The Hamilton Tiger-Cats secured their second win of the season, handily beating the Elks 37-29 at Commonwealth Stadium on Thursday night. Below are my thoughts on the game.
Mr. Break Yo’ Tackles
Many people questioned the Ticats’ decision to sign running back James Butler in free agency and not without good reason. Hamilton has not been a team that has utilized their running back with any frequency and paying top dollar for a ball carrier is understandably met with a quizzical eye in modern football.
He had his best game as a Ticat on Thursday, carving up the Edmonton defence to surpass 100 yards for the first time in black and gold. The 28-year-old rushed 14 times for 127 yards and the team’s first touchdown. He also caught three passes for 40 yards.
Butler was the best player on the field for either team, showing his trademark elusiveness by seemingly breaking at least one tackle attempt on every touch. With questions surrounding the quarterback position after the Tiger-Cats suffered another injury, Butler will likely be leaned on even more heavily until one of the two pivots is healthy.
Lightning strikes
The Ticats seemingly have a viable thunder-and-lightning combination for the first time in a long time with Butler and rookie Tyreik McAllister.
After his breakout performance against Ottawa last week, the 25-year-old proved it was no fluke by making plays in the run game, pass game, and on special teams. He ran the ball three times for 14 yards, caught one pass for 35 yards, and had a 46-yard kickoff return. McAllister also had a 79-yard punt return touchdown nullified by a legitimate, but lame, holding call on Anthony Federico.
McAllister’s ability to do multiple things reminds me a lot of another do-everything player the Ticats once had in Archie Amerson. Amerson spent eight seasons with the Ticats from 1997-2004 and contributed in many of the same ways as McAllister is now.
Amerson also formed Hamilton’s last true running back tandem when he partnered with all-star Ronald Williams from 1998-2000. The duo helped pace the Ticats to their most recent championship and with both Butler and McAllister together, it certainly looks like the Ticats could replicate that success.
Shiltz sidelined
Injuries were seemingly kept to a minimum on Thursday, except for one big one. Backup-turned-starting quarterback Matthew Shiltz left the game late in the third quarter after being pummelled by Elks’ defensive lineman Sam Acheampong. His loss for any stretch of time would be significant with Bo Levi Mitchell still out with an adductor injury.
Shiltz played reasonably well before leaving the game, completing 10-of-17 passes for 184 yards while rushing twice for 10 yards and a touchdown. Taylor Powell came in to finish the game and threw a touchdown to Tim White on his first CFL pass attempt.
Taylor Powell (@taylorwpowell) don’t need no warmup!
The rookie from @EMUFB comes in cold and throws a bomb for his first career CFL touchdown.#CFL #Ticats #HamiltonProud
pic.twitter.com/ULPnVa1eLw— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) July 14, 2023
The rookie from Eastern Michigan handled the fourth quarter of a blowout game with poise. That said, the team could be in some trouble if they have to rely on Powell to guide the offence for longer than a week or two. Young quarterbacks rarely succeed early in their CFL careers and we have seen players play well in relief for half a game, only to crash back down to earth when the offence is theirs to oversee.
Flowers for Tommy
The mob of fans that have been screaming for Tommy Condell’s firing were awfully silent last night after the embattled offensive coordinator called his best game of the season.
Condell masterfully mixed in the run and the pass, called plays that allowed Shiltz to stretch the field, and gave the team a chance to pick up first downs on second-and-long, something the Ticats have seemingly been allergic to so far this season.
Albeit in a blowout scenario, Condell expertly managed Powell’s first real CFL action. This has become something of his specialty, as he did the same with other third stingers like Hayden Moore and David Watford. For all the flak he gets, Condell does an excellent job of tailoring his game plan to the skills of his quarterback and I suspect he will do the same if Powell needs to start next week.
The Bandit’s first heist
After showcasing his skills on special teams, Stavros Katsantonis is finally getting a chance to show what he can do on defence and he is not disappointing.
Filling in for the injured Tunde Adeleke, the Bakersfield Bandit lived up to his college nickname by securing the first interception of his professional career and taking it to the house to give the Ticats a double-digit lead.
The pick-six was hilarious if you aren’t an Elks fan. Despite being completely wrapped up by Ja’Gared Davis, Taylor Cornelius decided he was going to try an ill-advised ambidextrous throw and lofted the ball with his left hand right to Katsantonis.
The Bakersfield Bandit with his biggest heist yet 💰💰💰@StavrosKats #CFL #Ticats #HamiltonProud
pic.twitter.com/zVoKe1IdbT— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) July 14, 2023
In the last two games, but especially against Edmonton, Katsantonis has proven he can start at the CFL level. Some team, maybe Hamilton, will pay up to make the 36th overall pick in the 2020 CFL Draft their starting safety next year and they will not regret it.
Not so inGenius after all
The CFL’s stats screwup reached its nadir last night when not only were the public stats still not working, the ones the league provides the media were M.I.A. as well.
There are stats in this piece and I am not even sure if they are 100 percent correct, which is a sad comment to make in 2023. For a professional sports league trying to make money from the burgeoning sports-betting market not to have reliable statistical data nearly one-third of the way through their season is a disaster.
The CFL does a lot to shoot itself in the foot, but this might be the peak of league stupidity. This partnership with Genius Sports has been a calamity from the start.
The curse of Ray
Ricky Ray is one of the all-time greats and any time either of his former teams gets a chance to honour him they should absolutely do so.
Maybe they just need to stop doing it against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Following his retirement after the 2018 season, both the Argos and Elks honoured Ray during games in the 2019 season. Toronto did theirs in their Week 2 home opener while Edmonton did it later in the season. The Elks did it again on Thursday.
In an odd coincidence, the opponent for the home side in all three of those games was the Ticats. Hamilton won all three.
Ray tormented the Tabbies during his illustrious CFL career and perhaps the Ticats being 3-0 on Ricky Ray nights is the football gods trying to even the scales just a little bit.
Cowardly tiger
Tiger-Cats head coach Orlondo Steinauer has become an increasingly conservative in recent years and that was on display on Thursday.
Twice in the first quarter, Steinauer opted to punt the ball on third-and-one instead of attempting the easily makable quarterback sneak. These types of decisions baffle me, especially that early in the game and against a team as poor as the Elks.
If you do not think your offence can pick up a single yard with any sort of consistency, you either have the wrong players on the roster or do not trust your offensive staff’s play design in short-yardage situations. If either is true, you need to make a change.
This is not the first time Steinauer has cowardly punted on third-and-short from midfield and it is a worrying trend for a team that cannot afford to be cautious given the hole they dug themselves into with their 0-3 start.
What time did they play the game?
Thursday’s game kicked off at 7 p.m. local time in Edmonton which meant it did not start until 9 p.m. in the Hamilton market.
Simply put, this is stupid and should never happen again.
Over 60 percent of Canada’s population resides in the Eastern time zone and whether Westerners like it or not, it is Ontario and Quebec that the league should be catering to for a television audience, not the 30 percent of people who live west of them.
Many have talked about the CFL needing a more standardized schedule, but that also includes kickoff times. Nationally televised games in every other sport do not cater to the local market for start times.
If Los Angeles or San Francisco or Seattle are hosting Monday Night Football, they don’t change the start time to 8 p.m. PST. It kicks off around 5 p.m. in those markets, because the television audience that is mostly three hours ahead is most important.
If the CFL wants to be one of the big boys, they need to start acting like it. Making nearly two-thirds of your possible audience stay up on a Thursday until after midnight to see the conclusion of a game is not the way to do it.
Up next
After taking down the league’s two lightweights, the Ticats take a step up into the heavyweight class next week when they host the Toronto Argonauts at Tim Hortons Field next Friday.
The Argos won three of four against the Tabbies last year, splitting the two games played in Hamilton, but the Tiger-Cats have lost just three of 14 matchups between the two teams at Tim Hortons Field since the stadium opened on Labour Day 2014.
With the Argos looking like the team to beat in the East Division this year, Friday’s game will tell us a lot about where the Ticats fit in the pecking order at the one-third mark of the season.
