Ticats 6-3 since 21-15 July loss to Ottawa
Storyline
The situation here is exactly what fans of both teams should want: virtual-playoff football in October with both teams having winning records. Unless they really want to count upon the Toronto Argonauts beating the Redblacks in Ottawa on the final weekend of the season, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats have to win Friday on Bank Street and next Saturday on Melrose Avenue to finish first in the CFL East.
That urgency stems from a 21-15 loss to the Redblacks to the teams reverse records (4-2 for the Redblacks, 2-4 for the Ticats) as July ended. But since the start of August the Ticats are 6-3, tied for second best in the CFL behind Calgary’s 7-3. Ottawa is 4-5 in that time, largely because they’ve lost their last two games. Beginningto-end game consistency from the offence has been Ottawa’s downfall the last two weeks as most of its impact in an overtime loss to B.C. came in a frenetic final five minutes, and the offence disappeared in the second half of their loss to Edmonton.
For its part, Hamilton has had double-digit leads in seven straight games, the first time that’s happened in 37 years. But the Ticats have also lost four of the 10 games they’ve led this year at halftime.
Hamilton leads the league in offensive yards and Jeremiah Masoli throwing to Brandon Banks and Luke Tasker has been spectacularly productive. Alex Green’s return also brings more pure power at running back. But Trevor Harris to Brad Sinopoli, Greg Ellingsonn and Diontae Spencer, fortified by leagueleading rusher, William Powell, is very potent, too.
“We know they’re going to establish the run,” says Hamilton defensive tackle Ted Laurent. “They have the best back in the league and we’re going to treat him as such.”
Although the Ticats are without three prominent defensive linemen, they still need to take advantage of the Redblacks’ propensity to give up sacks, and force Ottawa’s offence to continue settling for Lewis Ward’s stunning field-goal accuracy, rather than touchdowns.
Roster notes for Hamilton
Terrell Sinkield, who had a 1,000-yard receiving season for the Ticats in 2015 before trying the NFL was signed last week. He may not play much, if at all, as he works up to speed in June Jones’ offence. RB Alex Green returns from injury after three games replacing his replacement, John White, who put up 223 overland
yards in his absence. Marquay McDaniel likely sees a lot of time at receiver. DE Jamaal Westerman is out for the year and fellow pass rushers Jason Neill and Adrian Tracy will miss the game.
Roster notes for Ottawa
Avery Williams is out, and Kyries Hebert takes over at middle linebacker, with Chris Ackie moving to WILL linebacker. Ackie, a National, obtained in from Montreal at the trade deadline, is one of the CFL’s leading tacklers and can alter the ratio. International Josue Matias is listed at right offensive tackle ahead of National Jason LauzonSeguin, who had started there. Key DB Antoine Pruneau remains on the injured list.
Numbers to crunch on:
1 — CFL rank of Jeremiah Masoli in deep-ball completion percentage (47.9). Only two others, Zach Collaros of Saskatchewan (42.4) and Edmonton’s Mike Reilly (40.9) have completed even 40 per cent of pass attempts of 20 yards or longer.
3 — Number of Redblacks receivers in the CFL top 10 yardage ranks. Brad Sinopli is third, Greg Ellingson is fifth and Diontae Spencer 10th. The Ticats have two in the top four (Brandon Banks second at 1,290 yards, Luke Tasker, fourth, at 979). Edmonton’s D’haquille Williams leads with 1,454 yards.
6 — Number of games the Ticats had gone without reaching 100 yards in penalties until they incurred 127 yards in penalties in Toronto last Friday.
14 — Number of reception yards Brandon Banks needs to leapfrog Chris Williams (2012) and Arland Bruce (1998) for the sixth best single season in Ticat history. He needs 97 yards to go past Darren Flutie into fifth. He also needs 18 receptions to match Luke Tasker’s club record of 104 set last year.
31:29 — Average time Hamilton possesses the ball in every game, best in the league. Part of that is because the offence has the fewest (60) two-and-out series in the league, one fewer than Edmonton, which has played one more game.
69.4 — Percentage of passes completed by the Redblacks’ Trevor Harris, best in the CFL. Jeremiah Masoli is second (67.3).
230 — Number of rushes by Redblacks’ William Powell, the busiest back in the CFL. His 1,275 rushing yards leads runner-up Andrew Harris, who has played one more game, by six yards.
376 — Yards needed by Jeremiah Masoli to become the fourth Ticats quarterback (Henry Burris, Kevin Glenn, Danny McManus, who did it twice) to reach 5,000 passing yards in a season.
445 — Receiving yards Brandon Banks has amassed in his last four starts. He has 32 receptions and seven touchdowns in those four games, three of them against the Argos.