September 2, 2024; Hamilton, Ontario, CAN; Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeat the Toronto Argonauts 31-28 in the Labour Day Classic at Tim Hortons Field. Photo by John E. Sokolowski
Friday Night Football. Ticats and Lions. The CFL’s Feline Derby. Second leg.
And the Cats would rather forget the first leg, other than as motivation and as perhaps some emotional momentum as they realize how far they’ve come since the first week of July when B.C. beat them 44-28 right at Tim Hortons Field.
Didn’t just beat them, they beat the time zone change and showed up on time for the game while the Ticats, in all three phases did not. It was 24-1 after 20 minutes, 34-11 at the half. The Ticats eventually got it together and Bo Levi Mitchell threw for three touchdowns and nearly 400 yards, but when you fling yourself into an early hole like that—a too-common occurrence over the first half of the season—it’s almost impossible to claw your way out. Few claws are that sharp, even on a team named for a jungle predator.
The July loss to the Lions dropped the Ticats to 0-5 and elevated the Lions to 4-1 and league-wide recognition as the best team in the West. Since then, though, the Lions have won only three of their nine games and just two of their last eight, while the Ticats have gone up 5-4, including three straight wins.
The Lions are coming off a bye week, and CFL teams have had good success this year with a week’s rest, but they will be without a couple of key players. Receiver Alexander Hollins, who had 116 yards in receptions against Hamilton earlier in the year and is the league’s fifth-leading receiver is gone for six games. And former Ticat Ciante Evans, who strengthened the Lions’ secondary at wide-side cornerback as a critical free-agency signing, is also on the six-game injury list.
That could prove very helpful for Bo Levi Mitchell if he can isolate a corner-route receiver in one-on-one deep to the wide side. That of course, will be predicated upon the Ticats establishing the run, the shorter possession passes and saleable play-action execution.
The Lions will also be without Bo Lokombo, the Canadian linebacker who had five tackles against Hamilton in July. But they’ve also got help back on the offensive line after they were manhandled for six sacks by the Argos two weeks ago, right before the Lions limped into their bye week.
Lions’ quarterbacks Nathan Rourke and Vernon Adams are both skilled at the run-pass-option and extending plays with planned and impromptu runs, and running back William Stanback is having a great rebound season on the west coast. Rourke has been anointed as the permanent starter, but don’t bet your mortgage on Adams not making an appearance if Rourke struggles as the Lions are desperate for a win. They’re trying to finish first in the West, with the ‘Grey Cup scheduled for their home stadium in November.
Given that, the Ticats’ game-roster news is encouraging.
Defensive tackle Casey Sayles who has been enjoying perhaps his best season against both the pass and the run—and the Lions are good at both—returns after missing last week. Even in the July loss, Sayles had a sack and a couple of tackles, so his return is welcomed.
Also returning from a one-game injury stint is SAM linebacker Jonathan Moxey, an integral part of the vastly improved Ticat secondary. With the Lions’ running quarterbacks, Stanback’s pass and run skills, and the presence of league-leading receiver Justin McInnis, who blistered the Ticats for 10 catches and 144 yards in July, Moxey’s experience and increased decisiveness is imperative to have in the lineup. His presence also frees up Carthell Flowers-Lloyd, who started at SAM in last week’s win over the Argos, to be fresh for special teams. Flowers-Lloyd is a proficient downfield tackler and the Cats are now without their leading special teams tackler Felix Garand Gauthier, who’s out for the remainder of the season.
In a third lineup change from last week, Greg Bell is listed as the starting running back but he’s asterisked as a game time decision. James Butler, who replaced him last week and had a great second half, flew to Vancouver with the team and is also listed on the depth chart. The Ticats would like Bell’s breakaway speed on the field but are satisfied they can be effective with Butler’s blocking and power running. It was Butler’s third down pass reception which kept the game-winning drive alive in last Friday’s victory over Toronto.
This late in the season, with most players suffering nicks, bruises, and fatigue—and with their opponents very well rested after a bye week—the Ticats’ coaching and player personnel staff decided to go light on practice, this week with two walk-throughs (in which players don’t hit and don’t go full speed all the time). And they dropped the normal day-before-a-game walkthrough at Tim Hortons Field on Thursday before boarding their west-bound flight which they could move up an hour or more because they didn’t practice Thursday.
“We treated it like a six-day week, which means we only practiced twice,” head coach Scott Milanovich explained. “The idea is that if they’re being professionals like we’ve asked them to be, they will sleep in (Thursday) and start to get their body changed to west coast time a bit. We don’t get in late to Vancouver, so it won’t be a rush. We’ll have a 30-minute walkthrough there just to stay fresh. And then they can kind of lay around (and rest).
“The hard thing about west coast trips –and there are a number of things — is that when you get there late and it’s a rush and you’re tired and beat up from the travel, and then you’ve also had a walk-through, it becomes a really long day for the players.
“It’s never going to be perfect, but any little edge we’re hunting for. Ideally you go out two days early but that wasn’t possible this time. So we wanted to give them a little edge so they’re ready to play.”
CATS CLAUSES: The Ticats are threatening to have three 1,000-yard receivers for just the second time in franchise history: Shemar Bridges has 960 yards, Tim White, 874 and Steven Dunbar Jr., 775. The 1,000-yard trifecta for the Ticats came in 2017 when Luke Tasker, Speedy Banks and Jalen Saunders surpassed 1000 yards … Bo Levi Mitchell has thrown for 4,400 yards, tops in the CFL and nearly 600 more than No. 2 Jake Maier of Calgary … in the first 10 games of the season the Ticats were minus-12 in turnover ratio. In the last four, they’re plus-8 … the Ticats lead the CFL with 57 pass knockdowns, five more than any other team … BC defensive back Garry Peters has played 100 games in a row, dating back to 2018 and will start Friday night … of the Lions, 19 touchdown passes 11 have been from the red zone, and they’ve run 92 plays from inside the opponents’ 20-yard line, second in the league … the last time the Lions won a game at BC Place was July 13. Their only “home” win since then was over Ottawa in Touchdown Pacific, in Victoria.