Owens Looking To Solve ‘cats

THE CANADIAN PRESS

He’s one of the CFL’s most exciting and dangerous players who can single-handedly decide the outcome of a game.

But so far this season, Toronto Argonauts special-teams dynamo Chad Owens has yet to solve the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Owens has emerged as the league’s top special-teams performer, leading the CFL in punt return, kickoff return and missed field goal yardage as well as all-purpose yards. He’s just the fifth player in league history to post more than 1,000 yards in kickoff and punt return yards in the same season and is the overwhelming favourite to capture the league’s outstanding special-teams player award.

But he’s mostly been a non-factor in Toronto’s three regular-season losses to Hamilton, a trend linebacker Ray Mariuz and the Ticats cover teams aim to continue Sunday in the East Division semifinal (TSN, 1 p.m. ET).

“With a returner like Chad Owens we realize the importance of being ready to play and certainly limiting the big plays,” Mariuz said Friday. “Kick returns, especially big ones, can be such a momentum changer in a game.”

Mariuz, a 29-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., and the Ticats’ special teams have done a terrific job of keeping Owens in check this season.

The former Hawaii star is averaging a solid 12.6 yards on punt returns against Hamilton but hasn’t taken one back for a TD and has eight kickoff returns for 164 yards (20.5-yard average). As important as keeping Owens out of the end zone is, so too is preventing him from ripping off huge returns and giving the Argos great field position, something Hamilton has also done effectively.

Hamilton’s defence has also been effective against Owens, who has 11 catches for 152 yards (11.7-yard average) but no TDs, meaning Owens has yet to find the end zone this season versus the Ticats.

The six-foot-three, 228-pound Mariuz said the key to successfully defending against a big-play returner like Owens is the entire unit being disciplined.

“I think the main thing when you look at special teams really is everyone knowing their job, doing their job, executing it and being ready to play,” he said. “I think where you get into trouble covering kicks is sometimes guys might try to do too much.

“They come out of their lanes and start chasing and that can open up a hole and Chad is pretty good at finding them. The key thing is everyone knowing their responsibility and executing it.”

Another key is having a short memory and realizing each punt and kickoff is a new opportunity for the returner.

“That’s the thing with special teams,” Mariuz said with a chuckle. “You can be having a great game and then one play becomes a game-changer and that’s what people are going to remember and a lot of times that is going to decide the game.”

“We know on special teams every play is an important one.”

It’s a point not lost on Mariuz, who led the Ticats in special-teams tackles this season with 21, which left him just six behind the league leader, Toronto’s Bryan Crawford.

Special teams have been crucial to Toronto’s success this season.

With the Argos offence having struggled this year _ the unit is last in the CFL in scoring (20.7 points per game), passing (221 yards per game), total yards (316 per game) and touchdowns (29) _ the club has had to rely on big plays from its special teams and defence to either remain in or win games outright.

A key figure in Toronto’s special-teams success has been Mike O’Shea, the former longtime linebacker who is in his first season as the unit’s coach. Under O’Shea, who was a special-teams standout during his stellar career, the Argos have raised eyebrows throughout the CFL for not being afraid to direct snap the ball to an upback in punt formation or having the confidence to successfully execute a Statue of Liberty play off a fake punt in their own end zone.

Mariuz, a former teammate of O’Shea’s in Toronto from 2003 to ’05, said O’Shea’s transition into coaching was a natural progression.

“When I was on the (Argos) he was like another coach on the field,” Mariuz said. “He’s always very detailed, very prepared and everything was always thought out to the last detail.

“He takes a calculated gamble, it’s not just throw a coin up and hope for heads. He studies his opponents well and that’s something he did great as a player and I’d imagine he’s using to his advantage as a coach. We need to be prepared for that.”

The Ticats will also have to avoid being overconfident Sunday given they’re chasing a fourth straight win over their archrivals. But Mariuz said with what’s on the line, overconfidence won’t be an issue.

“Honestly, at this point it’s playoffs and you have to look at it as a one-game season,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how many games you won or lost, what your record was or where you finished.

“All it comes down to now is winning one football game. That’s the key point and I think it’s a matter of coming out and executing at the best of our abilities.”