Chris Streveler, September 27, 2019, IG FIeld
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The Montreal Alouettes gashed the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last week in an epic comeback-slash-collapse that opened some excruciatingly painful wounds. And the Hamilton Tiger-Cats followed that up by not just grinding salt in those wounds Friday night, but opening up a few more in a 33-13 victory over the Bombers in front of an announced crowd of 25,086 at IG Field.
“We just need more,” said Bombers running back Andrew Harris outside a morose locker room. “Whatever it is we’ve got to figure out a way to dig a little deeper. These games are getting more serious and you can feel the pace in the games are elevating. That’s what we expect, but we’ve got to get more out of everyone, myself included, whether that’s more film, more workouts… we just touched on it inside about just giving a little more.
“It’s gut-check time now. These games are very important and we need to put it together.”
The loss was not only the first at home for the Bombers this season – and first after a nine-game win streak that dated back to last year – but also means the club’s ownership of first place in the West Division could be completely toast by the end of the weekend.
The Bombers are now 9-5, behind the Calgary Stampeders – 9-4 and on a bye this week – while the 8-4 Saskatchewan Roughriders can join the nine-win club with a victory in Toronto over the Argonauts Saturday afternoon. The Bombers lead the three-game season series with Calgary 1-0 with a critical home-and-home series with the Stamps coming in late October and are tied 1-1 with the Riders with a massive date in Regina next weekend.
After opening the scoring with an impressive 11-play, 73-yard drive that was capped by a Chris Streveler-to-Andrew Harris touchdown, the Bombers were then pushed around by the Ticats for most of the rest of the first half.
The Ticats cranked out 338 yards of net offence in the first two quarters – including 308 through the air by QB Dane Evans, who connected with Bralon Addison and Brandon Banks for touchdowns, while Lirim Hajrullahu kicked two converts and David Watford scored on a QB keeper as Hamilton built a 24-10 advantage.
The Bombers steadied in the second half, limiting Evans to just 51 yard passing, but made too many mistakes to chip away at the lead. Critical among them were a missed 41-yard field goal by Justin Medlock that could have cut a 27-13 lead down to nine points and then, following an Adam Bighill interception that had set the Bombers up at the Hamilton 32-yard line, an interception by Ticats linebacker on a screen pass that was returned 79 yards to set up another score that put the dagger in any comeback hopes.
“Throwing that pick on that screen is tough,” said Streveler. “The defence made a good play to get us the ball back and then to turn it right over is unfortunate.”
“We didn’t execute. We got beat. We didn’t play our best game. A lot of missed opportunities and just mistakes at critical times. They pretty much did what we expected them to do, they just played better than us today.”
Streveler finished the night by completing 31 of 42 for 304 yards with the one TD and two interceptions, but much of the yardage came late with the Ticats ahead and effectively protecting their lead.
“We played a tough team and didn’t play them tough enough, especially in the first half,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “I thought our second half was better defensively and we probably had a few more opportunities. We had a chance there to be down only seven after Biggie’s pick, but it didn’t work out that way. We ended up all the way down at the other end and didn’t hold them.
“The first half was tough. We weren’t playing tough enough, that’s for sure.”
Asked if there was any residue from last week’s loss in Montreal – a game in which the Bombers gave up a 24-point first-half lead, the biggest in franchise history – Harris was succinct. “For the most part guys were moving on and looking forward… but there’s going to be more residue after this now, so we’ve got to get past this,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to forget these games and move forward and learn from our mistakes. At the end of the day I just think we need to elevate our games, everyone, and just put a better foot forward.”
THE BIG STAT | 308
Yards passing for Hamilton QB Dane Evans in the first half, as he completed 17 of 21 attempts with two touchdowns. He finished the night 25 of 32 for 359 yards with three TDs and an interception.
NOTABLE
The Bombers inactive player was WR Rasheed Bailey… Kenny Lawler finished the game with 10 catches for 144 yards… The opening-drive TD by the Bombers marked the third-consecutive game they have found the end zone on their first possession… Darvin Adams had three catches for 27 yards with the first being the 300th of his career… Jackson Jeffcoat returned to the lineup for the Bombers after a six-game absence and registered a sack, his fourth of the season.
MILESTONE WATCH
Andrew Harris achieved two milestones on the night, eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark for the third straight season and fifth time in his career and third as a Bomber. He now has 1,021 yards along the ground and, FYI, no other Canadian running back in CFL history has had five 1,000-yard rushing seasons. Harris now also has 13,740 yards from scrimmage – 8,679 rushing, 5,061 receiving – and with that has moved past Charles Roberts into 10th place in the CFL’s all-time list.
NUMBERS GAME
17: Tackles by Hamilton LB Simoni Lawrence, establishing a new CFL record. The old mark of 16 was set by Saskatchewan LB Reggie Hunt in a game against Winnipeg in 1993.
12: Willie Jefferson has two pass knockdowns Friday night, setting a new Bomber record. Gerald Vaughn (1996) and Jonathan Hefney (2011) previously held the record.
NEXT:
The Bombers are on the road next Saturday in Saskatchewan for a critical matchup with the Riders. Winnipeg is next at home on Saturday, October 12th vs. the Alouettes.
