2013: Grey Cup

[OV Argo]

Something else that Hamilton lacked was Canadian depth. Their Canadian depth has been lacking for the last few years and reared its head when starting safety Courtney Stephen was unable to play today. Neil King may be a good prospect but he isn't ready for primetime yet. However, with the Ticats only able to start seven Canadians, they had no options but to start King.

I don't agree that the Riders would have beaten the Argos or Als easily but Hamilton matched up with them less well than Toronto or Montreal would. Oddly and unfortunately, the Ticats matched up well with the Argos. Montreal outplayed Hamilton during most of their games this year but the Ticats seemed to find a way to win those games.

Neil King is the least of the Ticat problems - he made a number of tackles today and was not at fault in pass-coverage or run-support - a very good future CFL safety (he & Stephen both) and King had some starting experience this season going in; OTOH - the Ticats DID have some other options with NIs - like playing a big run-stuffing MLB when facing a very good run game rather than playing the lightweight import LBs Kenty favored (Plesius - CIS star LB and a huge LB; or C-O Prime - another huge MLB and tackling machine in US college ball) - however Kenty would have no faith in these guys due to their birth certificates; Kent-boy could have also went to a vet 2x CFL 1000 yd, receiver like Stala over his boys (his college boy alma matter fave Tasker - glaring CFL inexperience for a big game, or hands of stone Grant - dropped a couple at least today), but again, imports favored there.

Nice try with the cliched lack of "NI talent" or depth excuse card play Ravi - but that IMO is totally laughable and the Ticats have better overall NI talent than the Argos IMO.

The Ticats were totally over-matched in this game - in every single position group; the reason they were representing the East in this game was because the rest of the East this year was gawd-awful in various departments and Kent and his crew found a way in the East play-offs.

OTOH - the Riders are a veteran talented crew and built to go to this GC - with lots of key acquisitions : Foley, Anderson, Chick back from the NFL, Geroy Simon, and dominant D & O lines.

[Wobbler]

Nice try with the cliched [lack of NI depth] excuse card play Ravi - but that IMO is totally laughable and the Ticats have better overall NI talent than the Argos IMO.

I'm not familiar with Hamilton's NI backups. Would you mind elaborating on how they compare to ours? They must be dramatically superior if Ravi's comment was laughable!

[ArgoRavi]

Neil King is the least of the Ticat problems - he made a number of tackles today and was not at fault in pass-coverage or run-support - a very good future CFL safety (he & Stephen both) and King had some starting experience this season going in; OTOH - the Ticats DID have some other options with NIs - like playing a big run-stuffing MLB when facing a very good run game rather than playing the lightweight import LBs Kenty favored (Plesius - CIS star LB and a huge LB; or C-O Prime - another huge MLB and tackling machine in US college ball) - however Kenty would have no faith in these guys due to their birth certificates; Kent-boy could have also went to a vet 2x CFL 1000 yd, receiver like Stala over his boys (his college boy alma matter fave Tasker - glaring CFL inexperience for a big game, or hands of stone Grant - dropped a couple at least today), but again, imports favored there.

Nice try with the cliched lack of "NI talent" or depth excuse card play Ravi - but that IMO is totally laughable and the Ticats have better overall NI talent than the Argos IMO.

Maybe you are right that the Ticats' braintrust doesn't know how to use Hamilton's non-import talent properly, OV, or maybe they just aren't up to snuff but the Ticats along with the Blue Bombers are two teams that have consistently had problems fielding more than seven non-import starters for some time now. Most (all?) other teams seem to be better able to do this, including the Argos, so I would say there is a problem somewhere with the Ticats in either their non-import talent or their utilization of such.