Burn the Witches Vol. 5: Clash of The Titans

Despite the loss, I think we can at least say that Hamilton is the second best team in the league. Zach still had over 400 yards passing, which apparently is a career high. We came back hard at the end and we still had some chances, and there were no turnovers for the game.

Ultimately what undid us was an uncharacteristically high number of penalties this game.

Even though we're now 4-5, I'm pretty confident that we can run the table the rest of the way.

Tough place for any team to play. We'll beat them at our barn.

Posted this in the other thread but I would like to properly burn the witches with my post :cowboy:

I am frustrated right now so be aware some negatives are incoming.

-Special teams units has taken any fun out of a Speedy B return because they always seem to get called for a penalty of some sort, and although Maher was money on FGs, that onside kick was brutal you just can't do that, that is the one thing you can't do.

-The defensive backfield just seems soft, we get beat for jumps balls time and time again, plus I don't know how many times I saw Dean or Simoni cleaning up on missed tackles by our d-backs. Sermons has not impressed me at all, that first TD was bad he won't have fun watching that again in the film room

-Not that it ultimately mattered, but why in the world do you go for a two-pt convert when you're down by 11 with the clock running out, I am still trying to figure out the upside other than either hoping you end up winning by 1 instead of tying with a field goal, or trying to play for a single point for the tie with another converted touchdown ...I don't I am confused just typing this trying to figure it out.

-Penalties, penalties, penalties, just killed ourselves tonight over and over and over and over and over etc.

-We still need to establish an actual running attack, CJ ran the ball 4 times tonight ...doesn't help CJ also dropped three very catchable passes but I feel like Kent doesn't allow CJ to get into a rhythm early in a game.

Alright I think I am done with my super serious bullet points, in the grand scheme of things we competed with the best team in the league and Zach had a hell of a game aside from the ugly pick that thankfully got called back. This team is a very good team and the offence has potential to be lights out but just feel like the team is holding themselves back from being great with silly mistakes. The East has been playing bad football as of late and Cats could have established themselves heading into Labour Day and if we swept the Argos could have been sitting pretty at 7-4. Now we got to hope for a 6-5 record and the team starts to hit their stride heading into the playoffs, as we all know it's not about who starts the season hot.

Lots to clean up heading into LDC but I hope we go tear the Arblows a new in the next couple weeks and stake our claim for first in the East. Some huge games coming up down the stretch against Toronto and Ottawa, I can't wait.

103 yard differential in penalty yardage. Almost as much as the passing yardage differential between Collaros and Mitchell. But Mitchell was said to be the better QB tonight. Huh.

Penalties killed us. Not putting this on the officials at all, as they called it relatively fair (aside from the missed taunting, and a few holds here and there). This is on the players. Did they think they needed to push the envelope to compete with the Stamps? Maybe that was the case. But some of the penalties were just dumb.

Interesting point about the QBs. As much as everyone likes to fawn over BLM and his winning numbers, I’ll take our Zach ANY day of the week.

One thing that many seem to forget is that BLM became the starter on a team where he already knew the system, coaches and other players while Zach learned a whole new playbook and had to adjust to new coaches and teammates. BLM has also been VERY lucky in the injury department - has only missed about 3-4 games mainly in his first year. Would he come back from an injury like Collaros had and be as strong? - quite possibly - but it would sure affect his winning numbers greatly if he’d missed as much time as Zach.

A few thoughts

  • Penalties killed any momentum that the team had or gave the opposition momentum extending drives that they had stopped. Have to wonder what they might have done with some of the time that they used to score that first TD. Couldn't believe that they backed themselves up from about the 3 yard line to the 20 (at least) but fortunately they did get the score,

  • Toliver is a BEAST - intended to put him on my fantasy team this week but had too much else going on so didn't make any changes as I knew all the players I had chosen would be involved in games.

  • Zach seemed to have to deal with more pressure - not a good indication of the strength of our OL against a good DL.

  • There are some problems on defense still especially in the secondary. Opposing receivers have far too much room to catch the ball and there is still some shoddy tackling or tossing oneself at the receiver and hoping to bring him down when all he has to do is sidestep and continue to pick up YAC. Calgary also lost some key players on defense (and offense) but doesn't seem to have missed a step.

Disappointed with the loss so I'm not sure I'd call the Ticats one of the Titans just yet. I thought they could hang with the "big boys" but there's still work to do before they can be considered "elite".

I hope Owens didn't do too much of a number on his arm on that "almost" TD catch near the end. Looks like he hit the asphalt pretty hard. He stayed in the game, but could be an "ugly the next day" thing. And you know he wants to be ready for Labour Day.

This coming close is getting real stale real fast. Actually this one shouldn't have even been this close, the score really flatters the 'Cats.