September 20, 2018

A matter of adjustments for the Ticats

Geoff Robins, CFL.ca

HAMILTON — The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a flight, skip, and a jump away from clashing with the BC Lions on Saturday, getting set to fly out of Hamilton on Thursday before enduring a three-hour time change upon their arrival in Vancouver.

When the the game kicks off, the Ticats will be likely still used to life in the Hammer, so although the game will be starting at 7:00 p.m. local time, it will feel closer to the 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time that the Black and Gold will be used to.

Nonetheless, it’s just another part of being a professional athlete and in a sport focused around adjustments and bettering your opponents next move, it’s just another thing players need to know how to handle.

RELATED:
» Buy Tickets: Tiger-Cats at Lions
» Weekly Predictor: Lions have advantage in cat fight
» Lack of effort not to blame for Ticats loss

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats defence will be needing to make a few adjustment sin order to contain a mobile Jonathon Jennings and an underrated Lions backfield. (Geoff Robins, CFL.ca)

“It’s tough sometimes,” Terrence Toliver says on the time change between Hamilton and Vancouver. “But we’re pros, we just have to do what we got to do to help our team win, wether that’s catch the ball, making tackles on special teams and defence. We just got to go out there and do what we do.”

Following Hamilton’s Week 14 loss to the Calgary Stampeders, Tiger-Cats head coach June Jones said,”after watching film, you’re never as bad as you thought it was, nor or are you ever as good as you thought it was.”

Considering the loss, that certainly could be taken as a positive as they get set for the CFL’s ‘Cat Fight’ between the Lions and Tabbies.

Hamilton’s defence might be needing to make adjustments to their initial game plan in order to adapt to the play-style of the Lions’ starting quarterback in Jonathon Jennings, who steps in for an injured Travis Lulay.

“He’s definitely more – move around, throws the ball from all different kinds of positions,” head coach June Jones said on Wednesday when addressing the media following practice. “He’s started in the league, he’s been productive at times. They have a guy back there who can win some games.”

“You’ve got to change your game plan a little bit when you go up against scrambling quarterbacks,” defensive lineman Justin Capicciotti told Ticats.ca on Wednesday. “He’s really good with his feet, so we have to keep in mind that you might get there and he’s gone.”

Far removed from his 2016 season where Jennings threw for over 5,000 yards and had averaged 5.3 yards on the ground, but that’s not to say Jennings isn’t still capable of beating a defence, especially with the trend of momentum they’ve been carrying over the past few weeks.

“It’s very important for us to get pressure (on him),” Capicciotti says. “Any game we play, if you can get pressure then we’re helping out our DB’s. We want to do our best from having to keep our DB’s back there all day covering long deep passes.”

Adjusting your defensive scheme to a player like Jennings will be crucial in determining the Ticats success on Saturday, especially when they matchup against a relatively underrated backfield.

“We definitely have to stop the run so we can pass-rush,” said Capicciotti. “I played with Jeremiah Johnson in Ottawa, actually. I know him well and he’s a really good running back. And they have Rainey, as well, who’s more of their speed back. We have to do a really good job on first downs so we can stop the run and get after the pass.”

As long as the Ticats defensive front are able to handle the ends and contain Jennings, one of the league’s best passing defences can surely take care of the rest, especially if Jumal Rolle returns to play as he was seen practicing with the team this week.

 

“They’re a great group of players,” Capicciotti said, talking about the Ticats’ secondary. “They’re a lot of fun to play with. A lot of the time as a defensive lineman, you don’t get to see the DB’s as much because they’re covering and you’re rushing. But our group are just great guys in the locker room as well.”

A week after the Lions’ Anthony Orange had two interceptions and a pick-six in BC’s win over the Alouettes, eventually being named a CFL Top Performer of the Week, the Ticats are remaining confident in their ability to go about their game plan.

“I think we match up good,” Ticats’ receiver Terrence Toliver told Ticats.ca on Wednesday. “They play a lot of two-man, a lot of man coverage, so we just have to go out there and win our one-on-one battles against those guys.”

Facing a well-rounded defence in Calgary last week to perhaps a defence that leans more on their secondary, the Ticats will be figuring out ways to beat the Lions’ pass coverage, and not just for this week, but next week as well, as they’ll be having a back-to-back with BC.

“Everything is game plan,” Toliver said. “We can run a play different than how we ran it last week. We just take it week-by-week.”

It hasn’t been uncommon to be seeing Jeremiah Masoli scrambling around the backfield, trying to find an open receiver, and although it can change route-running for receivers, Toliver says it’s all just a matter of adjusting on any given play.

“You just have to have constant awareness,” he says. “We know Masoli likes to get out of the picket and throw on the run, so we just have to be aware of where he’s at. If we run our routes and we turn around and he’s running, we just have to run to him.”

Hamilton will be hoping that it all comes together in time for Saturday’s tilt with the Lions, especially as the playoff picture across the league is still very much wide open, especially in the East Division with regards to first place, which currently is held by the 7-5 Ottawa REDBLACKS.

Depending on how situations play out on Saturday, an Ottawa loss to Edmonton, followed by a Ticats win in BC would match the two teams with 14 points in the East Division standings. Game time for Saturday’s game versus the Lions is scheduled for 10:00 p.m. ET as the concluding game of a three-game lineup for the day.