Ticats outlast Argos 13-12, with both teams trying to lose on Labour Day and only one succeeding

The most remarkable thing about Monday's Labour Day Classic is that someone won it. For 60 minutes of football, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts both demonstrated almost every imaginable way to lose a game, from goal-line fumbles to inept offences to last-minute turnovers to terrible late-game playcalling. In the end, though, even a game between 1-6 Hamilton and 3-6 Toronto had to be won by one team (although a tie would have been poetic justice), and the Tiger-Cats inaugurated their new stadium with a 13-12 win thanks to some puzzling decisions down the stretch by the Argonauts.

While the majority of this game was full of questionable moves, the ending was particularly so. Down by one point, Toronto quarterback Ricky Ray threw an interception with 1:24 left, and that should have all but sealed the deal. Hamilton just needed to hang onto the ball, or in the worst-case scenarios, extend the lead to four with a field goal or pin the Argos deep with a punt. None of that happened thanks to a Tiger-Cats' fumble (one of two incredibly costly lost Hamilton fumbles on the day) from RB Mossis Madu, though. That gave Toronto the ball back on their own 27 with less than a minute left, but the Argonauts wasted a lot of time with poor play-calling. They only managed to drive up near the 40, and then they inexplicably refused to get creative with a punt for a single, a pass and punt, or even a Hail Mary, instead throwing a short pass on the final play that went nowhere. (This might have been an attempted pass-and-punt, but it sure didn't get receiver Mike Bradwell any space.) Hamilton almost managed to give this game away, but the Argonauts refused to take it.

Yes, the Argonauts were driving into the wind at this point, so punting would have been a bit trickier than the 77-yard single Swayze Waters notched earlier in the game, but it's still amazing that they didn't find a way to get the ball onto his foot with a chance to tie the game. Waters was the only Toronto player doing his job for much of this game, twice pinning Hamilton inside the one on punts and forcing two safeties, and it's remarkable that the Argonauts' final drive didn't include him. Even an onside punt like the one Ottawa pulled off a few weeks back or a pass-and-punt like Calgary tried last year would have had a better chance than the short pass they eventually called. It was disastrous late-game planning from Toronto, and that's a big reason why they lost.

Of course, things didn't go well for the Argonauts all day long. They came into this with one of the league's best offences by the numbers, but delivered one of the most putrid offensive performances in the CFL this season. Ray did manage to surpass the 50,000 career passing yards milestone, but it may be the most overshadowed accomplishment ever; on the day, he completed just 16 of 29 passes (55 per cent) for 142 yards with one touchdown and one interception. It didn't help that his receivers couldn't catch, his offensive line couldn't block (Ray was sacked four times and under pressure many more) and that his running backs couldn't pick up yardage (the Argonauts only recorded 35 rushing yards, 12 of which came from Ray), but this was still one of Ray's worst CFL performances. He's been one of Toronto's few bright spots this season, but if he keeps playing like this, this team is doomed.

Despite all that, the Tiger-Cats still almost gave Toronto the game. Their offence moved the chains a little better, with Zach Collaros throwing for 317 yards and a touchdown (with a 71 per cent completion rate), but they had struggles punching the ball in, with backup Jeremiah Masoli commiting one particularly bad fumble when he tried to dive over the pile into the end zone and lost the ball for his trouble. The late-game fumble from Madu just about did them in, too, and it came in a situation where that shouldn't happen. Moreover, they barely beat a wretched Argonauts offence, and they did so in a game that tied for the lowest-scoring Labour Day Classic since 1967. The win means they improve to 2-7 and are tied for second in the East (which says a lot about the East Division), and it let them inaugurate their new stadium with a victory, but it doesn't make them a good team. There's still a lot of work to be done in Steeltown if this team's going to contend for anything.