It was the best they’d played, by far, in a month and they rallied from a 16-3 halftime deficit, but Tim White quickly put it into perspective.
“(Rebounding) feels good but there is no moral victory,” said White after the Ticats surrendered a four-point lead in the final seconds of Friday night’s 26-23 loss to the up-bound Blue Bombers in Winnipeg.
“We’re looking at the end result and at the end of the day we lost the game.”
White, who caught seven passes for 134 yards and took a fly sweep pitch for a 31-yard run, was one of the several bright lights for the Ticats but there were, once again, just enough shadows to send Hamilton its fourth straight loss, a 2-9 record and very little, if any, hope of making the playoffs in the East Division.
The darkest spot was newly-installed kick returner Jordan Byrd fumbling a punt which was scooped up by Michael Ayers and returned for a touchdown three minutes into the second quarter for a 13-3 Bomber lead.
“We give up seven points right there,” Ticat head coach Scott Milanovich said. “Obviously that was a momentum changer. It was a tight game early.
“I think any loss is heartbreaking, this one certainly was. Obviously, we need to play better in the first half.”
That was the Cats’ only turnover as they won the turnover battle with three interceptions, but it was just enough to cost them the game and had such a ring of familiarity to it. They also won the sack battle, taking advantage of early game-ending injuries to Winnipeg’s future Hall of Fame tackle Stanley Bryant and fellow lineman Gabe Wallace to down Zach Collaros three times and hurry him into other errors.
But, ultimately, Collaros did what he does best—delivering when it counts most, marching the Bombers 72 yards in 81 seconds, culminating with the game-winning touchdown to Kenny Lawler with just 19 seconds remaining.
It was the only touchdown allowed by a Hamilton defence which bent a lot early but did not break, but it was one touchdown too many. And, like the turnover for a major, it was a haunting reminder of so many other defeats this year. When you lose consistently, repetitive shortcomings can worm their way into your DNA.
“I’ll have to see it on film,” head coach Scott Milanovich said of that last drive. “Zach’s a champion for a reason and we didn’t get it done when we had to.”
With the loss, the Ticats fall eight points back of the Toronto Argonauts, who hold third place in the East, with just seven games—and only 14 available points—remaining, including Labour Day against those very Argos. Even the possibility of a cross-over into the West is fading rapidly into the mist as the Bombers’ win left the top three teams in the West with five victories prior to Saturday’s B.C.-Ottawa match.
“It’s not over,” countered Ticat defensive end Nick Usher who was strong most of the night, with a pair of sacks and dogged pursuit of Collaros. “The CFL’s the CFL. Miracles happen all the time so we’re going to keep fighting, going to keep chugging and see what happens.”
Essentially, the Ticats will have to win out for any chance at the post-season and they’d likely still need some help from other teams.
Although there were a few of the many habitual pockmarks—yet another slow start from the offence, and a couple of unnecessary penalties which negated big-yardage gains—this game felt like it might be a little different because some of the kinds of things which have usually gone against Hamilton this year seemed to be going for them.
As noted, they won the sack battle, and they made three interceptions, including one that should have clinched the game with a couple of minutes to go which caromed off a Bomber receiver and into the hands of linebacker Kyle Wilson. That was reminiscent of the unlucky pick which bounced off Tim White against Saskatchewan two months ago. But the offence went two-and-out and had to settle for Marc Liegghio’s third field goal of the night and a four-point lead that Collaros soon gnawed to shreds.
Had the Ticats been able to mount any kind of running game in the fourth quarter, or in the opening half, things might have turned out differently. They couldn’t get running back Greg Bell going, although attempting the run did set up play-action to enable Bo Levi Mitchell to have a strong third quarter.
The offence, though, didn’t get a first down until the second minute of the second quarter and by then Winnipeg had seven of them, much of it predicated on the power running of Brady Oliveira who finished with 120 yards on 18 carries. He and receivers Nick Demski and Ontaria Wilson fuelled the all-too-easy drive which won the game.
And while Bell had a pair of touchdowns on good red zone runs, he had only 41 yards overall on 12 carries. Hamilton rushed for just 72 yards while Winnipeg had 165.
“We need to run the ball better,” Milanovich said. “We had a couple of opportunities on second down in the second half that we didn’t make that would have kept drives going and probably would have gotten us some points.
“I’ve got to get us a better plan for the run game.”
He’s not wrong about that. Bell had 173 combined yards from scrimmage last week but didn’t come close to that against Winnipeg. The Cats might have to consider restoring power back James Butler to the lineup if he’s healthy.
Mitchell, meanwhile, didn’t throw any interceptions, did not force the ball into areas he’d regret and looked in rhythm in the third quarter when the Ticats scored 17 points. But the offence took far too long to get started and he finished with just 13 completions in 26 throws for 220 yards. The Bombers had 24 first downs in the game, double what Hamilton made.
“He didn’t put the ball in harm’s way, that’s definitely a plus,” Milanovich said.
Three minutes into the game Bryant went down with what looked like heat stroke or dehydration, buckling as he headed to the sideline. The game was halted for nearly 20 minutes, casting a pall over the stadium, just as head injuries to Luther Hakunavanhu and Taylor Powell (https://www.ticats.ca/2024/08/18/frightening-injuries-overshadow-ticats-loss-to-elks/) did last week in Hamilton’s loss to Edmonton.
“Big time,” Usher said. “We felt that last week with our guys going down as well. It definitely hurt them a lot and as a friend of Stanley Bryant’s it kind of hit me too. It was tough to see him go down and I just hope he’s all right.”
At publication time Bryant was under examination at a local hospital.
The loss of Bryant softened the Winnipeg line for Usher and the rest of the Ticat front.
“When a guy like that comes out of the game, we definitely took advantage of that and we got at them for sure. They were using a big guy at the tight end position but then they had to change it so it was kind of different. Still the same offence but with different players.”
The Ticats defence exploited Bryant’s absence for several big plays. And the secondary, led by interceptions from Jamal Peters and Richard Leonard, were much more aggressive, breaking up passes, creating at least one coverage sack, and picking off three overall.
“I thought the defence played well as a whole,” Milanovich said. “I thought they played hard and they played together … assignment-sound.”
Although he’s worked less than a week with the defence, new defensive play-caller Chris Jones’ (https://www.ticats.ca/2024/08/19/tiger-cats-hire-chris-jones-as-senior-defensive-assistant/) impact was apparent.
“Most definitely,” Usher said. “He made the game more simple for us. We were flying around and making plays. So I’m definitely excited to keep working with him. Shout-out to Chris Jones.”
Still, there was that final drive in which a potential win, a necessary win, devolved into another loss.
“They played just a little bit harder than us,” Usher said of the last two minutes. “We just have to play harder. That’s all I can say, come back to work and do it all over again.”
White, who said he felt good about his own game but that the loss overshadowed any sense of personal accomplishment, put it succinctly when he said, “every play matters, it’s a game of inches.”
And when those inches pile up in the wrong direction, the distance to the playoffs becomes treacherously long.
CATS CLAUSES: David Menard had a sack for the Ticats, added to Nick Usher’s pair … Kyle Wilson had eight tackles and an interception … Shemar Bridges had two more catches … for the first time in his CFL career—spanning 53 games– Ticats’ Steven Dunbar Jr. did not have a pass reception … the Ticats trailed 3-0 after 15 minutes and are now 0-8 when they come out of the third quarter behind … Zach Collaros was 18 for 36 for 177 yards, 1 TD and 3 interceptions … Ontaria Wilson caught six Collaros passes for 72 yards, Nic Demski five for 45 yards …. Attendance was 32,343, a sell-out, and the Bombers have already sold out for Labour Day weekend as well.