Steve Milton: Ticats drop the ball in roller-coaster overtime loss
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have a lot of time before their next game to figure things out. Then again, they also had a lot of time before the game that has forced them to figure things out.
The Ticats lost to the Montreal Alouettes 23-20 in overtime on David Cote's 36-yard field goal at Tim Hortons Field Saturday The Als won, and it says here that they deserved to win, because they made the big plays. But from the non-sunny side of the street, this was about Hamilton allowing them to win.
And that's what the Ticats have to figure out before they host the Toronto Argonauts on Thanksgiving Day. Why? And how do they prevent it?
Just about everyone takes some blame, and they'll get it in the film room for sure. The defence, forced by an underachieving offence and by their own shortcomings on big Alouettes' plays, was on the field far too long over the final 22 minutes. They couldn't hold a 14-point lead. The special teams weren't perfect, although their negative contribution was really minimal (a couple of penalties and a missed Taylor Bertolet field goal) and they got good punting and an stunning 55-yard Bertolet field goal into a deceptive wind as the clock expired on regulation time.
Which brings us to the Hamilton offence. Reluctantly, if you happen to be a Ticats' fan.
There's plenty to look at here, and then fix before the Argos arrive. By almost every metric, the Alouettes defence hasn't been very good. Yet they outplayed the Hamilton offence. And worse, outsmarted them. Which comes partly down to execution by the Ticat players and, perhaps more so, to the game plan itself. They couldn't spring Brandon Banks, didn't and couldn't establish the run and surrendered four, mostly-critical, sacks when Montreal was able to correctly read all the cues.
These aren't new issues. They've been pretty consistent, which is definitely sobering because the Ticats have now played more games than they have remaining. The offence still has the lowest average yardage output in the league, and has surrendered the most sacks and two-and-outs. That's an ominous trifecta, and a serious thinking point as they look ahead to the Argos. The offensive line is still struggling, worsened Saturday by an early injury to left tackle Kay Okafor.
The Ticats managed just 242 yards of offence against the Als, who usually give up about 100 more than that. And after jumping to a 17-3 lead on Sean Thomas Erlington's touchdown six minutes into the third quarter, Hamilton did not make a first down - not a single one - for the next 23 minutes and 40 seconds.
When Ticat defensive back Ciante Evans made a big interception with just over two minutes left and the Ticats up 17-13, it should have should have been enough. But that pick was followed immediately by not just another Ticat two-and-out but by the electric shock of a big quarterback sack at their own nine-yard line.
It seemed inevitable that the Als would respond by scoring the go-ahead touchdown and they did: on a great catch by Eugene Lewis off Vernon Adams Jr.'s daring throw on 3rd-and-20, another situation which should have ended the game in Hamilton's favour.
And now the Als (3-4), who had been self-doubting, are just one win back of the 4-4 Ticats.
Yes, Jeremiah Masoli (23-for-33) was playing for the first time in six weeks and conceded that early on he was just trying to get the feel of it, get my legs wet again." He did hustle up a rally in the last 29 seconds to put Bertolet in position for his improbable overtime-inducing field goal, and found Steven Dunbar for a 56-yard reception and Bralon Addison seven times in his impressive return to play. But, he definitely showed rust, and tentativeness, on some timing and reads.
I definitely have to play better," Masoli said and there's no argument here.
But there was also the punishing sacks, an Addison fumble that led immediately to a Montreal touchdown, and Erlington's overtime fumble just as the Ticats' offence seemed to be finding itself a bit.
When you're on a mission to earn a home playoff date, you can't go around losing games like Saturday's. Correct that: you can't go around doing the things that can make you lose games like that. Because, if you do, you'll lose more of them.
You just can't play that way and expect to win," head coach Orlondo Steinauer agreed. You're leaving it up to chance."
Notes: It was the Ticats' first home loss since the final game of the 2018 schedule. Montreal won that won 30-28 ... The Tiger-Cats honoured Every Child Matters by raising the official Six Nations flag before the game ... Hamilton has made 16 field goal attempts over the past three games, making 12. Taylor Bertolet was 4-for-5 Saturday ... Vernon Adams Jr. injured his ankle and was relieved by Matt Shiltz but came back and directed both Als touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. He was 17-for-26 and 209 yards, although he was picked off twice ... Ticats linebacker Simoni Lawrence had five tackles and moved into 20th place overall in the CFL career list ... Hamilton's Joel Whitford punted nine times, one a 65-yard field-position beauty.
Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com