The Ticats train is playoff bound.
After a rocky start, the Ticats did what they have done a lot this season and mounted a thrilling second-half comeback that ended 39-36 in their favour after double overtime. There were many ups and downs in this one, with a first half that everyone would rather forget and a second half (and overtime) that people will never forget.
No one was perfect, and the guys who will get praise also had rough patches. It was, like the Edmonton game back in July and the Labour Day Classic, a tale of two halves.
Good: Maher performs the Jamie Boreham special
Yes, I’m giving Brett Maher a good for his game because when it came down to it, he made the kick that counted the most. I am not going to ignore or gloss over his struggles earlier in the game. He missed an extra point and a field goal that, if hit, probably keeps Friday’s game from going to overtime. But at the end of the day, he made the one kick he absolutely had to make.
Why am I calling this the Jamie Boreham special, you might ask? In a 2004 game against the Edmonton Eskimos, Boreham had a horrible game, missing three field goals, one of which was a chip shot from less than 20 yards. But at the end, when the Ticats drove into Edmonton territory, Boreham nailed a 47-yard field goal to win the game. Final score: Hamilton 30, Edmonton 27. So on a rainy, cold, Friday night in Ottawa, Brett Maher played like a reincarnated Jamie Boreham, in both the good way and the bad way.
Good: Masoli outduels Burris again
In last year’s East Final, Jeremiah Masoli outperformed Henry Burris. On Friday night, he did it again.
He was far from perfect, but Masoli did just enough good stuff in the second half to help erase the bad stuff we saw in the first (like those two horrible interceptions deep in Ottawa territory).
Down 15 at the break, Masoli showed the type of moxie that still makes people think he can be a special player in this league. He orchestrated three touchdown drives and got the Ticats back in the game with good decision making and by taking care of the football. He made some great throws into tight windows, but didn’t go full gunslinger and force things. We all know about Good Hank, Bad Hank — and he showed up in both forms on Friday — but we also have Good Jeremiah, Bad Jeremiah. Both of those players showed up Friday, too, but luckily for Ticats fans, the good side outweighed the bad when it mattered most.
Good: John Chick, beast mode
I am running out of ways to praise John Chick. It seems as if every week this guy finds his way into these reviews because of something spectacular he did. The man is an absolute stud. Friday was another multi-sack game for him, his fourth of the season, and his performance gives him 13 sacks on the season. The guy has been incredible since Week 1 and has never let up.
He also made the play that pretty much sealed the game when he blew by his blocker to strip Henry Burris of the ball in the second overtime period. The fumble was recovered by Adrian Tracy and three plays later, the Ticats were kicking the winning field goal. If Hamilton ends up going far in the playoffs, we will look back on that play in that moment and say, “That’s why they got here.”
Good: The defense as a whole
Chick wasn’t the only member of the defense to shine on Friday. After a rocky start that saw the Redblacks score on five of their first six possessions, Hamilton’s D clamped down and allowed just nine points the rest of the game. We saw a beautiful tip-pick by Michael Atkinson, sacks by Ted Laurent and Frederic Plesius, an interception by newcomer Derrius Brooks and a fumble recovery by Larry Dean. The coverage got tighter in the second half and the tackling got better. The Redblacks played a lot of pitch-and-catch in the first half, but the Ticats took that away in the second and Ottawa struggled because of it. It wasn’t the dominant defensive performance from beginning to end, but when the defense needed to make a play or make a stop, they did. It was a performance not without its flaws, but one that the team can use to build on over the end of the regular season and into the playoffs.
Good: As Kevin Elliott spins
Kevin Elliott’s first game as a Tiger-Cat probably couldn’t have gone much better. Six catches, 102 yards and a touchdown is probably the best script one could have written for a player’s debut on a new team. With injuries ravaging Hamilton’s receiving corps, the team needed guys like Elliott to step up. The team also got good games out of Andy Fantuz, who became the first Ticat ever to catch 100 passes in a single season, and John Chiles, but Elliott was the man against the Redblacks. He also probably takes some measure of pleasure out of being a key contributor in a win that also eliminated the team that unceremoniously dumped him a few weeks prior.
Good: The run game
Once was a fluke, but twice might be a trend and it sure looks like the Ticats have figured out how to run the football. This is the second week in a row that C.J. Gable had double-digit carries and over 60 yards on the ground. Gable wasn’t much of a factor in the passing game, but he did catch a key five-yard touchdown from Jeremiah Masoli that tied the game up late in the fourth quarter.
But it is the 11 carries that Gable got that really shows that the Ticats maybe, just maybe, might have cracked the code on this whole running game thing. Gable’s long was just 12 yards, but his 14 carries were one shy of his highest single-game total and shows the team’s renewed (or newfound) commitment to the run. People may scoff or even laugh, but C.J. Gable is one of the most talented tailbacks in the CFL. He can do it all, but has rarely been allowed to show his skills in the run game since injuries have derailed him since a breakout rookie campaign in 2013. But when given a chance, he can produce, and this game coupled with last week’s shows that when No. 32 gets the rock, good things happen.
Good: The Great Wall of Hamilton
Running the football and making big plays in the passing game only happens if the big men up front do their job, and despite a somewhat makeshift unit, it has to be A’s all around for the Hamilton offensive line. They gave up just one sack, opened up plenty of holes in the running game and gave Jeremiah Masoli all the time he needed to make plays, especially in the second half. The most impressive part of this is that they were once again starting a new right tackle, and not just any new right tackle, but rookie Brandon Revenberg.
There was quite a bit of head shaking when the Ticats moved up to draft Revenberg. Many wondered why the Ticats would not only select a player not in the CFL Scouting Bureau’s Top 20 so high, but why they would trade up to do so. I think all that shaking turned to nodding the last few weeks, but definitely any question as to why the Ticats selected him ended after his performance on Friday night. Revenberg did not look out of place at all, and if he can continue to man the right side, allowing the Ticats to start four Canadian offensive linemen, they will have some amazing ratio flexibility. But none of that would be possible without Revenberg playing well and play well he did.
Bad: Questionable coaching decisions
Far be it for me to question Kent Austin, but he made some curious decisions at various points in the game on Friday. After an early third-quarter score that put the Ticats down nine, the team decided to go for two. They missed it, but then a few minutes later a Brett Maher missed field goal put the Ticats down eight. Then on their very next drive, they scored a touchdown to cut the Redblacks led to two, but instead of going for two, they opt to kick the single which left them down by one. Ultimately none of this matters because they got the win, but it begs the question of just what Austin was thinking. It seems like the right call would have been a single after the first score and a two-point attempt after the second. If the Ticats would have lost, these decisions would be much more heavily scrutinized, but they didn’t, so they get swept under the rug a bit. They shouldn’t be. These were brain farts by the head coach and the types of moves you don’t normally see out of the usually correct Kent Austin.
Final Thoughts
The Ticats needed that win Friday night to stay alive in the crawl — calling it a race just seems wrong — for first in the East Division. Thanks to their three-point win, the Ticats now hold the tiebreaker over the Redblacks should the improbable happen and the two teams end up tied at season’s end.
But most importantly, the win secured Hamilton’s fourth-straight playoff appearance and seventh in the last eight years. They will host a playoff game and still have a chance to host the East Final. Ottawa’s next two games are against a very good Winnipeg team (one on the road, one at home), while the Ticats host the Eskimos next Friday and follow that up by hosting the Alouettes the following Saturday. The Ticats will need some help from the Bombers, but they also have to take care of business themselves.
Playoff football will be in the Hammer in November, it is just a matter of figuring out which week the Ticats will welcome someone to the Donut Box.
