Ticats must draw the line around their QB
First, the obvious about Sunday’s Grey Cup. Dane Evans will start at quarterback for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Second, the even more obvious. If Hamilton does not neutralize Blue Bombers defensive ends Willie Jefferson and Jackson Jeffcoat, this could become Grey Cup 2019, with a “ditto” tacked on. At the risk of initiating another local public health crisis, we’ll mention that, in 2019’s one-sided Bombers victory, Jefferson had three sacks of Evans, and Jeffcoat a pair.
“They’re exceptional athletes, and they’re both great defensive ends,” says veteran Tiger-Cats right tackle Chris Van Zeyl, who’ll bear the majority of the responsibility for controlling one of the Bombers’ bombers, while six-foot-nine first-year CFLer Jordan Murray works on the other. “We have a lot of respect for them, and we have to prepare.
Apparently, better than we did last Grey Cup.”
Murray returned from injury a month ago and, after a season in which they’ve used four starting tackles and about a dozen different starting offensive linemen, the Ticats have finally landed on the their permanent quintet. Van Zeyl, Murray, injury-recovered centre Darius Ciraco, veteran guard Brandon Revenberg and rookie guard Coulter Woodmansey.
The Ticats’ offensive line, despite serial injuries, has actually played increasingly well over the past six weeks. But, it will have its hands full, figuratively and literally. The Bombers were third in the league in sacks, while the Ticats tied for the most surrendered, and even in last Sunday’s division final win in Toronto gave up five. The Bombers defence ranks at or near the top of a host of defensive metrics.
Most CFL insiders feel Sunday’s game features the league’s three best defensive ends: Jeffcoat (nine sacks), Jefferson (seven) and Hamilton’s versatile Ja’Gared Davis. Ticats’ Julian Howsare isn’t far behind either.
“They have a good front seven, a great front seven,” says the 24-yearold Murray.
“They’re physical, and we’re here to eliminate their fire. I don’t think we’ve shown our best as a line yet and I think this is when we show it,” he added.
Murray played at the University of North Texas where, coincidentally, a couple of years later the quarterback he’ll be blocking for Sunday spent the pandemic-cancelled CFL season as an assistant coach.
Head coach Orlondo Steinauer confirmed Wednesday that Evans will start, after completing all 16 of
his passes in relief of Jeremiah Masoli in the East final.
Evans, who led the Ticats into the 2019 Grey Cup after Masoli’s injury put him out for the season, lost a vigorous head-to-head battle with Masoli during training camp. But the two quarterbacks have a strong relationship and have collaborated closely for the past couple of years, including at Wednesday’s practice.
“Jeremiah was in my ear all day today,” Evans said afterward. “He has seen a lot more than me.”
Evans, 28, says being a couple of years older and more comfortable with the CFL game than he was in the 2019 Grey Cup will help him Sunday. But he knows, and remembers, all about Jeffcoat and Jefferson. He’s got Don Jackson in the backfield to give them a little something to think about, is more familiar with the rebuilt line and against Toronto rolled out to buy some time. “You know that sometimes they are going to get through, but you also have to plan for it when it happens,” he says of Jeffcoat and Jefferson. “We stayed around a long time yesterday, trying to get the right game plan for it.”
Notes: Several Ticat players cited head coach Orlondo Steinauer and head athletic therapist Claire Toffelmire shovelling snow off the field at practice as showing “no person is bigger than the team.”