The Hamilton Spectator

Take it from Danny, just do your job

1999 Grey Cup winner gets named to the Tiger-Cats’ Wall of Honour

STEVE MILTON STEVE MILTON IS A HAMILTON-BASED SPORTS COLUMNIST AT THE SPECTATOR. REACH HIM VIA EMAIL: SMILTON@THESPEC.COM

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I think the team that shows up the most on game day will win.

DANE EVANS TICATS QUARTERBACK

Here’s some comradely sage advice from the last man who quarterbacked a Hamilton Grey Cup championship team to Dane Evans — and, for that matter, to Edmonton’s Nick Arbuckle, who’s also leading an 0-3 squad.

“You don’t want to try to do too much,” says Danny McManus who was named on Wednesday as the 25th person to go on the TigerCats’ Wall of Honour, one of the most difficult distinctions to earn in Hamilton sport.

“Just do your job and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Don’t forget I went 1-17 (in 2003). It’s hard for quarterbacks, because you critique yourself so much and when you’re not winning it’s difficult to understand that it takes everybody to win because it’s the ultimate team sport. So stay with the basics, do film study and execute the game plan, and don’t try to do too much: Let everyone else do their job.”

McManus, who led the Tiger-Cats in their last-second 1998 Grey Cup loss and the 1999 championship win, both against Calgary, was the CFL’s Most Outstanding player in 1999, and holds the all-time Ticats records in passing yards, passing touchdowns, completions and attempts.

He was named to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame 11 years before he made the Wall of Honour. Like we said: tough room.

“I thought they might have held it against me because of the last two Grey Cups,” laughed McManus, now the Winnipeg Blue Bombers assistant general manager. “I was shocked to hear I would be among that group of guys. There’s no doubt it’s awesome. When you start out to play football, you don’t think abut that kind of stuff. This is an honour to all the teammates who got me to this point.”

Evans played in those two Grey Cup losses McManus was referencing and all week he’s been singing a similar stay-the-course thing about his club’s 0-3 start, as they prepare to entertain the similarly winless Elks on Canada Day (7:30 p.m.) at Tim Hortons Field. Edmonton, with CFL veteran Chris Jones as the new general manager and head coach, has been rebuilding and has a number of strong parts but is still moving pieces in and out.

The Ticats have not made the playoffs after going 0-4, so a history-savvy accountant would strongly advise them not to go there … as will about 23,000 loud coaches at Tim Hortons Field.

While the defence has sagged in the fourth quarters of games so far, being outscored 49-13 — a trait that emerged in losses last year and even in a win over Edmonton in their only 2021 meeting — it’s been the offence’s inability to get touchdowns, and critical first downs, in the second half that has been the chief culprit.

Evans has been under a lot of pressure from defences, and has turned the ball over far too often on interceptions and fumbles.

Much of that has to do with a besieged offensive line, which gets both Brandon Revenberg and Coulter Woodmansey back Friday night, a positive development.

“I think the team that shows up the most on game day will win,” Evans says. “We’ve been right there, and we just have to execute, specifically at the end of the half and at the end of the game. Offensively, we just have to finish. And that goes to everybody: me, receivers, running backs, and linemen.”

Just as McManus said: It takes everyone to win. What he didn’t say was that it also takes everyone to lose, as it has so far.

SPORTS

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2022-06-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-06-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

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