Steve Milton: High on the Tiger-Cats’ ‘must-do’ list on Saturday: get a tight grip and don’t loosen it
It's pretty obvious what the Hamilton Tiger-Cats have to do, and nearly as obvious what they must not do.
They need to win Saturday afternoon against the Ottawa Redblacks and ripen an offence that has most of their top weapons back in the lineup. They must not lose for a third straight time at Tim Hortons Field, fail to defeat a team which can defeat itself or continue to loosen their grip just as it should be getting tighter.
As the Tiger-Cats players have been respectfully saying after returning from a much-needed bye week, despite their 2-8 record the Redblacks are a professional football team who will play with pride and, all but eliminated from playoff contention, a certain release from the yoke of tension.
But the Redblacks are so vulnerable it almost hurts. Their offence has a historically-significant aversion to scoring points, turns the ball over, and has an inexperienced offensive line which hasn't protected their quarterbacks. Those quarterbacks, including starter Caleb Evans, are now more about next season than this one.
Hamilton (4-5) has lost three times since Labour Day in games decided by a total of five points. Those were the kind of games they won in 2019 but as central figures such as Orlondo Steinauer, Jeremiah Masoli and Ja'Gared Davis have been reminding everyone since training camp, this is no longer 2019. And it's become even more evident after back-to-back losses to Montreal and Toronto, despite double-digit leads in the fourth quarter, that this is still not 2019.
A number of players are gone from 2019, common across the league but a rare exodus the past-decade here, and the 2021 Tiger-Cats, are still searching for their sense of occasion: that consistent delivery of not only more good plays at the right times, but the absence of poor ones.
The Tiger-Cats don't lack confidence, individually or en masse. You can see and hear at every practice that they believe in themselves and feel that they are among the CFL elite. But, to heat up an old football chestnut, you are what your record says you are and, with time growing shorter, the Tiger-Cats' record says they are no more than an average team.
Masoli starts his third straight game under centre and this time Dane Evans is there to back him up. Masoli has had more practice meshing with his receivers and with Jaelon Acklin, Bralon Addison and Brandon Speedy" Banks back together, along with impressive newcomers Steven Dunbar and Tim White, that's a lot of target options. Masoli just has to find the right one at the right times.
Many Ticat fans have been voicing displeasure with Masoli on social media and at the stadium. He certainly needs to be better, especially in the shadow of the goalposts at either end, and says that himself. But he did throw for 361 yards against the Argos, stretched the field successfully a few times and just missed connecting on a couple of other deep balls. And he used his own legs effectively on a couple of solid runs.
It (quarterbacks running) hasn't been a huge emphasis but it's definitely been in our mind, to make sure we keep out of second and long," Masoli said.
The Ticats offence has generally been terrible at converting second downs into first downs. Conversely, the defence has been generally reliable on second downs. But they too have suffered some troubling fourth-quarter lapses.
We've been practising those types of situations this week," says safety Tunde Adeleke. The defensive backs know we've not been making all those plays."
They haven't been the only ones not making the plays that decide games. Correcting that is another Ticat must-do on Saturday.
Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com