The Ticats are entering the party zone, which is what Molson Stadium becomes when the Montréal Alouettes are playing well—and they certainly are right now—so how do the Ticats disrupt the festivities?
Stop the run first, Hamilton middle linebacker Kyle Wilson says; mount more profitable drives on offence head coach Scott Milanovich says, among other things; and, stick to Tyson Philpot like melted candy floss says this corner.
So easy to say, so hard to execute against the 7-1 ‘Als who not only lead the CFL East but are now regarded as the most complete team in the league, as the Ticats so disappointingly found out in last Friday’s 33-16 loss at Tim Hortons Field.
And now they have to move from the foot of Hamilton Mountain to the foot of Mount Royal where they haven’t won in their last five attempts: three regular-season games and a pair of East Division semi-finals.
In the giddy din that is Saturday night in the big city the Als respond immediately to their audience’s audacious enthusiasm which dials to 11 when a fan favourite such as Tyson has a big moment. And he’s had a lot of them, most recently against the Ticats when he grabbed five passes for 82 yards and combined with Charleston Rambo on instructional video of how to break decent coverage with the improbable catch.
How do you counter that?
“Great players play great,” Milanovich matter-of-factly said this week of Philpot. “You’ve got to get to their quarterback. You’ve got to mix up the coverages. Jason’s (Maas, Als’ head coach) got to dial up the right play at the right time—there’s a lot of things that are involved—and that’s why (Philpot’s) having such a great year. He’s a good player.”
Good enough to lead the CFL in receptions and catch-and-runs of 30 yards or more, and rank just eight yards behind league-leader Justin Mcinnis of the B.C. Lions in receiving yardage. In seven of eight games this year, Philpot has had five or more catches, and in six games he’s had 80 yards or more.
He and running back Walter Fletcher are 1-2 in yards gained after the catch. So it’s important for the Ticats to get in better position to tackle, particularly late in the game when the team has tended to sag. They’ve been outscored by a cumulative 50-18 in the fourth quarter of the last three games.
As Wilson was mentioning after practice today, it’s the little details that can make a difference and that could prove particularly acute in Montréal. In the three regular season losses the Ticats have suffered there since their last victory at McGill in late August, 2021, the total margin of victory has been a skinny 12 points. One play here, one there, and who knows what happens? It’s a tough place to win, but the games there have not been unwinnable by any means. And you can’t win two or three or four, until you win the next one.
“I’ve said before you are what your record is,” Milanovich said today.
“We were in a similar position a year ago on our way to BC and managed to get a win over a top team and it catapults you and that’s what we see. That’s what we strive for. Those are the things our team’s focused on.
“I can’t change the reality of what’s going on: have we played well enough, coached well enough? No. And we’re working on getting better.”
One way would be to capitalize on their offensive potential, particularly early, to reduce the adrenalin level of the crowd. The Ticats lead the league in yards gained per game –and Bo Levi Mitchell ranks No. 1 in passing yardage—but Montreal tops the chart at preventing opponents’ yardage. Strength against strength on that one.
The Ticats have steadily been getting better at first down yardage—they’re among the league leaders— and last week weren’t often in second-and-long situations.
“That’s a good thing,” Milanovich said. “You certainly don’t want to be in second and long, particularly against this football team. I did think we did that well the other night. And like I’ve mentioned I don’t think we had a two-and-out in the game (they did not) but you have to sustain it against a good football team.
“If they’re going to make you go eight plays, you’ve gotta go eight plays to score. And that’s what we didn’t do. We had a couple of first downs, kind of get to midfield and then we’d have some sort of problem, a penalty or an execution issue that took us out of the drive.”
This will be the final time the Ticats play Montréal this regular season and for more on the game from Milanovich, Wilson and receiver Tim White tune in to today’s episode of Ticats Today.
