Ticats head coach Milanovich still bothered by last week’s lopsided road loss

TORONTO — Time hasn’t cured what ails Scott Milanovich.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach/offensive co-ordinator hasn’t got over his club’s lopsided 40-3 road loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last Saturday. The contest began badly for the East Division leaders as Trey Vaval returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.

“I’ll let you know when I’m over it,” Milanovich said. “There’s no way to put your finger on exactly why you have a performance _ coaching performance, playing performance _ like that … we were whipped in all four phases, coaches included.”

Hamilton (9-5) remains atop the East Division, two points ahead of idle Montreal (8-7). The Ticats will play their final regular-season road game Saturday afternoon at BMO Field with an opportunity to eliminate the Toronto Argonauts (5-10) from playoff contention.

“Every time we play those guys it’s a dogfight, it’s going to come down to the last three minutes of the game,” Milanovich said. “Obviously their backs are against the wall, we know that.

“Just like we knew Winnipeg’s back was against the wall last week. We know we’re going to get a playoff effort from them and we’ve got to raise our level of execution and intensity.”

Hamilton had clinched a home playoff berth with B.C.’s 27-22 home win over Toronto last Friday night.

“There’s one thing that might tell you that something like that could happen with a young team, the fact that they woke up (Saturday) morning and found out they were in the playoffs,” Milanovich said. “But I can’t say that’s for sure why.

“We’re learning lessons every week and I think we learned a big one last week. We’re going to find out Saturday afternoon.”

Hamilton will look to rebound from its worst loss since a 60-1 defeat versus Calgary on July 29, 2017. And a win would give the Ticats the season series with Toronto 2-1.

Defensive back DaShaun Amos won two Grey Cups with Toronto (2022, ’24) before signing with Hamilton as a free agent. His priority Saturday is helping the Ticats resume their winning ways and not ending his former team’s playoff hopes.

“Obviously last week just wasn’t up to our standard at all, we still have a sour taste in our mouth from that,” he said. “It’s about bouncing back, responding to some adversity and going out there and playing our football and proving to ourselves we’re still a good team.

“There’s so much that we have to focus on within the building, within the organization, that it’s more so getting another win than eliminating another team.”

Amos said a 37-point loss is always concerning.

“Any time you lose like that it’s going to raise eyebrows, right,” he said. “It’s more of a learning experience, it’s not something where we’re hitting the panic button or doubting ourselves.

“Does it raise concerns? Yeah, because it’s not something we can take lightly or sweep under the rug and act like, ‘Oh, that was just a bad day.’ No, there’s a reason we got beat the way we got beat and we’ve got to address that and move forward to be the team we want to be.”

Hamilton still controls where it ultimately finishes in the East Division, aided by also having won the season series with Montreal and thus gaining the tiebreaker should the two teams compile identical records. Toronto, however, must not only win its final three games but get help from other teams to reach the post-season.

Toronto head coach Ryan Dinwiddie said his message to Argos players is a simple one: Worry about what they can control.

“What we control is how we go out and play (Saturday,)” he said. “We want to stop the run and give them second and long and get after the quarterback.

“That’s going to be the key. We can’t let (Mitchell) sit in the pocket and pat the ball letting (Ticats receivers) get downfield. That’s when they’re making the big plays so the pass rush has to come up.”

Veteran quarterback Nick Arbuckle will make a 15th start for Toronto. Like Dinwiddie, Arbuckle said the Argos can only deal with what’s immediately in front of them.

“You always want to be in control of your destiny as a football team but the reality of the situation is we’re not,” he said. “Every team always talks about just trying to focus on going 1-0, focusing on next week and this game.

“When you’re in a situation like this, there’s not even a luxury or reason to think about anything else because nothing else exists after this game if we don’t take care of business.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.