Ticats offence hammered Bomber defence

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This article was published 30/06/2018 (2632 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON — The Winnipeg Blue Bombers took it on the chin from a better team Friday night.

Hamilton, with emerging star Jeremiah Masoli directing the Ticats offence, hammered the Winnipeg defence with a precision passing game and an effective, yet unheralded running attack, en route to a 37-17 CFL win at Tim Hortons Field.

The Tiger-Cats’ defence wasn’t bad either, limiting rookie quarterback Chris Streveler to just 146 yards on 17-for-30 passing, as the Blue Bombers fell to 1-2 on the season. It was not Streveler’s best outing after two excellent starts in Weeks 1 and 2 as a replacement for an injured Matt Nichols.

Winnipeg hosts the B.C. Lions (1-1) Saturday at Investors Group Field. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

Masoli, who finished with 369 yards on 31-for-41 passing, spread the ball out to his receivers using mostly short- to medium-range routes and the Blue Bombers, who made three lineup changes in their defensive secondary for the game, were scrambling and unable to keep up.

Rookie Marcus Sayles made his CFL debut at cornerback for Winnipeg, while veterans Brandon Alexander and Anthony Gaitor were sidelined by injury.

Often times, Winnipeg defenders laid off receivers such as Brandon Banks (11 catches for 111 yards) and Jalen Saunders (seven for 97), apparently trying to avoid being beaten deep. Masoli feasted on this approach, slicing and dicing the coverage by attacking on the edges and underneath.

“At times we just didn’t challenge enough,” said Winnipeg linebacker Adam Bighill. “In a sense we were giving them a little too much. Early on, we were just killing ourselves with penalties. It’s hard to beat a good team, but it’s even harder when you’re beating yourselves.

“It killed any sort of positive momentum we had going early on, and really halted our opportunity to get off the field. Overall, it really wasn’t a very good performance.”

It was Masoli’s eighth consecutive game where he has passed for in excess of 300 yards, one short of the league record established by Montreal Alouettes legend Sam Etcheverry in 1956 and equalled by Kent Austin of the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1991.

Hamilton also dominated time of possession (37:30 to 22:30) and net offence (468 yards to 271). Unheralded Canadian running back Sean Thomas Erlington was a big headache for Winnipeg, rumbling for 92 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries.

“They had a pretty good scheme of getting into some empty sets and letting the quarterback kind of read the zones and try to make good decisions,” said Bighill. “Masoli is really elevating himself as a quarterback right now, and he threw a lot of good balls, made a lot of good reads, and his receivers helped him out a lot as well in making good plays.

“They had a pretty good game plan coming in against us, and we adjusted, but maybe we just didn’t challenge them enough.”

The Blue Bombers, assessed only 11 penalties through their first two games, were flagged for seven penalties and 60 yards with five declined in Week 3.

Bad penalties extended Hamilton drives and halted Winnipeg forays into the red zone. An early 33-yard run by tailback Andrew Harris would have set the visitors up on the Hamilton 10-yard line early in the first quarter.

But a holding call on O-lineman Sukh Chungh wiped out the play and move Winnipeg out of field goal range. Harris finished the game with 66 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries

“I felt like we were a little undisciplined today and we had a few mental mistakes,” said slotback Weston Dressler, who topped all Winnipeg receivers with six catches for 55 yards.

“We don’t usually have those and I don’t know what the cause was or why it was, but we didn’t play as clean as we can. Unforced errors — they’re tough enough to go against — you can’t shoot yourself in the foot. Clean that stuff up and we’ll be more consistent moving the ball.”

 

NOTEWORTHY: Winnipeg kicker Justin Medlock’s 59-yard field goal in the fourth quarter went wide left, ending a 6-for-6 streak in 2018. It was also his first miss after hitting 16 straight dating back to last season. Medlock was good on a 38-yard field goal in the second quarter.

 

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14