Tre Ford Set to Lead Tiger-Cats in Steeltown Showdown Against Argonauts
Starting their third quarterback in three games, this was probably not the optimum week for the Ticats to not be able to have even one single, full, regular practice.
“But I feel really good with what we did in our walk-through today,” Tre Ford said Friday. He and Jake Dolegala, who started in Saskatchewan Sunday with Ford coming on in late relief, were told earlier in the week that Ford would get the nod Saturday night against the Toronto Argonauts. (7:30 pm, TSN, Ticats Audio Network/Y108).
“I feel really good with what we did today in our walkthrough. We didn’t have any mistakes, we were rolling today.”
The Ticats were permitted to practice outside Friday for the first time all week but CFL air quality regulations allowed them to only have a walk-through—a type of low-speed, no-pads practice that is usually used as a short tune-up the day before a game. They had already been forced by the smoky atmosphere to hold the two previous days’ practices indoors in the tight confines of the Caretaker’s Lounge, the small food and beverage fans’ room the players pass through on the way to pre-game introductions.
They’d hoped to reverse the usual weekly order with a longer, more standard practice today but the air quality had not improved enough for full exertion.
Ford, the Niagara Falls native who was the country’s top university player in 2021 at Waterloo, was signed in the off-season after four seasons in Edmonton where he compiled a dossier of 60 games, 4,651 passing yards and 29 TDs (19 interceptions), plus another four majors among his 124 carries and 1129 rushing yards.
He can extend plays with his legs, has a strong arm and is exciting to watch, and as a backup before he became a starter in Edmonton, had experience coming into games with not much extended work with the starting offence.
His 22-yard ramble in Winnipeg in week 2 helped the Ticats to a win over the Bombers, but he threw an ill-advised pick in the return match against the Bombers three weeks later after he relieved Dolegala, who had come in after Bo Levi Mitchell suffered a lower body injury.
Last week in Saskatchewan he came in late for Dolegala and completed five of his six passes and had a 13-yard run.
Milanovich said the change was made “just looking for a spark.”
“It’s no blame on Jake. Obviously, Tre has a different skill set that we’re looking forward to try to utilize this week.”
The head coach said that the biggest adjustment on offence would be the receivers adapting to Ford’s effective elusiveness by going into “scramble” mode: changing routes to find the optimum spaces where the quarterback can find them as he’s moving.
“Obviously, it’s not ideal,” Milanovich said of no regular practices, on a short week, with a quarterback change. “But quarterbacks are expected to be able to go in and play without having reps, right? That’s what backups do every single week in this league and in every other league. So that’s the way I look at it, it’s no different than that. He has had some reps the last couple of weeks and games.
“You’d love to have had him out for three practices, but we got a ton of walkthrough reps. He’s verbalized the plays a thousand times at this point, and we expect him to go out there and play well.”
“He’s got to protect the ball first and foremost. And then when things aren’t open he needs to create with his legs and his God-given talent. He’s not going to be perfect. He’ll miss some throws, probably some reads. But I expect him to find a way to make some explosive plays with his legs and his arm.”
Ford said he’s “ready to go” and echoed his head coach in saying what he and the offence will be focusing on are “making explosions, creating big plays down the field, protecting the ball and not getting sacks.”
He says that all quarterbacks have to believe thoroughly in themselves and carry themselves with confidence or they “won’t have much success at the position,” and that he won’t let a misread, or an interception affect the next play. The big loss in Saskatchewan also has to be put where it belongs: nowhere, because it’s over and gone.
“People make mistakes, I think that’s always going to happen,” he said, “Our team is also recovering from losing our Hall of Fame quarterback. But we’re all pros, we’re all adults. It’s super unfortunate for Bo; I hope he has a quick recovery. But it’s the reality of things: we can’t let that affect us. We kind of have that mentality in football.”
While the Argonauts have their starting quarterback—Chad Kelly has already racked up 14 “big play” completions of 30-plus yards and leads the league in passing yardage and is tied for most TD throws—they’re facing some major hurdles of their own.
Locked out of their home stadium until early August by the World Cup, the Boatmen have been centred at their training camp base in Guelph, with a number of players living at the university, others in and around Guelph and some commuting from their Toronto-area homes.
This will be their third “home” game at a road site: Saskatchewan, Winnipeg and now Hamilton, three of the most hostile environments for opposing teams in the league. And they, too, have been forced inside by the weather conditions, although they were able to work in bigger indoor facilities than the Ticats did.
After the Argos lost 30-21 last week in Winnipeg Kelly suggested that even though the club has known since the schedule came out that they would be playing their first seven games on the road, the Guelph experience, and the extra east-to-west travel might be having a wearing effect.
“Maybe his words were a bit misunderstood,” Toronto’s DaShaun Amos, an all-CFL East defensive back for Hamilton last season, told Ticats.ca. “He was just highlighting that that is the adversity we’re facing, that’s where we’re at in our journey right now.
“He’s a competitor; he doesn’t care where we play; we could play anywhere in Canada and he’ll be great.
“We’re learning as we go. We’ve faced some adversity together so we’re building character, we’re growing closer as a team.
“I haven’t heard anyone in the locker room complain about it and I’ve heard players saying Guelph is a good thing.
“I see it as our challenge for this year and Chad was saying the same thing; it’s just our reality that we have to play seven away games before we get to play a home game. BC, also without a stadium still has Kelowna, but it’s not weighing down on us, it’s just a different situation.
“There’s a few games that we would want back that were winnable games for us but those games also allowed us to see some areas to grow in. They’re learning points.”
Amos says it’ll be bittersweet returning to Hamilton, where he signed as a free agent last season after three years in Toronto, where he re-landed as a free agent this year.
“I’m excited for it, getting back to the fun that goes on with this rivalry.”
“Any East Division game, right? We attack every game the same but it adds to it knowing we’re on the same side of the league. Has a little more weight on it.”
The ancient rivals are tied for second at 2-3 and neither wants to lose any ground to first-place Montréal.
Milanovich says of his former team, “They’re physical on defence. Kelly’s a gunslinger, and when he gets hot he can be as good as anybody pushing the ball down the field. He’s tough to tackle. But he also has the ability to create with his legs. He’ll pull zone reads and scores a lot of touchdowns that way. And the new running back (Sam Hicks) is a good player. I think they’ve got good receivers.”
All five members of the Argos’ primary receiving crew are on pace for at least 900 reception yards.
But, on the other side of the scales, the Ticats defence has been improving steadily and kept them within striking range for three quarters of play in Winnipeg. They’re second in the league in sacks with 10 while the Argo offence is second-last in sacks allowed, and the Argos have made only four interceptions as the defence is still finding itself.
And while the Toronto offence is second in the league in offensive points and leads in touchdown passes, the Cats’ defence is third-best at limiting touchdowns and offensive yards per game. Could be an interesting case study.
The Ticat offensive players came out of Saskatchewan vowing that they would not struggle as a unit like that again, despite adjusting to a third starting quarterback in three games, and not having any standard practices to do so.
“You’ve got to understand that you have got to flush it,” says all-star guard Brandon Revenberg. “Look what you did wrong. Watch that tape. Get better from it and come to this game with confidence.”
“Sure, it sucks. I mean, that’s a guy (Mitchell) that’s going to be a Hall of Fame quarterback and he’s not on the field. But nobody else will feel sorry for us, so we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. It’s focus. We’ve got the guys that we need.”
He adds that having no real practices before a game is “definitely a different element. But the CFL, it’s always an interesting game, right? It’s just one more thing you overcome.”
NOTES AND QUOTES
Ticats DE Julian Howsare is having another great season with sacks in back-to-back games and 4 overall, tied for 1st place in the CFL. His next sack will be career No. 50 … WR Kurleigh Gittens Jr. needs 94 receiving yards to reach 4,000 for his career … MLB Wynton McManis will play his former team for the first time. He has 10 defensive tackles and an interception in his first two regular-season games as a Ticat and suits up for the first time against his former team in a regular-season game …. S Stavros Katsantonis is tied for the CFL interception lead with 3, giving him 15 for his career, tied for 6th among active players. Teammate Jamal Peters’ 21 ranks 2nd tied with the Argos’ DaShaun Amos… WR Kiondré Smith has caught at least one pass in 50 straight games, third-longest active streak in the league … the Ticats will dress QB Harrison Frost, who spent two years here before joining the UFL then re-signing here this week. He replaces former Argo Jarret Doege who heads to the practice list… DB Quavian White comes off the injured list to start at field-side halfback … S Robert Panabaker is back off injury, which bolsters special teams … WILL linebacker Braxton Hill is injured after the projected starting linebacking corps was about to play only its third game together. “We’ve been kind of banged up at (linebacker) all year but all the guys have played and played reasonably well, so I don’t expect to miss a beat there,” Scott Milanovich said… Ticat Grey Cup winner MLB Calvin Tiggle was informed by Cat teammate and legend Joe Montford that they will also be teammates in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame when the class of 2026 is inducted this fall … this will be the 255th regular-season game between the Ticats and Argos, with Hamilton winning 145, losing 107 and tying twice… Argos’ primary returner Janarion Grant will miss the game and is on the 1-game injured list, as is powerful-legged punter John Haggerty. Grant’s streak of at least one return TD in seven consecutive seasons is the longest in CFL history… LB Cameron Judge and WR Jake Herslow are on the 6-game injured list. Herslow caught six passes for 2 TDs on Labour Day last year … Argo WR Makai Polk has 10 catches for 196 yards and 3 TDs in his last two games … rookie WR Tyler Kahman has scored 5 majors in Toronto’s 5 games … WR Kevin Mital needs six receptions for 150 and 21 receiving yards for 1,500 in his career … field CB Tarvarus McFadden needs two tackles for 150 in his career.
DEPTH CHARTS & ROSTERS
