Late Season Turnaround A Positive For Ticats Heading Into 2023

In 2022, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats lost their first four games of the season. After their first 12 games, the team’s record stood at 3-9. What followed was a dramatic turnaround that saw the Ticats win five of their final seven games in-route to changing the trajectory of the franchise.

The turnaround began with a dominant 48-31 win over the Blue Bombers on September 17th, 2022. Quarterback Dane Evans threw five touchdown passes to zero interceptions, wide receiver Tim White hauled in two of those touchdowns and the defence held Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros in check, picking him off twice and securing the Ticats’ biggest win of the season.

On October 14th, 2022 against the Calgary Stampeders, the Ticats pulled away with a 35-32 win on the road, the clubs first victory in the Stampede City since 2004. Running back Sean Thomas-Erlington picked up two touchdowns on the ground, White caught six of the seven passes thrown his way for 106 yards and a touchdown and the defence again met the moment, picking off quarterback Jake Maier three times.

If there were any doubts about whether or not the Ticats could compete against the best teams in the league, Hamilton silenced them with statement wins over the 15-3 Blue Bombers and the 12-6 Stampeders.

A 28-17 loss to the Alouettes in the postseason saw the Ticats fall short of their ultimate goal, but the late-season turnaround has fans in Hamilton excited about what 2023 will have in store.

Aggressive moves in free agency helped to bring in new additions including Bo Levi Mitchell, Duke Williams, James Butler and Joel Figueroa on offense—along with Ja’Gared Davis, Casey Sayles, Kwaku Boateng, Jameer Thurman, Fraser Sopik, Javien Elliot and Chris Edwards on defense.

The team re-signed Tim White and Simoni Lawrence.

What happens when you take a team that drastically turned things around in late 2022 and add explosive pieces in free agency?

For the Ticats, you get a team whose goal is for November 19th, 2023 to be a work day.

The Tiger-Cats begin the 2023 season June 9th, on the road vs. the Blue Bombers.