Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca
In the world of football, five weeks can seem like an entirety.
Near the end of July, Nathan Rourke was healthy, Bo Levi Mitchell was Calgary’s starting quarterback and Toronto Blue Jay Bo Bichette was in a massive slump. The last 35 days have also seen the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats do battle four times in that time span and wow, are the fortunes of these two teams wildly different today then they were at the conclusion of Week 8 when both franchises were just beginning to eye the QEW Quadruplet that was on the horizon.
Now that the dust has settled, and Toronto has come out victorious, I figure it is time to look back at the tale of the tape to see what we have learned from both teams.
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To get a sense of just how big the gap has grown between where Toronto and Hamilton exist in the CFL eco-system, you have to look back at past Power Rankings.
Coming into their first meeting Toronto was 3-3 while Hamilton was one game back at 2-5. Orlondo Steinauer’s team was fresh off of a 24-17 victory over Montreal where Dane Evans played turnover free football and Matthew Shiltz led the team in rushing.
Meanwhile, Toronto had lost at home to the previously winless Ottawa REDBLACKS as their defence had been carved up by Caleb Evans. Late in that game saw Brandan Banks drop a critical pass on third and 16. As a result, Hamilton went into the first game fifth in the overall Power Rankings with Toronto at No. 6.
This was the first time since the kickoff to the 2022 season where Hamilton was in front of Toronto. When you go back and read the rankings it really did feel like things were turning around for the Tiger-Cats with lines like this: “Could this be it? For the entirety of this year, we’ve waited for them to get over the hump and finally start getting back to their winning ways of the past two seasons.” Now Hamilton is dead last.
As for the Double Blue, things were a wee bit more dire with this being said: “Say hello to a sniff of parity in the East.” Compare that statement with the most recent assessment: “It’s taken some time, but the Argos have something of a cushion atop the East Division. If they can hold the REDBLACKS off this week, they’ll be in a good spot.” Fair to say both organizations are living in quite different realities than the spaces they occupied moments before they kicked off on Saturday August 6.
When you dig into some of the basic statistics from all four games you easily could assume that it was Hamilton that won the series. The Tiger-Cats out-gained Toronto by 111 yards, had more first downs, fewer penalty yards and held on to the ball for far longer than their Eastern rival. Of course, Toronto went 3-1 and outscored Hamilton by 11 points per game. So why is it Toronto is enjoying the view from the penthouse of the East (I know less valuable than a Western penthouse) and Hamilton is hanging out in a dingy 500 square foot basement apartment?
Get ready for the oldest cliché in football … turnovers!
There is a reason every why every single football media member since the invention of the forward pass has been bellowing that whoever wins the turnover battle will win the game. Hamilton committed a whopping 14 turnovers to Toronto’s modest total of three. Take out all the other statistics, forget the advantage Toronto had in return touchdowns (three to one in case you wanted to know) and this series comes down to the +11 difference the Argos had in turnovers. This mathematical fact takes you to the next biggest storyline; quarterback play! Oh, did you think we were done with football clichés?
While McLeod Bethel-Thompson is not an “elite” quarterback, he is more than good enough to get the job done and that is exactly what he did against Hamilton. He was dealing for large parts of last week’s win, making just about every throw required in the series deciding 28-3 victory. Yes, he had two interceptions, but the Jumal Rolle pick-six went off of Damonte Coxie‘s hands. His overall passing numbers (1,073 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions) won’t cut it for your fantasy league, but he was the steady hand Toronto needed. It should also be noted that MBT had to overcome the loss of his best weapon in star running back Andrew Harris in Week 10.
Of course, if we are talking about injuries to key offensive players, you can just hear Hamilton saying, “hold my beer.” It only makes sense to examine what is going on at the quarterback position when a team commits 14 turnovers in four games. Injuries wreaked havoc for the Tiger-Cats passing game against Toronto. Dane Evans missed two games, Matthew Shiltz got banged up and in total four different signal callers attempted a pass.
Bethel-Thompson took every single snap for Toronto, while Hamilton had to thrust two different rookie passers, Jamie Newman and Jalen Morton, into spot duty in the final two games. Between injuries and poor ball security, Hamilton has no current concrete answer at quarterback and that is the biggest reason why there is such a disparity between both these clubs.
There are other reasons for Toronto’s success. We saw role players step up from time to time like receiver Cam Phillips, who led the team with four receptions for 85 yards and a touchdown in the first meeting. Wynton McManis (31 totals tackles, one sack and one forced fumble) and Jamal Peters (17 tackles, five interceptions and one touchdown) also played huge roles for a defence that, as mentioned before, got worked by Caleb Evans right before the four-part series.
Finally, there is Brandon Banks who went from a big drop on third down against Ottawa to scoring two touchdowns and leading the team with 80 receiving yards last week. He is not the main reason Toronto won this four-round fight, but he certainly provided the knockout blow.
