Injury bug sacks Ticats’ Norwood
CFL: Defensive end placed on six-game injured list, forcing Kent Austin to juggle his diminishing lineup
HAMILTON — Now it’s just getting ridiculous.
Kent Austin won’t say so publicly — because it sounds like an excuse and that’s not the way he’s wired — but the injury situation in Hamilton has officially jumped the shark.
Already having lost the likes of Bryan Bulcke, Linden Gaydosh and Spencer Watt for the season (not to mention shorter term injuries to the likes of C.J. Gable, Rico Murray, Joel Figueroa, and Luke Tasker, all key contributors who are out for the time being), the Ticats lost another key player for at least the first game and potentially longer in defensive end Eric Norwood.
According to Austin, Norwood had a domestic accident Sunday night in which he incurred an injury to his lower body that required stitches.
Beyond that, Austin said he didn’t know much and was waiting on a doctor’s report to see how long Norwood would be out.
“Life happens,” Austin said. “It’s bad luck.”
The off-field injury resulted in the Tiger-Cats placing Norwood on the six-game injured list, moving running back Ray Holley from the practice roster to the active roster (which until Monday morning had just one running back in Nic Grigsby), and reinstating veteran defensive end Sam Scott, who had been cut Saturday, back onto the practice roster.
And the moves may not be over because Scott, if he plays in place of Norwood, he would have to be added to the active roster before Friday’s game.
Austin refused to even consider that the mounting injury totals would have any negative impact on his team’s psyche.
“Our guys are good,” he said of team morale. “They understand it is the next guy up and the expectation of everyone that plays are the same. There are no different expectations (for the next guy coming in).
“We don’t make any excuses because of mishaps or things that occur, that happen in life and happen in football. Those things happen to every team. We are no different then anybody else.”
And don’t bother bringing up the notion of being snake bit or down on their luck.
“I don’t believe in being snake bit. It’s just the way it is. Welcome to the game of life where things happen.
“We have a strong team, a strong group of guys, a strong staff. We will focus on the ones that are healthy.”
For Scott, Norwood’s unfortunate situation puts him back in the fold with a team he has seen grow for the past two years.
On Saturday, he received a phone call from Austin, as did every player who was cut, thanking him for his contributions and explaining they would no longer be needed.
He got another call just over 24 hours later offering him another chance.
“We’re just real grateful and fortunate that Sam wanted to come back and be a part of this and contribute,” Austin said. “We have a lot of trust and faith in Sam and he’ll do a great job.”
Norwood led the team in sacks a year ago with 13, tied for the second highest total in the league, and was a lock to start up front again alongside teammates Bryan Hall, Ted Laurent and Justin Hickman in the Ticats front four.
In Scott, the Ticats have a guy who knows the Ticats defensive schemes and one they can plug right in, but it’s clear this run of injuries and mishaps the Ticats are experiencing to going to challenge the team’s depth right out of the gate.