Motivated Tiger-Cats have their eyes on moving closer to first place

First game of the second third of a long season.

And for the first time in nearly a month, the Ticats will take the field with the same starting quarterback in back-to-back games; for the first time in two weeks, they’ve enjoyed a full complement of vigorous outdoor practices on the big field without hazardous smoke forcing them into a closet-sized practice room; for the first time they’ll apply the self-affirmation gained from the successful jerry-rigging of an injury-shredded offensive line, which contributed mightily to their most important win so far this season last Saturday.

But that’s all – as all the Cats will tell you – a whole bunch of yesterdays. Sunday night (7 p.m. Ticats Audio Network/Y108, TSN) is the next, and only, thing that matters as the 3-3 Cats head into Montréal to face the 5-1 Alouettes, looking to close the gap between themselves and the East Division leaders.

“We just have to come together as one and come out with the win,” Ticats boundary cornerback Jamal Peters was saying this week. “We found a way to win last week and dealt with the adversity.”

That adversity would include the loss of both their offensive tackles during the 24-23 victory over the Toronto Argonauts last Saturday night at Hamilton Stadium.

Here’s a brief reminder: The Ticats offence, starting Tre Ford under centre for the first time on a short week without a single full practice that was more than a walkthrough, started their A unit of Liam Dobson at centre, Brandon Revenberg at left guard, Trevor Reid at left tackle, Nate Dumoulin-Duguay at right guard and Quinton Barrow at right tackle.

Then Reid and Barrow were both injured and had to leave, so the Cats finished the game with veteran Chris Kolankowski, their only reserve lineman, at centre, Dobson at left guard, Revenberg at left tackle, Dumoulin-Duguay at right tackle, and rookie tight end Max Mang at right guard, giving away about 40 pounds to the fierce defenders across from him.

According to the CFL stats department, it was the first time a team had ever won a game when not one of the original starters on the offensive line finished the game in the same position.

“It takes the whole team to be able to accomplish a win,” acknowledges Ticats star receiver Kenny Lawler. “A win’s a confidence booster. It’s two points, right? You know, we’re going into hostile, hostile territory (in Montréal) trying to come out victorious. So, that win will do a lot, more than what people know, I think.”

Ford, who stayed generally under control and made the right reads while injecting a realm of uncertainty and concern into the opposition defence with his ability to roll out, escape almost-certain tackles and keep plays alive, now has a full week of practice as the starter under his belt. He gets the nod again with Jake Dolegala, who started a best-forgotten loss in Saskatchewan, as the No. 2 and the short-yardage quarterback.

Reid has recovered enough to start at left tackle, and Brendan Swartout, the 6-foot-7, 305-pounder who was a two-time all-star at Central Michigan, gets his first pro start, replacing Barrow at right tackle, after spending his rookie season on the practice roster. He did dress for the final regular-season game against Ottawa last season but did not see any action.

The Ticats’ other starting lineup change is at field side defensive half, where Quavian White is injured and will be replaced by Devodric Bynum, who started at corner in a game 3 win against BC and dressed for two other games. He made 14 starts for Edmonton in 2024.

The offence is ready behind Ford’s second start as a Cat.

“We’re pretty much a veteran group on the offence,” says Lawler. “So, we just have to keep doing what we’re doing and just rally with each other.”

On defence, the Ticats are in a summer stretch of confronting the league’s most prolific quarterbacks. Two weeks after facing seemingly ageless Trevor Harris in Saskatchewan, they edged Chad Kelly and the Argonauts in a tense last-second-missed-field-goal victory at Hamilton Stadium, and Sunday it’s Davis Alexander in Montréal, followed by a Saturday home game against Vernon Adams Jr. and the Stampeders. And the final three games of a nine-week-straight summer grind see Harris coming to Hamilton, Adams in Calgary and Kelly back here on Labour Day.

On Friday night in Winnipeg, Adams broke the CFL record with his 18^th touchdown pass, the most TD throws without an interception to open a season. And Kelly and Alexander are both on pace to climb well over 6000 passing yards and seriously challenge Doug Flutie’s all-time record of 6,619, set 35 years ago.

And Alexander has already blown past the league record for regular-season consecutive pass attempts without an interception, a current record that remains alive at 336 passes. He is elusive, strong and fast, so he wiggles or powers his way out of pressure to prolong plays but can also take off on a planned route.

“That’s a pretty high number,” says Ticat All-CFL safety Stavros Katsantonis, who ranks second in the CFL with three interceptions, all of them acrobatic. “He’s an elite quarterback in this league, just able to extend that play. He’s not a scramble-to-run guy. He’s a scramble-to-throw, which I think poses a threat for defensive backs when you’ve got to cover for extended periods of time.”

“And, they’re on the same page with their receivers. They know as soon as he scrambles, they know when they’re supposed to go deep and when they’re supposed to come back to the sticks. That scramble drill. He’s just very good at extending the play and making big-time plays.

“I think for us, it’s just as much as we can, staying on top of the coverage when that’s happening. And then when he is in the pocket, getting after him. We have a mean defensive line. And they want to get after the quarterback. I know he’s going to be ready for that and has his plans on how he’s going to escape.”

“It’s just getting that pressure on him every single play and making him feel uncomfortable in the pocket.”

But, Katsantonis points out, the Hamilton offence also has a lot of weapons, including what he calls the CFL’s deepest talent pool of receivers “and the best receiver in the league in Kenny Lawler.”

“I think they’re explosive guys. You know when you can get the ball in their hands and having a guy like Tre back there who, again, is similar to Davis, who can scramble around, extend the plays. Makes you think about: is he going to run this time or is he going to try to throw when he’s scrambling?”

“I think that makes it electric.”

The Alouettes’ only loss, in overtime, was by three points in Edmonton on June 20, and all their games have been decided by seven points or less. They’re 3-0 at home in the carnival atmosphere of Percival Molson Stadium. “They’ve been in some tight games, and you can see from the experience that they do have that they’re able to come out victorious in those games,” says Ticats SAM linebacker Reggie Stubblefield, who’s off to a strong start and who played two years with the Als, winning the Grey Cup in 2023. “So just try to limit what they do. Continuing to fight and play for four quarters against a team who has experience in winning big games is very important.”

“A division opponent, a game like this, means a little bit more. They’re ranked as one of the better teams in the league. So, to knock off a top team, I know the excitement, the energy is going to be there.”

“What I see from Montreal is a team that has a great culture. You could tell that they play for their head coach, Coach (Jason) Maas. You could tell that they play for their city, their fans. You could tell that they’re well-connected and they’re going to compete for four quarters.”

Alexander is a career 3-0 against the Ticats and operates an offence that has impressive weapons in the short spaces, medium range and deep.

Wide receiver Tyson Philpot is in the early conversation as the league’s Most Outstanding Player, leading the CFL in targets, receptions and receiving yards. At his current pace, he would have 2,441 yards at season’s end, which would be a league record.

Stablemate Tyler Snead is on pace for 1,749 yards, and in the season opener at Hamilton had nine catches for 163 yards.

They rank 1-2 in CFL receiving yards and second and third in the important yards after catch, a category in which the Als collectively lead the league with Cole Spieker, Alexander Hollins, and running back Travis Theis adding to the lethal speed and route-carving.

It’s important for defensive backs to close quickly on good open-field runners, get a good grip on him and for everyone to flock to the ball until the receiver is brought down, in case tackles are broken.

And they’ll always have to be aware of Theis, a dual-purpose player who joined Alexander as one of the CFL’s three Players of the Week, rushing for 130 yards and a touchdown for a blazing 8.7-yard average and snaring another 38 yards in passes out of the backfield, broadening the base of Alexander’s RPO (run-pass-option) motif.

“I think the biggest thing is keeping the top on the defence,” Katsantonis says. “We saw what happened the one or two times we didn’t do that the last time we played them, and it kind of led to explosion plays.”

“I think we have a really smart secondary. We communicate really well, talk about the things that we’re seeing. The paramount thing for us this week is being able to keep their big-time players from making big-time plays.”

“If we’re going to give up a 5-to-10-yard throw, that’s okay. But we can’t give up a 30-plus-yard explosion and give them the momentum, especially it being a home game for them. We’ve got to take that away as soon as we can.”

The Cats are posted as large underdogs, but that doesn’t concern them in the least, and maybe it’s also a bit of motivational fuel, especially after the loss to the Als in the season opener, a game that the whole organization felt should have been theirs.

“It’s definitely there,” Katsantonis said of that game. “But we know the biggest thing is it’s an East Division opponent. So, it’s all about getting that victory. They always say that the two points we get is the two points they don’t get.  For us, it’s taking that seriously and knowing that, hey we can even the series here; we’re going to play them again in September.”

“We want to be first in the East, and we want to show that we’re a dominant team in this East Division. That’s our plan; going out there on Sunday night to prove that to the rest of the league, because no one else believes in us and we don’t need anyone else to other than the guys that are in this locker room.”

CATS CLAUSES

Ticats send Robinson to Ottawa for draft choice

The Ticats traded Global tight end Jevoni Robinson to the Ottawa Redblacks Saturday, receiving an eighth-round choice in next year’s CFL Canadian draft in return.

Born and raised in Jamaica until he went to the US in his high school junior year, Robinson never played high school football—he was cut from his high school football team—but did play high-level college basketball (North Carolina) and one year of professional hoops in Italy.

He was drafted by BC in the 2023 Global draft and spent a year on the Lions practice roster before coming to Hamilton in January of 2024. The Ticats developed him slowly as Scott Milanovich continued his commitment to “true” tight ends in his offence. Robinson scored five touchdowns in his two-plus years in Hamilton.

Notes and Quotes: Ticat QB Tre Ford’s 109 yards rushing vs Toronto was the second 100-plus yard game of his career … DE Julian Howsare is tied for the CFL lead in sacks and his next one will be the 50^th of his excellent career … WR Kiondré Smith needs 76 yards to reach 3,500 for his career … Kurleigh Gittens Jr., who caught all five passes thrown his way last week, needs 37 yards in receptions to reach 4,000 for his career … the Ticats will be without LB Braxton Hill (ankle),  DB Quavian White (hamstring) and WR and special teams cement Tyler Ternowski (shoulder) … Here’s centre Liam Dobson on the offensive line following guard and captain Brandon Revenberg’s example on switching positions to tackle during the win over Toronto, which all of them did: “So we look at a guy like that playing out of position and holding it down for us. We all look at ourselves in the mirror, you know. And if Rev’s getting it done, we can get it done. We all just look at each other, lean on each other and go out there and play the best.” …  OL Reuben Unije was signed this week. At 6-foot-6, 315 pounds, the tackle played most recently at UCLA, and transferred from Louisville, where he did not play, after four years at the University of Houston … The Ticats have signed Australian Global punter Jesse Micro, who played at Ohio State and Vanderbilt and saw action in five games with the Saskatchewan Roughriders last year, after being selected 15^th overall in the 2025 CFL Global draft … the club released OL Arvin Hosseini this week. He was selected in the 3^rd round, 21^st overall out of UBC in the 2025 Canadian draft and played in two games for the Cats, both last season … when the Ticats return from Montréal, they’ll prepare for a home game Saturday, Aug 1 at 3 p.m. against Vernon Adams Jr. and the Calgary Stampeders. It’s the White Out game with fans being encouraged to wear white clothing while the players will be wearing white jerseys and pants, a rare sartorial look for them. It’s also Canadian Armed Forces Appreciation, with the Ticats honouring members of the forces for their service and dedication … the Ticats are the only team in the CFL which has yet to recover an opposition fumble … The Als’ Alexandre Gagné is tied with Darryl Townsend (93) for second on Montréal’s all-time list for special teams tackles, one shy of Hall of Famer Chip Cox … in their win over Calgary, Montréal RB Travis Theis tied a career-best with 19 carries, had his first 100-plus-yard game and recorded his fourth consecutive game with a rushing TD …