By: Justin Boone
jboone@ticats.ca
When Nautyn McKay-Loescher stood up and addressed the defence during a meeting this week, he had no idea his head coach was sitting in the back of the room.
The team’s leading sacker from a year ago talked about the role of the defence particularly in the beginning of the season.
“We have a young offence, in terms of not being together for a long time,” he explained. “Usually the offence takes a while to get going and click, so the defence needs to start off fast to help the offence mature and grow a little bit.
It was a move uncharacteristic of Nautyn, or at least the version of him that coaches saw in 2007. For all his talent on the field, he shied away from becoming a leader.
“He expressed his feelings in that meeting, which I hadn’t seen from him in the past,” said coach Charlie Taaffe. “Nautyn is kind of on the wild side a little bit, but he’s really into the team concept, and one area where he’s really stepped up is as a leader. He has a lot of pride in his game and his play and he’s going to be a big part of our defence.”
Nautyn isn’t the only one who has evolved in his sophomore season in Hamilton. In his second-year patrolling the sidelines for the Tabbies, Taaffe also has a new found comfort level this season. The experience of his staff has allowed him to become an overseer, getting to think about the big picture and it’s showed in the way he has dealt with both sides of the ball.
In 2007, his eyes were primarily turned towards the offence, his area of expertise. Now the are able to wander through all three facets of the team and with training camp a thing of the past, the Ticats players and coaches have focused their efforts on carrying over the momentum from their two pre-season wins.
“The preparation is the same but I think the sense of urgency is a little bit greater on everybody’s part,” Taaffe stated. “You can tell it’s game week and that we don’t want to let the ‘What Ifs,’ become the ‘If Onlys.’”
The Breakdown
Zeke Moreno on Montreal’s offence…
“They have experienced players like Anthony Calvillo. They say that he’s not a running quarterback, but he always finds the pocket inside. He’s shifty enough to maneuver to buy time and then find that open receiver. We’re just going to have to not let him sit back in the pocket, put some pressure on him and be a distraction. This year we have a lot of guys who can put pressure, not just on the edges but up the middle.”
The importance of getting a win in the season opener…
“Obviously it’s going to mean everything to the players, but it’s going to mean just as much to the city and the community. This is going to be an eye opener for them to see that we’re really a team to content with, and also to let other teams know that we’re not the bad news bears anymore, we’re the Tiger-Cats and we’re going to bring it back to the team that we once were.”
Under The Radar
WR – Scott Mitchell – Tiger-Cats
After a strong pre-season, Mitchell has cracked the starting lineup for Thursday night’s game, and will look to continue to produce both in receptions and yards. He’s the type of receiver who will make the tough catch anywhere on the field, and although he’s not well known heading into the season, he may become a staple of the Tabbies receiving corps.
WR – Jason Armstead – Alouettes
While he’s not listed as a starter on their depth chart, the former Ticat will handle all of Montreal’s return duties. You can be sure that Special Teams Coach Dave Easley’s crew will be out to shutdown Armstead and win the field position battle, as Armstead tries to show Hamilton they made a big mistake letting him go.
Final Notes
-When the defence is on the field, pay attention to #25 and #26, Markeith Knowlton and Chris Thompson, respectively. Both players have looked solid in pre-season and the hopes are that they will be playmakers on the Black and Gold defence.
-Can Zeke Moreno make a run at his own Ticats single season record of 114 tackles? He’ll need to keep up an average of seven tackles per game, we’ll see how he does tonight.
-Matchup to Watch: The Ticats young starting defensive tackles facing Montreal’s veteran offensive linemen.
