The Hamilton Tiger-Cats accomplished something last week that CFL fans and pundits thought would be impossible this year.
They lost 24-10 at home to the previously winless Edmonton Elks, whom many thought were speeding toward an 0-18 season, and did so in a fashion as dreary as the weather that day. They trailed 21-9 at halftime and managed just one second-half point.
To make matters worse, Hamilton (3-6) now faces a Saturday game in Vancouver against another team coming off a loss, the BC Lions.
“There’s a lot of talent in this room and we’re not performing,” Hamilton defensive back Tunde Adeleke said. “We can’t have that mentality that it’s still early. We’re not playing like a good team right now.”
And they played like the worst team in the league last week. Every facet of the squad was guilty. The offense allowed seven sacks and managed only one touchdown, while the defense gave up two long pass plays to Edmonton’s No. 3 quarterback.
Then there were the special teams, which were especially bad. Normally reliable kicker Marc Liegghio missed three field-goal attempts and a point after, and Tyreik McAllister’s third-quarter punt return for a major gain was nullified by a penalty.
However, there will be no sympathy from BC, which fell behind the Saskatchewan Roughriders 31-13 on Sunday before mounting a furious fourth-quarter comeback that fell short in a 34-29 defeat.
In dropping to 7-3 and falling a game behind the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the West Division, the Lions allowed five sacks and wasted a huge game by quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., who threw for 455 yards and three touchdowns, two of them in the fourth quarter to fuel the rally.
Adams came within inches of putting BC ahead with two minutes left, but his pass into the end zone slithered through the fingers of receiver Keon Hatcher.
“We came up one series short of getting it done,” Lions coach Rick Campbell said. “We’ve got to be playing good football for 60 minutes in order to beat people, and I think we had signs today of playing good football but we didn’t get it done.”
The Saturday contest will be the first meeting of the teams this season. They will face off again on Oct. 13 in Hamilton.
–Field Level Media