To fully understand the psychological impact last Sunday's loss to the Alouettes had on Ticat players, consider this: it shut up Simoni Lawrence.

The loud and loquacious Hamilton linebacker is almost as chatty on Twitter as he is in real life, stuffing his @Simoni_Lawrence account with over 26,000 entries thus far. But after the 36-5 defeat in Montreal — a thrashing that saw the Ticats not only outplayed but physically dominated by the opposition — Lawrence was uncharacteristically silent.

"I was pissed off, I'm not going to lie. My mom called me the other day to ask what was wrong because she follows my life on Twitter and I hadn't tweeted since the game," Lawrence said. "I feel like you don't have anything to say when you get your ass beat like that."

There is a lot at stake for the Ticats in the rematch Saturday, most prominently the opportunity to host a home playoff game. While first place in the East is now out of the question after Toronto's victory on Thursday night, Hamilton can still claim second in the division and thereby host the semifinal in Guelph on Nov. 10.

Should the Ticats lose, however, the Alouettes will vault into second courtesy of their edge in the season series —— and that likely means opening the post-season in Montreal.

"Are we aware of the backdrop this game and its importance? The answer is yes," said head coach Kent Austin. "Do we highlight it and bring a tremendous focus to it and use that as an ancillary emotional tool for our players? No."

Austin's point, as it has been all season, is that allowing outside forces to exert influence creates a distraction that takes attention away from where it belongs — winning the game at hand.

There is something much more personal at stake, anyway, says veteran Ticats centre Marwan Hage.

"It's about pride," he said.

The Montreal defence, led by linebacker Chip Cox, took the Ticats to the woodshed in Montreal, racking up five sacks, limiting running back C.J. Gable to a grand total of zero yards rushing and generally having their way with boys from Hamilton.

"If you don't play physical football, they are just going to push you all over the field and that's what they did to us," said quarterback Henry Burris, who completed just 48 per cent of his passes before being pulled in the third quarter Sunday. "We have to rise up and be men and play like we're supposed to."

Thwarting the Montreal blitz would certainly help. The Alouettes brought pressure on almost every snap last week and the Ticats seemed ill prepared to cope with it.

"We have to show them if you bring a certain blitz package, we know exactly what we're going to do with the ball and were going to move the chains. We can frustrate them," Burris said. "If we make those adjustments, make those plays, it's a much different afternoon."

On defence, the Ticats must make life more difficult for Montreal quarterback Troy Smith, who will be making his second start after throwing three touchdown passes in his debut. Smith has been the flavour-de-jour in media circles this week, though the former Heisman Trophy winner appears to be trying hard not to buy into the hype.

"Life has a very, very unique way of humbling you. When you start to read your newspaper clippings, that's when things go wrong. The only thing that's my saving grace is Netflix and my playbook," Smith said. "I did see a couple of nice pictures. The pictures looked good."

Meanwhile, Lawrence returned from his Twitter exile after a few days, once the initial sting of the Montreal loss subsided. But, like many Ticats, he isn't quite over the humiliation of last weekend.

"I just want to play them again," Lawrence said. "It's the only thing that's going to make me feel better."

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Notes: The Ticats have made three changes to their 46-man roster' adding linebacker Marcellus Bowman, offensive lineman Joel Figueroa and defensive back James Rogers while removing linebacker Nate Bussey, wide receiver Dobson Collins and offensive lineman Nick Speller ... the referee for Saturday's game will be Andre Proulx.

Game # 17

Montreal Alouettes (7-9) at Hamilton Tiger-Cats (8-8)

Alumni Stadium, Guelph, 1 p.m.

TV: TSN Radio: 900CHML



- CFL: Home playoff game on the line in Guelph for Ticats