was it a wasted challenge and a blown timeout, but also halted the momentum the Ticats had built on that drive. The next play was a third-down heave to Tyler Ternowski that fell incomplete and any chance the Tabbies had of staging a miracle comeback died at that moment.
The game was over by this point and it was more than likely just a desperation challenge, but it still made little sense.
Bright spots
If you are the grasping-at-straws type, here are some of the good things that came out of Friday’s embarrassment.
Tim White had his best game of the year and finally found a way to come down with some deep passes.
Duke Williams continues to be one of the most consistently reliable players on the team. For someone who came in with a lot of the same baggage as Chris Edwards, Williams has been a model citizen and has probably been the team’s best player over the first three games.
Marc Liegghio made all four of his field goal attempts. Perhaps the change of scenery was all he needed to get his once-promising career back on track.
Carthell Flowers-Lloyd is already making a name for himself as one of the league’s best kick coverage players. He had another four tackles on special teams against the Alouettes, bringing his total to eight in the first three games of the year. His punt block in Week 1 was one of the best plays of the year so far for the Ticats and if he keeps this up, he will be named the team’s top special teams player at the end of the year.
Up next
The Ticats enter their first bye week with a lot of questions to answer.
Luckily for them, their upcoming schedule is not all that daunting. When they return from a week away, they will host the also-winless Ottawa Redblacks before travelling to take on the winless Edmonton Elks.
If there was ever a get-right scenario following a bye, this would be it. The Ticats have dug themselves into a hole but they can still climb out.
