Week A of Pre-Season: Hamilton Tiger-Cats @ Toronto Argonauts Game Thread

[jerrym]

A Tiger Cat tweet that I actually like.

The #Argos top the #Ticats in the preseason opener at @BMOField. #CFLGameDay pic.twitter.com/BzCDI6oNkc

— Hamilton Tiger-Cats (@Ticats) June 11, 2016

[jerrym]

A Tiger Cat (biased) perspective on the game.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats may have dropped the preseason opener to the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field on Saturday afternoon, but the 25-16 loss provided Kent Austin and his coaching staff with the opportunity to evaluate depth and talent at multiple position groups. Here’s three, key takeaways from the Ticats first real football action of the 2016 season.
1. THE TIGER-CATS ARE DEEP AT RECEIVER
With starters Andy Fantuz and Chad Owens out of the line up, Saturday’s game allowed other playmakers to get involved in the Tiger-Cats offensive game plan. The receiving group looks to have ample depth, with ___ different receivers catching balls. Statistically, Tiquan Underwood had the best performance of the afternoon with four receptions for 82 yards and a touchdown. Underwood put the Ticats on the board in the second quarter with a 50-yard bomb from Jeff Mathews, after Mathews rolled out of the pocket to avoid pressure. One of the more impressive catches in the game came in the second quarter when third year Canadian receiver Matt Coates fought off an Argo defender and created enough separation to haul in a diving 51-yard reception.
2. BOTH KICKERS PERFORM UNDER THE LIGHTS
After a practice earlier in the week, Coach Austin told the media he would reserve judgement on kickers Brett Maher and Cody Mandell until ‘the lights were on’. Both kickers legs were swinging in midseason form on Saturday. The on-field performances by both the kickers will not make the decision easier as both men compete for the starting gig. Brett Maher set the bar in the positional battle as he went 2-of-2 on field goals from 35 and 38 yards. Cody Mandell would come in for the second half and would add his own stamp by making a 52-yard field goal to push the Ticats ahead 13-10 in the third quarter.
3. DEFENSIVE LINE LEADS THE DEFENSIVE CHARGE
Many of the newcomers to the Hamilton defence made a name for themselves during Saturday’s preseason game. Demond Washington and Will Smith tied for the team lead in tackles with 5 apiece. Michael Atkinson, Delano Johnson, Ellis Lankster all notched a sack. Stepping back into the linebacker position this season, Johnny Sears was flying around the field, making numerous plays on the ball.

http://ticats.ca/three-takeaways-from-ticats-vs-argos/

[jerrym]

Hazelton on the win.

First win in our new home!
How'd that one feel, @Vidal_Hazelton7?#NewBeginnings #CFLGameDay pic.twitter.com/JxqYDnKLqD

— Toronto Argonauts (@TorontoArgos) June 12, 2016

[OV Argo]

Questions for those at the game:

- who played and looked good at MLB?

- new receiver Ambles sure was targeted a lot

- how bout the RBs? - did Dillon Campbell dress or play?

- Llevi Noel made a couple of decent gainer grabs - makes the roster ?

- who was the best looking of the back-up QBs ?

[Argo57]

Although teams keep schemes fairly basic Kilgore and Gale looked really sharp, Fajardo needs time.
I have knocked Josey in the past but he looked pretty good today, receivers played well and the D already looked better than anytime last season.
Love the new stadium, perfect for CFL football, the seats are a little on the "no frills" side.
On a side note the Kimchi pulled chicken hot dog was pretty decent as well!!

[doubleblue]

I thought most of the Argo veterans played fairly well. The starting O Line looked solid. Van Roten would be a better Center than Watman IMO but hey it's the CFL. McEwen will probably take over there later in the season.
KIlgore did some good things. I didn't know Mitchell Gale was back with the Argos. When did that happen. Nice to see young Noel make some good catches in the 4th quarter. I had him going in the 2nd round to the Argos back in my pre draft picks. I like the future for the Argos Canadian receivers with Jones, Noel and Williams coming on. With the import receivers the Argos have they won't have to rush them, which is a good thing.
I thought Cam Walker looks like he will be able to get some playing time this year, and we know what Waud can do. Good depth there along with Ricky Foley. I guess the import guys on the D Line will be Robertson, Hall and Hickman.
Whitaker and I hope Kackert in the backfield again with Baker in the wings. The Argos look like a pretty solid team if they can stay injury free to some of their key guys.
.
Two or three new DB's look like they can play, especially Heath. Looked like they had Raymond playing some half back. I thought they brought him in to play OLB. Stubler likes his Vets so maybe Issac and Raymond both are penciled in to start the season. McFattin looks like the new MLB to go with MIles. Greenwood looks good.

Hamilton is still a good team, but maybe they are going to struggle a bit until Collaros gets back. Mathews looks good one minute and then terrible the next. Argos need to jump on them right off the bat to put some distance on them early, as Hamilton will be tough later on when Collaros returns to form.

[ArgoZ]

Thoughts on the game;

- $11 parking at Medieval Times. Reasonable with at 10 minute walk and actually 1/2h quicker to get home to Niagara than the Dome.

- Walking around the outside of the stadium was rather quiet and non exciting. Tailgate was too far away to walk to. It should be directing behind the South stands to create more of an atmosphere. Even if I don't attend, I still want to see people throwing footballs and having a great time. So far away at Ontario Place resulted in many not even knowing it existed.

- Merchandise was severely lacking. No player jersey's. Adidas sweaters typically overpriced at $90+. Argos, non brand name sweaters at reasonable $60 prices. The Argonauts skinny white "A" logo is plastered on everything. Not a great look IMO.

- Stadium looks great. Lots of Argonauts signage making it feel home. Field looks great, even with artificial end zones. Field held up nicely too, almost no difference to a soccer match. Now let's see how well those lines wash off. They did look like a rather light application.

- I definitely miss the good old Jumbotron, caught myself looking for it many times.

- I sat in the upper East side, where all the "freebies" we're it seemed. Rather decent sounding crowd for half full, should be amazing for the home opener. Side reminds me of lower 500 level at the Dome. A little to high for my liking, but you can see everything unfold. Seats are terrible, felt like sitting on a potty trainer. They got to go next upgrade. Stayed in the shade the whole game, so roof has multiple uses. Lower level was sun drenched. It was hard to hear the stadium announcer, might just need to turn the volume up, but it was frustrating not hearing the calls.

- loved the views of the lake while watching the game. There was a nice breeze. Wind conditions made the North Endzone harder to score on. We are going to see many 50 yard+ field goals going South and some missed singles going North, I'm sure of it.

[OgtheDim]

Thoughts on the game;

- $11 parking at Medieval Times. Reasonable with at 10 minute walk and actually 1/2h quicker to get home to Niagara than the Dome.

- Walking around the outside of the stadium was rather quiet and non exciting. Tailgate was too far away to walk to. It should be directing behind the South stands to create more of an atmosphere. Even if I don't attend, I still want to see people throwing footballs and having a great time. So far away at Ontario Place resulted in many not even knowing it existed.

- Merchandise was severely lacking. No player jersey's. Adidas sweaters typically overpriced at $90+. Argos, non brand name sweaters at reasonable $60 prices. The Argonauts skinny white "A" logo is plastered on everything. Not a great look IMO.

- Stadium looks great. Lots of Argonauts signage making it feel home. Field looks great, even with artificial end zones. Field held up nicely too, almost no difference to a soccer match. Now let's see how well those lines wash off. They did look like a rather light application.

- I definitely miss the good old Jumbotron, caught myself looking for it many times.

- I sat in the upper East side, where all the "freebies" we're it seemed. Rather decent sounding crowd for half full, should be amazing for the home opener. Side reminds me of lower 500 level at the Dome. A little to high for my liking, but you can see everything unfold. Seats are terrible, felt like sitting on a potty trainer. They got to go next upgrade. Stayed in the shade the whole game, so roof has multiple uses. Lower level was sun drenched. It was hard to hear the stadium announcer, might just need to turn the volume up, but it was frustrating not hearing the calls.

- loved the views of the lake while watching the game. There was a nice breeze. Wind conditions made the North Endzone harder to score on. We are going to see many 50 yard+ field goals going South and some missed singles going North, I'm sure of it.

I don't think those seats are going anywhere - the whole upper East was built as cheap as they could seats wise. That upper East side can be loud with that roof. I also heard that some people in the West discovered the "foot stomping" capabilities over there. Should make for a racous atmoshphere.

As for the wind, it actually usually whips in from the South, if anything. We havn't seen a big rainstorm with the new roof so who knows what that will do.

As for the sound, they are soooooooo not used to people needing announcements. The only announcements during games for TFC are goals and yellow cards and they keep the volume down on purpose. I saw some tweets today about that and BMOfield responded. Given the new sound system they spent a few million on, I think they'll be getting much better sound for the opener.

That Lake view is the best. My TFC seat is in 221 and I spend a good chunk of half time always looking towards the Island.

[Will]

- The sound system got better in the second half, and I'm sure that some sort of resolution will be found by 06/23.

- The field didn't seem to be too bad (vis a vis the grass), but agreed that the lines and numbers were applied very lightly. Also, once the sun whipped around to the west, it was virtually impossible to see the lines from the east stand.

- I think BMO has the potential to be a loud stadium for the Argos.

- I basically agree with Paul's assessment of the QB's in which he tweeted here:

Kilgore looked good. Ricky took 4 snaps. Fajardo struggled but found some late success. Gale always looks good in preseason.

— Paul Woods (@pxw13) June 11, 2016

- Very vanilla defense, but I liked Walker.

- Henry Josey was pretty good as well. I don't think he busted any significant gains, but looked good in protection.

- Mathews looks like a world beater on one play and awful the next.

- Was the #1 D still on the field for that Underwood TD?

[KCargosfan]

Questions for those at the game:

- who played and looked good at MLB?

- new receiver Ambles sure was targeted a lot

- how bout the RBs? - did Dillon Campbell dress or play?

- Llevi Noel made a couple of decent gainer grabs - makes the roster ?

- who was the best looking of the back-up QBs ?

http://www.cfl.ca/games/2268/hamilto...auts/#boxscore

We only ran the ball 12 times all game.

[Wobbler]

It's wonderful to listen to/read about football again!

[PullTogether73]

I'm rather startled at how much I've come to dislike (okay, more like detest) Tiger-cats fans.
I wish they would stay away from our home games tbh. They're everywhere it seems. Why don't they at least stay in one section together so we can easily ignore them?

One loud yahoo of a Ti-cat fan tried to high 5 me as I wandered under the east stands at half time.
I simply glared at him and kept walking.
I'm usually quite tolerant of people when in public, but I have really come to detest Ti-cat fans. The scary part is, I'm quite comfortable with this.

[Will]

I'm rather startled at how much I've come to dislike (okay, more like detest) Tiger-cats fans.
I wish they would stay away from our home games tbh. They're everywhere it seems. Why don't they at least stay in one section together so we can easily ignore them?

One loud yahoo of a Ti-cat fan tried to high 5 me as I wandered under the east stands at half time.
I simply glared at him and kept walking.
I'm usually quite tolerant of people when in public, but I have really come to detest Ti-cat fans. The scary part is, I'm quite comfortable with this.

I don't know, they were all behaved.
Weren't a significant lot of them like there has been in past.

[Will]

http://www.cfl.ca/games/2268/hamilto...auts/#boxscore

Stat pack for today.

[AngeloV]

It was a fun day, and great to sit in the stadium.

I don't know what people are expecting from Fajardo. Reading twitter a lot of Argos fans weren't impressed. I see it as his first ever professional game action, and thought he looked quite good when taking that into consideration.

So happy to see Noel make a tough catch, and then make a 2nd and show great ability to break tackles. Very big, strong receiver, that I believe will have a great future in this league.

Surprised to see Gale, but not surprised with his success. This is his 3rd season in this offensive system, so lack of TC shouldn't be a big issue for him. He is definitely
talented.

Very happy with Kilgore's stint as well.

Unbelievable athletic play by Bryan Hall, dropping into coverage and diving to knock down a ball. I honestly did not know he can be that athletic.

Cam Walker was excellent. I think we have a good rotation guy for Foley.

But...My favourite part of the day was the fact that the music is nowhere near as loud as it is in the dome, making easy to talk to your friends between plays. I loved that.

[LLB997]

was driving or should i say bumper to bumper on the Gardiner and drove by just as the 2nd half got under way so was expecting to see lots of empty seats and it looked rather full a minute into the 2nd half. very nice turnout for pre season football

[Stevoman]

So, what's up with McPherson? No action at all today or is the Gale signing signalling that something is up?

[ArgoRavi]

So, what's up with McPherson? No action at all today or is the Gale signing signalling that something is up?

McPherson was ill with a migraine which is why he was not available to play.

[Will]

was driving or should i say bumper to bumper on the Gardiner and drove by just as the 2nd half got under way so was expecting to see lots of empty seats and it looked rather full a minute into the 2nd half. very nice turnout for pre season football

The attendance was announced as 16,000. OK for a preseason game for this market. Still plenty of work to be done for Copeland et al however.

[Will]

It was a fun day, and great to sit in the stadium.

I don't know what people are expecting from Fajardo. Reading twitter a lot of Argos fans weren't impressed. I see it as his first ever professional game action, and thought he looked quite good when taking that into consideration.

So happy to see Noel make a tough catch, and then make a 2nd and show great ability to break tackles. Very big, strong receiver, that I believe will have a great future in this league.

Surprised to see Gale, but not surprised with his success. This is his 3rd season in this offensive system, so lack of TC shouldn't be a big issue for him. He is definitely
talented.

Very happy with Kilgore's stint as well.

Unbelievable athletic play by Bryan Hall, dropping into coverage and diving to knock down a ball. I honestly did not know he can be that athletic.

Cam Walker was excellent. I think we have a good rotation guy for Foley.

But...My favourite part of the day was the fact that the music is nowhere near as loud as it is in the dome, making easy to talk to your friends between plays. I loved that.

I'm not saying cut Fajardo now, but after watching him over two practices and 2 quarters of an exhibition game (which might not be a proper sample granted), I'm just not sure what the Argos saw that convinced them to sign him. I had thought his arm strength to be underwhelming, but then he surprises me by throwing that deep ball that was just overthrown.

That was definitely a nice catch-and-run by Noel. Sounds like he's had an impressive camp.

Mitchell Gale, the MOP of the preseason, but agreed as you said he knows the system.

That opening drive was very nice from Kilgore taking 8:30 off the clock; but the 2nd drive was also just as impressive. It ended with a FG but he had led the team down from the shadow of the goalposts.

The Argos could've picked off 2 or 3 more passes than what they did.