The regular season is over. The Ticats lost 32-25 in their regular season finale to the Montreal Alouettes and finish the season at 7-11, their worst record under Kent Austin and their worst since finishing 3-15 in 2008.
Bad: A glorified preseason game
Here was the thing about this game: it didn’t matter in the least. Sure, the Ticats would have liked to go into the playoffs on a winning note, but this team has issues that one meaningless win would not have fixed. They also sat a boatload of regular starters and it showed. It was nice to see some guys who don’t see much playing time get a chance to prove themselves, but we get that twice a year in June already, so seeing it in November was not that thrilling. I don’t blame the Ticats for doing what they did, but it made for a somewhat boring game.
Bad/Good: Jeff Mathews is who we thought he was
Part of the plan against the Als was to use Zach Collaros early and then give the rest of the game to Jeff Mathews. The former Cornell record setter got into the game on the final play of the first quarter and proceeded to take every snap at quarterback from then on out. What we learned from this is that he is still the same QB we saw last year. He has a cannon for an arm, can make some good throws when need be, but he also holds onto the ball for too long and is prone to turning the ball over. He is, to steal from the late Dennis Green, who we thought he was. This was Mathews’ chance to shine and while he wasn’t terrible, he didn’t exactly set himself to be a prized acquisition this coming offseason.
Good: Zach Collaros
While his time was limited, that sure looked a lot more like the Zach Collaros we are used to seeing. He didn’t engineer any touchdown drives while he was piloting the offense, but Collaros moved the ball down the field, extended plays by using his feet and looked more like the guy we saw have complete control of this offense last year. This is the Zach Collaros that the Ticats will need if they hope to make any noise in the playoffs. Hopefully for the Tabbies, this was the start of Zach fully being back.
Good: Mr. Raymond does his thing
For years I have admired Keon Raymond and today was the first time I got to cheer for him as he made one of his typical momentum-turning defensive plays. This time it was a beautiful strip of former teammate Nik Lewis. The strip set the Ticats up in Montreal territory and the offense actually capitalized by scoring a touchdown. The Ticats brought Raymond in because of his ability to force timely turnovers, and he did so against the Als. For the Ticats’ sake, hopefully he has a couple more left in him for when the games matter most.
Good: Tyms Hortons Field
He may have only had four catches for 33 yards, but the aptly named Brian Tyms provided the crowd with a much needed spark on his third quarter touchdown catch. His was the score that came after the Raymond strip and it was the start of the crowd getting back into the game. In fact, the second half saw the crowd become a little more animated than they were in what was an admittedly dull first half. The team wanted to see what they had in Tyms ahead of the playoffs since they need bodies in the receiving corps. Did they see enough to earn him a spot on the roster next week? We will have to wait and see.
Bad: If you can’t cover Sam Giguère…
Sam Giguère scored twice on Saturday. Sam Giguère had 10 career touchdown catches entering this game. He beat Cassius Vaughn on the first score and Chris Davis on the second. Neither player was in any position to make a play on the ball. If you can cover Sam freaking Giguère you shouldn’t be on the field. Vaughn has shown time and time again that he is not the answer and yet the Ticats keep trotting him out there. I know the team has been ripped apart by injury, but if Vaughn (and Davis) can’t stop Sam Giguére from scoring on them, how will either be able to stop the deadly duo of Adarius Bowman and Derel Walker?
Good: Optimus gets his time to shine
C.O. Prime has been as reliable as any player on this team, and it was nice to see him get a chance to show his skills. He had a beautiful 48-yard catch and run, as well as a nice 19-yard pickup on a fake punt. Prime doesn’t see the ball much — the catch was just his second of the year and the run was his first carry since 2014 — so it was nice to see one of the under-the-radar players get a showcase moment.
Good/Bad: The D stood tall until it didn’t
The Hamilton defense started the game on fire, not allowing a first down until the Alouettes’ fifth drive of the game and they forced two turnovers, but they also allowed an Alouettes offense guided by Vernon Adams to pick them apart in the second half. To his credit, Adams played a very good game and was given a lot of time behind a much maligned offensive line. This might have been the best game I have seen Adams play in his three starts and he showed why the Als traded a first-round pick for him. If I am Montreal, he’s the guy I am going with to start next season.
But the Ticats defense still didn’t make things difficult enough for Adams. Just once sack for the game and very little pressure applied from about the halfway point of the second quarter onward. If the Ticats give Mike Reilly the same kind of time they gave Vernon Adams, next week is the last Ticats game of 2016.
Bad: More injuries
It wouldn’t be a Ticats game recap without talking about injuries. The Tabbies lost two Canadian depth guys who were seeing more time in this one, RB Mercer Timmis and WR Mike Jones both left the game early and did not return. It is another blow to the team’s depth, the team’s Canadian depth and the team’s special teams unit. If ever there was a team that was snake bit, it would be this edition of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Not a game goes by where someone doesn’t get hurt. It would be comical if it wasn’t so tragic.
Final Thoughts
The Ticats now hobble into the playoffs as losers of their last two, losers of five of their last six and they also without having won at Tim Hortons Field in their last four home contests. Not exactly how a team wants to be entering the playoffs.
Hamilton has won back-to-back games just once this year and will now need to win back-to-back games to get back to the Grey Cup and will need to win three in a row to win it. Not likely.
The red-hot Edmonton Eskimos come into Tim Hortons Field for the East Semi-Final next Sunday and it looks more and more like that game will be where Hamilton’s season ends. The Ticats are just not a good football team, whereas Edmonton is. It is the playoffs and anything can happen, but after 20 weeks, I think we know exactly who the Ticats are and that is a team that just is not good enough.
