Ottawa and Hamilton face must-win game
Defeating winless (and hapless) Ticats almost a must for struggling Redblacks
It’s a tired old sports cliché, but both the Ottawa Redblacks and Hamilton Tiger-Cats are surely in must-win territory.
The winless Ticats (0-7) and one-win Redblacks (1-6-1) meet Friday night with so much on the line — and oddly enough, an opportunity to crawl back into the CFL East playoff race.
“It’s getting to the point where we’re going to need every win we can get,” said Redblacks offensive lineman Jon Gott. “We take it game by game. This is the first game and we need to win it. We need to keep up with Toronto and Montreal.”
“Every game is a must-win, you only get 18 of them and you have to make all of them count,” said Redblacks receiver Brad Sinopoli.
“It’s a game within our division and right now we’re in a fight to place ourselves in a position where we can get into the playoffs.”
Montreal and Toronto are tied atop the East — each with three wins. They play each other Saturday.
“You can’t continue to lose and expect everybody else in the East is going to continue to lose,” said Ticats quarterback Zach Collaros. “At some point you play each other and somebody has to win those games.”
The Ticats have played some teams tough; in other cases they’ve been blown out. They rank last in nearly every category — on both sides of the ball.
“We know the importance of this game, guys haven’t lost that,” said Ticats coach Kent Austin. “That being said, we can’t focus on that, we can’t bring too much attention to that. Worrying about that, if you’re a worrier, is not a good thing. You need to go out and play. Give yourselves the freedom to play well and give yourselves the freedom to fail — because you’re not going to play a perfect game. Don’t worry about the outcome, don’t focus on the past and the future — worry about the next play that’s called, that’s what we preach.”
“Ottawa’s the defending Grey Cup champs, whether they’re 0-8 or 1-8 or undefeated,” said Ticats linebacker Simoni Lawrence. “It’s a big game for us, we haven’t played an East team since Week 1. It’s weird, we haven’t won any games, but we still have everything in front of us. We understand we need to win these games.”
The teams have had some good battles the past couple of seasons. Greg Ellingson’s miraculous 93-yard hookup with Henry Burris got the Redblacks to the Grey Cup in a 35-28 win over Hamilton in the 2015 East final. Last October, it was the Ticats with a big comeback to beat Ottawa 39-36 in overtime.
Ottawa’s defence will be looking to put some heat on Collaros.
“We can’t give him time, we have to clog up the picture so hopefully, he has to hold the ball,” said Redblacks defensive co-ordinator Mark Nelson. “We want him to feel uncomfortable. We want him to feel like, ‘What’s going on?’ The offence is going to get the odd play; as long we win more than them, we’ll be OK.”
Nelson says his team’s defence, which has surrendered an average net of 422.6 yards per game (eighth in the CFL) has to be better — and it starts with him.
Said Nelson: “I’m realistic. If I think I did a good job, OK it was a good job. Or OK, I didn’t do good enough. Being honest right now, I need to do a little better.”
Hair today, gone tomorrow: Redblacks QB Ryan Lindley has shed his facial hair. Renamed Steve Vachon by his francophone teammates for his willingness to learn the French language, Lindley took some good-natured heat on Thursday. Said DB Antoine Pruneau: “He’s not the same, I’m a little disappointed. He’s Ryan for now until he grows his beard back.” Pruneau has been growing a beard for three weeks. Said Pruneau: “I’ve never had a beard, when we win, I’ll shave it.”
Winds of change: It looks like the wind at Tim Hortons Field could be a factor Friday. Said Redblacks K Brett Maher, who played in Hamilton in 2016: “It’s different than anywhere else in the league. It can be gusty and swirly. It depends on the day. It can come off that mountain pretty hard, heading down to the water — especially since they flipped it with the rebuild, you don’t get much protection from the stands. You never know, you can catch a day where there’s not much going on there or you can catch some where it’s going everywhere. It comes down to just hitting a clean ball, starting it on a good line and being confident in the line you started it on.”
Familiar faces: Former Redblacks in the Ticats lineup are DL Justin Capicciotti and K Sergio Castillo. DB Abdul Kanneh is on the sixgame injured list with a lowerbody injury. Redblacks LB Ron Omara will play his first game against his former team. He played 25 games with the Ticats before signing with Ottawa in the off-season.
The end around: Redblacks coach Rick Campbell doesn’t yet have tickets for the Guns N’ Roses concert Monday, but is still considering going. He said his favourite GNR song is Patience. ... When asked about Redblacks QB Trevor Harris on Thursday, Campbell answered: “We’re not losing games because of Trevor Harris. He’s a guy we can win with, the guys believe in him.”
It’s weird, we (Ticats) haven’t won any games, but we still have everything in front of us.