October 25, 2014: Hamilton Tiger-Cats vs. Toronto Argonauts

[Argo]

My 6 year old joined me for the last part of the game. He asked about the game clock going up & down at the end. I had no explaination for him, but was impressed he too noticed. Things are nasty on the Ti-Cats forum following the game. Really am getting tired of listening to Rod Black, who happened to mention the Fox40 whistle....

Steve Tasker really played well for Hamilton, according to everyone's favourite play-by-play announcer...

Ravi, you were dead on about the Ticats running game as they only rushed 9 times for 12 yards according to CFL.ca. Collaros was able to have a successful day through the air though as Luke Tasker continues to be a thorn in the Argos side although his TD was a result of Suber being on the ground somewhere having fallen. Okpalaugo had another strong game. James Yurichuk also deserves credit for a great game with a sack and an interception.

Steve Slaton stepped up as the sole feature back, both rushing the ball and receiving the ball. That 2nd down pass from Ray to Slaton that helped seal the win was a thing of beauty. Mo Mann also had a solid game receiving. The fumbles, obviously, have to stop but at 16 games in I somehow doubt it is something that will be corrected unfortunately.

The special teams also deserve some credit. They contained Banks and Sinkfield limiting their returns and Smith did a fine job with the returns. Nick Rosamunda had a strong game on specials.

All true, and Austin apparently will never properly appreciate the value of the running game, even in three-down football.

[ArgoZ]

Thought I would make sure you guys know that Luke Tasker is son of former, awesome special teams NFL player Steve Tasker. I heard it somewhere.

Agree. Under 20,000 is a joke. 2 games in a row I could not GIVE my 2 platinum seats away. Argos will not last until 2017 in the Roger center.

You could not give them away? Well if true, your a bad salesman. I bought tickets off someone and would have easily taken yours for a small price, if you let this board know they were available. Are you using your tix for the season closer?

I like Shea Emry, a decent and tough Canadian who plays MLB at a high level.

That said McCune was a freakin BEAST at MLB, even when the Argo's grabbed him as an "older player". The Argo's regressed at the position by getting Emry, thats a fact. But the Argo's could do a heck of alot worse than Emry as well.

I was the biggest McCune supporter. It's obvious that due to him not playing anywhere else professionally, it's not a huge mistake, replacing him. Older players just "lose it", overnight it seems, and their careers are over.

[paulwoods13]

I like Shea Emry, a decent and tough Canadian who plays MLB at a high level.

That said McCune was a freakin BEAST at MLB, even when the Argo's grabbed him as an "older player". The Argo's regressed at the position by getting Emry, thats a fact. But the Argo's could do a heck of alot worse than Emry as well.

This should be in the Emry thread, but since it's here . . . while McCune had an excellent season last year, I don't feel Emry has been a major step down, all things considered. He has had a very solid second half of the season, and he's a NAT which allows us to play an INT somewhere else. The fact we have had long-term injuries to three starting NATs makes his nationality status all the more important. And the fact is that even with McCune, last year's defence was far from good.

[Neely2005]

My 6 year old joined me for the last part of the game. He asked about the game clock going up & down at the end. I had no explaination for him, but was impressed he too noticed. Things are nasty on the Ti-Cats forum following the game. Really am getting tired of listening to Rod Black, who happened to mention the Fox40 whistle....

Yeah Ticat fans are crying about the offside call:

"Too bad they needed a gift from the official making up a phony offside call on the biggest play of the game to do it. The Ticats had a legit 3rd down stop and were still up 3 and getting the ball back. Instead Toronto was gifted a TD. Typical CFL."

[gilthethrill]

Yeah Ticat fans are crying about the offside call:

"Too bad they needed a gift from the official making up a phony offside call on the biggest play of the game to do it. The Ticats had a legit 3rd down stop and were still up 3 and getting the ball back. Instead Toronto was gifted a TD. Typical CFL."

Missed/curious calls for both teams last night, which has been the case all season. The end of the game was puzzling at best. After beating Hamilton twice in 2 weeks, I really don't want to have to face them again if the Argos make it to the post season.

[doubleblue]

This should be in the Emry thread, but since it's here . . . while McCune had an excellent season last year, I don't feel Emry has been a major step down, all things considered. He has had a very solid second half of the season, and he's a NAT which allows us to play an INT somewhere else. The fact we have had long-term injuries to three starting NATs makes his nationality status all the more important. And the fact is that even with McCune, last year's defence was far from good.

I don't think Emry has been a big step down from McCune who couldn't cover as good as Emry IMO. He was ok against the run but he also had Ball beside him and he hasn't been replaced IMO. Jones and Ball would have been quite a combination, but Emry is doing ok and we need him bad right now for the ratio. This low draft pick Miles is doing ok on a part time basis, as well as Yurichuk. Mix and match rotate what ever and the opposing teams can't key on them. Worked ok yesterday. Now if they were playing against Ricky Ray that might be trouble.

[Neely2005]

Missed/curious calls for both teams last night, which has been the case all season. The end of the game was puzzling at best. After beating Hamilton twice in 2 weeks, I really don't want to have to face them again if the Argos make it to the post season.

With only 2 Teams from the East making the Playoffs there's a good chance that we won't face them again this season.

[ArgoRavi]

Yeah Ticat fans are crying about the offside call:

"Too bad they needed a gift from the official making up a phony offside call on the biggest play of the game to do it. The Ticats had a legit 3rd down stop and were still up 3 and getting the ball back. Instead Toronto was gifted a TD. Typical CFL."

Someone on Ticats.ca blew a screenshot of that up and it showed that Plesius lined up offside. It wasn't by a lot but he was clearly offside. Some Hamilton fans were complaining about a hold that wasn't called on the first Toronto TD and they blew that up too and they may have been correct on that. However, there was a blatant hold by #50 of Hamilton on Aston Whiteside on the second Hamilton TD that wasn't called so that evens it up. I also wondered a bit about the first Hamilton TD when it appeared that Tasker pushed Alex Suber down before going to the ball but, considering that offensive interference is rarely called, I wouldn't have expected them to make that call.

[Will]

Don't forget Ravi that after it was shown that Plesius was offside that some Ticat fans tried to complain that Barker was outside of the rectangle that coaching personnel/team members are supposed to stay within.

[Wobbler]

One of my favourite things about Saturday's game was that we passed to Zander Robinson three times. That's approximately the right frequency, I think; any more often and defences will start respecting our TEs as receivers. All three passes were completed, although one was wiped out by a penalty. Despite limited action I've noticed some improvement in his play. He no longer tries to juke defenders or run sideways to exploit blocking (thank goodness) but just heads upfield with the ball as he should. He needs to work on surviving contact and protecting the ball, and giving him the ball in the middle of the field isn't a good idea (yet), but hopefully he'll continue to develop. Luke Willson is never going to be an Argo, but I think we should keep trying to find similar players.

[gilthethrill]

Don't forget Ravi that after it was shown that Plesius was offside that some Ticat fans tried to complain that Barker was outside of the rectangle that coaching personnel/team members are supposed to stay within.

I am thinking Barker was photo shopped behind the official...also Ti-Cat fans say Barker was yelling in that officials ear about the offside. How they know that based on a photo is impressive.

Honestly though, if you are going to call a defender for having a finger nail offside, then should calls be stricter on receivers crossing the neutral zone before the snap?

Someone on Ticats.ca blew a screenshot of that up and it showed that Plesius lined up offside. It wasn't by a lot but he was clearly offside. Some Hamilton fans were complaining about a hold that wasn't called on the first Toronto TD and they blew that up too and they may have been correct on that. However, there was a blatant hold by #50 of Hamilton on Aston Whiteside on the second Hamilton TD that wasn't called so that evens it up. I also wondered a bit about the first Hamilton TD when it appeared that Tasker pushed Alex Suber down before going to the ball but, considering that offensive interference is rarely called, I wouldn't have expected them to make that call.

Yes, I noticed Whiteside get tugged as he approached Collaros on the Banks TD...I did not however notice Suber get pushed by Steve (I mean Luke) Tasker, I thought he fell on his own?

[ArgoRavi]

Yes, I noticed Whiteside get tugged as he approached Collaros on the Banks TD...I did not however notice Suber get pushed by Steve (I mean Luke) Tasker, I thought he fell on his own?

I have watched it several times now and it looks Tasker pushes Suber to the ground. Tasker sure seems to initiate contact on that play anyway.

[ArgoRedneck]

Thought I would make sure you guys know that Luke Tasker is son of former, awesome special teams NFL player Steve Tasker. I heard it somewhere.



You could not give them away? Well if true, your a bad salesman. I bought tickets off someone and would have easily taken yours for a small price, if you let this board know they were available. Are you using your tix for the season closer?



I was the biggest McCune supporter. It's obvious that due to him not playing anywhere else professionally, it's not a huge mistake, replacing him. Older players just "lose it", overnight it seems, and their careers are over.

Yes could not give them away. The game itself, and my price should have sold the tickets, not me. I would say to you if the Argos can't get more then 20,000 out to a important game with a population of 4 mil to draw from.......then not many really care outside of the small Argo world. Ottawa tickets were exchanged for another game in the season.

[Neely2005]

Don't forget Ravi that after it was shown that Plesius was offside that some Ticat fans tried to complain that Barker was outside of the rectangle that coaching personnel/team members are supposed to stay within.

Now they're complaining that the Ref took to long to make the Offside call and that they only did it to help the Argonauts.

[ArgoRavi]

Another instance where the most inept ref in the league, Foxcroft blew a call. The play clock was down below 10 seconds, which means he blew the play in. There is absolutely no excuse for at that point in time stopping the play clock to allow for a Hamilton substitution, let alone a change from offence to FG team and back to offence. Hamilton were out of timeouts, and they should have been charged a time count violation. You can't just stop the play clock to allow for a substitution at that point. I've said it before, but he is the absolute worst ref in the history of the game.

I think his father must have some pull as to why he is still employed. For those that don't know, his father invented the Fox40 whistle, and has worked with both the CFL and NFL for years. Oh..and did I mention they are from Hamilton?

Foxcroft is, by far, the head referee that I have the least faith in. The ones that I trust the most are Andre Proulx and Kim Murphy but I don't think that either of them have done an Argo game in a few weeks.

[argotom]

One down two to go, we have to run the table.
Of course, next week's game is the crucial one.

[Stouffvillain]

The thing I love about the Argos is the fact that they never quit. When the pressure is on they come out and perform.

A lot of fans of other teams in this city can't say that about their team.

[argolio]

For how much they throw the ball, I don't worry as much about interceptions and Ray's TD to INT ratio is quite good but it is the fumbles that have been killers this year and made this game much closer than it should have been. I don't know what the answer is but the Argos lead the CFL in fumbles and I don't believe that it is even close. They MUST clean that up if they want to have any chance of getting to the playoffs and getting to the Grey Cup.

The answer is probably nothing. It's a statistical oddity that most pro football teams with really good or bad turnover ratios don't repeat that stat the next season. So chances are the recipe will be the same as recent games -- grind it out, overcome mistakes, stay close, and find a way to win in the 4th quarter.

[1argoholic]

I'll take the very ugly win. Was very happy with the D and the pressure we put on Collaros. Two straight games against them and Collaros doesn't get the chance to toss a hail mary on the last play of both games. Love It!!!

Two puzzling things happened late. It sure looked like a second safety for us and the officials placed the ball on the Cats one. I's swear that Sinkfield landed on the goal line.Why didn't Milanovich challenge that? The other was why wouldn't they have taken a time count on the last field goal that Waters ended up missing? They could have killed more time. On third down it's not a loss of down and we still would have been in Waters range.

[AngeloV]

It sure looked like a second safety for us and the officials placed the ball on the Cats one. I's swear that Sinkfield landed on the goal line.Why didn't Milanovich challenge that?

The initial contact was definitely not in the endzone and he was driven back, therefore the forward progress would have brought the ball out. Argos were correct to not challenge on that one.