Jeff Mathews, Ticats win big over Riders: can they contend without a veteran QB?

When the Hamilton Tiger-Cats lost quarterback Zach Collaros September 19 with what turned out to be a season-ending ACL tear, one of the immediate thoughts was that the inexperience of their backup quarterbacks might combine with the Saskatchewan Roughriders' fading playoff hopes to produce a trade for Kevin Glenn. Glenn's a solid veteran and one who seemed likely to be on the market, and Friday night's game between Hamilton and Saskatchewan gave the Tiger-Cats a chance to evaluate him in person. Friday's game turned out to be a dominant 30-15 Hamilton victory, though, where Ticats' rookie QB Jeff Mathews significantly outplayed Glenn, and that may suggest that this team's going to finish the season trusting in Mathews rather than trying to bring in a more experienced quarterback.

While Mathews was only making his second CFL start, and while his first one was an underwhelming 23-20 loss to Calgary (in strong wind conditions, however), he did have one advantage over your typical CFL rookie; he played for Ticats' head coach/general manager Kent Austin and offensive coordinator Tommy Condell in college at Cornell, so he's quite familiar with the high-percentage system they run. That may be part of what spurred him to a superlative performance Friday; he threw for 385 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions and a 66.7 per cent completion rate. He also spread the ball around to seven different receivers. If Mathews can keep playing at this level, Hamilton may be fine heading into the playoffs without a veteran quarterback.

Something else that may help the case not to trade for a more-experienced pivot is the less-than-stellar showing Glenn turned in Friday. He completed 11 of his 17 passes, but threw for just 67 yards before being replaced by rookie Brett Smith, who threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns (albeit with an interception and a lower completion percentage). Glenn is the CFL's seventh-leading passer of all time, and he can't be entirely written off thanks to one game, but despite a great start this year, he hasn't been playing that well lately after his return from injury. He certainly didn't make much of a case for himself as an essential piece Friday night.

Of course, reading too much into one game is problematic. Just because Mathews succeeded against 2-13 Saskatchewan doesn't necessarily mean he'll be great down the stretch and in the playoffs, especially when he comes up against tougher defences. There still may be some merit to Hamilton trying to bolster their lineup with a veteran, perhaps even just as a backup in case Mathews falters. Also, just because Glenn struggled Friday doesn't mean he's a write-off. Still, Friday's game may well convince the Ticats they can proceed with Mathews at quarterback. We'll see how that works out for them, but this win was certainly a good sign.