Edmonton 38, Hamilton 23

I really don't know where to begin. I thought last week as an aberration; I thought it was rock bottom; I thought there was no way this team was as bad as they looked in Montreal.

Then the game kicks off and the Cats get called for a penalty. On the opening kickoff! As far as bad omens go, that has to rank up there.

Then the first two passes Kevin Glenn throws hit his receivers off the chest and fall incomplete.

Not a good night for the Black & Gold.

Positives

Much like last week, it's hard to take any positives away from a game in which the Offense did nothing until it didn't matter and the Defense did even less.

Justin Medlock had his trademark great game, hitting all three of his field goal attempts and punting rather well. The bad part is, a team's Kicker/Punter should not be its best performer two weeks in a row. When that happens, said team is in trouble.

Birthday boy Chris Williams had a decent evening. He had trouble fielding kickoffs at some points, but he did lead the team in receiving with 74 yards and returned a kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown.

Negatives

Why did the Tiger-Cats spend all that money to lure Avon Cobourne away from Montreal? It sure as hell wasn't to give him the ball nine times a game. That is the number of touches Cobourne had tonight. He needs to see the ball way more than that, and there needs to be a concerted effort to get him the ball early. I could say more about the Offense, but I'll leave it at that because they were not the biggest problem in this game.

The biggest problem was, without a doubt, the Defense. I, and I'm sure there are many others that feel the same, have lost complete faith in this Defense. They do nothing right. Nothing. They can't tackle, they don't get pressure, and they haven't created a turnover in God knows how long. They can't defend the short routes, the intermediate routes or the long routes. I'm surprised when these guys stop the opposition. The worst part is, there are a TON of talented players on the Defense. From Stevie Baggs to Justin Hickman to Jamall Johnson to Rey Williams to Markeith Knowlton to Ryan Hinds. These are all good, talented players, but they look like rank amateurs out there. These guys will need to step it up if this team has any hope of doing anything in November.

Final Thoughts

Last week, it was easy to excuse a poor performance as a one-off. But this is the second week in a row that the Tiger-Cats have stunk out the joint, so dismissing it isn't as easy.

Perhaps playing in Moncton next week isn't the worst thing in the world. It allows them to get away from all the negativity that surrounds them in Hamilton, and maybe that is the magic elixir this team needs to get the ship back on course.

Adversity can either tear a team apart or bring it closer together. The last time the Cats faced this type of adversity, they ran off three straight wins. Hopefully for the fans, the players, the coaches and everyone else associated with this proud franchise, we will see a repeat.