Steinauer says Tiger-Cats will use two quarterbacks in East semifinal

After a closed practice at Tim Hortons Field Tuesday, Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach Orlondo Steinauer did not name a starting quarterback for Saturday’s East semifinal in Montreal.

Instead, Steinauer succinctly expressed a somewhat common occurrence with the Ticats in recent postseasons: “Both quarterbacks will play.”

Those quarterbacks will be Bo Levi Mitchell and Matthew Shiltz, representing the newest chapter of Hamilton employing two quarterbacks in an effort to get to a Grey Cup.

Other, successful Ticats postseason tandems include Henry Burris and Jeremiah Masoli, and Masoli and Dane Evans.

But while those other tandems were either an intentional offensive choice to use different quarterbacks with different talents, or the consequence of an internal competition that couldn’t find one consistent performer, playing Mitchell and Shiltz together in the playoffs was certainly not part of Hamilton’s original plan this season.

Last January, the Ticats signed Mitchell to a three-year contract that reportedly paid him $500,000 a season. But following an early season lower-body injury and then undergoing a procedure to fix a fractured lower leg, the veteran pivot has only featured in six games this season.

And in three games he’s played since coming off the six-game injured list in early October, Mitchell has played no more than two full quarters.

In Mitchell’s absence the Ticats have relied on Shiltz and rookie Taylor Powell. And when Shiltz himself was also placed on the six-game injured list in July with a leg injury, Powell became the team’s starter and ultimately played in 16 games.

“I think every year is different,” Steinauer said of his team’s quarterback situation. “I don’t think you go in – maybe outside of one or two years when we had a 1a, 1b [quarterback tandem] where there was clear competition there – that you set out to play two."

This year’s quarterback situation is certainly different, given the pedigree of the pivot who was expected to be Hamilton’s starter all the way through.

Mitchell is a future Hall of Famer. The 33-year-old is a two-time Grey Cup winner, two-time Grey Cup Most Valuable Player, and a two-time league Most Outstanding Player. Mitchell is a winner, and when asked Tuesday if his younger self would be able to accept sharing quarterback duties with someone else in the playoffs, Mitchell too was succinct: “No.”

But the former Calgary Stampeder says at this point in his career and life he understands the value of putting the team before himself.

“I’ve got two daughters and they’re going to be raised in sports, and one day they’re going to look at my career and some of these videos are going to pop up on how I handled these situations,” Mitchell said.

“Putting the team first is something I’ve learned throughout my career, and at times I’ve been ahead of it and behind it as well. So, I’d rather be ahead of it, be a good teammate to my other guys, [to] everybody else that has put the blood, sweat, and tears in all year and the coaches that have believed in everybody all year. Stay ready and be ready at all times.”

Shiltz is more accustomed to playing at a moment's notice. The 30-year-old has spent much of his six-year, CFL career in a backup role, and earlier this season spoke about the level of mental preparation he puts on himself.

“It starts with preparing every single day, every single week like you are going to be that guy,” Shiltz said in mid-October.

“You play one snap [and then come out of the game] you play one snap; you have to play a series [and then come out of the game], you play a series; you play 60 snaps and overtime [in a game] you play 60 snaps and overtime. That is how you have to handle yourself in this role in this business, because if you don’t play or perform when your number is called then they’ll always be trying to find that next guy to do it.”

Mitchell said that the strong relationships fostered in the quarterback room between himself, Shiltz, Powell, Kai Locksley, and offensive coordinator Scott Milanovich make it easy to want to share the load.

“If you had two guys that were butting heads and hating each other it would be a bad situation. I don’t think the media availabilities would go very well," Mitchell said. "I think our relationship is pretty special and pretty unique. Me, Matt, Taylor, and Kai, we’ve had a hell of a year together, trying to get to know each other and learn each other, having each other’s back and doing what it takes to win a game as a team, but have each other’s backs at all times this year."

Steinauer is a coach who builds his team persona and purpose around intentional messaging. One of the mantras inside Hamilton's locker room this season has been “When it comes to ego, drop the e and go.”

It can take a whole season to build that kind of trust so that it blossoms come playoff time.

"Trust is one of those things that is established over time," Steinauer said Tuesday. “It’s not one conversation, it’s not one instance, one situation; it’s how you handle a myriad of situations throughout training camp throughout the regular season.

"How you handle adversity as a staff as an organization – all that naturally is just observed and soaked in."