Hamilton Tiger-Cats turn in flat effort in 37-17 thumping by B.C. Lions Friday night

There was a huge amount of motivation for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to play well against the B.C. Lions Friday and improve their marginal position in the playoff picture, but you wouldn't have known it from how they played. There was minimal fire or effectiveness, and they quickly fell behind, trailing 21-3 at halftime and never threatening a comeback. Sure, B.C. was always going to be a formidable opponent given their league-best 10-4 record, but with 5-9 Hamilton on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, one might have thought the Tiger-Cats would be desperate to pick up a win. They sure didn't look like it, though.

It wasn't an effective evening for Hamilton on almost any front, but the defence, the scourge of their season so far, was particularly bad. B.C.'s offence moved the chains almost at will both on the ground and through the air, with quarterback Travis Lulay completing 27 of his 34 passing attempts (79.4 per cent) for 343 yards and two touchdowns and running back Andrew Harris collecting 68 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. The Lions were without top receivers Geroy Simon and Arland Bruce, but they didn't seem to miss them too much, as everyone from Courtney Taylor (six catches, 93 yards and a touchdown) to Shawn Gore (eight catches, 85 yards) and Nick Moore (five catches, 75 yards) came through. Harris chipped in, too, adding another 53 yards and a touchdown on five catches, becoming the CFL's all-time Canadian leader in yards-from-scrimmage in a single season in the process. It was a great offensive night for the Lions and a terrible one for the Tiger-Cats.

Things were a little better when Hamilton had the ball, but not greatly so. Henry Burris wasn't terrible, and he only turned the ball over once via a fumble (although he threw an interception that was nullified thanks to a B.C. penalty), but he couldn't consistently move the chains, completing 22 of 31 passing attempts (71 per cent) for just 228 yards on the night. None of Hamilton's vaunted receivers really stood out, and although Avon Cobourne was effective in the ground game, collecting 56 yards and a touchdown on just seven carries (an average of 8 yards per carry), the Tiger-Cats didn't go to the ground nearly frequently enough early on and soon fell far enough behind they abandoned the run. It was a subpar effort all around, and one that's not going to leave them feeling good about how they played.

The real question for Hamilton is if they can still edge their way into the playoffs. It's certainly not out of the question, as they're still in third place in the East at the moment (although Edmonton would cross over into that berth if the season ended right now). A lot depends on what the Eskimos and Bombers do, and on how the Tiger-Cats do in their remaining three contests. Two of those are on the road, though, where Hamilton's 1-6 on the year. However, if they play the way they did Friday, it's going to be the Tiger-Cats' own poor effort that keeps them out of the playoffs, not where their games are.