Well that certainly worked out nicely.
Head coach Scott Milanovich made a couple of game-roster moves this week—well, actually, one move and one non-move—and there was a certain symmetry to them during the Ticats’ convincing 37-21 win over the until-then surging Ottawa Redblacks Saturday afternoon.
Lawrence Woods, who was tremendous as a rookie punt and kick returner two years ago, got a game uniform back for the first time since he was injured when the Ticats lost to Ottawa on the final day of June. The Ticats tried Smoke Harris and Jordan Byrd in his place but as Woods recovered and Byrd got injured, Woods returned to the primary returner’s role on Saturday.
And Greg Bell, who had a good game on Labour Day against the Toronto Argonauts, remained in the lineup at running back with power back James Butler again not dressed.
Both Woods and Bell fumbled early in the game: Woods lost the ball on the game’s opening kickoff when he was hit. But the ball bounced out of bounds so the Ticats retained possession and the Ticats eventually drove down for a Marc Liegghio field goal. Bell fumbled at the Ottawa 33-yard line but the stout Ticat defence—which set the tone in this game—held tight and forced a punt that Woods ran all the way back 83 yards for his first return touchdown in two years.
That gave the Ticats a 10-3 lead they never surrendered and after Ottawa made some noise behind former Cat Jeremiah Masoli, who threw two touchdown passes after the Hamilton defence drove starter Dru Brown from the game, Bell scored a late 15-yard touchdown which iced the game and was part of his slashing 99 yards that kept the Redblacks’ defence honest.
So Bell and Woods each had a fumble and each overcame them with subsequent strong play (Woods had 161 yards in returns) and game-preserving touchdowns.
They were examples of the stay-in-the-moment aura that the Ticats brought to this game despite the disappointing knowledge that late the previous evening the Argonauts—the arch-rivals they are chasing for the third and final playoff spot in the east and whom they play in Toronto this Friday night—had gone into Vancouver and arrested their two-game slide with a an upset 33-17 win over the B.C. Lions.
As so many Ticats said, in one form or another, after their similarly-complete win over the Redblacks, you can only do something about the games you actually play in, and that takes professional-level focus after things don’t go your way in the games you don’t play in.
“When your backs are up against the wall you find out about your athletes, about your coaches,” said Bo Levi Mitchell who delivered his second strong game in a row, completing 20 of his 27 passes for 299 yards and touchdown passes to Steven Dunbar Jr. and Ante Litre, although he did have a ball picked off in the Ottawa end zone.
“One thing I love about (Milanovich) is he comes to work ready to attack it. He gives you that mindset; ‘all right it’s a work day, we’re not going to make it any bigger than it is. Go out and try to win a game.’
“Obviously we didn’t do ourselves any favour by getting ourselves in this position of not being able to control our own destiny. We need certain people to win at certain times, whatever it is, but right now our job is to win the next five and then three after that.”
The Ticats are 4-9, still six points back of Toronto with five games to play. And as they were reminded by the Lions’ meek declawing by the Argos, in pro sports when you have to rely on your friends for help you soon find out you don’t have any friends.
“We’re not counting on anybody else,” said Ticat defensive end Nick Usher who delivered a sterling game, forcing a fumble, which he recovered, and recovering another fumble created by Brandon Barlow. “We’re going to fight to the end: the defence; the offence, special teams. We’ve got the team.
“Right now in the room, we’re just thinking playoffs. It’s win or go home. Every game is crucial, so we’re definitely coming in with everything.”
Although there were a lot of contributing segments — Mitchell’s poise, Bell’s successful accelerations even when Ottawa knew it was a running down, Dunbar catching all eight passes thrown his way for 151 yards and a 54-yard touchdown that delivered the Ticats into the intermission up 21-6 — this game was decided in the trenches and was oiled by Woods’ touchdown.
Although they lost Trevon Mason and Casey Sayles to injury during the game — forcing four linemen to rotate through the three rush spots, with usually one then dropping off with short, disguised, protective coverage assignments — the defensive line kept forcing Brown into hurried reads and sloppy passes and eventually got Masoli to throw a couple of picks during late desperation time.
And the secondary, obviously taking to new defensive play-caller Chris Jones’ heavy reliance on zone defence, made three interceptions, part of the whopping six turnovers (two fumbles, three picks, one third-down stop) the defence inflicted upon Ottawa. But it’s a tight zone, not a loose one, as evidenced by the aggressive interceptions by Jamal Peters, Destin Talbert and Jonathan Moxey.
“When we’re hunting, they’re getting picks,” Usher said. “When they’re in coverage, we’re getting sacks. So at the end of the day it’s a give-and-take and a give-give: they don’t get picks, we don’t get sacks.”
All concerned say there’s been a difference since Jones took over but Usher also pointed out that the team already had an entrenched self-belief culture before Jones arrived, despite their sub.-500 record.
But there can be no doubt that the Ticats are much better than they were a month ago when Edmonton rattled them 47-22.
It’s stamped all over them.
“I think so,” Milanovich said. “If we didn’t turn it over today I would have said we played really well offensively and to me the biggest difference is we haven’t been putting our defence in a bad position. In our turnovers today, at least it was in their end where we weren’t giving them a short field.
“Chris has certainly made an impact…and some guys are healthy now. We’re different defensively. It’s a different team for sure, we’ve got a lot more eyes looking at the quarterback now, playing zone coverage.”
The Ticats’ offensive line was solid, not allowing a sack after giving up four in the Labour Day win over Toronto and opening holes for Bell to slash through. They’re evolving into one of the league’s better units.
“That’s where it starts,” said centre David Beard. “We never want to give up sacks; we have a lot of pride in saying that we’re going to keep the quarterback upright.
“The guys did a great job, and a shout out to (right guard Coulter) Woodmansey. He did a great job. He put a lot of guys on the ground tonight.”
Overall, Milanovich was happy with his team’s play and said, “That was three phases. The defence came out early and played well. I thought we were playing well offensively and with the couple of turnovers we didn’t finish the drives. Then obviously the biggest play of the game was Woodsie’s return. It got us jump-started and gave us the lead and I think we were off after that.”
Woods says that after 10 weeks out of uniform he “had the jitters on the opening kickoff. I hadn’t been on the field in a while and once I figured out, ‘Okay this is what the ball feels like in my hands again when I’m running’, I knew what to do.
“It’s been a long time since I touched the end zone and I just wanted get that feeling again and get the team going. And it happened.
“After I made the first move (to his right, then back left) it just opened and I said, ‘That punter is not going to catch me’. The last time I had the opportunity against Ottawa, I fell and I got caught from behind. So I said to myself, “Don’t look back, just run!’ and I got in the end zone. I was ecstatic.”
So was the announced crowd of 22,119 and also the entire Ticat bench which emptied to flood Woods after he crossed the goal line.
The Ticats still have an uphill climb but they say they’ll be taking it one game at a time, and only the game that they’re playing.
“We’re not deviating from the plan, we’re staying together,” Dunbar said. “We’re buying into what we’re doing schematically.
CATS CLAUSES: Rookie Shemar Bridges was effective, especially on second down in the first half, with five receptions for 55 yards … Marc Liegghio missed two field goals in a game for the first time this season but also made two … Nik Constantinou punted well for a 48.5 average, while Ottawa’s Richie Leone averaged 51.8 but had Lawrence Woods III’s punt-return on the debit side … Ticat DB Destin Talbert led both teams with 10 defensive tackles … Brandon Barlow had his first sack since he registered 3 in the home opener … James Tuck had a pair of special teams tackles for the ‘Cats … Canadian LB Ryan Baker, who had three defensive tackles, is getting a lot of playing time … the Ticats had only three penalties, the Redblacks had 10 … Hamilton had 434 yards of total offence, Ottawa 438 … starter Dru Brown was 17-for-27 for 164 yards with an interception while reliever Jeremiah Masoli, in just over one quarter of play, was 13-for-19 for 183 yards, two TDS and two interceptions … RB Khalan Laborn rushed 13 times for 84 yards … Dominique Rhymes caught 10 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. Justin Hardy had eight for 103 and Andre Miller had a touchdown reception … the Redblacks lost star LB Adarius Pickett to injury partway through the game and LB Frankie Griffin was helped off the field twice. They were already missing MLB Jovan Santos-Knox who’s on the six-game injury list but will return soon … the two teams meet in the final game of the regular season Oct. 25 in Ottawa.