It hasn't been the greatest start to the season for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who entered the year spouting plenty of hype about how they were ready to challenge the Montreal Alouettes for East Division dominance, but have since fallen to the lowly Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the rebuilding Edmonton Eskimos. They're 0-2 on the year, and have only scored a league-low 26 points while conceding 52. Thus, there are plenty of questions to ponder in Steeltown. Here are five of the most important ones.
? How long will they stick with Kevin Glenn?
After Week One's loss to Winnipeg, there was discussion of a quarterback controversy in Hamilton thanks to head coach Marcel Bellefeuille's decision to pull Glenn in favour of nominal backup Quinton Porter towards the end of that game. That was defused reasonably quickly, though, as Bellefeuille (pictured above during the Winnipeg game) went from saying he'd have to look at the tape to figure out his Week Two starter to sticking by Glenn (as many figured he would all along). We'll see if Bellefeuille remains as loyal to Glenn in the coming weeks. Glenn's play certainly wasn't Hamilton's only issue in Saturday's 28-10 thumping by Edmonton, but he didn't turn in a great performance either; he completed 21 of 33 passes (a solid 63.6 per cent mark), but only threw for 226 yards and one touchdown, and was picked off once as well. Glenn has a more impressive track record than Porter to date and looks to be the Tiger-Cats' best option at the moment from this corner, but the pressure to try something new may build if Glenn doesn't turn things around quickly.
? What's up with Bruce?
No, not the Hegelian philosophy teacher, but the Tiger-Cats' presumed star receiver, Arland Bruce III. Bruce finished third in the CFL last season with a team-high 1303 yards and eight touchdowns on 86 catches, but only has five catches for 48 yards and no touchdowns through two games this season. In keeping with Tiger-Cats' tradition so far this year, this may or may not be a controversy. The questions are myriad; has the 33-year-old Bruce lost some of his speed, is he being more closely covered this year than he was last season, are the Tiger-Cats just not throwing to him as much with new offensive coordinator Khari Jones running things or is this just the product of a small sample size? Regardless of what the answer is here (and it may be just "42"), what the Tiger-Cats do with Bruce is going to be very interesting to watch.
? Is Avon Cobourne as advertised?
Running back Cobourne was seen as the Tiger-Cats' big free agency acquisition this offseason after they signed him away from the Alouettes, even if his stats weren't necessarily much better than those of incumbent DeAndra Cobb (now on the injured list in Montreal). Cobourne had a promising preseason and a reasonably solid first game (he picked up 75 yards on 15 carries, or five yards per carry, but also added 36 yards on five receptions), but struggled against Edmonton, recording only 35 yards on nine carries (an awful 3.89 yards per carry). He did have two catches for 38 yards, but his ground production certainly left something to desire. Some of that's on his blockers, and some of it's on the Tiger-Cats' failure to establish the pass, but they'll need a better ground game to have success. We'll see if Cobourne can produce that in the coming weeks.
? Will Marcus Thigpen bring back the highlight-reel returns?
Thigpen, whose off-field story is incredible, still has to do more on the field. He had a tremendous season last year, picking up 1,722 combined return yards (second to only Toronto's Chad Owens), but hasn't been great thus far this year. He averaged a respectable 19.5 yards on four kick returns Saturday, but his longest was only 22 yards, and his four punt returns only netted six yards. Thigpen obviously has plenty of talent, and the real highlight-reel returns depend on blockers as much as the man with the ball, so there's no point in changing the return game up yet. Still, the Tiger-Cats' offence would undoubtedly appreciate it if Thigpen could provide them with some better field position and occasional points the way he did last season.
? Can Corey Chamblin's defence bring returns?
The Tiger-Cats made much of how they planned to get aggressive this season, and a key part of that was replacing the bend-but-don't-break defence of Greg Marshall (who left to take the head coaching job in Saskatchewan) with the high-pressure scheme of new hire Corey Chamblin. Marshall's defence was criticized last year in some quarters for the yards it gave up, but it was remarkably efficient, conceding the second-lowest points total in the league last season. Chamblin's defence has been middle-of-the-pack thus far, conceding the fourth-highest points total in the league to date. That's a small sample size, but there are other troubling indicators, particularly on the ground; Fred Reid gashed Hamilton for 87 yards on 16 carries (5.4 yards per carry) in Week One, and Jerome Messam went to town on the Tiger-Cats for 104 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries (6.1 yards per carry) in Week Two. Ricky Ray also threw for 388 yards and completed 21 of 31 passes (67.7 per cent) this past week (18.5 yards per completion), so there are worries in the pass game. It takes a while to adjust to any new defensive scheme, so that doesn't mean the Hamilton defence won't improve as the season goes on. Still, the early returns aren't promising.
As Josh Smith points out over at Blogskee Wee Wee, it's far too early to completely write off the Tiger-Cats. This is still a very talented team, and it's one that should be better than what they've shown so far. Moreover, considering all their offseason changes, it's reasonable to expect them to become more familiar with their schemes, systems and players as the year goes on. Still, most observers weren't expecting things to go this far south this quickly. We'll see if they can turn it around.
Leighton Meester Dominique Swain Jamie Chung Alicia Witt Radha Mitchell
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