This is a crucial time for us in Hamilton. Are we going to cry and whine that we are done without giving Matthews a chance, or are we going to say “Austin’s deal with losing Zach before last season, he’ll do it again this season, lets get out there and support our boys through thick and thin!”
The surprising thing that I believe that no one has brought up yet is the fact that if you look at the game stats that the rookie Mathews had better stats and more yds then the wily old vet Reilly had in that game. The kid was thrust into a game against one of the best if not the best D's in the league, who were like a rapid bunch of sharks looking for blood in the water. Let's not also forget that Mathews went in with a makeshift O-Line that lost their starting LT early on in the game which was a huge loss and disadvantage to the youngster. The big difference in the game were unfortunately his 3 picks, all either took pts off the board (end zone int) or resulted in points on the board for the Eskimos (2 pick 6's). I never thought I'd be so happy with a bye week, but now that Mathews has a couple weeks to prepare as the #1 I'm sure that Austin and Condell will be working overtime in putting in a package that will allow Mathews to make adjustments and to manage the game as the starter. Hopefully as well that we can get back a few of our injured weapons during the break like Grant,Fantuz and hopefully Gable to help him out further.
I agree Bobo,
Mathews was pretty good outside of those three catastrophic plays, I feel if he stayed in the game, we would have won!
Austin and Condell will design a new Offense around Mathews strengths and comfort level, all 3 were together at Cornell for 3 seasons
They also had a new Offense designed when LeFevour had to go in last season.
With our Defense, the Offense doesn’t have to win the game, just not lose it on turnovers.
This team will overcome this adversity and rise to the challenge as they have all the other times.
All is good with rookie qb's in their initial flashes of greatness until the other teams get some actual game film on them. ie Franklin, Cato, Smith. All the best to Mathews, hope he lives up to the expectations as he is the leader going forward the rest of this year and probably the start of 2016. Ti-Cats deserve and fans deserve better than the fate dealt to them.
The 3 INTs are just a rookies mistakes and a mere stat now.
Matthews showed he can check down, and throw laser beams.
This team isn't done by a long shot, & it is good to see the fans aren't either.
Oh this Kid can play football no doubt even good enough to goto the show given the coaches will have a game plan to fit Jeffs Strengths, best team, best coaches,most deep in talent, next man up is #15 Go Cats Go!!!!! :rockin:
I have faith in Mathews to carry us through. This is exactly what we were all worried about as we steamrolled through the beginning of the season…the “what ifs”. What if Zach gets hurt? Its happened. When he went down, all of us in the stadium went silent and started thinking that this can’t be happening. Not now. Just imaging being the #2 QB, watching him go down, then getting shoved onto the field in front of a crowd that’s now wondering what the hell is going on. I’m sure at that point there was more on his mind than just being able to play the game.
While the interceptions and fumble were disappointing, the reaction of the crowd must have amplified that with him. He was in a tough spot in a bad situation. We hadn’t racked up points early in the game like we have in previous games, and things went off the rails quickly.
I think with 2 weeks and a lot of drills he can come back and make a statement and show us what he’s all about. This isn’t the first time he’s been in this same position, and he thrived then as well.
Wikipedia:
At Cornell, injuries thrust him into the role of starting quarterback at halftime of the first game of his Freshman season. The job proved to be his for keeps.
Mathews is the man, he has shown he can do it and with the reps in the next 2 weeks he will take us to the promised land. With our team all we need is a QB to be a good manager of the game and the team will carry the rest.
I hope Jeff doesn't think he needs to be Superman (Collaros) in order to win the game on October 2.
Again, as long as he manages the offence efficiently (limits his mistakes), we should win.
I'm sure KA and TC will drill that into his head before Friday next week. If he is mentally prepared for the challenge, the physical part should be relatively easy.
We (the 13th man) have your back Jeff. We will be loud and proud when our defence is on the field, which should help you with better field position - not to mention our awesome return game.
Don't try to do more than you can. (Good advice for anything in life).
I think that is what we saw when he was thrown into the game. With a starter like Collaros, he (Mathews) was probably just sitting there waiting for the call to leap across the goal line, not even thinking about having to take over.
Having 2 weeks of prep time should get his head in the right place to be able to perform.
Looking forward to seeing this team continue to march on. :thup:
