The stage at BC Place is set for a catfight on Saturday night as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats end their four game road stretch in Vancouver to face the BC Lions.
Week 8 marks the anticipated return of Ticats starting pivot Zach Collaros. The road to recovery has been a long one for Collaros, who has not seen the field since tearing his ACL on September 19, 2015 against the Edmonton Eskimos. Collaros took first team reps all week at practice and says he’s looking forward to the challenge of playing BC in his first game back.
“It feels great to be back on the field,” said Collaros. “I’m really anxious and excited to play the first game… We’re taking on a very good team and a very good defence. Like I always say when we play BC, they probably have the two best linebackers, besides ours, in the league. They have a very savvy secondary and they’re very good upfront.”
The Ticats receiving core has emerged as one of the toughest units to defend through the first seven weeks of the CFL season. First year Ticat Chad Owens is currently the most targeted wide receiver on the team and has spent his short tenure in Hamilton taking passes from Jeremiah Masoli. Saturday will be the first time that Owens and Collaros suit up alongside each other in black and gold. Owens says the chemistry between him and Collaros has been coming along in practice.
“It’s been really smooth actually,” Owens said about the quarterback transition. “With every quarterback, they have their own way that they want you to do certain things. So it’s just small adjustments with Zach. He tells us how he wants us to do certain things and we make the adjustments right away.”
The Ticats are coming off of a tough 37-11 loss at the hands of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Week 7. Teams were not able to take the field until two-and-a-half hours after the game was scheduled to start due to a lengthy rain delay at Investors Group Field. Once the game finally started, the Bombers got an early jump on the Ticats with three first quarter touchdowns and never looked back.
The Ticats have yet to drop a game to a divisional opponent but are 1-3 against teams in the west; a trend they are hoping to turn around against the Lions.
BC leapt out of the gate to start the 2016 season and currently sit one point behind the Calgary Stampeders for top spot in the West Division. The Lions boast a league best 22.5 points allowed per game entering Week 8, a testament to their strong defensive play.
Lions head coach Wally Buono acknowledged that having Collaros back will give the Ticats a confidence boost, but says that BC’s game plan extends beyond the opponents quarterback.
“We’re not playing Zach just by himself,” Buono told BCLions.com. “We’re playing the Tiger-Cats. They have a lot of weapons and we want to make sure that we focus on everybody.”
The Lions looked impressive in a 38-18 win over the Montreal Alouettes in Week 7. Lions pivot Jonathon Jennings threw for 331 yards on 27-for-32 passing with one touchdown and an interception. Emmanuel Arceneaux was on the receiving end of the Lions major and finished the night with 70 yards on seven catches while Richie Leone was successful on 5-of-7 field goal attempts.
Buono says he is anticipating a tough battle against the Ticats.
“We expect it to be a very physical game,” Buono told BCLions.com “Hamilton plays that style of a game. We have to be there and better.”
The Lions currently lead the season series against the Ticats 1-0 after coming away with a 28-3 victory at Tim Hortons Field on Hamilton’s Canada Day home opener. The Ticats have split their season series with the Lions four times since 2010.
Quick Facts:
- This game features the two clubs tied for #1 overall in 2016 with 22 QB sacks each. Both Hamilton and BC have each had 13 sacks in their last 3 games.
- The Ticats are 16-9 when Zach Collaros starts at QB
- With 41 defensive tackles, Lions LB Adam Bighill is on pace for 123 in 2016, two more than his leading total of 121 in 2015. No player in CFL history as ever reached 120+ tackles twice in their career.
- Against Jonathon Jennings this week and his 3-game passing streak of 300+ yards will be the #1 pass defence in the CFL. Hamilton allows an average of just 273 passing yards per game and overall a league-best 305.3 net yards overall.