Bert Faibish
Ticats.ca
Like Bill Murray’s character Phil in Groundhog Day, the Ticats must be starting to feel like they’ve seen this before.
The Black and Gold will play the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the fourth time (including the preseason) since June 20 when they meet this Saturday evening at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
“It’s tough when you play a team that many times this early on. To be successful, it’s harder,” said Ticats quarterback Kevin Glenn.
“You try to put in some new wrinkles, to marry some stuff up that looks like what you did before, but a little bit different,” said Glenn.
The Ticats opened the season with a loss in Winnipeg but erased the memory of that game by smashing Winnipeg 28-7 two weeks later in Hamilton. Now the Bombers will return to Ivor Wynne Stadium with Steven Jyles at quarterback after a Demonte’ Bolden hit knocked Buck Pierce out of the game in Hamilton.
“I like Steven, I think he’s a very good passer, he’s poised in the pocket, everyone knows that he brings a different part of the game with his legs but I think he doesn’t get enough credit for being able to stay in the pocket,” said Head Coach Marcel Bellefeuille.
“He came in here and did a good job last game, making throws down the field and making plays with his arm, not just with his legs,” he said.
Aside from Steven Jyles and the bane of secondaries everywhere, Terrence Edwards, Fred Reid is the one player the Ticats will have to slow down to come away with another victory on Saturday night.
“With Fred, one of the things you have to make sure of is you need to keep him inside the tackles,” said Bellefeuille. “When he gets out on the edge and you lose contain on him, that’s when he makes his big runs, his 70, 80-yard runs.”
One of the most intriguing storylines going into this weekend’s match will be what Arland Bruce III does for an encore, after matching a CFL record with 16 catches and hitting a new career-high with 272 receiving yards.
Bruce seemed to have trouble getting started in both games against Winnipeg but will come into the game with all the confidence in the world, and could take advantage of the loss on an injured Ian Logan.
New Ticats Punter Eric Wilbur will be making his debut and everyone will be watching to see if he can kick the ball with some more consistency and give the Ticats better field position to work with.
