Bert Faibish
CFL.ca
If there’s anything that can help exercise the demons of a tough loss on the road, it’s the chance to play the same opponent as soon as possible.
The Ticats will get that chance this Friday night when they host the Edmonton Eskimos just five days after falling to them 35-37 at Commonwealth Stadium.
“For me, it’s always a good thing when you get beat by a team, to have the chance to go right back at them,” said Ticats linebacker Otis Floyd.
“So I hope a lot of guys on this team are hungry and upset about what happened last week,” he added.
For a team that is usually a disciplined group, Hamilton took an unusual number of penalties last week, often in key situations.
“As a defence we played pretty well but we shot ourselves in the foot by taking penalties in situations where we had them in two and outs,” said Floyd.
The “D” will have a difficult enough time containing quarterback Ricky Ray and Edmonton’s dynamic pass-attack without giving them extra chances because of penalties.
This game will have some added importance because of the time of year and Hamilton’s positioning in the playoff hunt. A loss this Friday to Edmonton would leave the Eskimos one game behind the Ticats for a shot at the crossover, but it’s not time to hit the panic button yet.
“We still control our own destiny, it’s not like we have to hope some other people win or hope some other people lose, we’re still in control,” said quarterback Kevin Glenn.
“I think that’s the most important thing right now and if we take care of business on Friday night, we’ll be okay,” he added.
One of the biggest problems for the Ticats in recent games has been an influx of turnovers, something that according to Kevin Glenn is just part of football and doesn’t necessarily have a quantifiable source.
“That’s just football to be honest, when you’re dropping back and throwing the ball 36 or 40 times the guys on the other side of the ball are going to make plays, they get paid too,” he said.
“The turnover thing is just happening right now, we didn’t do it earlier in the season but now it’s becoming a problem,” said Glenn.
“If it happens it’s more so how you react afterwards than actually the play that happened.”
