A Fan's Perspective

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
1

Unfortunately, from day one at training camp and into the first 4 games, our real team is the one that played tonight and against Montreal, rather than the team that played Toronto and Saskatchewan.

We are hurting across the board. We fans hurt when our team plays like this but lets call it like it is:

Offensive Line...hailed as an improved bunch and yet Printers is always running for his life. Many have said that they open up huge holes for Lumsden. Take away his longest runs in each game and do the math.

Wide Receivers...mostly too young and it will take time. They are not getting open as much as they should. Woodcock shouldnt be their best receiver.

Running Backs...Lumsden is great to watch but its too bad he takes the pounding and is already missing games. Smith is not an every day back, Caulley hasnt played until tonight. Without Lumsden in there, we will be hurting over the entire season.

Quarterback...not playing to his potential, but the finger cant be pointed at him.

Defensive Line...we havent had a defensive tackle since Philbrick...what year was that?...i think its time we find a couple DT's...Keith isnt in shape and Loescher has done his best....we have no pressure on qb's and its been consistent. It's tough when your latest pick up (Patrick) has been your best lineman.

Linebackers...Zeke has not been himself yet....Mariuz might be playing but Armour should be playing there....Knowlton is making tons of tackles but that doesnt mean he is making 'plays'....we need upgrading

Secondary...How long does it take for them to realize that all teams will go after Gordon...he must be replaced...potential only goes so far...Bradley is fine, and Thompson and Robinson are ok but we can improve there....Glasper hasnt made any plays at safety and in my opinion it isnt even his proper position.

Kicking...Nick is fine, love watching his punts, yet he isnt even on his game in the field goal department

Coaching...no comment...

Intangibles....no chemistry...yes it is a young team but there is no Rah-Rah type players to get some emotion into the games..Armour did that but thats the past i guess...

how long before the players tune out the coaches?

lets not sit back and think that we should keep this team together from day one since this was there credo from the start....thats not a good sign folks. We dont need a revolving door, but we have to wake up and notice that some tweaking (quite a bit i should say) is necessary

we are not seeing the crowds that we saw in Bob Young's first year and that might be because of ticket prices but on the other hand its tough losing all the time, especially the way we lose. We can take losing when we are in games but not this way which has been the norm over the last few years. We hope for better things, but we continue to get much of the same.

It is sad to see, but we still have to sustain hope.

2

Brief season too.

It's only been four games, and two outings have been solid efforts. Not bad for a new bunch under new systems.

Don't panic.

3

I doubt that voice from the past is panickking - more likely he's just expressing his informed (educated) opinions

I trust his take on our team

4

Keep the faith Vinny. The one constant over the past few years has been change. Obie has brought in a good nucleus of young talent. Give them some time, take our lumps, and we'll have a contender soon. Blowing the team up will keep us in this downward spiral...Maas style.

5

Ladies and gentlemen, the annual 'negativity' award for the ticat fan forums goes to 'vinny'. We don't even need to look at any more of them this year. The one and only nominee and he wins it.

Question: Would you have posted this after the Toronto game? Or after the Saskatchewan game? Or is this based on a one-game performance?

6

Wha? Who? Voice from the past?

7

Re-read above

This isnt negativity either, it is called a reality check.

8

yes, this poster used to post regularly after games with a “Fans Perspective” - it was quite informative and insightful

It’s nice to hear from that corner again. Others on this board will attest to this: calling on Tipper, Crash, Borehamgirl, mightypope, etc…

9

And how do you know the team that played Toronto and Saskatchewan isn't the real team?

10

Why dont' THOSE huge holes count?

Take away anything and you'll always have less. Never understtod the point of that reasoning.

How about we take away the smallest gains and then do the math.

11

You'd Can't be run 1st team in the CFL .
With a Glass Running back..

12

Well first off its nice to hear from Vinny, arguably one of the most informed voices we had on this board for many years. Like a lot of us, it gets discouraging, both watching our team and posting on a site where honest, measured comments are simply dimissed as panic or worse. Vinny called it like it is. Our offense in particluar is a real problem, and it starts with our o-line. One injury and we're getting steamrolled by d-lines from everyone except the toothless, messed up Argo's. We have no depth, and other than Hage (possibly Hudson) no other player on the o-line that could start for another team in this league. Other than Mackay, what player on our d-line starts for another team, and even in his case its largely because he's a Canadian. We continue to take silly penalties, turn the ball over, and our coach tosses out challenge flags on plays where we have no chance of winning the challenge. This team is not close to being competitive with the top 6 teams in this league. Status quo will get us 3-5 wins this year, maybe not even that. Anyway, thanks for the post Vinny. There are a whole pile of long time fans that agree with your assessment.

13
Offensive Line...hailed as an improved bunch and yet Printers is always running for his life.
This has been true in all 4 games.

How can anybody argue with Vinny on this one?

[i]i think its time we find a couple DT's...[/i]

Keith isnt in shape and
Loescher has done his best....[i]

we have no pressure on qb's
and its been consistent. [/i]

It's tough when your latest pick up
(Patrick) has been your best lineman.

Linebackers...Zeke has not been himself yet....


Ditto.
[i][b]We can take losing[/b]

when we are in games but not this way[/i]
which has been the norm over the last few years.


Despite rumours that I am some kind
of Pollyanna, I completely agree.

We come out flat too damn often.

We hope for better things, but we continue to get much of the same.

It is sad to see, but
we still have to sustain hope.


Careful Vinny,

someone will accuse you
of being too optimistic.

14

I think it might be important to realize that this is a very young team, and if there is one thing I have learned from watching football, and sports in general, is that young teams are prone to peaks and valleys in terms of performance.

This is a team that just traveled half-way across the continent on 4 days rest after a hard-fought, emotional, heart breaker of a game, minus the biggest piece of the offense against arguably the league's best team. Can you honestly say you are surprised by the outcome of last nights game?

Some fans tend to point out the fact that Charlie Taaffe looks like he isn't in to the game on the sidelines due to his calm demeanor, but this may be his way of trying to teach his young team to be confident in the game plan, keep working away at things, and don't over react when things don't go your way during the course of the game.

We all witnessed Greg Marshall running around like a mad man on the sidelines but that tends to wear thin pretty quickly with professional football players.

All that being said, I think if the team can find a way to generate consistent, hell I'll even settle for occasional, pressure on the quarterback, most of the problems with the defense will magically disappear.

Keep the faith,

  • paul
15

I read this forum regularly and I'm very happy to see that you're back on site. I know that you are a dyed-in-the-wool Ticat fan and I trust your opinions whether good or bad. Welcome back old Buddy and hope to read more of what you have to say!
Steve

16

Yes, I'm happy to hear from vinny again as well. However, I'm a little surprised at your assessment and tone Vinny. Last night's game is NOT the reality and the game against the Argo's is also not the reality either. The truth is the reality is somewhere in between. No, we are not Grey Cup contenders this year. Did any of us really expect to be? There are many reasons for this team to perform like they did last night. A short week, a trip out west, missing your star running back AND a very upsetting loss just 5 days earlier.

Are there problems on this team? Yes, of course, however, this team is much better than last year and they are closer to being competitive than last year.

Like another poster said, you can't take away the big runs and do the math, without also taking away the runs where they've been stuffed. If we took away the big receptions by a receiver then receivers would never has 100 yard games. Yes, sometimes it's one big play that gives you the majority of your yards. However, it might have been the 5 plays of short gains or misdirections that finally got you that large gain, no? i.e. a receiver all game running curl routes to gain 5 - 10 yards and then suddenly, he turns up field, surprising the dB and gets a big gain. He earned that big gain by setting up that db with the curl routes.

Anyway, I expected a lot of "fire the coach", "trade Printers" type of posts after this game, but I am surprised by this assessment. We can't claim this team is Grey Cup bound after one good game, but we also can't say that we are the worst team after one poor game.

17

Well said Vinny!

18

I’m not expecting the Cats to win the Grey Cup this year, but making the play-offs isn’t outside the realm of possibility.

Montreal is playing over their heads and will come back to the pack soon. The blue team has issues (QB, age, coaching) and Winnipeg is crapping the bed so far.

If the Cats can staighten a couple things out (pass rush, passing attack) there’s no reason why they can’t make it to the play-offs and then …who knows?

19

RE the Als...just curious what leads you to say this.

20
8) Well said indeed vinny. Good to see you back with your well thought out assessments of this team !! 
 It is very obvious that there are problems on this team that still have to be rectified.  It is becoming very frustrating watching these same old things continuing to rear their ugly heads !!!

 I think the next game against Edmonton will tell the real truth and show exactly what this team is made of and where they are heading, be it good or bad.

 Take some consulation is one thing, at least last nights game was not a home game !!  Now that would have been even uglier !!!       <!-- s:oops: -->:oops:<!-- s:oops: -->