So many of the negative things –turnovers, penalties, dropped balls, failure to successfully run–which they’d flushed out and turned the other way over the past six weeks came back to haunt the Tiger-Cats Friday night.
And now their playoff hopes are left hanging by the thinnest of filaments.
The Ticats’ invigorating four-game winning streak came to a thudding halt at the hands—or make that feet—of Brady Oliveira and the volcanically-hot Winnipeg Blue Bombers 31-10 at Tim Hortons Field.
The Ticats had launched themselves into a heady late playoff drive with a very solid game in Winnipeg back in the third week of August—although they lost on a late, improbable comeback generated by quarterback Zach Collaros—and it was Winnipeg which also ended the streak as they won their eighth straight game. This time Collaros didn’t have to throw six touchdown passes as he did last week against Edmonton. One was enough. In fact, he didn’t have to throw many passes at all, just be effective on the 19 he did launch, because Oliveira and his blockers were so effective, and the Bomber defence was stunningly punitive, especially in the second half.
Collaros was 13 for 19 for a modest 201 yards, not much more than Oliveira accounted for. The powerful back rushed for a touchdown among his season-high 147 yards—19 more than his previous 2024 best—and caught a pass for another 15 yards to strengthen his claim as the favourite for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award.
He was constantly crashing for big yardage on the first down, and it’s a lot easier to play CFL offence when you don’t need much on the second down. That dominant pounding –and it was happening on both sides of the ball–wore down the Ticats, who trailed only 17-10 at the half. But for the first time this season, they didn’t score a point in the second half, and the Bomber defence limited Bo Levi Mitchell and the Cat offence to just two first downs in the opening 25 minutes of the second half before Taylor Powell came on to relieve Mitchell with the game out of reach.
“Powerful, low centre of gravity,” Ticat head coach Scott Milanovich said of Oliveira. “They do a great job up front for him. They have good schemes. I think he’s got the most explosive plays in the league. A great football player.”
That’s it in a nutshell, offensively at least. On defence, the Bombers just kept getting better and better as the game progressed, which contributed to not only the lopsided final score but the nearly 17-minute advantage in ball-possession time that the Bombers enjoyed. They emphatically stopped the run when the game might have gone either way, and with their own runs completing long and effective drives, they forced Hamilton into a one-dimensional game which in turn resulted in too much pressure and good back-end coverage by the Bomber defenders.
Ticat running back James Butler had an 18-yard touchdown on a surging burst off left tackle behind great blocking that tied the game 7-7 but had only six other carries for six yards. The Ticats’ run situation was exemplified by the final seconds of the opening half when a terrific read by Mitchell, and a smoking catch-and-run by Brendan O’Leary-Orange covered 71 yards to the Winnipeg three-yard line. But out of the shotgun, Butler’s rush was rudely slammed by Bomber defensive end TyJuan Garbutt for a four-yard loss and the Ticats were forced to kick a field goal when a touchdown would have made it a three-point deficit heading into the half with momentum. And the Bombers took over the second half.
As Mitchell –15-for-28 for 217 yards and two interceptions — said after the game, it was a combination of the Hamilton offence not playing well, and the Bomber defence playing well, on all three tiers: front, linebacking and secondary. With no run game to speak of, Hamilton was forced to throw, which led to fiercer rushes, which in turn led to tighter coverage in the secondary. That’s a recipe for success for one team, and vexation for the other.
“I think they played a great game,” Mitchell said. “They’re a team that’s going to try to out-number you and make sure that they’re not out-schemed, number-wise, side-to-side. It just comes down to 1-on-, making plays and quarterbacks making throws.”
“They’re a great run defence. I said that early in the week; they’re sound in their assignments. You bring in extra guys to block. I thought we played physical, we just didn’t establish the run they did. They moved guys and they got Oliveira to the second level and we just weren’t able to establish that.”
The Ticats had a couple of pass drops, the most glaring after Tim White had made a nice 14-yard gain early in the second quarter, then on the very next play beat a defender by two steps deep. Mitchell dropped a perfect pass over White’s shoulder which bounced off his hands. If he’d caught it, he’d have scored going away and would have erased a 10-7 Winnipeg lead. The way the Bomber defence was playing, the Ticats could afford points sliding through their hands.
White had some drops earlier in the season but rebounded from them.
Like earlier in the season the Ticats took too many penalties (seven for 104 yards) while the disciplined Bombers were only flagged four times. And, like earlier in the season, the Ticats couldn’t hang on to a couple of possible interception chances, lost the turnover battle (3-0) and had strings of two-and-outs.
“Obviously that one stings,” said Ticat defensive end Brandon Barlow. “Our pride was a little bit hurt but sometimes you have to put pride aside, watch the tape, and be real. And that’s the only chance you’ve got of getting better. So we have to fix the mistakes. It’s going to sting but we’ve got to let it sting, but we have to bounce back too.”
With the Ticat loss, they cannot catch the Ottawa Redblacks and to rein in the third-place Argos, they’ll have to win both their remaining games—at home to Calgary, Friday Oct. 18, and in Ottawa the following week—while the Argos have to lose all three of their games.
There’s the slightest flicker of hope for a cross-over to the West, but with B.C.’s win last night both the Lions and Blue Bombers can’t be caught and Saskatchewan will need only one point from its remaining two games to shut the Cats out of the West.
“The guys understand what the situation is and what we have to do and the only way we can get there is stay locked in,” Mitchell said. “Go out there and win two games and now we need help from somebody else. Our fate’s not in our hands but what is in our hands is the way we attack these two games after the bye week. I can promise you we’re going to come out and win.”
Milanovich has a similar mindset to his quarterback:
“I think our guys need a break and we’re on the bye so they get time to refresh and come to grips with what happened tonight,” he said. “I told them that hopefully, the dream’s not over. We’ll come back next week and see where we stand and get a win against Calgary.”
Frustration was a word that was floating around the Ticats after the game and Mitchell referred to that, particularly in light of some of Friday’s flaws which were echoes of shortcomings in the first half of the season.
“It’s just frustrating to look back at the season and wonder ‘what if?’ on certain games,” Mitchell said. “It’s just taken too long to get to where we got to the last five weeks. We knew the kind of team we were in training camp and who we could be.
“We didn’t play up to that potential early on and it’s just something that took us a little too long to get going. Now we have minimal time and opportunity to make it happen.”
CATS CLAUSES: Hall of Famers Mike Walker (player) and the late Bernie Custis (builder) were honoured at halftime for being inducted onto the Wall of Honour … Kiondré Smith had six catches for 54 yards for the Ticats … Ryan Baker, Ray Wilborn and Will Sunderland had six defensive tackles for the Cats … Brandon Barlow recorded Hamilton’s only sack … Ticat centre David Beard and his wife Vanessa welcomed their fourth child, Michael, on Friday morning. Beard didn’t have much sleep but played the full game … Shemar Bridges, who is just six catches short of the most receptions for a first-year CFL player in league history posted on social media that the hit he took in his quad last week has put him out for the season … on a six-minute drive in the third quarter that covered 72 yards, Brady Oliveira carried the ball on six of the nine plays for 48 yards and capped it with a short touchdown run … Bomber short-yardage quarterback Terry Wilson had two touchdowns … Kenny Lawler had 78 yards on three catches, Nic Demski 47 yards on three catches and Kevin Clercius had three grabs, one for a TD … Jake Thomas, Celestin Haba and TyJuan Garbett had the Bomber sacks, while Tyrell Ford and Deatrick Nicholls had interceptions.