Things have turned from difficult to desperate for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats but  Saturday night’s loss was overshadowed by the grim reminder of a basic football reality: it is a dangerous, dangerous game.

Three Ticats incurred head injuries during the game and as we published this column, two of them—receiver Luther Hakunavanhu and quarterback Taylor Powell—remained in hospital undergoing further tests. The third, receiver Tyler Ternowski, was back at the stadium after the game.

Just 26 seconds into the surging Edmonton Elks’ well-earned 47-22 victory over the hometown Ticats,  Hakunavanhu was hit hard after a pass reception, fumbling the ball as he fell to the ground where he laid terrifyingly motionless for an extended period. Play was halted for 38 minutes as he was placed into an ambulance; and as CFL rules dictate another ambulance had to be called to the stadium before the game could resume.

Head coach Scott Milanovich opened his post-game interviews by saying Hakunavanhu had regained feeling in his extremities.

About nine minutes after that shock, Powell was hurt. He entered the sideline injury tent, went to the dressing room and was taken to hospital.

“It’s sickening; It hurts,” a subdued Milanovich said afterward. “You work with these guys every single day and care about them. To see them laying out there on the turf, it’s going to affect anybody. And then to see two so quickly, one right after the other …

“I said to the team at halftime that it’s an unfortunate part of the game, we all know what we sign up for. But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re human and we care about these people,  and it hurts to see them ill.”

 

Bo Levi Mitchell, who came off the bench unexpectedly to replace the quarterback who had replaced him early in last week’s loss in Montréal, will likely start Friday night in Winnipeg after going 23-for-34 for 294 yards and a touchdown, plus two interceptions, one of which was not his fault as the ball caromed through running back Greg Bell’s hands near the Edmonton goal line as the Ticats were threatening to regain control.

Other than that very costly miscue—Edmonton quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson immediately and methodically dissected the Ticats for a 99-yard scoring drive after the pick—Bell had an outstanding game with 173 yards from scrimmage, 85 on the ground, which included a touchdown, and 88 on short pass receptions sprinting out of the backfield. He too, probably gets another start in Winnipeg.

Mitchell said the head injuries cast a pall over both teams and the audience at Tim Hortons Field.

“I think it’s tough in the locker room and in the whole stadium,” Mitchell said. “The first thing that happens is that the ambulance comes out and it’s one of those things that resets in your mind what’s important. You tell the guy you love him.

“Any time you see a brother go down like that, and he’s not moving at first: it’s just scary. You’re feeling for him and his family, what they’re thinking watching the game. Things go through your mind what your family would be going through if it was you.

“As a team, it’s a terrible way to start a game. It makes it tough because you come out with that sense of urgency and then you see one of your brothers get hurt like that.”

The head injuries were the overriding concern for the Ticats, but while they were the most front-of-mind, they weren’t the only issues Hamilton faced in a disastrous first half, in which they fell behind 36-3.

In that half, they lost Hakunavanu, who’d been excellent recently,  Powell, who came off the bench to throw for over 300 yards last week, and Ternowski, forcing them to use fullback Felix Garand-Gauthier as a receiver the rest of the way. They also had three turnovers—an interception, plus fumbles by Hakunavanhu and Jonathan Moxey (on a punt return)–which Bethel-Thompson turned into three touchdowns, using surgical precision. The Ticats also took seven penalties for 62 yards in the half, to exactly zero penalties for Edmonton.

All this after players and coaches had stressed –as they have all season–the primary importance of eliminating turnovers and penalties.

“The first play was a vicious hit; I’ll have to see it on film –it looked like he kind of got bent back,– but I don’t know you can second-guess Luther’s ball security in that situation,” Milanovich said. “The interception that Bo threw I think went through Greg’s hands. Those are unfortunate situations, not a poor decision or a lack of ball security. I didn’t really see the one on the return.

“With penalties, I’ll have to see if they were egregious: I saw a couple on special teams that were. It’s obviously disappointing.”

It was a devastating loss for the Ticats against an Elks team which arguably turned their season around when Tre Ford—who wasn’t even dressed Saturday because he was injured last week—came off the bench to pile up a lot of fourth-quarter points in Edmonton last month when the Ticats beat the Elks three games ago by taking a large lead.

Edmonton, with three straight wins, now finds itself legitimately in the West Conference playoff conversation while the Ticats,  with three straight losses, are clinging to a lifeline. They’re six points back of the third-place Argonauts with only eight games to play and realistically need to win probably six of those games, including Labour Day against Toronto, to challenge for an Eastern playoff spot. Milanovich suggested last night that it might take nine wins to make the post-season in the strong East.

 

Hamilton could have a chance at an east-to-west playoff cross-over but they’ll have to show a lot more than they have in the past three games. And, to be blunt, a lot more than they’ve shown most of the season.

They’re not making nearly enough big plays, are on pace for the fewest interceptions in franchise history, cannot permanently shake their self-inflicted penalty curse, and get off to poor starts. In six of their eight losses, they’ve fallen behind by 15 points or more.

Edmonton out-muscled them, out-tackled them, out-disciplined them and out-kicked them. They were more opportunistic and when it counted most in the earlier going, were far superior on second-and-long situations, led by Geno Lewis and Kurleigh Grimes Jr.  The Cats also had trouble stopping running back Justin Rankin, who had three touchdowns.

Milanovich was generally satisfied with Mitchell’s play, given the circumstances: “He did some good things. There were a couple of times he forced things. There were two in particular, early when he got in when he tried to force it in there.”

Assuming Powell can’t go Mitchell and Bell are likely to start in Winnipeg Friday night against the Blue Bombers, who were 3-6 as of Saturday night but are in B.C. Sunday to meet the Lions, whom they beat 25-0 last week in Manitoba. Given the possible cross-over playoff situation, it’s essentially a four-point game for the Ticats.

It’s an understatement to say that the Cats have to step up their play for that game, and for every game thereafter. There’s no other option when difficult evolves into desperate. 

“No one wants to lose football games,” Mitchell said. “It’s tough and I think there’s no hurrah speech or words that are going to fix it, and all of a sudden we’re going to see the light kind of thing. You’ve got to put your head down and work.

“Obviously we’re frustrated, we don’t like where we are in the standings. It’s going to be one of those things where we band together and make something happen, give everything we have to get as high as we can, and possibly take a playoff run.”

Cats Clauses:  Shemar Bridges had seven catches for 100 yards and a touchdown and now has 63 receptions on the season just 26 short of the all-time record for first-year CFL receivers … Kiondré Smith hauled in nine passes, three on second down, for 86 yards … Steven Dunbar Jr. had 6 catches for 72 yards and now has a reception in all 52 of his CFL games … Saturday was Scott Melanovich’s 100th game as a CFL head coach … before his head injury Taylor Powell completed 2 of his 3 passes for 20 yards and ran for another 17 yards … DQ Thomas and Stavros Katsantonis had Ticat sacks while Hamilton did not allow a sack … one week after Powell had become just the 26th CFL quarterback to come off the bench to throw for 300 yards, Bo Levi Mitchell almost did the same thing, falling six yards short … Harrison Frost took over for Mitchell and went 8-for-12 for 95 yards and a touchdown in his first CFL on-field appearance … attendance was 20,092 … McLeod Bethel-Thompson was 15-for-23 for 234 yards with two TDs and no interceptions … Elks RB Justin Rankin had 17 carries for 108 yards and three touchdowns … Geno Lewis had five catches for 93 yards … Kordell Jackson and Derrick Moncrief had the Elks interceptions…UPDATE: Both Taylor Powell and Luther Hakunavanhu we’re discharged from hospital after receiving treatment for their injuries.