Ticats need to stop slide against Redblacks
If you carve the season into distinct thirds, as many CFL insiders do, this becomes a pretty important week for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and not just because Johnny Manziel is gone.
Not that most weeks aren’t pretty important for most football teams: One victory, one loss tends to define them for a week.
So imagine how three straight losses could play on the mindset of a group that began the only season-opening five-game tour of western teams in franchise history at 2-1. They were legitimately looking at a potential 4-1 run through what is assumed to be the worst part of their schedule before facing the weaker eastern teams. And now it turns out that maybe the Ottawa Redblacks aren’t so weak, and here they come into town on Saturday afternoon to complete the first third of the season.
Do the Ticats need to win that one? Have our farmers needed rain? The Ottawa game also marks the one-third pole for home games and the Ticats are still treating Tim Hortons Field like it’s located in another country.
Unless you’re willing to ignore the sevenmonth gap between the lame-duck victory over the Montreal Alouettes in 2017’s last game and the win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this year, it’s been nearly two full seasons since the Ticats won two straight at home.
That’s not “mo” as is in momentum, it’s “mo” as in morbid.
A 2-4 start would not be impossible, nor even improbable, to overcome in the CFL East where forgiveness is almost biblical in scope. But things have been slipping for the Ticats the past two games, and last spring and summer reminded everyone around here that not every slide is automatically reversed.
What you’re hoping for as your team approaches the one-third mark is incremental improvement, so you can build on that in the middle third, then hit the final third hitting on all cylinders.
But until, and unless, they prove otherwise against Ottawa, the Ticats have dropped into neutral.
Yes, their two straight losses have come against the defenceminded Saskatchewan Roughriders but that might be more disturbing than had they been at the hands of different opponents. There was a bye in there, an extra week to counter the counterthinkers on the other side and the Ticats’ thinkers got out-thought.
There was no answer, physically or schematically, to the Riders’ run game or to their second-andlonger defensive packages. The Riders’ offence wasn’t much better in those situations but their No. 1 quarterback wasn’t playing. And they absolutely owned first down.
This was arguably the worst loss since June Jones took over because there were signs of stagnancy, if not degeneration.
The defence, again, didn’t force turnovers, creating only one when the game was already effectively over.
For the second straight game, the Ticats’ offence converted just one of their final six second-down chances. To win regularly, you have to make a habit out of getting better at the end, not worse.
Within five minutes of the second-half kickoff a 10-point lead had evaporated for good and there were no believable signs it would return. The team looked lifeless after the failed onsidekick by Jeremiah Masoli early in the third quarter, a quarter the Ticats have generally dominated.
The players didn’t generally perform well, losing a number of head-to-head battles, and the game is always played on the field. But Jones conceded that he and his staff came up short on some calls too. We’ll put the timing of that quick-kick in that category.
What Jones and his coaches have to be vigilant about is even the slightest erosion of belief.
Since last Labour Day, the players have been adamant that the team’s improved play stems from bedrock faith in Jones, his people, their style and their systems. Despite a couple of sideline outbursts Thursday there is no reason to think anyone in black and gold has lost any of that faith. Until the second Saskatchewan loss, they had been in position to win every one of the games Jones had been in charge.
But those outbursts must remain what Masoli and others said they are — one-offs of frustration — and not allowed to inch toward disbelief.
That pre-emptive process, which began right after the game with Jones telling his team only losers respond that way, has to continue through practice this week, led not only by coaches but by the most respected players. His firm postgame endorsement of Masoli indicated that part of retaining faith is giving it. He showed deep confidence in Masoli in view of the Manziel trade.
But what would be most preventive is a solid victory over Ottawa, built on good play and the right moves by the coaching staff to put the players in position to succeed.