Wow. Not even mad.
Zach hasn't played in 11 months, and yet he threw for over 300 yards.
What is going to be like when he shakes the rust off?
Never has a loss felt so much like a win.
We have talked about Zach coming back, and it was great to see this team coming after being down by 20 back to tie the game in the 4th quarter. Too bad about what happened after that, with BC getting a TD and this Ticat team not being able to get one to tie it.
Like that game in Edmonton, the second half looked much different from the first half. Zach was sacked five times in the first half but it looked like he got better protection and there was more pressure on Jennings in the second half as well. But our secondary sure did not look good, especially in the first half, and that's a concern
This team really should be able to get back to .500 next week now thatit looks like Zach got the rust off and it's the Riders they are up against.
Oops posted in wrong thread
'Maybe instead of kill the witches this time we just let them off with a stern warning?'
Hard to fault Zach, but there was a lot of ugliness on display by the Cats tonight.
Seemed like we had a lot of offensive players dancing around in one spot instead of getting north-south and taking what yardage was there. While the Cat defense was much improved in the second half, there was still lots of sloppy tackling throughout the game.
What about the defence in the 1st quarter, and Zach was useless except for giving 6 points to B.C…trade time
I’m feeling very magnanimous tonight, lets do that. 
In the second half, we blitzed with DB's more, and protected Collaros more with TE packages, and it worked. Why did we wait so long to do these things?
In the first half, we ran Gable up the middle many times, getting stuffed every time. Why keep doing this?
Our DB's need to learn to use their hands more to make it harder for receivers to catch balls. Jennings threw into double coverage more than once, and the receiver was surrounded by DB's, but untouched.
I think we are improving. I didn't expect us to win against a tough BC team tonight, in BC. But we showed way better than the first meeting with BC. That's progress.
My random thoughts:
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Banks sure has a flair for drama. A few times during the game I thought this would be a great time for Speedy B to turn things around for us. But he wanted to wait until he could do it with maximum impact.
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Great decision by Plesius (the guy furthest downfield) to do absolutely nothing rather than screw up Banks' return with a potential illegal block, like that dufus did on Rainey's big return. When the returner has made it all that way, just step aside and let him finish the job.
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Four TD returns in 7 games puts Banks well ahead of his all-time leading "TD every 4.8 games" stat. In fact, he's ahead of that stat in 2016 even if he doesn't score another one. But I suspect he will.
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That Jennings guy looks like the real thing. Nice to see a whole new generation of QBs taking root in the league, making us forget about guys like Burris, Ray and Glenn even before they've got around to officially retiring.
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Speaking of QBs, I'd have to say Zach looked good for his first game in 11 months. A few bad decisions, but he's still a gunslinger, still mostly accurate, and didn't look to be playing it safe in terms of being over-protective of his knee (not sure if that's possible anyway?).
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I can't recall a time when our team has had such a Jekyll & Hyde personality. We either stink or play like champions, for entire halves of football. Very seldom in between those two extremes. Must be frustrating for the coaches to figure out. Or are the coaches part of the problem?
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I wonder if we were too cavalier about letting defensive free agents walk this year. Perhaps too much change on a unit that was pretty darn good last season?
- Special teams coverage seems to be sliding. Used to be more of a shut-down unit, and now we keep letting guys get by the initial wave of tacklers.
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And as for the return teams, as I mentioned in the game thread, their penalties led to two safeties after we were pinned deep in our end. Those 4 points would have been helpful at the end of the game.
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The difference between the successful Edmonton comeback and this unsuccessful one is that our defence shut Edmonton down completely in the second half, while we let BC tack on another 13 points. We were down 20 at the half and put up 26 in the second half, but it wasn't enough.
I would say...great improvement from last game.
Zac looked great in the 2nd half.
And if he picks it up next game..where he left off, and I think he will.
WOW :thup:
He sure does not look like someone that has returned after almost a year off.
And lets be "honest" BC won this game...yes.
But only by pure luck..bottom line.
Can't score 40pts. every game to win. Defence allowing too many points against. Doesn't really matter ( usually ) if you tighten things up in the second half if you're going to allow 32 in the first half. Don't know??
Farhan LaljiVerified account ?@FarhanLaljiTSN 6h6 hours ago
Collaros said his welcome back moment was the hit on 1st play by Purifoy. He left his mouth guard in Hamilton, so felt it even more. #TiCats
Drew EdwardsVerified account ?@scratchingpost 6h6 hours ago
#Ticats QB @ZCollaros7 got drug tested after the game. After that performance, I don’t blame them. #CFL
Not a bad return for Zach Collaros, 331 yards, 2 passing TD's, 1 INT plus 2 carries for 13 yards. It only goes up from here!
Zach is back and 7 of our remaining 11 games are at home now!
Time to go on another home unbeaten streak!!
Mr Ellis got burned numerous times tonight and I have not been impressed with his play in the other games,they got rid of Tisdale for one bad game?! To send a message of what ? it really worked! CB are a real problem right now actually it's been years since we have been great at that position
The problem with this team is the defense. They are vastly over rated giving up too many points and too much yardage.
The offense looks good except for that weak offensive line, far too many free shots at the QB. Another couple of games like that and Zach will be getting hurt again But it seems to be a big problem throughout the CFL, too many QBs going down because of inexperienced O lines.
An exciting entertaining game, unfortunately another "near miss" for the win. Showing some potential, if we can just tweak the outcome a bit. IMO, great second half by Zach, and improved play selection by whoever, except that last play. Half a minute, need 5 for the first, but throw into a pack of Lions while ignoring a wide open CJ? Might even have scored as he was going against the flow. Major brain cramp, hope it is just rust.
We all knew BC would be coming with the blitz, so I fail to see the wisdom in having Zach hang on to the ball for the long toss through the first half? Someone will have to explain to me why the quick hitter, hitch pass, or even a deeper drop before a long throw are not in the TC playbook. Personnel problems? I know Kent loves going vertical, but we are now 3-4. Maybe have to start playing to win.
IMO, we still major improvement on defence, one, those quick hitters that every one uses against us, and two, tackling. Run stops much better, but clean open field tackles are rare. Even Arsenault mentioned his TD came on a missed tackle. Got to be some way that the team can improve that. Lord knows they are not devoting much time to first half preparation, so when Kent talks about "working hard" maybe we need more "working smarter"?
I think the problem with the QBs going down is more attributable to the 5 receiver set and the empty backfield. They have already tried to improve the situation by handicapping the defences, so maybe we need some rule changes requiring the offence to keep at least one player in the backfield for QB protection?
I am so glad I am not the only one that feels that way.
Gable in particular. He’s great when he has space, but not a pure north-south runner. I would have liked to have seen Michael Ford, who was cut early this year.
I think the difference in the game came down to field position with their punter pinning us deep constantly.
And those high floaters that gave the coverage team lots of time to get downfield. Won’t work as well for him when he has to play outside, but with half his games in the dome, Leone will be deadly for any visiting team.
Definite home field advantage come playoffs.
I think part of the problem on D is the decimation by injury of the secondary. Pointer and Lee are raw rookies and third team guys pressed into action. Ellis, imho was a stopgap brought in as insurance for the potential (and ultimate) failure of the Tisdale experiment. Tisdale, who himself was brought in as a stopgap.
Stephen is a good to great safety. He is a great to outstanding corner so the loss of Butler is also a consideration.
I know that it is the job of the GM, coach and scouts to get guys who can play and they should have been working the phones to get help. But it may be that some of the injured are close to return or that there just aren’t quality guys to be had until the NFL cuts have occurred.
Add the above to the loss of Harris and Norwood and you get a less than ideal D lineup. And in the face of all of this, the D has player reasonably well all things considered.