Photo: Bob Butrym / 3DownNation. All rights reserved.
A lot of people across the country were engaged in the Canada Day revelry that made them feel sick in the morning, but in front of the media on Friday night, Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Dane Evans already seemed to he wanted to vomit.
A few adult drinks can make you feel nauseous, but nothing exhausts your face color faster than coughing up the game’s turnover in an annoying home defeat to end a winless start to the season.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been 0-4 in my life in any sport,” one Evans surprised on the podium said. “I have no idea what’s going on. I have to be better.”
The 2022 season was to be the departure party for the 28-year-old quarterback. After two promising campaigns as part of a coup with Jeremiah Masoli, he was now the undisputed starter with the contract of large numbers and a team of weapons around him to devastate opponents.
Instead, the first four weeks of the year have been a parade of misery. Four straight defeats, a couple of missed advantages in the second half at home and a series of losses. The Canada Day showdown featured three of them from Evans, two interceptions and the extra balance as Hamilton fell 29-25 to the Edmonton Elks.
As has become a regular comeback in recent weeks, both interceptions were deflected by the Ticat receivers, leaving Evans struggling to get answers.
“It’s like a batsman in a fall, man. It’s routine work when it happens. I’ve never seen it more than it’s been happening lately and I don’t even know how to describe it,” he explained after the game, looking for answers.
“Their hands are there, it’s a decent throw, they’re ready, they’re trying to run and it just doesn’t reach us. I have no idea. I don’t even know how to describe it.”
Head coach Orlondo Steinauer was equally baffled, but stressed that his team needs more offensive consistency, especially from his quarterback.
“We have this mistake right now. That’s what it is,” he said. you will win like this “.
Right now, the billing figures are staggering. Although Evans has thrown 1,081 yards and five touchdowns to start the year, so far he has been guilty of eight interceptions and has lost four balance sheets. Each of them was a key play in the defeat of a Ticats, but none more than the one he committed with 1:47 of the final Friday.
A revolted Evans had the pig skin punched in his arms by safety Scott Hutter and corner Jalen Collins grabbed it to get the winning score. After failing to get a successful response, a clearly emotional Evans had to be comforted on the sidelines by Elks substitute quarterback Nick Arbuckle, who lost his own starting job last week after posting a 2: 6 d ratio. interception landing, while the rest of the two teams shook hands.
“I know Dane inside and out. I know there’s no one who has a harder time with him, so if you saw him upset, I’d wait for him,” Steinauer said. “That’s the competitor he is. Right now he’s fighting a little bit. It’s a collective thing and we have to be better. We have to fix it.”
Evans could not offer any explanation for the inopportune love, apart from the fact that Hutter made a good play when he felt he had the ball safe. But he did have a message for his teammates.
“I want to apologize to all the guys, man. I dropped them,” Evans said. “I get both defeats at home, whether it’s fair or not, but I’m the one who touches the ball every play, so I have to take care. I just have to be better. “
It’s hard to quantify which of the two losses at home hurt the most, giving up a 24-point lead over the Stampeders in Week 2 or losing late against an Elks team that many considered the worst in the CFL. Either way, Hamilton faces serious questions as they enter their first week of farewell and only one answer will solve their problems.
“Win and not turn the ball around,” Evans told reporters bluntly. “That’s all I know how to do. That’s the only way, in my mind, to see that not being in this situation anymore is winning and securing the ball.”
What remains to be seen is whether he will have a chance to make this adjustment himself. Although Hamilton bet the house on Evans as the face of the franchise, his head coach would not rule out a possible change to Matthew Shiltz’s support.
“We don’t have any wins right now,” Steinauer said. “At this point we will look at all positions.”