The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have beaten the bad Canadian Football League teams and they've beaten a good team. Now we'll find out if they can beat a great one.

The Ticats are a confident bunch after winning four of their past five and, while taking care of business against doormats such as Edmonton and Winnipeg is necessary, it's hardly inspiring. Last week's win over B.C., a quality team with road woes, certainly demonstrated Hamilton has made significant progress since its 1-4 start and deserves to be discussed among the league's middle tier, a group that includes the Lions and the entire East Division, minus the aforementioned Blue Bombers.

But Calgary is another kettle of cow bells altogether.

The Stamps are 8-2, winners of three straight, and have played consistently good football for the entire season - something no other team in the CFL can fairly say. They've done so despite injury woes that have claimed two quarterbacks (including former Ticat Kevin Glenn), a bunch of receivers (including veteran Nik Lewis) and some quality offensive linemen (all-star Dimitri Tsoumpas among them).

Left tackle Brian Simmons is only in his second season with the Ticats but he's fully up to speed on both the Stamps' position in the league's pecking order and that of his own squad.

"Right now, Calgary is the best team in the CFL, given what they've accomplished with all their injuries," Simmons said. "Hamilton has had a reputation, at least since I've been here, of being an iffy type team. We want to be the team that people expect to be coming out of the East."

"Third-stringer" Bo Levi Mitchell will start at quarterback - he's good enough that the label deserves quotation marks - but there's little question the Stamps' offence is powered by Jon Cornish, the running back who is about to top the 1,000-yard plateau in the 11th game of the season.

The Ticats' defensive strategy will likely be to load the box to take Cornish away and use pressure to rattle the youngster Mitchell, who, despite his apparent abilities, is making just his third career CFL start. Corner Delvin Breaux returns to the Hamilton lineup and will get the unenviable task of matching up with Calgary receiver Maurice Price, whose size and off-the-charts speed make him a dangerous man at all times.

Speaking of dangerous, the Calgary defence leads the league in take-aways and has recorded seven sacks in consecutive games - defensive ends Charleston Hughes and Corderro Law are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the CFL, respectively, in that department. The Ticats' offensive line has allowed a league-high 41 sacks, though it has improved lately.

Simmons says there was a learning curve for the offensive line as it absorbed new head coach Kent Austin's scheme.

"We have a better understanding of specific protections, how long the ball will be held in certain situations," Simmons said. "We know how things work in this offence now."

That offence has done a terrific job of keeping defences guessing by using Swiss Army running back C.J. Gable in an assortment of short-passing situations and spreading the ball around to several targets. Quarterback Henry Burris had three receivers over 100 yards last week in the win over B.C., just the 15th time in 17 years that's been done.

The Ticats' special-teams units - not to mention their veteran savvy factor - will get a boost this week with the addition of linebacker Marcellus Bowman. The Cats signed him as a free agent in February knowing full well he'd need time to recover from a knee injury and he's eager to show them it was a worthwhile investment.

"I'd do anything for this team," Bowman said. "They took a chance on me when I was damaged goods and now that I'm back I want to be sure that I repay it because I'm really thankful."

Then there is the return of Hank, a storyline that isn't nearly as juicy as it was last season but still has resonance given that the veteran Burris spent the majority of his playing career in Calgary and helped win the 2008 Grey Cup title. Even with a bad day at the office, Burris will get the 217 yards he needs to surpass 50,000 and into the rarefied air of the CFL greats.

"How crazy is that, it happening in Calgary of all places?" Burris said. "It's a place that's meant a lot to me and always will and to be able to reach this milestone here will be a truly special moment."

But Burris says that individual goals aren't the focus at this stage of his career, that he'd trade another award for most outstanding player - he's the runaway candidate in the East, so far - for one more title. For this team to get there, however, it will have to show it can win games like this one.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

And Burris knows it.

"This is a chance for us to take the next step," he says.

NOTES: In addition to Bowman and Breaux, the Ticats added defensive back Neil King and linebacker C.O. Prime to the roster, while moving linebackers Nate Bussey and Fr�d�ric Plesius and defensive backs Andre Clarke and Arthur Hobbs to the practice roster.