The Kent Austin era in steel town has delivered playoff football each time but if he doesn’t pull a rabbit out of the hat, that could very well come to a crashing halt this year. The 2017 Hamilton Tiger-Cats are in for a tough season.
2017 Hamilton Tiger-Cats Preview
Progress stalled
Back-to-back Grey Cup appearances in 2013 and 2014 to open his tenure in Tiger Town raised the bar for Austin to deliver the Tabbies and their fans a first championship parade of the new millennium. But an Eastern final loss in 2015 followed by a first-round exit in 2016 signal a regression for the head coach, who gave up his general manager duties to Eric Tillman last season. Second only to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the Tiger-cats now hold one of the CFLs longest Grey Cup droughts at eighteen years and counting.
Once Grey Cup favorites out of the east, Hamilton has fallen stagnant and needs either Zach Callaros or his backup Jeremiah Masoli to make something big happen early in order to regain their mojo that led the Tiger-Cats to win their first nine games at the new Tim Hortons Field.
East Division Improving
Marc Trestman has breathed new life into the Toronto Argonauts and Darian Durant has done the same for the Montreal Alouettes. A healthy Trevor Harris in Ottawa is quarterbacking a newly confident Redblacks squad still basking the glory of their championship party last fall. And meanwhile, Hamilton is still trying to rebound from Collaros’s torn ACL injury two seasons ago.
Encouraging Signs
Ex-Roughrider stars Xavier Fulton and John Chick provide some badly needed relief along the offensive and defensive lines respectively. Fulton will anchor an O-line that needs to protect Callaros well enough to complete a full season, which he has yet to do in his three years with Hamilton. Chick got some revenge on Rider coach/general manager/defensive co-ordinator/vice-president of football operations Chris Jones with 14 quarterback sacks last season – only Charleston Hughes of Calgary had more – after refusing to take a pay cut in Saskatchewan. At age 34 it remains to be seen if Chick has enough left in the tank to capture Austin another championship win like he did back in 2007 with the Roughriders.
Much has been made about who will kick for the gold and black, and the team’s brain trust is taking an unlikely path to fill that spot. Passed over by the Atlanta Falcons, import Sergio Castillo is back in the CFL for his third kick at the can. His punting credentials are strong but his place-kicking remains unknown. However, he showed to be clearly strong enough in training camp to impress Austin and Tillman enough to take the unusual step of burning an international spot on a kicker to do both jobs.
Reliable running back C.J. Gable is back to carry the mail in a year in which he will turn 30, which is usually just about the finish line for a running back’s career. Bank on at least one more good season out of this one. Returnees Luke Tasker, Terrence Tolliver and Canadian Mike Jones will anchor a receiving corps without the services of Andy Fantuz whose rehabbing a leg injury and will sit out the season.
Prediction
Too many unknowns about this team, particularly at quarterback, to expect a definite playoff berth. It remains to be seen if Collaros has the durability to play enough to carry this team where it needs to go and Masoli hasn’t proven he can do it yet either. Expect this team to scratch and claw for every win it gets, and still be fighting for a playoff spot at the bitter end of the season.
Based on what we know about them now, bet on them finish in last place in the east with an outside shot at a crossover to the western playoffs, should Saskatchewan (likely), Winnipeg (possibly), and Edmonton (maybe) all stub their toes in a tough West division.
The only certainty about this team is that if Kent Austin doesn’t find a way to bust this prediction and get his team back to Grey Cup contention quickly, it will be his last season in steel town. Bet on it.
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