GAME DAY: B.C. AT HAMILTON, 4: 30 P.M.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats' next game is pivotal for their playoff hopes, but Avon Cobourne was wondering out loud Thursday if many of his teammates fully understood that fact.
The Ticats host the league-leading B.C. Lions today fighting for their post-season lives. Hamilton (5-9) is third in the East Division two points ahead of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but trails the Edmonton Eskimos (6-8) in the crossover battle for the third and final post-season spot in the Eastern conference.
But Cobourne felt some of his teammates didn't have their minds firmly set on the task at hand during Hamilton's walkthrough.
"It's a big game and to be honest, I don't think we were as focused as we needed to be today as important as this game is," the veteran running back said candidly. "It was shocking to me for that to happen, to come out here and things not to go smoothly in the walkthrough as they need to be.
"It's a serious game for us and I don't know how serious most guys are about it. It's a big game and I feel like we should win the game if we play well, they're missing a lot of key players which opens up opportunities for us."
The defending Grey Cup-champion Lions (10-4) boast the CFL's top record and are coming off a 27-22 home win over Calgary minus all-star receivers Geroy Simon and Arland Bruce III, offensive lineman John Hamiester-Ries and defensive tackles Khalif Mitchell and Eric Taylor. All won't play today.
That, combined with the Lions - who play their home games at domed B.C. Place - being forced to play outdoors on a cool, potentially blustery fall evening would be two factors working in Hamilton's favour.
Despite his feeling from practice, Cobourne believes his teammates will come ready to play today.
"I'm not worried because everybody handles things differently," he said. "I like things to be sharp and crisp and I just feel from my [perspective] I would prefer it to be a lot sharper than it was.
"But it's like that sometimes. People are different."
Ticats head coach George Cortez agrees.
"I think we're ready to play and they understand it's an important game," he said. "As long as we win games we have control of what goes on.
"This is an important game and we need to win it."
The Lions also have something to play for. They can cement a home playoff game with a win over Hamilton and a Calgary Stampeders road loss Saturday to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
"It's a large game in terms of where both teams stand," said Lions rookie head coach Mike Benev-ides. "We have a tremendous challenge in front of us knowing that we have a desperate team.
"The fans here are always very boisterous, it's always very loud. They love their football and our team knows that and we're going to have to play extremely well to get the result we want."
Hamilton's offence is averaging a league-best 30.1 points per game and is second overall in passing at 294.3 yards per contest. Quarterback Henry Burris has already thrown a club-record 34 TD passes, has completed 64 per cent of his passes and is second among CFL passers with 4,120 yards.
