Ticats win out west
Quarterback Jeremiah Masoli stellar in big win over Edmonton
Any local football fan who isn’t satisfied with this is flirting with the Seven Deadly Sins.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats return from a week in Alberta at 1-1, with their confidence visibly stoked and their quarterback the talk of the CFL.
Yes, they were in a position to win both games against the two pre-season Grey Cup favourites but if you’re going split rather than sweep — be cautious here of greed and gluttony — do it in the order the Ticats did it.
Show promise in the first game, then fulfil it in the second.
The Edmonton Eskimos were admittedly vulnerable with their bloated injury list, but the TigerCats exploited not only their current weaknesses but their traditional strengths with predatory precision in Friday night’s 38-21 victory Friday night at Commonwealth Stadium.
It is still early, but in this town fans are usually saying that to find hope after an 0-2 start.
Confidence and momentum are constructed, not invented, and the Ticats have both heading into Friday night’s home opener against Winnipeg.
That started where it always must: in the trenches and under centre.
Jeremiah Masoli has now outplayed the top two quarterbacks in the CFL and closed the valve, at least for now, on the Johnny Manziel pipeline. As the injuries to one-third of the CFL’s starting pivots underscores, you can never have too much quarterbacking depth and Manziel is very important to this team, but right now it’s exactly as June Jones has correctly called it: all Masoli, all the time.
Most encouraging here is that Masoli hasn’t let the outside influences, nor the inside one of his ill-advised late interception in Calgary, get to him in the slightest.
He was spectacular in the first half and went 19-for-29 overall with 332 passing yards, while running for another 59. He got first downs and extended plays with his legs, threw deep, and shallow, and helped set up an impactful Ticat running game (196 collective yards) with heady reads of his options.
That helped the offensive line, which was simply excellent, creating room for running back and Burlington native Mercer Timmis to pepper the Eskimos for 133 yards and a pair of TDS.
Masoli, meanwhile, strafed the weakened Eskimos secondary with five completions to Luke Tasker for 103 yards and a pair of touchdowns; six to Brandon Banks for 117 yards and a touchdown; four to injury-returnee Terrence Toliver for 76 yards; and three to Jalen Saunders for 33.
His only interception should have been a completion.
When Mike Reilly tried to bring the Eskimos back, Masoli would co-ordinate responsive drives and the defence would respond well.
Cariel Brooks made his second huge defensive play in two games to force a critical fumble, while Brooks’ and Delvin Breaux’s deep coverage stimulated the late Richard Leonard interception that sealed the victory.
There were still a couple of huge passing plays on the seam, including Reilly’s 88-yard pass and run completion to D’haquille Williams right after the Cats’ rhythmic opening touchdown drive.
But here’s where you can say that, with a defensive co-ordinator brand new to the league, “it’s still early.”
What’s heartening for Ticat Nation, and for the players themselves, is that large portions of the blueprint are playing out as they’re drawn up.
That breeds a trust in the coaching and managerial staffs and self-assurance on the field.
Team insiders had hoped to escape Alberta — which accounts for 40 per cent of their western road schedule — with at least a win, and they got a convincing one.
Jones has given Masoli fewer passing options but more protection, by installing Landon Rice at tight end on the majority of plays and gambling that rookie Darius Ciraco, another Burlington guy out of the Calgary Dinos, was ready to start at guard.
He was. Interestingly, one of the key completions in the game, a 45yard touchdown by Tasker with Banks throwing a deep block, came behind a five-man front.
The decision to run the ball more resulted in it being run more effectively and trusting Timmis provides valuable roster elasticity elsewhere.
Toliver returned to the lineup for the first time in over a year and immediately won a jump ball.
Breaux gave the secondary a more poised feel, not a recent Ticat asset.
In front of them, the defensive line and linebackers are developing a collective nastiness. While the defence is still moving toward its true identity, unless you’ve got a weird allergy you shouldn’t sneeze at a mere 21 points surrendered to Mike Reilly.
So the Ticats’ first assignment of the new semester — create something out of Alberta — is done and it’s onto the second: reclaim their once-overwhelming home field advantage.