Slow start, no offence leads to Hamilton Tiger-Cats home loss to Edmonton (& five other thoughts)

Photo: Bob Butrym/RFB Sport Photography / 3DownNation. All rights reserved.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats fell at home in their second-to-last game of the season on Friday night. The Edmonton Elks walked away with the victory, 27-12, and are a step closer to clinching a bye to the CFL West Final. After an opening half where neither team looked in sync, the Elks were able to pull away and keep the Ticats at bay.

As was to be expected with teams on opposite ends of the CFL standings, the Elks were just better overall on Friday night.

While the expectations were low heading into the game, Hamilton had their chances to take control of the game. Ultimately, as has been the case all season, the offence’s inability to string together drives and finish in the end zone was their downfall.

From execution to questionable coaching decisions, the Ticats were fighting uphill from self-inflicted wounds.

Here are the key parts of what went wrong (and some things that went right) on Friday night in Hamilton.

FOURTH QUARTER DECISIONS

It is tough to win football games when you do not find the end zone. Point blank, the offence was just not good enough to win. We will talk about the biggest factor in that sense later, but Hamilton needed to find something to get a sliver of momentum on their side.

They elected to try and find it on a fake punt.

With 4:28 to go in the fourth quarter and trailing 14-6, Hamilton was lined up at their own 45-yard line. It was third-and-10, with the Ticats needing to get the ball past midfield to pick up a first down.

Australian punter Nik Constantinou, who averaged 51.3 yards per punt in the game, pulled the snap down and threw an out route to Tyler Ternowski.

Zach Mathis was the Elk responsible for covering Ternowski. He read the route perfectly and undercut it. He intercepted the ball and returned it for a touchdown.

When you look at film, you look at tendencies that your opponents have. Obviously, Hamilton saw something they felt they could exploit from the Elks’ return unit and take an extra possession.

The issue is, on the snap of the ball, you can see Edmonton was ready for it. There was a light rush up front that was blocked well, and Edmonton’s return team was not cheating to get back and set up blocks.

You cannot lay the blame on Constantinou; he is not a quarterback and reading coverage is not in his toolbelt. He gets told, “This is what we are doing,” and he runs the play as he has repped it in practice.

If Hamilton converts on this play, it is a genius decision. Those have been few and far between for the Ticats this season. Anything that could go wrong for Hamilton has gone wrong.

While still in a one-possession game in the fourth quarter, in a contest where your defence has been incredible, I scratch my head at this call.

I am all for manufacturing momentum and creating a spark. It did not seem like it would come from this play, and Hamilton paid the price.

END OF THE FIRST HALF

The gaffes for the Ticats were not limited to the fourth quarter. At the three-minute warning of the opening half, Hamilton had a third-and-four from the Edmonton 45-yard line. Facing a 3-0 deficit at the time, Hamilton could have trotted out Marc Liegghio for a 52-yard field goal.

Liegghio has been the Ticats’ most consistent performer this season, yet the Tiger-Cats elected to try and pick up the first down. Kenny Lawler jumped offside, but the play continued. Harrison Frost was sacked, and the Elks took over on downs.

Instead of a potential 3-3 game and the Elks starting deep in their own territory, Edmonton took over at their own 51-yard line. The Elks would kick a field goal to take a 6-0 lead.

The following two drives (one from each team’s offence) both resulted in a two-and-out.

As Edmonton punted the ball back to Hamilton, Isaiah Wooden Sr. had the ball punched out, and the Elks recovered. At the end of the half, Hamilton blocked a field goal, and it resulted in a rouge for Edmonton. It was a bad line to the ball (which bounced sideways) from Wooden Sr. to concede the single point.

More than a few times, as outlined above, the Ticats had their chances to take advantage of Edmonton. They were unable to. The first half ended as poorly as the opening 27 minutes were played by the Hamilton offence.

NO PROTECTION

To no one’s surprise, the offensive line play was nowhere near good enough for Hamilton on Friday night. A group that has struggled all season, really struggled in the first half on Friday.

Malik Carney finished the game with four sacks for the Elks, a career single-game high. Three of those sacks came in the first half of play. The first one, you know he can be a game wrecker, and it was to be expected. His second and third? Well, there simply seemed to be no adjustments in protection.

With an offensive line that has had struggles this season and a game-breaker off the edge, you would think there would be an extra body helping. A chip from a tight end or running back, or sliding the protection to his side to slow him down? It did not happen.

Those adjustments were made in the second half when things began to turn around for the Hamilton offence. Carney only recorded his fourth sack on the final play of the game, stripping the ball from Frost.

While I am a big fan of Kurleigh Gittens Jr., he would not be my first option to fill in protection for Hamilton’s offence. He has a bigger impact when you can get the ball in his hands.

Far too often, as I have laid out through the course of the season, the Ticats’ offensive line looks lost. With a young, inexperienced quarterback in the game, opposing defensive fronts can feast on Hamilton.

Once the second half rolled around, Frost was speeding up his reads, getting the ball out quicker, and staying upright in the pocket. While the stat line was not fantastic, his opening half was him running to try and survive.

The lone explosive play for the Ticats in the game was a screen to Larry Rountree III in the fourth quarter. As I have mentioned previously, in the screen game the Ticats offensive line struggles to get hands on bodies. On the play to Rountree, they did make impact on defenders, and it sprung the running back for 43 yards.

There is more than enough bad tape for Hamilton’s offensive line to learn from this season. They have one more game to prove they have learned from it.

DEFENCE STEPS UP

I have not been in the majority when it comes to Hamilton’s defence this season. Up until two weeks ago, I believed they were average. They could not get off the field on second-and-long, did not take the ball away when the opportunities were there, and their tackling was subpar.

I have been told time and time again: “The defence is good; the offence is pulling them down.” Still, I refused to lay no blame on the defence.

I still believe I was right at the time, but the past three games, the defence has been incredible.

There were three touchdowns in the game for the Elks on Friday night. One was a pick-six by the Edmonton punt return unit. Another came with under a minute to play, when Hamilton turned the ball over on downs at their own 26-yard line.

The lone touchdown drive that fell on the shoulders of the Hamilton defence started at the Elks’ 54-yard line. My only gripe defensively in the game was Austin Mack converting on second-and-16. To give credit where it is due, Cody Fajardo made an incredible throw into a tight window.

I thought the defence kept everything in front of them, got organic pressure on Fajardo, and made the tackles they needed to. The tackling could have been better from Hamilton, but they were giving up an extra yard rather than an extra 10 to 15 yards.

While the offence was not there in Week 19 (nor for most of the season), Hamilton can build off that defensive performance. Again, these are professionals playing for roster spots in Hamilton or elsewhere next season. They want to put good plays on tape to get their next contract.

There is one game left in the regular season, and while it was too little, too late to make a playoff run, the defence has been getting better down the final stretch of 2026.

UP NEXT

Hamilton is on a bye in Week 20, before closing out the regular season at home in Week 21. The regular season finale is against the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday, October 24 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.

The Redblacks fell 41-20 to the B.C. Lions on Friday night at BC Place, dropping their record to 0-16. Ottawa host the Toronto Argonauts on Friday, October 16 at 7:00 p.m. EDT before the season finale against Hamilton.