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Posted at 11:00 AM EST.

7:30 PM EST. Last week, we cited the Tiger-cats as being in the best situational spot possible and if they could not take advantage of the positive situational advantages they were in, shame on them. Hamilton was smoked 39-12 by Winnipeg. Winless and desperate, the ‘Cats couldn’t even compete, which was a testament to how toothless they are and have been all season long. Hamilton was outgained by 161 yards last week. The last three weeks they have been outgained by 161 yards, 131 yards and 201 yards respectively. On July 8 in Saskatchewan, the Ti-Cats were outgained by 258 yards. They have been outgained in every game this year and their point differential after a seven games is a monstrous -143. Furthermore, the Cats will not have All-Star defensive tackle Ted Laurent here after he suffered a hamstring injury in last weekend’s loss to Winnipeg. That’s the positives surrounding this team.

The players got into a brawl with upwards of 20 players involved at practice on Aug. 1 during an offence vs. defense drill where punches were thrown. Zach Collaros has the fewest passing yards among QBs in the league and owns the least amount of touchdown passes. He has also thrown the most picks and the worst part is that the offense is not the biggest problem. Defensively, the Ticats are allowing a league-worst 475.7 yards per game while averaging 39 points scored against. We usually do not get into numbers or get behind road favorites but the Tabbies are a train wreck unlike anything we’ve seen in this league in over 45 years. In a desperate move after getting crushed by Winnipeg last week, Hamilton fired its defensive coordinator and “promoted” Phillip Lolley from his role as defensive run game coordinator and linebackers coach. That’s like shuffling chairs on the upper deck of an ocean liner. This idiot show continues. The final problem here for Hamilton is that it is facing a team that is in no position to take anyone lightly with just one victory of its own this season.

Ottawa is 1-6-1. Its biggest margin of defeat this year is seven points with the other five losses being by four, one, two, three and three respectively. The Redblacks could easily be 6-1-1 or even 8-0, yet here we are eight weeks in and Hamilton and Ottawa could have the same number of victories after tonight. That’s not even reasonable, as one team has been highly competitive while the other squad has a 59-point loss and four other losses by 15 points or more. Redblacks QB Trevor Harris has thrown for 2,468 yards and 16 touchdowns through eight games. This is one of the CFL’s most efficient offenses that puts up big numbers every week. Harris figures to get more time this week than he’s had all season and that means another crooked number will be on the scoreboard against the Tabbies. Hamilton has not been able to keep pace or even come close to keeping pace with anyone, let alone an offense of the caliber they’ll see here. Ottawa is not a one-win team, while the Tigercats are a legit winless team. The Redblacks had a great week of practice. They want this game badly and even said the losses are becoming personal. This is a tight-knit team on the verge of a string of victories while Hamilton is a mess in every way possible including a divided locker room. 

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