Jones on second meeting with Bombers: ‘They’re a different team’

HAMILTON — The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have already played, and beaten, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this season but ask anyone within the Ticats organization and they know a second win against them won’t come easy.

“They’re a different team,” Hamilton’s bench boss June Jones told Ticats.ca after day one of practice this week.

“They’re better. Their quarterback is back. We’re going to have to play very good on the road to beat them. That’s how this league is. It’s usually not games like we played last week (against Montreal). It comes down to those last minutes. Every other game that we’ve had came down that way and it’s going to come down at Winnipeg the same way.”

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Jeremiah Masoli will look to lead the Ticats to a second win against the Bombers this season (Adam Gagnon/CFL.ca)

Hamilton hosted the Bombers in Week 3 and left fans at their home opener cheering with a 31-17 victory. It was rookie Chris Streveler at the helm while starting pivot Matt Nichols recovered from an injury. This week when the Tabbies head to Winnipeg, the Bombers No. 1 QB will be back under centre.

“He’s a passer and he knows their scheme,” Jones said, explaining what to expect from Nichols. “Their scheme is a little like Ottawa’s where it doesn’t change. They do what they do. We’re going to have to play well. He’s a winner and he’s competitive. He’s not the RPO guy (Streveler) that we played last time. Their running game, they want to run the ball and be effective with that but they do a really good job in their passing game too.”

Not only will the Ticats need to contain Nichols through the air, they’ll need to try and slow down Andrew Harris on the ground.

Harris leads the league in rushing yards with 638 and has also scored five rushing touchdowns. The Canadian tailback is also dangerous out of the backfield, catching 27 passes for 208 yards and a touchdown so far this season.

“First and foremost, they have good running back over there,” said defensive back Jumal Rolle, who collected two interceptions against Montreal last week. “We need to stop the run. They like to establish the run early in a game so we want to stop the run first and let the rest of the chips fall where they may.”

The Ticats aim to slow down Andrew Harris this weekend at IGF (Adam Gagnon/CFL.ca)

Not only has the stellar play of the Bombers O-line allowed Harris to bolt to the top of the league in rushing yards, they’ve also allowed just seven sacks, a league-low.

“The thing that makes them good is that they play well together,” Nikita Whitlock, who lines up at both running back and defensive line, said of Winnipeg’s offensive line. “Offensive lines, it’s the one position that you really have to play as a unit and they play very well as a unit. I think the key to beating them is having the defensive line also play as a unit.”

Whitlock – just like his head coach – is expecting and is prepared for a completely different Winnipeg team on Friday night at Investors Group Field.

“I expect them to come out a little harder, play a little tougher, a little more physical and really just play us harder,” said Whitlock. “Any time you play a team that beat you, you come with a little bit of that bad taste in your mouth.”

– With files from Ticats.ca