What is wrong with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats?
I never thought I’d be writing this, but it needs to be addressed as we find the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at 1-4-0 after the first five weeks of the CFL season. Now, to be optimistic, they’ll probably turn things around with a slew of their upcoming games against East Division opponents. But, things still needs to be adressed.
The defence
Has been amazing The pass defence has been amazing, as the Tiger-Cats have shut down two of the best quarterbacks in the CFL this season in Anthony Calvillo and Darian Durant. However, Hamilton is getting destroyed in the running game and it’s almost as if they are so focused on getting at the quarterback that they forget the running back is there.
Observe,
Last game: Wes Cates ran for 66 yards and two touchdowns for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Week 4: Avon Cobourne ran for 55 yards for the Montreal Alouettes.
Week 3: Fred Reid ran for 84 yds for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Hamilton managed to keep him out of the end zone and they won.
Week 2: Joffrey Reynolds ran for 98 yards and quarterback Henry Burris added 38 yards.
Week 1: Reid and quarterback Buck pierce ran for 187 yards combined with Pierce scoring a touchdown.
"Hamilton is getting destroyed in the running game"
Now, as seen above, in many of these games there were no rushing touchdowns scored, or in Winnipeg’s case, only one. But, big runs give the other team momentum and having to chase down the running back will only tire out the defence. Thus, opening up receiving opportunities later in the game. This would explain why Hamilton has looked weak down the stretch in games.
But, say the defence doesn’t start to tire out until the fourth quarter. This still gives the offence a chance to put some points up on the board, something that they need to start capitalizing on and they also need to give the ball to running back DeAndra’ Cobb more. They’ve started to get a bit wary of this, because Cobb is making his move before the line of scrimmage. So, with a quarterback like Kevin Glenn, who isn’t the tallest or speediest guy and doesn’t have a rocket for an arm, he has to rely on Cobb opening up routes for his receivers.
Glenn has to rely on football IQ in order for his team to have a chance to win. Hmm… add it up: Cobb not producing means the defence can guard their man tighter, leaving no where for Glenn to throw, except maybe for short yardage where he has to rely on his receiver to make a play. Glenn isn’t that fast, so he likely won’t be able to run for the first down. You can only get so far and then you have to rely on your kicker to boot it through the uprights. Luckily, Hamilton has the most accurate kicker in CFL history, right? Well, technically that would be right, but he seems to be in a slump, so, wrong!
Which basically leaves you scoring points off of safety’s, Marcus Thigpen, missed field goals that go through the end zone and defence (which considering they’re called defence they usually don’t score).
This is a formula for being crushed. But, like I said, Hamilton has arguably the best defence in the league, so the opposing team has some trouble scoring touchdowns. That’s OK, though, because they’re kicker is scoring 22 points. Wait a minute, what? I mean I’ve heard of a kicker scoring the game winning points, that’s what they’re there for, but I mean your kicker scoring the majority of your points usually means you’re going to have a pretty low score.
Except the last two weeks, the kicker has single handedly won the game for their team, with both Damon Duvall and Luca Congi scoring 23 points and 22 points, respectively. Now, okay, ya, sure, they’ve scored off field goals. So, Hamilton has to have the momentum and be scoring touchdowns at the other end and even if they aren’t they should have the same opportunities at field goals as the other team.
Except, Hamilton’s kicker is missing and the opposing kicker is racking up points and giving his team momentum. Hamilton gets nothing going, and even if they eventually do, the momentum has swayed too far to the other team and they get stumped or DeAngelis misses another field goal.
This brings us to Saturday’s game against Saskatchewan, where Hamilton went out hungry for a win. Hamilton finished their drives, making sure they didn’t have to rely on DeAngelis to score anything more than a few extra points, a good way to help him gain his confidence back, while he did boot in a chip shot. They gave the ball to DeAndra’ Cobb more and he made his move after getting a few yards past the line of scrimmage. They get their number one receiver going in a big way as he had 16 receptions (tying the CFL record), 272 yards and two touchdowns.
Sandro DeAngelis, who has only hit 58.3% of his field goals this season, has been a major dissapointment for Hamilton.
So, they fixed all their previous problems and the defence continued to do a solid, the formula for a win. Except, they still get owned on the run and Glenn threw two interceptions. The two interceptions were arguably not his fault as both deflected off the receivers hands and nicely into the hands of the opposition. But, around 40% of the time Glenn’s throws are either a bit behind the receivers and in some cases higher, causing the receiver to have to go up and get it or to quickly lean to the side to snatch that ball.
When receivers are tightly covered and that ball goes in and out of their hands you can look for the defence to have that ball go right into their hands. That’s what happened against the Riders and it was a real momentum killer. There isn’t much you can do about that, but to just try to get into better position to absorb that ball or for Glenn to have a softer release. Usually, it’s not that big a problem, but, every once in a while, it bites you in the ass.
Even though Glenn has done a nice job, I’d start Porter next game because he’s got a softer release when he throws and he’s fast, which always keeps defences weary. Things are looking like they’ll turn around as Hamilton’s next four games are versus the Toronto Argonauts and the Bombers. However, don’t be surprised if you see some changes starting next game and I can almost guarantee they’ll be some changes if Hamilton loses any of these next four games.
We may be looking at some potential swaps between Edmonton and Hamilton in the future. That’s just my feeling, but, one thing is for sure: Hamilton needs to turn things around and fast.
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"The two interceptions were arguably not his fault"
No argument about it, those picks were not Glenn's fault. Glenn is not the problem in Hamilton at all. The problems are: (1) Kicking game, both Palardy and DeAngelis; (2) DeAndra' Cobb and the running game; (3) Goal line offense; (4) the DBs, especially Jason Shivers.
With the right bounces, the Cats could be 3-2. However, they aren't. They're 1-4. The next five games (home and homes against the Bombers and Argos, home against Montreal) will decide this season. For the Cats to have a hope, any hope, they need to go 3-2 in those games… at worst. 4-1 might be asking too much, but if the Cats can be 4-6 with eight games to go, especially with the previous wins all coming against East Division foes, then the Cats will be right in the thick of things. The run starts this week in Hamilton against the Bombers. GO CATS!
well, thanks for reitterating what i already know that semmed like more of a plug than a comment.
but, as long as you keep reading my articles plug away.