Bert Faibish
Ticats.ca
After looking like a well-oiled machine the past few weeks, the Ticats offence wasn’t nearly as productive against Montreal on Saturday.
In order to get back on track, they’ll have to pull off a win on the road against a tough B.C. Lions defence that currently leads the CFL in sacks.
“It’s not really about what other teams are trying to do against us, we just have to execute better,” said Ticats receiver Marquay McDaniel.
“I think looking at the film, that’s what it came down to last week, somebody out of place on each play,” he said.
The Ticats will enter this week with an 0-2 record against West Division opponents and a 2-3 record away from Ivor Wynne Stadium.
If anything, this is not an ideal time to be playing the Lions, who have reeled off back-to-back impressive wins.
“They’re a team that likes to bring pressure from everywhere, inside, outside, a little bit like Saskatchewan,” said offensive lineman Alexandre Gauthier.
“That’s why this week we’ve really practiced our blitz pick-up and asked the scout team defence to mirror some of the things that we’ll see on Saturday so that we can recognize them and are ready for it,” he said.
The Cats’ offensive line has done an excellent job of keeping Kevin Glenn upright this season and is in the top three in the league in sacks allowed.
Their ability to pick up the extra rushers that the Lions will undoubtedly be bringing will go a long way towards deciding the outcome of the game.
“Often with those types of defences, they’re going to beat you one-on-one, but they’ll bring an extra guy or try to mess you up so you don’t know who’s actually coming, so we need to make sure we’re on the ball for that,” said Gauthier.
One way the offence can take some of the pressure off is by establishing the run game early and to keep the defence guessing about what’s coming next. Last season, DeAndra’ Cobb put together two of his best performances in wins against the Lions, including a career-high 167-yard, two-touchdown performance.
“I know we’ve been saying we need to run the ball but this week we really do if we want to take some of the pressure off the passing game,” said Gauthier.
