Sunday, July 7, 2013

Eskimos at Ticats 2013 Home Opener

So the first home game in Guelph is today. Having attended the pre-season game, there won't be that many surprises in terms of the game experience. Beer is $9. There's Port-A-Potties. The smoking area is a weird area outside the university official boundaries.

What could be interesting is how the crowd responds in a real game on a defensive stand. Not a lot of people, but I assume those going are diehards.

Checked out the depth chart. Interesting that Ingersoll starts at right tackle. Also that Gant is in as the starting wide recever. Then I noticed that Fantuz is on the one game injured list. I've been traveling the past few days so I've been a bit out of touch. That changes everything. The Cat offense can still be good and probably good enough to beat Edmonton, but Fantuz and Burris had looked good in the previous two games. Maybe more running than normal, although I'm not convinced yet that Walker can shoulder the heavy yards between the tackles.

Defensively Greg Peach is out injured at end. Peach is a bit like Buck Pierce and I'm starting to wonder about his cap hit. The defence was poor against Toronto last week. Parks is in starting at one of the linebacker spots. Breaux and the non-import Bucknor are the corners so the Cats continue their pattern the last couple of years of having a non-import corner. McCollough and Hobbs are the defensive backs and Patrick is the safety. How the secondary does against a weak Eskimo offense is probably the crux of the game. The offense is going to score, but the defense needs to hold occasionally rather than coughing up a TD after a Ticat score.

Edmonton is bad enough and the Cats are at home (even if it is Guelph) that the Cats should win. A loss here would make one wonder about the season.

I've got blogger on my iPhone now, so I'll try and post some pictures of the game. 

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