By: Justin Boone
With the return of RB Jesse Lumsden to the lineup Friday night, the Ticats offence will get back their most effective weapon, as they look to send the Eskimos home 0-2 on their Ontario road trip.
“Our plan hasn’t changed even now with Jesse back,” explained head coach Charlie Taaffe. “We were going to run the ball whoever was playing, but we have to be able to attack through the air and on the ground. You can’t be one dimensional.”
The Tabbies offence ranks third in the league in total offence, and first in almost every rushing category. The goal now is to get the passing game on par, something that the team has been making strides at.
Two weeks ago WR Chris Bauman returned with an eight-catch performance, and last week WR Prechae Rodriguez added even more size and speed downfield hauling in a 54-yard catch.
“We talked about playing Prechae earlier, but I didn’t want Chris playing his first game of the season and Prechae playing his first game as a pro in the same game,” said coach Taaffe.
Rodriguez, who uses his height to his advantage, had the misfortune of faces one of the league’s tallest defensive backs last week in the 6’4 Brandon Browner. Therefore the 6’5 Rodriguez could be even more of a danger this week matching up against a smaller secondary.
“I think physically we’re getting more to where we want to be; Bauman at 6’4, Scott Mitchell at 6’3, and Prechae at 6’5. We’re starting to get longer at the receiver positions, which doesn’t require your quarterback to make perfect throws every time. You have more margin of error to work with bigger bodies.”
QB Casey Printers is completing 65 percent of his passes, but the added height and reach could help give the passing game a spark. Tony Miles has been Printers’ favourite target thus far, but is nursing a hamstring injury and will miss Friday’s game. He’ll be replaced by Jo Jo Walker, who will be making his first start of the year, and hoping for the same success Bauman and Rodriguez had when they entered the lineup.
The Breakdown
WR Pat Woodcock on Edmonton’s defence…
“Edmonton’s defence has a bunch of different looks, and they mix it up a lot. They lost Fred Perry last week, and Fred’s been a force in this league for a long time. It’s unfortunate and we wish him the best, but maybe we can take advantage of that opening. We still expect them to be very aggressive. They’re good at what they do, they come after you hard and they hit hard. So we’re going to have to eliminate mistakes on our part and try to stay on the field as long as we can and put points on the board.”
LB Markeith Knowlton on Edmonton’s offence…
“They’re a pretty efficient offence. They know what they want to do and what area they want to attack. It’s not an offence that you can sleep on. Edmonton has had a history of a great passing attack. They have good weapons. They have good backs, some talented receivers and of course Ricky Ray is a great passer. It’s not just one thing, they have several good players and we just have to do what we can to stop them.”
Under The Radar
DE – Cornelius Anthony – Tiger-Cats
Welcome to TigerTown. The arrival of the former Calgary Stampeder meant the release of Charlton Keith. Anthony will backup Kori Dickerson this week at defensive end, but the pair will split time. If you’re looking for Anthony he will be wearing number 48.
DT – Jim Davis – Edmonton
Most of the attention on the defensive line goes to free agent Dario Romero, who has come in as a veteran presence in their front four, but the spotlight needs to be turned on his fellow defensive tackle Jim Davis who is tied for second in the league in sacks with three.
Final Notes
– Zeke Moreno is coming off his best game of the season, according to coach Taaffe, unfortunately for Zeke it came in a loss to the Stamps. Despite setting the single season tackles record last year, Zeke is not concerned with his individual stats, but instead with the overall play of the defence. He hopes they can have a better performance this week against Alberta’s other team.
– Domenic Lewis will get the start, backed up by Nautyn McKay-Loescher, and they will maintain a steady rotation as well. Inside, Clinton Wayne and Terrence Patrick will attempt to provide a little more size and get a push on the interior of the defensive line. The goal is to get in the face of Ricky Ray anyway possible.
– With the return of Jesse Lumsden comes the return of Marko Cavka, evening out the import ratio, but the rotation of Lumsden/Cavka for Smith/Dyakowski will continue.
