East Final in Ottawa this Sunday...

It’s already Monday night after our big Semi-Final win on Sunday and no one else has started a discussion thread on what should be a popular topic:

What are our chances against the REDBLACKS this Sunday at 1pm?

What are the issues that might influence the outcome?

This has just been a weird season. We won games we should not have and lost games we should have won. We’ve been (and still are) badly snake-bit by injuries this year. Despite those injuries we looked like champions beating a good BC team on Sunday.

So I have no idea how this game is going to play out.

I was nervous before Sunday’s BC game, I’m doubly nervous about this upcoming Ottawa game. Is that a good sign? :o

Nothing to be nervous about. Speedy “A” has adequately replaced Speedy “B”.
In a couple of weeks the name Bob Young will be engraved on the Grey Cup. :wink:

Ottawa comes out flat and we take advantage. They wake up and HAM hangs on to force a dramatic finish to win.

Weather and turnovers dominate game.

I say avoid game planning for ottawa to much. Instead, game plan for our strengths and have confidence that’ll be all it takes. Let ottawa try and adjust to us.

So Cats 96, Ottawa 16?

We got this, WOOOO!

TiCats win a close one! 8)

We should have plenty of motivation and look for payback this weekend vs the redblacks.

1 Revenge for that gruesome intentional late head shot on Tasker by db Cioffi.

2 Rico Murray is the guy that pounced down hard on Banks injuring Speedy’s shoulder ànd losing him for the seaaon.

3 Payback for when they knocked us out of the playoffs in 2015 with a last minute hail mary pass in the last minutes if the gam. Ed Gainey fell down while trying to guard Ellingson.

4 Beat them when it counts after they beat us 3 times this year and taking away are chance of a bye week and to host the eastern final.

I hope we start Sinkfield over Mcdaniel ( never pass to him anyway) this week to give them a deep threat to worry about and it lengthens the field.

Also, I hope Rolle, Johnson and Laurent are ready to start.

Watched that replay many times. Banks really extended himself and his shoulder made hard contact with the ground a good second or two before Rico got there. I wouldn’t blame Rico. He was just trying to make a play and don’t believe he would try to injure Banks. They were longtime teammates and went to two Grey Cups together. Rico was a good Ti-Cat.

The first drive we had in the ESF essentially mirrored our season to this point.

Long field to start. There were flashes of brilliance as well as mistakes. There were injury scares with Addison being taken off for concussion protocol, thankfully able return later in that drive. Then we managed to literally fumble our way into the endzone as we did into the playoffs.

It would be quite poetic if the remainder of our playoffs mirrored the performance of the team following that initial drive… pure dominance.

Oskee wee wee!

That is a perfect synopsis indeed for the last game and season.

Last time we beat on the lions like this, we were also travelling to Ottawa, the week after. We started strong, and Rbs made adjustments in the second half and we disappeared.
Lets rewrite the script this time and make the necessary adjustments - we are playing the Eastern division champions; another coach that was a grey cup champion.
Hopefully we will go fully prepared. Defence needs to win the one on one battles and score some points.
ST can not take stupid penalties.
Offence needs a good start and keep the pedal to the metal.
Coaches will have to be smart and alert.

Rick Campbell seems to have the Cats figured out. Let’s hope that in the first 3 games we feigned our incompetence and have a new bag of tricks that Ottawa has no answer for.

Defence wins championships!

The Cats actually play the RubyGlooms better in Ottawa than at home…

Since 2014 in Ottawa…

Oct 31/14 Ham 34 Ott 25
Nov 7/15 Ott 44 Ham 28
Nov 22/15 Ott 35 Ham 28 (EF)
Oct 21/16 Ham 39 Ott 36 (OT)
Sep 9/17 Ham 26 Ott 22
Oct 27/17 Ott 41 Ham 36
Oct 19/18 Ott 35 Ham 31

3-4 record (including playoffs) since 2014. Hamilton hasn’t scored less 26 points in any game. 5 of the 7 games decided by 7 points or less.

I was the same before the BC game, but I’m not half as nervous for the final.
The way your boys executed their O, D, and ST game plans in the semi – that was the good sign!
If they prepare well for noise, pack a couple or so new tricks in their play bag and execute, like that, for a second straight week, they should earn a chance to make it three straight weeks.

Weather in Ottawa on Sunday will be a little chilly but nice

-2 degrees C
mainly sunny(8hrs sunshine)
wind @ 10km/hr from the west

I know Rick Campbell and staff seem to have figured out the Cats, both offensively and defensively. I know we are running near empty on receivers. I know that Harris, Sinopoli and Ellingson seem to have our DB/LB coverage figured out for quick, high percentage completions.

But I would love to take the smirk off of Rick Campbell and the smugness out of Trevor Harris. Nothing personal, just … yeah, I guess it is a personal thing. My unpleasant dark side that I try to hide from the grandchildren. :wink:

Kicking is going to be big. If we match last weeks effort, I don’t see how we can be beat to tell the truth.!

I agree. More broadly, I think the field position battle will be crucial. We have had problems containing OTT’s returner (Spencer), and we tend to give up a bit of field position on any exchange of punts. Adding to that, our kickoff returns are not great, and our coach sometimes forgets that he can take the ball on the 35 after a field goal.

Best case is to move the ball consistently on offence, so that starting field position doesn’t matter as much. But if it’s a defensive struggle, special teams could make the difference - and that does not favour the good guys.

Vegas has HAM 3-3.5 pt. underdogs.
Flattering, imo.

Another important factor may be if Andre Proulx is reffing this game