Bert Faibish
Ticats.ca
The phrase ‘bounces not going our way’ has been brought up when discussing the Tiger-Cats last few games more times than Otis Floyd has trash-talked the opposition.
For the first time all season, the bounces in Saturday’s game finally began to roll the way of the Black and Gold.
“That’s what it seems like, like finally that ball was bouncing our way,” said Ticats linebacker Otis Floyd.
“We had some ups and some downs, but we stuck in there, we bent but we didn’t break,” he added.
Apparently the Winnipeg defence didn’t get the memo about Arland Bruce’s record-setting performance last week. Bruce fell off just slightly, finishing the night with 11 receptions for a ‘pedestrian’ 197 yards.
“Getting the ball early in the game definitely gets your confidence going,” said Bruce. “It’s just like playing basketball. If you shoot five, ten, fifteen free throws, your confidence builds up and that’s what it is for me on the field.”
“If I can get one or two catches early it kind of gives me an idea of how they’re playing me.”
One thing is for sure, the bad blood that boiled over and handful of times during Saturday’s contest will be even closer to the surface next week when the team’s face each other for the fourth time in seven weeks.
“It’s gonna be a battle out there, so everybody better get ready to get into a dogfight,” said Floyd.
“Everybody better have their helmets strapped up,” he added.
After facing some adversity early in the season, some helpful pointers from a Ticat legend helped Sandro DeAngelis return to form and help boot his team back into the win column.
“Never did I dream that my Hamilton Tiger-Cat career would get off to such a rocky start,” said an excited DeAngelis.
“This is a tricky place to play and it took a phone call from Paul Osbaldiston, who played here for 18 years to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do here,” he said.
Sandro was back to being Mr. Clutch on Saturday, going 3-for-3 in situations where the team had to have those three points.
Saturday was special for one Ticat in particular.
After playing solely as a special teams contributor this season, Canadian Matt Carter made his first start at receiver and caught his first career touchdown, on his first reception.
“It was great, as a young guy, especially a young Canadian you earn your stripes on special teams and getting an opportunity to play on offence is something you want to take advantage of,” said Carter.
“I’m not going to lie, it was a lot more fun than playing specials teams, I felt like I was in college again, contributing and having fun,” he said.
Also making his first reception in a Ticat uniform was Adam Nicolson, who caught a 34-yard pass in the second quarter to help set up an Alrand Bruce touchdown with less than a minute remaining in the first half.
