Ticats try to correct ‘bad eyes’
Sometimes, it’s not how you look but where you look.
So all week, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats secondary has been retraining its collective eyes.
“We’re the No. 1 pass defence, but last week we didn’t do quite as well because we didn’t do what we were supposed to do,” Ticats head coach June Jones said of last Friday’s pivotal 35-31 loss in Ottawa, during the second half of which Redblacks quarterback Trevor Harris absolutely shredded the secondary.
“We were looking at the quarterback a lot. From everywhere. We have to get back to do what we do.”
That loss not only gave Saturday’s rematch here against the Redblacks must-win status for the Ticats to finish first in the CFL East, it removed their destiny from their own hands. Even with a win, Hamilton would have to hope the Toronto Argonauts can beat the Redblacks in Ottawa six days later.
You can’t devalue what Harris accomplished in the final 32 minutes. He was nearly perfect and probed Hamilton’s field-side secondary with devastatingly more success than most others who had tried the same tactic before him. Shutdown boundary corner Delvin Breaux makes offences tend to shy away from that side.
But, beyond Harris, the primary predator of the Hamilton pass defenders was what is known in the game as ‘bad eyes.’
“Our eyes were in the backfield way too much,” says field-side halfback Richard Leonard, who immediately volunteered that he didn’t play well.
“I feel like we could cover the guys but we just had bad eyes. If we had good eyes we could shut them out.
“When you have bad eyes, you’re basically just looking at the quarterback and not looking at your man. I had that a lot in that game. I feel like we have to execute a little better on the field side and I take that on me, I just have to play better than I did last game.”
Leonard, who switched from cornerback to the tougher halfback role with five games to go in his 2017 team rookie-of-the-year season, was manning up here, trying to shoulder all the blame.
But that has to be shared through the entire secondary, and repaired there too in time for Saturday.
Overall, Harris completed 24 of his 32 official pass attempts for 341 yards, but 19 of those completions, and 264 of those yards, came on his last 20 attempts. Additionally, in the second half each member of the field side group — which includes Leonard, safety Mike Daly and corner Jumal Rolle — incurred either an illegal contact or pass interference penalty.
Hamilton’s last-line-of-defence quintet has been one of the great and pleasant surprises of the 2018 Ticat season, gelling far more quickly and firmly than anticipated. But, last Friday was not a good outing, right across the back, and cannot be repeated ... on Saturday or in the post-season.
“We had some penalties on some critical downs in the second half,” Rolle said.
“Going into this game, we’re just focusing on playing it clean and being a better second-half team.”
With defensive co-ordinator Jerry Glanville striving to exert pressure up front, it often leaves Ticat pass defenders in some variation of man-to-man coverage. They’ll also sprinkle some zone coverage in, which requires slightly different “eyes.” Against Ottawa, it was a ton of man-toman following games against B.C. and Toronto, in which zones were employed a bit more than usual.
“Playing man you want to keep your eyes on your man and playing zone you want to have your eyes on the right area,” Rolle says. “We want to keep our eyes more disciplined this week and make plays on the ball.”
Leonard was credited with nine tackles last week, the most of his pro career. But nine tackles by a defensive back is almost always a negative stat, because it implies completed passes.
“That’s way too many tackles,” he agrees. “I feel like I had plays I could have made that could have been game changers, so I’m going to put that on me. We just have to play better in the secondary.”
NOTES: DL Justin Capicciotti didn’t practise Wednesday after being hurt the day before. Jones says he’s a game-day decision, as is DE Adrian Tracy.
DT Jason Neill and CB Delvin Breaux will play.