Addison catching on, just in time
Every football coach says that when you play a team twice over a short time span, you’d better show ’em something different.
So, how about the third time in five weeks, and fourth over the season? Has to be doubly true — especially if you haven’t beaten the other guys yet.
Not having game-breaker Brandon Banks available doesn’t count as that something different for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Ottawa this weekend. Unless you’re talking about negatives. He broke his clavicle in the first of back-to-back losses to the Redblacks in October.
So maybe it was symbolic that the injured Banks was watching Ticats practice yesterday as Bralon Addison made a couple of acrobatic catches that might remind Banks of, oh, … himself.
That could be your something different, right there.
One man doesn’t change everything, but Addison had already demonstrated in his cameo role against the Montreal Alouettes in the lame-duck season ender that he has game. He caught the head coach’s eye and 103 yards’ worth of footballs from backup quarterback Dane Evans.
So, he started the eastern semifinal against B.C., made a Bankslike grab on the second play from scrimmage to set an immediate and impactful positive tone and ended up with 124 yards.
We should mention right now that Addison did not play in either of the Ticats’ October losses to the Redblacks and was still on the Toronto Argonauts’ practice roster while the Ticats were succumbing to Ottawa in late July.
Addison is not Banks, nor is he Jalen Saunders. But June Jones was musing after Wednesday’s practice that he can deliver some of the same things from the slot that those two now-sidelined stars did. And he added that because he’s running more and is more familiar with route expectations, Addison’s game is getting faster.
Both Jones and Jeremiah Masoli describe Addison as intelligent and “quarterback friendly,” attributing part of the latter to his years under centre at Hightower High School in Missouri City, Texas. He and Masoli seem to have developed that kind of mutual radar which usually takes more lengthy interaction than they’ve had in practice and the three games Addison had played for the Ticats, with only one pass thrown his way. Addi-
son has spent most of his two months here on the practice roster.
“I think having played quarterback helps me,” Addison said of Jones’ offence requiring the passer and receiver to make the same reads on almost every route. “And previously being in systems, at Oregon and in Toronto, kind of similar to this, kind of helped me. I also had friends who played for coach Jones in college, so talking to them helped, too.”
Addison arrived at the University of Oregon in 2012, two years after Masoli had departed for Ole Miss.
“I watched him as a teenager, getting ready to go Oregon,” Addison said. “Once I got there they still showed a lot of his clips on film, teaching guys how to do certain things.”
Masoli said that Addison, Saunders and Banks, “all bring something different to the table. The similarities are that they’re just dogs: competitors, they want to win every route.”
Each of them also can stretch the field north-south and eastwest and insinuate themselves into the fissures that aren’t as visible to others.
It will take a lot more than an intelligent, fleet receiver to make the difference between three losses and a win in the game that most matters. The Ticats also have to emulate what they did elsewhere on Sunday against B.C.: exert pressure on the quarterback, wrench the ball from the other guys and hang on to it themselves.
Masoli was asked if Addison’s presence will change any dynamics in the Redblacks’ defence against the Ticats’ offence.
“I’m not really sure,” he said. “I think they’re probably feeling pretty good about everything. We didn’t play very well against them, we just have to do a better job.”
Another, smaller, wrinkle that could make some difference if there are injuries, is the possible addition to the lineup of Terrell Sinkfield — Addison leapt over him into last week’s starting role — as a backup defensive back.
Wednesday, Jones had Sinkfield working out at cornerback, where he played during his NFL tryouts, because boundary corner Jumal Rolle, injured by an errant spike during warmup just prior to the B.C. game, won’t play in Ottawa.
That would make an extra, career-proven, wide receiver available, without having to create a roster spot for one.
Notes: Former Mac receiver Mitch O’Connor is back with the Ticats. International defensive back Robert Porter Jr. joins him in returning to the practice roster.