Many of their fans might be assuming the Tiger-Cats will automatically pick up four points over the next two weekends against Edmonton, but the Eskimos aren?t the team Bob O?Billovich is thinking about.
?We can?t worry about the opposition,? the Hamilton general manager was saying during practice Thursday. ?We?ve got to worry about ourselves and play a full 60 minutes. We have to do things right and not make mistakes to beat ourselves. We have to keep getting better.?
This was in direct reference to Saturday?s frustrating loss to the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders. If ?shoot yourself in the foot? was literal instead of a metaphor, after that game the Ticats would never need shoes again.
With the Eskimos being outscored by a whopping 153 points and already minus-18 on the giveaway-takeaway scale, it?s easy to assume that the Cats will beat them twice within six days, beginning with at Commonwealth Stadium Sunday.
But the Cats have also been outscored overall, and are only plus-1 in turnovers. Not only have they made game-costly mistakes against the top teams, the timing of some of their turnovers and miscues against weaker teams has often prevented them from putting those teams away when they had the early chances to do so.
If the Cats don?t sweep the Eskimos and only split the two-game set, they will be at 7-7 with four games left, including home matches against Montreal and Calgary. That will make it difficult to finish any higher than 9-9, which is exactly the same mark they ended up with last year. This feels like a much better team than last year?s, but feel and concrete results don?t always coincide.
As Obie implies, the Cats have to make the facts fit the perception, beginning with this two-game series.
This will be the third straight weekend that the Cats will face an opponent coming off a victory. The Eskimos put themselves back in the rather dubious CFL playoff picture with a win in Moncton over the punchless Argos.
Tisdale rounding into form ?
On Wednesday, weakside defensive halfback Geoff Tisdale enjoyed one of the best practices by any Cat secondary player in recent memory. He had four interceptions in team drills as well as four or five knock-downs. And he was aggressively sharp again Thursday.
Asked if that had anything to do with Saturday?s loss to Saskatchewan ? when Weston Dressler used a game official to pick Tisdale and spring wide open for the back-breaking touchdown at the end of the first half ? Tisdale replied ?absolutely, it does. That?s what it?s all about.?
Practice rosters expand ?
Next Wednesday CFL practice rosters expand for a month from the regular seven extras to a dozen. The Tiger-Cats will handle it the way they did last year: bringing in two groups of five non-import recruits for a two-week stay. Generally, the Cats view this window as a chance to get a head start on next year?s training camp invitees.
From last year?s expanded practice group, Hamilton got four training camp players: defensive backs Tony Davis and LaRoche Jackson, offensive lineman Matt Spanos and defensive lineman Josh Gaines ? but Spanos was the only one who came really close to making the team.
To find the players they?ll invite here next week, the Cats ran a couple of prospects through drills after practice at Ivor Wynne yesterday, and are staging tryout camps this weekend. They?ll be run by regional scouting directors Danny McManus in Lakeland, Florida and Richard Wade in Huntington Beach, California. Bruce Plummer, who worked in the NFL and now assists the Cats, will help McManus with the Florida drill-fest.
O?Billovich says they?ll choose their 10 invitees according to what they expect their needs to be next year, and ?who the best guys are that we see.?
Speedy receiver arrives ?
Scott Mayle, the speed-blessed receiver who arrived in camp Wednesday, was the fourth-ranked triple jumper in the world during the 2007 indoor track season, while he was at Ohio University.
?He?s very athletic, I?ve been following him ever since he went to Buffalo (where he was two years on the practice roster),? O?Billovich said, adding that Mayle ran the 40 yard dash in a slick 4.3 seconds when the Cats worked him out in Buffalo.
Ohio University, also the alma mater of the Alouettes? Chip Cox a leading contender for the defensive player of the year, competes in the MAC, against the likes of Kent State and Miami of Ohio and is part of the rotation of smaller Ohio teams, which reap the massive financial benefits from playing behemoth Ohio State. In seven games against the Buckeyes, Ohio has been outscored 204-37, including 43-7 last month.
Eat ?em raw ?
A couple of Hamilton defenders tied Cat-themed sashes to their waists during practice. Defensive backs Tisdale, Bo Smith and Will Heyward have pieces of black cloth hanging outside their practice shorts, with Tisdale and Smith adding strips of yellow tape to make them more tigerlike.
Defensive end Stevie Baggs has a multicoloured tie-dyed headband tucked into his waistband. He says its purpose is spiritual, and it was given to him by his pastor. None of the sashes can be worn during a game, however (unless hidden inside the uniform), because they don?t satisfy the CFL?s uniform code. Lawrence Gordon, who spent four years in Ticat livery, stimulated much of the accessorizing, stylizing several parts of his uniform.
Esks missing in action ?
Gordon, now an Eskimo, will likely miss his weekend chance to get back at the Cats for losing interest in him. He?s doubtful for Sunday?s game at Commonwealth Stadium because of an elbow injury suffered last weekend. Receiver Kelly Campbell, who already missed last week?s Argo game with an ankle injury, might also be out of the lineup for the Esks.
The Hamilton Spectator
?We can?t worry about the opposition,? the Hamilton general manager was saying during practice Thursday. ?We?ve got to worry about ourselves and play a full 60 minutes. We have to do things right and not make mistakes to beat ourselves. We have to keep getting better.?
This was in direct reference to Saturday?s frustrating loss to the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders. If ?shoot yourself in the foot? was literal instead of a metaphor, after that game the Ticats would never need shoes again.
With the Eskimos being outscored by a whopping 153 points and already minus-18 on the giveaway-takeaway scale, it?s easy to assume that the Cats will beat them twice within six days, beginning with at Commonwealth Stadium Sunday.
But the Cats have also been outscored overall, and are only plus-1 in turnovers. Not only have they made game-costly mistakes against the top teams, the timing of some of their turnovers and miscues against weaker teams has often prevented them from putting those teams away when they had the early chances to do so.
If the Cats don?t sweep the Eskimos and only split the two-game set, they will be at 7-7 with four games left, including home matches against Montreal and Calgary. That will make it difficult to finish any higher than 9-9, which is exactly the same mark they ended up with last year. This feels like a much better team than last year?s, but feel and concrete results don?t always coincide.
As Obie implies, the Cats have to make the facts fit the perception, beginning with this two-game series.
This will be the third straight weekend that the Cats will face an opponent coming off a victory. The Eskimos put themselves back in the rather dubious CFL playoff picture with a win in Moncton over the punchless Argos.
Tisdale rounding into form ?
On Wednesday, weakside defensive halfback Geoff Tisdale enjoyed one of the best practices by any Cat secondary player in recent memory. He had four interceptions in team drills as well as four or five knock-downs. And he was aggressively sharp again Thursday.
Asked if that had anything to do with Saturday?s loss to Saskatchewan ? when Weston Dressler used a game official to pick Tisdale and spring wide open for the back-breaking touchdown at the end of the first half ? Tisdale replied ?absolutely, it does. That?s what it?s all about.?
Practice rosters expand ?
Next Wednesday CFL practice rosters expand for a month from the regular seven extras to a dozen. The Tiger-Cats will handle it the way they did last year: bringing in two groups of five non-import recruits for a two-week stay. Generally, the Cats view this window as a chance to get a head start on next year?s training camp invitees.
From last year?s expanded practice group, Hamilton got four training camp players: defensive backs Tony Davis and LaRoche Jackson, offensive lineman Matt Spanos and defensive lineman Josh Gaines ? but Spanos was the only one who came really close to making the team.
To find the players they?ll invite here next week, the Cats ran a couple of prospects through drills after practice at Ivor Wynne yesterday, and are staging tryout camps this weekend. They?ll be run by regional scouting directors Danny McManus in Lakeland, Florida and Richard Wade in Huntington Beach, California. Bruce Plummer, who worked in the NFL and now assists the Cats, will help McManus with the Florida drill-fest.
O?Billovich says they?ll choose their 10 invitees according to what they expect their needs to be next year, and ?who the best guys are that we see.?
Speedy receiver arrives ?
Scott Mayle, the speed-blessed receiver who arrived in camp Wednesday, was the fourth-ranked triple jumper in the world during the 2007 indoor track season, while he was at Ohio University.
?He?s very athletic, I?ve been following him ever since he went to Buffalo (where he was two years on the practice roster),? O?Billovich said, adding that Mayle ran the 40 yard dash in a slick 4.3 seconds when the Cats worked him out in Buffalo.
Ohio University, also the alma mater of the Alouettes? Chip Cox a leading contender for the defensive player of the year, competes in the MAC, against the likes of Kent State and Miami of Ohio and is part of the rotation of smaller Ohio teams, which reap the massive financial benefits from playing behemoth Ohio State. In seven games against the Buckeyes, Ohio has been outscored 204-37, including 43-7 last month.
Eat ?em raw ?
A couple of Hamilton defenders tied Cat-themed sashes to their waists during practice. Defensive backs Tisdale, Bo Smith and Will Heyward have pieces of black cloth hanging outside their practice shorts, with Tisdale and Smith adding strips of yellow tape to make them more tigerlike.
Defensive end Stevie Baggs has a multicoloured tie-dyed headband tucked into his waistband. He says its purpose is spiritual, and it was given to him by his pastor. None of the sashes can be worn during a game, however (unless hidden inside the uniform), because they don?t satisfy the CFL?s uniform code. Lawrence Gordon, who spent four years in Ticat livery, stimulated much of the accessorizing, stylizing several parts of his uniform.
Esks missing in action ?
Gordon, now an Eskimo, will likely miss his weekend chance to get back at the Cats for losing interest in him. He?s doubtful for Sunday?s game at Commonwealth Stadium because of an elbow injury suffered last weekend. Receiver Kelly Campbell, who already missed last week?s Argo game with an ankle injury, might also be out of the lineup for the Esks.
The Hamilton Spectator
