STREAMING CFL PPV: Ottawa REDBLACKS @ Hamilton Tiger-Cats, July 16, 23:00 CET (11 pm, 5 pm ET)
HAMILTON — The Ottawa REDBLACKS will be heading westbound as they travel from the nation’s capital to take on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Saturday evening at Tim Horton’s Field.
Both the REDBLACKS and the Ticats are in search of their first win of the season, and despite their winless start to the year each team has shown flashes that should provide an abundance of excitement as Week 6 comes to a close.
Ottawa has garnered a lot of attention over the last week, but it’s not for the reasons they had hoped. Star quarterback Jeremiah Masoli will miss the next 10-12 weeks with a knee injury he sustained in his team’s 28-13 loss to Saskatchewan in Week 5.
The injury forced Ottawa to trade for Nick Arbuckle in an exchange with the Edmonton Elks earlier in the week.
“We’re pleased to be able to add Nick to our locker room at this point of the season,” REDBLACKS General Manager Shawn Burke told ottawaredblacks.com. “He’s an experienced player in our league and we look forward to having him on our side as a member of the RNation family.”
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However, Arbuckle will sit out his first game with his new team, so it will be Caleb Evans starting under centre for Ottawa. He’ll be trying to lead the REDBLACKS to their first win of the season. To do so, he’ll look to lean on the experience of his receivers, led by Jaelon Acklin.
Acklin leads all REDBLACKS with 292 yards. Not far behind is Darvin Adams with 227 and Nate Behar with 199.
Evans has played in four games this season, completing two passes for 58 yards and has thrown an interception. If he can find a way to settle in and protect the football, it will go a long way in determining the outcome of the game.
With the level of uncertainty around the quarterback situation, the play of running back William Powell will be esepcially important. Powell rushed 11 times for 58 yards against the Roughriders, and has rushed for 113 yards through his first two starts. Powell is likely to see an increased workload this week.
The Ottawa defence managed five sacks against the Riders in their Week 5 meeting. Defensive end Lorenzo Mauldin IV had two of them, bringing his season total to three. Making Ticats quarterback Dane Evans uncomfortable in the pocket will be a focus for the REDBLACKS defence on Saturday.
Ticats quarterback Dane Evans has thrown a league-leading eight interceptions, something the REDBLACKS secondary will look better capitalize on. They didn’t have an interception a week ago and have three on the season, all by defensive back Monshadrik Hunter.
Unfortunately for the Ottawa defence, Hunter and fellow defensive back Patrick Levels will be out according to the teams depth chart, so they’ll need standout performances from Justin Howell, Randall Evans and Ranthony Texada.
Dane Evans is also trying to lead his team to their first win of the season. He may have a high turnover margin, but he’s also thrown for 1081 yards and five touchdowns in four games.
Despite the interceptions thrown, head coach Orlando Steinauer believes Evans has the makeup to help the team turn the corner on the season.
“It’s about the production and execution of live reps,” Steinauer told ticats.ca. “His body language and preparation has never wavered. It’s never been in question. He brings those every day. It’s about going out on the field and executing. There’s so many facets that go into that but ultimately that position is the toughest on the field and he touches the football on every play.”
DANE EVANS‘ FIVE TOUCHDOWN PASSES TO START THE YEAR ARE ENOUGH FOR FOURTH MOST LEAGUE-WIDE (THE CANADIAN PRESS).
In the Ticats last game, a 29-26 loss to Edmonton, Evans completed 20 passes for 197 yards and a touchdown. He connected with Tim White, Steven Dunbar Jr. and Bralon Addison a combined 12 times for 159 of those yards.
Those three have been the primary targets all season long, bringing in a total of 743 yards. White leads the way with 27 catches and 297 yards.
Although the wins haven’t come, Addison feels it hasn’t been all negative for his team.
“As a team we feel like we’ve done some great things,” Addison told ticats.ca. “We’ve been having a problem finishing but we’re just trying to focus on the positive things and correct our mistakes. Now we’re just trying to go 14-0 and it starts this week.”
On paper, the Hamilton defence lines up as one of the best in the league, but they’ve surrendered 118 points for an average of 29.5 per game. Coming off a bye week to rest and prepare should help.
The linebackers corps will be missing Simoni Lawrence who is out according to the team’s depth chart, so Kameron Kelly, Jovan Santos-Knox and Kyle Wilson will need to step up. If they can put significant pressure on Ottawa’s Evans, it could force him into some ill-advised decision making.
Kelly and defensive back Richard Leonard, along with Santos-Knox have the Ticats three interceptions this year. Their secondary will look to be active against an inexperienced quarterback with just 12 games under his belt.
The REDBLACKS and the Ticats are both looking for their first wins of the season as they square off at Tim Hortons Field. Whoever comes out on top will vault themselves right into the thick of the race in the East Division.
AFI, Visaic and the CFL
American Football International is collaborating with Visaic and the Canadian Football League to present 2022 CFL games live. This is more than a livestream. This is a stream of the topflight TSN network television broadcast.
Watch the game live here PPV. Ottawa REDBLACKS @ Hamilton Tiger-Cats, July 16, 23:00 CET (11 pm, 5 pm ET)
