The Canadian Press
HAMILTON — “They’re a better football team than the team we played in Week 2,” Tiger-Cats’ head coach June Jones commented on the Edmonton Eskimos ahead of their matchup on Thursday.
Stepping back to their meeting from earlier in the season, the Ticats managed the time of possession to the extent of being on offence for more than ten minutes longer than the Eskimos. The end result being a 38-21 victory for Hamilton.
Since then, the Tabbies have faced a whirlwind of up’s and down’s as they head into Week 11 with a 3-5 record as they’re coming off of a bye week, and a week well spent as they were able to heal up some bumps and bruises to help strengthen their roster.
Jeremiah Masoli and the offence remains as one of the top passing offences in the league, passing for over 300 yards in six of their eight contests.
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The underlying issue has been the Ticats inability to rise to the occasion at critical moments of drives, especially those coming on offence when Hamilton has been in a position to potentially steal a game on the last drive of the game. Time and time again, Ticats fans have seen their hopes crushed by a sudden breakdown on offence, resulting in games slipping away.
“We still have confidence, it was just the penalties killed us in the last few games,” Tiger-Cats receiver Terrence Toliver said while speaking with Ticats.ca on Monday. “But we still have confidence. We still think we’re one of the best teams in the league. No confidence lost, we’re just out here competing and working on it”
Hamilton is currently the third most penalized team in the CFL with a total of 72 penalties for 782 yards. Perhaps in a sense, they can view themselves as the lucky ones when you consider the Eskimos are the leagues most penalized team, with 93 penalties for exactly a thousand yards.
“We just have to be smart, know the snap count, be disciplined, and that’s it.”
Over on the defensive side of the ball, that’s perhaps where the Ticats will face their biggest test as Edmonton has developed an arsenal of damaging weapons, especially in their receiving corps.
“I think those guys are going to try to air it out,” Ticats’ defensive back Delvin Breaux told Ticats.ca on Monday. “As you’ve seen in previous games, the team’s been able to throw it over the top. I know Mike Reilly and those guys like to go for the big chunks.
D’haquille Williams and Derel Walker continue to lead the league as one and two atop the league’s receiving yards list, while teammate Kenny Stafford also makes his way in the top ten. Week 10 against Montreal saw the breakout performance from Bryant Mitchell who totalled a hundred yards performance in before the first half was even over.
“It don’t even matter, it don’t even matter, man, to be honest with you,” Breaux said when asked what it’s like to go up against a team that has such a wide array of weapons on the offensive side of the ball. “We have to know ourselves before we can know our opponents. We have to be confident going no matter who lines up wherever. We have to handle our responsibilities.”
Coming off of his third 400-yard performance of the season, and having yet to play a game this season which he hasn’t thrown a touchdown, Reilly brings an offence to Tim Hortons Field on Thursday that’s firing on all cylinders after a 40-24 win over the Alouettes.
On a night that the Ticats honour one of the greatest pass-rushers the league has ever seen, the Black and Gold will be wanting to trigger their inner-Joe Montford in hopes of creating havoc in what could
“Those guys are great. They’ve been doing some great things in this league, but we’re also great and I think it’s going to be a great matchup.”
The clash between the Eskimos and Ticats takes place Thursday night at Hamilton’s Tim Hortons Field with kick off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. With the season one week away from Labour Day Weekend matchups, it’ll be a time where teams are willing to pull out all the stops (and go’s) to earn an edge heading into the backend of the season.
“I know they’ll have something up their sleeve, but we’re ready.”
With files from Ticats.ca
