Steinauer not focused on Ticats’ clinching scenarios: ‘People look at standings when you’re not consistently winning’

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

The playoff-clinching scenario for the Hamilton Tiger-cats is a simple one: win and you’re in.

Hamilton welcomes the B.C. Lions to Tim Hortons Field on Friday night with a chance to eliminate the possibility of a cross-over and book their ticket to the CFL’s second season.

While it’s an important note for Ticats coach Orlando Steinauer, it is not one he was focusing on in practice this week.

“People look at standings and situations when you’re not consistently winning. When you win you don’t ever have to worry about those things,” Steinauer told the media. “So no, that was not the messaging, in fact, haven’t even spoke about it to the team, I’m sure they are aware of it.”

The Tabbies have started to consistently win recently with back-to-back wins and four victories in their last six games.

A reason for the Ticats hot play has been the return of Jeremiah Masoli, who went 17-24 for 357 yards and three scores in Hamilton’s Week 13 win over Edmonton.

Steinauer says the key for Masoli has been taking care of the ball.

“His play has picked up. I think Jeremiah is about as healthy as he’s going to be. He’s made some better decisions and the biggest thing is we’ve come away with wins. To say he’s more in a groove now is fun talk, but at the end of the day it’s about winning and not turning the ball over and we’ve done a good job of that recently.”

While the Ticats have been hot, the opposite is true for the Lions who have lost six straight after a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Argos last weekend, putting them four points out of a playoff spot.

The Ticats (6-5) will look to wrap up a playoff spot against the Lions (4-7) Friday in Hamilton.