Ticats may be 0-2, but there’s more room for optimism now than there was a week ago

For some, the ultimate measure of a CFL team is wins and losses, so there will obviously be a lot of people downgrading the Hamilton Tiger-Cats this coming week; despite their high-profile offseason acquisitions, the team's now 0-2 following a 39-36 loss to B.C. Friday night. However, the reality of a team's ultimate capabilities is generally more nuanced than that, and that should be the case with the Ticats. While their 43-16 loss to Saskatchewan in Week One was generally humiliating and this game had some moments that wouldn't have seemed out of place in that drubbing, on the whole, Friday night's contest was a much more positive performance for Hamilton. Yes, this team still isn't living up to the offseason hype, but at least they finally justified some of the attention they've received. Although it won't be easy for them to make the jump from potential to actual performance, they showed that potential off Friday night, and that's positive news for Tiger-Cats' fans.

There were plenty of good moments to take away from Friday's loss for Hamilton fans, particularly Chevon Walker's 95-yard touchdown on a screen pass and Chris Williams' 67-yard punt return for a touchdown, but there's also a palatable overall impression from this one. Yes, the Tiger-Cats gave up 26 unanswered points and fell behind 33-14 at one point, but they managed to battle back within three and could potentially have pulled out a victory here with a defensive stop and a quick game-winning touchdown or game-tying field goal (and then an overtime win). That's not bad at all, considering they were playing on the road in a game that started at 10 p.m. Eastern against the defending Grey Cup champions. They also got solid showings from important offensive figures; quarterback Henry Burris completed 26 of 39 passes (66.7 per cent) for 359 yards and four touchdowns with one interception, while Walker had 117 yards and two touchdowns on five catches, and Dave Stala (starting for the first time after being mostly used as a sub last week) had six catches for 96 yards. The ground game wasn't as effective, as Walker only picked up 37 yards on 11 carries, but this offence was still generally impressive, and that's definite progress from their poor Week One showing.

Of course, there's still a lot that needs to be done. While the defence improved somewhat and was generally effective against the Lions' aerial offence (quarterback Travis Lulay finished with 17 completions on 37 attempts for 178 yards, although he did have two touchdowns and no interceptions), it was torn up on the ground by Andrew Harris, who picked up 147 rushing yards and a touchdown on 13 carries (11.3 yards per carry). Conversely, although Walker was effective as a receiver, the Hamilton ground game was lacking; he only picked up 37 yards on 11 catches. The aerial attack, although reasonably effective overall, didn't necessarily maximize its potential either; keep in mind that 95 of Burris' passing yards came from Walker's catch-and-run, which really was a pass of five yards or less, and that Andy Fantuz, Chris Williams and Samuel Giguère were all held to 50 receiving yards or less. Still, there were promising signs here for the Tiger-Cats, and that's a lot more than they can say about their season opener. There's a long way to go still, and starting 0-2 is never a good thing, but if this team can keep improving, the hype may not be as far off as their current record might make it seem.