There’s finally some bite in the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Coming off 35- and 51-point explosions in convincing wins over East leader Montreal and Toronto, respectively, Hamilton tries to climb above the .500 mark Saturday night when it hosts the struggling Ottawa Redblacks.
A 51-38 victory on July 4 in Toronto marked the first time in six years that the Ti-Cats (2-2) put up a 50-burger. Bo Levi Mitchell threw for five touchdowns and Kenny Lawler caught six passes for 207 yards, three going for scores.
Mitchell and Lawler, the highest-paid receiver in the league, have quickly made a connection in their first year as a pitch-catch duo.
“He understands if it’s going to be short, if it’s going to be long, if it’s going to be high,” Mitchell said of Lawler. “I think that’s very special, very underrated — receivers being able to track the ball early out of the quarterback’s hand.”
Mitchell finished with 332 yards passing and got just enough help from the running game, which added 100 yards.
While Hamilton enters with momentum, Ottawa (1-4) is struggling to find the answers that came easily when it made the playoffs last year. A spate of mistakes and poor defense doomed the Redblacks Sunday night in a 39-33 loss at previously winless Edmonton.
Penalties have been an issue for the Redblacks in every loss. They were penalized more than the length of a CFL field in the latest defeat, being flagged nine times for 118 yards. Ottawa has been nailed for 50 infractions in five games, 46 of them in the defeats.
It’s starting to wear on coach Bob Dyce.
“Those penalties are stopping us from winning games,” he said. “We’ve got to be disciplined in what we do, right? The implications, things pretty much correlate. You can see it’s a big factor in what we do and our success.”
A lack of explosive passing plays hasn’t helped, either. The Redblacks have created only three completions of at least 30 yards, four fewer than any other team.
–Field Level Media
