Hamilton Tiger-Cats let win slip through their arms against Calgary Stampeders (& seven other thoughts)

Leah Hennel/CFL.ca

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats fell to the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday by a score of 28-23, as yet another opportunity to pick up a victory slipped through their hands.

Hamilton had themselves in a position to win the game, holding a lead until 29 seconds remaining. That is when Dedrick Mills took a draw 49 yards to the end zone, putting the Stampeders up by five late in the game. Hamilton could not get the ball further than midfield in the end and fell short, yet again.

The thread continues to spiral out of control for Hamilton, now losing seven of their last nine games. Hamilton’s record on the season is now 4-8.

Is the insanity of the situation going to set in for the Ticats? Losing in similar fashions week after week should force the team to make some changes, but we have not seen those changes yet.

So, what went wrong in Calgary?

The nail in the coffin

The game-winning touchdown with under a minute to play sealed the Ticats fate on Saturday. Calgary was trailing 23-22 and running a tempo offence. Quick passes and a converted third-down conversion allowed them to push the ball into Hamilton territory.

To understand the mindset of the drive, you must know the situation that you are in. As a defence, you go on the field knowing that a field goal beats you. Naturally, a touchdown will as well.

So, how do you defend a drive like this? Most teams will take the approach that the Ticats did. Hamilton played with a soft cushion, allowing for more space in the first four to five yards from the line of scrimmage. After allowing a deep throw to lead to a touchdown in the first half, it was not something they wanted to see happen again.

Josh Love, making his first start at quarterback in the CFL, completed all four of his pass attempts, gaining 24 yards through the air on the Stampeders final drive. His longest was for nine yards and the longest depth of pass was five yards. Love simply got the ball into his receivers’ hands and allowed them to get any extra yards that were available.

The Tiger-Cats did force the Stampeders into one third down, with two yards to the line to gain. A five-yard out route from Jalen Philpot was enough to move the sticks.

While the Ticats were worried about being burned on a deep ball, they were facing a loss by a thousand cuts.

It’s a difficult spot to be in defensively. You cannot allow too much underneath that something can break free, while also not being beat over the top. You need to be perfect, and Hamilton was not.

Then came the touchdown run. A simple draw in a five-receiver set to Dedrick Mills allowed him to spring free. Hamilton seemed to do everything right on paper. The Tiger-Cats had six defenders in the box, the ends were holding contain to not allow anything outside. The tackling failed them.

The biggest credit on the play goes to right tackle Brad Ashmore. Ashmore set his initial pass block, forcing Philip Ossai wide, giving Mills enough space to break away from the diving tackle attempt. Ashmore then climbed to the second level and knocked Braxton Hills on his back immediately on contact. While Hamilton had six defenders to Calgary’s five blockers, the rookie tackle made two key blocks in the span of seven yards.

Then two arm tackle attempts by Hamilton defensive secondary players, Destin Talbert and Jamal Peters, were run through by Mills. The attempts were not enough to slow him down to allow Stavros Katsantonis to make a play, after pursuing a bad angle.

Mix it all together and the Stampeders finished the drive in the end zone, taking the lead and not giving enough time for Hamilton to get it back.

Would it have been better for Hamilton to take Mills down on the 30-yard line with 34 seconds remaining? Probably not. The Ticats didn’t have any timeouts, and you would imagine Calgary would put the ball in position for Rene Paredes to hit a game-winning field goal with an expired clock.

The lone benefit to the play is it gave Hamilton some time to attempt to respond at the end.

The final drive

Speaking of time to respond, the final drive for Hamilton leaves questions.

I could not believe Jake Dolegala came onto the field for the final throw of the game. I am aware he has a bigger, stronger arm than Tre Ford, but in what situation does he give you the best opportunity to win the game? Have we not seen quarterback changes without injury cause more damage than good this season for Hamilton?

When Tre Ford struggled against Winnipeg, Dolegala took over and almost threw an interception. After a two-and-out, Ford went back in the game on the following drive and threw and interception. Then, when Ford struggled at home against Calgary, Harrison Frost came in, was strip-sacked, and the fumble was returned for a touchdown.

Third times the charm?

No. Dolegala was pressured, had his pass deflected, and was intercepted to end the game.

The odds of Tre Ford completing a Hail Mary for a touchdown from midfield were low. But, at least he is the mobile option to create more time for the receivers to get downfield. From what we have seen from Ford, we know he can throw the ball 60 yards in the air, so why make the change?

Now the “Tre Ford is a better scrambler” statement can be argued with “He was almost sacked on the play before.” This is valid, but it’s a separate autopsy to be made on the Hamilton offence. It has less to do with Ford and more to do with a deadly combination of quality pass rush from Calgary and poor pass protection by Hamilton.

The chances of winning the game on that final play were extremely low. A simple question of why still lingers.

I cannot say that I agree with how Scott Milanovich has handled the quarterback situation this season and it does not look like I will change my tune on that after Saturday’s game.

Running nowhere

It was another game with a lack of production on the ground from Hamilton running backs. Larry Rountree III carried the ball 10 times in the contest for 31 yards. That’s four more carries and 49 less yards than Tre Ford had scrambling for Hamilton.

The lack of rushing attack has created animosity amongst Ticats fans about the production from the starting running back, though it doesn’t lay solely on Rountree’s shoulders.

Sure, he’s been underwhelming in breaking tackles on his own, but he’s not been given much room to operate. Consistently, he is met in the hole by defenders. More times than not, he has seen a lack of space to make a cut up the field.

His longest run of the game was for 15 yards and on that play Hamilton’s left guard, Brandon Revenberg, missed his block at the line of scrimmage, and then tripped climbing to the second level. His presence on the ground was enough to open space for Rountree to get up field.

Even when Hamilton breaks a run, it is not executed how you would draw it up.

At one point, a run that lost two yards in the game saw three Tiger-Cats offensive linemen with their backs turned to the Calgary defence, which is never a recipe for success.

A running back who is not great mixed with a very poor offensive line makes for tough sledding in the running game.

We knew coming into the season that Hamilton was a pass-heavy offence. We are now half a CFL season without Bo Levi Mitchell completing a game and Hamilton still has no faith in running the football.

Definition of insanity

Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is not a plan for success. How many times have we seen the Tiger-Cats lose a chance to win? And how often is the messaging, “We are doing the right things, we just need to finish”?

At what point does something need to change? You would like to see Hamilton try different things. We do not see Isaiah Wooden in the passing game. We have not seen a draw play for Rountree in weeks. The concepts, the plays, and the scheme stay relatively the same while expecting it be the time they finally break through.

As the losses continue to pile up for Hamilton, this game stings something extra. Calgary picking up their fifth win of the season (and their second against the Ticats) moves them to 10 points while remaining in fifth place in the West Division.

Not only would the Ticats get bumped by the fourth-place West Division team in the crossover for the third playoff spot in the East Division, but they also trail the fifth-place team in the other division. Of nine teams in the CFL, Hamilton currently sits in eighth. That will be enough to qualify for the 2027 CFL playoffs, but not in 2026.

The hill continues to grow steeper for the Ticats to try and catch the teams ahead of them. The Ticats have six games remaining and almost no room for error if they hope to play football past October 24.

Difference of opinion

Tre Ford can be a dynamic player in the CFL, yet he still struggles at points. He was fine in the game on Saturday, but not great. He did not turn the ball over but there were plays he would like to have back.

Three almost interceptions, an intentional grounding penalty, and snapping the ball with 13 seconds on the play clock while trying to drain the remaining time in the fourth quarter.

He also did not have a few calls go his way in the game. Twice, Ford was hit after he slid. While fans often feel like those penalties go too far to protect the quarterback, Ford had a case in both instances.

We have often seen those penalties called on similar plays against the Tiger-Cats this season. The first time Ford appeared to feel the play should have resulted in a flag was with three minutes remaining in the first half. Hamilton would march the ball down the field to kick a field goal.

The second one was on Steeltown’s second-last drive of the game. It would have moved Hamilton up to the Calgary 50-yard line and at minimum helped with field position. Hamilton would end up punting from their own 32-yard line with the Stampeders taking over at the Calgary 37.

On that same drive, two plays after the non-call on the Ford slide, Hamilton challenged for pass interference. While trying to convert a second and 13, Kiondre Smith felt as though Anthony Johnson was too handsy trying to break up the play.

On the replay, you could see Smith’s argument. Johnson had his left hand around Smith’s left hip. By the time the ball reached the two of them, Smith’s hips were facing the opposite direction he was running.

While in live time, not slowed down by replay, I can see the non-call. It looked like a bang-bang play and Johnson timed it perfectly. You could not argue that he affected Smith’s path to the ball prior to its arrival.

Ultimately, Hamilton lost the challenge and their final timeout. I would chalk that one up to, “We are sticking with the call on the field.” Had the flag been thrown, I do not think it would have been overturned the other way.

While they are not egregious misses by the officials, one or all three of those calls going in Hamilton’s favour could have changed the outcome of the game. It feels as though those calls have gone against the Ticats often this season.

Mac hammers the win

While the Tiger-Cats continue to stack losses in 2026, there was Canadian football played in Hamilton on Saturday.

The McMaster Marauders opened their 2026 OUA campaign with an upset win over the No. 9-ranked Windsor Lacers. A 31-26 victory got the Marauders off on the right foot to start the new season and were aided by a 124-yard missed field goal returned for a touchdown by Hamilton’s own Sean Underhill.

McMaster will head to Guelph in next week’s OUA action. The Gryphons are coming off a 33-28 loss to the No. 4-ranked Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Ottawa defeated Waterloo 38-28, and the York Lions hit a 47-yard walk-off field goal to defeat the Carleton Ravens. The defending Yates Cup champion Queen’s Gaels will close out Week 1 in the OUA with a trip to Toronto to take on the Varsity Blues on Sunday night.

Up next

The Tiger-Cats (4-8) will head home to take on the Toronto Argonauts (5-6) in the 2026 Labour Day Classic on Monday September 7 at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

Hamilton can see the positives of the Argonauts blowing a lead in Saskatchewan to the Roughriders on Saturday night.

The Ontario rivals are 1-1 head-to-head this year, which means both teams will have the opportunity to take the season series in Week 14. It will be the final matchup of the season between the QEW rivals.