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A flash of hope in the first half for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats seemed as though it could foreshadow back-to-back victories against the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday night at BMO Field. However, being outscored by 21 points in the second half is rarely a recipe for success in the CFL.<\/p>\n
The Ticats fell to 4-7 on the season and left Toronto having squandered an opportunity to take over second place in the East Division.<\/p>\n
The weather played a factor in the game, with kickoff being delayed an hour and the rain never ceasing the rest of the night.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\tFree. Unsubscribe anytime. By signing up you agree to receive daily emails from 3DownNation, With a trip to Calgary coming up next weekend, the Ticats want to bounce out of the funk they are in. They have now lost four of their last five games and cannot seem to consistently clean up.<\/p>\n Where do the Tiger-Cats go from here?<\/p>\n TROUBLE WITH PROTECTION<\/p>\n Week in and week out, the Tiger-Cats are losing the battle at the line of scrimmage. It is alarming looking at the difference between the time their quarterbacks have to throw and what the opponents\u2019 quarterbacks are afforded.<\/p>\n On Saturday in the shadows of the CNE grounds, the streak continued.<\/p>\n On multiple occasions, Tre Ford was forced to scramble before the receivers\u2019 routes could develop. The struggle with Ford is his trust in himself to play on time, consistently, from the pocket. Now, he is not even given a chance. How can a quarterback be asked to show you he can play from the pocket when there is no time to play there?<\/p>\n The communication and ability for the offensive line to pick up pressures from the defensive front plays a big factor. I think back to the strip sack a few weeks ago against Calgary. Following the game, Scott Milanovich said that he called the wrong protection, which is all well and good for a coach to state, but there needs to be accountability from the professionals on the field. The centre is the focal point. When the protection called does not match the defensive front, you need to adjust.<\/p>\n That rolled into the game on Saturday night in Toronto. As the offence sets, the defence starts to move, showing their hand before the play. Not only is it important for the quarterback to be aware of where the pressure is coming from, but the offensive line also needs to adapt to it.<\/p>\n Then there is just the simple matter of making the blocks. When you combine not being able to identify pressure and not being able to make the block, your offence does not stand much of a chance.<\/p>\n In three-down football, the value of each offensive play is elevated. You need to win your rep more than you lose, and the Ticats lose a lot of pass protection plays throughout the game. The sack counter went in the Argonauts\u2019 favour on Saturday, as Ford was taken down four times. The Ticats never sacked Chad Kelly in the game.<\/p>\n The Tiger-Cats need to find a way to get more time for their quarterback, whether it comes from keeping more bodies in to protect or getting more from who they have. With a carousel of quarterbacks taking snaps under centre, what they do not need is less time to make decisions.<\/p>\n MORE OF THE SAME<\/p>\n As much as I praised the defence last week, deservedly so, this week the defensive struggles reverted to the same issues we have seen in the past.<\/p>\n With turnovers being an issue for both teams and the weather being as bad as it was, there was a thought that it could play a factor on Saturday.<\/p>\n On the first drive of the game, Toronto was faced with a second-and-medium. Chad Kelly\u2019s pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage. It fluttered towards Kevin Mital with Destin Talbert and Braxton Hill breaking on the ball. Neither was able to haul it in or knock it down. Instead, Mital made the catch and was able to run for a first down.<\/p>\n Not getting off the field on second down, not taking an opportunity to force a turnover, and bad tackling \u2013 where have we heard that before?<\/p>\n Toronto would end the drive with a touchdown, where the Tiger-Cats blocked the extra point. After holding the Argonauts to field goals (three to be exact) the rest of the first half, things looked up for Hamilton.<\/p>\n The second half is where things began to fall apart.<\/p>\n Toronto scored on their first drive of the second half, taking 5:45 off the clock. Sometimes, the offence makes a play. Kelly threw the ball to Mital in the only open window between two Hamilton defenders. Mital adjusted and caught the ball thrown behind him, putting Toronto in the end zone for the second time in the game. This is a scenario where the defensive coverage was good, but the play by the quarterback and receiver was just better.<\/p>\n After that, Toronto did not look back. After another field goal, Damonte Coxie got his second touchdown of the game.<\/p>\n From the snap of the ball, I could tell you that Coxie had no interest in making a block. Toronto set a fake screen with Coxie running a fade route. Kelly faked the pass to the screen route, forcing both Jamal Peters and Destin Talbert to step up. Coxie was left wide open.<\/p>\n Whether it is zone, man, or match coverage, two defenders making a play on one receiver is never a great idea. With the time Kelly was given, he had all day to make that throw. I have mentioned communication breakdowns in the past with the defensive backs; this was another.<\/p>\n Overall, it is the same things that hurt Hamilton in their other losses. The defence plays okay, well enough to keep them in games, but things crumble late. A lack of organic pressure (three or four pass rushers) allows more time for the quarterback to read the play. Poor tackling and not being able to get off the field allows more fatigue to set in. It is not a recipe for success.<\/p>\n IN DISGUISE<\/p>\n While I am not overly impressed with the play of the defence, there is some good.<\/p>\n I really liked some of the coverage disguises they used. Twice, defensive linemen dropped into coverage and made plays on the ball. While I harp on not being able to take advantage of turnover opportunities, these ones I can let slide.<\/p>\n Sometimes it comes with gap replacement at the line of scrimmage. That is when the defensive lineman drops in coverage, and a linebacker or a defensive back comes on the blitz. When Julian Howsare dropped into coverage, Hamilton showed four players at the line of scrimmage; only three went towards Chad Kelly.<\/p>\n However you slice it up, this changes throwing lanes and makes life more difficult for the quarterback. When nine players drop into coverage, it makes tight windows even smaller to fit a ball into the receiver.<\/p>\n The other coverage I liked was from Stavros Katsantonis. As a safety, you have a really difficult task. When you make a mistake, it is typically a big play.<\/p>\n In the first quarter, there was a pass to Mital that Katsantonis misread. At the snap of the ball, there were four down defensive linemen and two linebackers at the second level. The linebackers vacated the middle of the field and looked for work on their respective sides.<\/p>\n Katsantonis waited a half second to give the appearance of an open middle of the field. He broke downhill and took away the space. Kelly was able to lift the ball above his head and complete the pass. I liked the coverage; the execution just was not there.<\/p>\n Late in the second half, as Toronto was driving down the field, Hamilton gave the coverage again. This time Katsantonis was able to break on the ball for his fifth interception of the season. I liked that Hamilton was confident enough to try it again, and I was impressed with the play Katsantonis made.<\/p>\n When the disguises work, they can cause serious problems for opposing offences.<\/p>\n BIG PLAYS AND SMALL MISSES<\/p>\n The Tre Ford experience is unique. He threw for 356 yards, completing 19-of-32 passes with no touchdowns and no interceptions. But the Tiger-Cats were only able to muster 20 points, 17 of which came in the first half.<\/p>\n Ford seemed to connect big down the field despite the weather in Toronto. Keric Wheatfall made three catches for 124 yards with a long of 53 yards. It is rare to see a quarterback have better accuracy the further down the field he throws the ball. Five different receivers had a catch of 25 yards or more in the game.<\/p>\n It is the simple, underneath throws that become issues. We know Ford at his best is tough to beat; when he is off, it can be ugly.<\/p>\n The fumble in the fourth quarter was a mixture of bad protection and slow timing from Ford. Shawn Lemon got to him around the three-second mark. Ford had an open corner route on the break. Had he let the ball go when the receiver made the break to the sideline, it could have been another big play.<\/p>\n He still leaves you wanting more, while not fully taking himself out of consideration for a future start. Ford has gotten better with sliding while running the ball. While Toronto did drop an interception, he kept the ball out of harm\u2019s way for the most part.<\/p>\n
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