Courtesy Hamilton Spectator:

Unless you’ve just finished a stint in post-traumatic stress disorder counselling, you likely remember quite vividly what happened to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Week 1 of the Canadian Football League season.

And unless you’re a complete pessimist who can’t see the good side of anything, you probably made sure you didn’t forget a single thing that happened in Week 2 and may still have the hangover to show for it.

The two diametrically opposed performances by the same team makes you wonder what happened between games that changed the Cats from horrible to spectacular in one week. At least part of the answer comes from something that’s been lacking within the dressing room over the past few years.

Stable veteran leadership.

According to the players, the blowout home loss to Montreal was an absolute shock. After a solid training camp and the infusion of a bunch of good, new players, every guy in black and gold expected positive things.

So in the dressing room immediately following the ugly loss, Marwan Hage stepped forward and started speaking.

“(With) the adrenaline and everything, it was powerful,” says linebacker Zeke Moreno.

In a calm-but-emotional speech, Hage made it clear that a repeat of that game — or of the winless starts to past seasons — wasn’t acceptable.

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