To say the Hamilton Tiger-Cats find themselves in dire straits as the CFL season enters its home stretch would be a gross understatement.
With the Montreal Alouettes coming to town on Friday night, Hamilton is 4-9 and three games behind second-place Toronto in the East. It’s increasingly likely to miss the postseason, unless it runs the table and gets a lot of help out West.
Winnipeg and BC are 7-6, while last-place Calgary is 5-8. Due to the crossover rule, even if the Ticats rip off a five-game winning streak to end the season, two of the three Western teams would have to run an all-out fade pattern to miss the playoffs and allow Hamilton in.
The Ticats are coming off a 37-22 loss to Toronto on Sept. 7 that saw another blow at the quarterback position. Starter Bo Levi Mitchell has missed the last nine games with a broken ankle and backup Tre Ford left the loss to Toronto with a head injury, leaving Harrison Frost to finish up.
Ford returned to practice this week and is listed as available on Hamilton’s injury report.
A sudden lack of discipline harmed Hamilton against Toronto. It drew nine penalties for 105 yards, and coach Scott Milanovich wasn’t about to play the blame game.
“I saw a number of them and thought most of them were good calls,” he said. “We’ve been a reasonably disciplined team most of the time.”
Making matters tougher for the Ticats is that Montreal (10-3) figures to come to town a little chapped after absorbing a 48-29 beatdown Saturday night at BC.
That result raises questions about the Alouettes’ defensive chops. In their last two losses, they have allowed 44 points at Winnipeg before the meltdown in Vancouver. Montreal is yielding 29.6 ppg, worse than every team except Calgary and Ottawa, the league’s last-place outfits.
Als coach Jason Maas said after practice Wednesday that “I don’t want to hear nothing about a defensive implosion.”
“Are there plays to be made out there? Absolutely,” Maas added. “… But the way we played for the majority of that game, I love every single bit of it.”
Davis Alexander has continued a stellar season for Montreal, throwing for 4,196 yards, 27 touchdowns and only three interceptions.
Montreal is hunting a season sweep of Hamilton after 30-27 and 31-18 wins earlier this season.
–Field Level Media
