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As if enduring three straight losses wasn't enough for Charlie Taaffe and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The Ticats (0-3) are the CFL's lone remaining winless team. But the prospects for their first win of the season certainly don't look promising this week as Hamilton travels to Vancouver to face the defending Grey Cup-champion B.C. Lions (3-0), who also just happen to be the league's only unbeaten squad.

B.C. and Hamilton meet in the second half of a doubleheader Thursday (TSN, 10:30 p.m. ET), following the Winnipeg Blue Bombers game in Montreal against the Alouettes (TSN, 7:30 p.m. ET). The Edmonton Eskimos host Saskatchewan on Friday (TSN, 9 p.m. ET) while the Toronto Argonauts are in Calgary on Saturday night (CBC, 7 p.m. ET) to complete a home-and-home series with the Stampeders.

However, the Ticats don't get the benefit of having a full week to prepare for the Lions. Hamilton dropped a 29-20 loss to the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday night and considering travel requirements, the club will have had just three days to get ready for a B.C. squad that looked very good in dismantling the previously unbeaten Saskatchewan Roughriders 42-12 at home Friday night.

"We've got a real short week," Taaffe said. "It's certainly not an ideal situation but everyone's got to do it.

"It's another challenge. One thing is our guys are pretty resilient and they fight. We're just not a smart football team right now and it's hard to win like that."

Veteran Jason Maas will make his fourth straight start of the season for Hamilton. While Maas enjoyed his best outing of the year against Montreal — 15-of-28 passing for 211 yards and a 67-yard TD pass to Talman Gardner — he was replaced by rookie Timmy Chang for the third straight game. Chang was just 4-of-11 passing for 92 yards, but 71 came on a touchdown pass to Brock Ralph that helped the Ticats cut their deficit against Montreal to 26-20.

Still, the touchdowns were the first of the year for Hamilton's offence, which actually looked like an offence against Montreal, accumulating 434 total yards. The week before, the Ticats managed just nine first downs and 190 total yards in a lopsided 30-5 home loss to arch-rival Toronto.

"We're getting the chance to play two guys . . . it's a long season," Taaffe said. "We've seen what's happened in the CFL (last week) with injuries at quarterback."

The Lions are certainly aware of that.

Starter Dave Dickenson suffered a concussion last week against Saskatchewan — his third in less than two years — before backup Buck Pierce was forced to leave with a hand injury. That forced B.C. to go with No. 3 Jarious Jackson in the second half.

Pierce is expected to play Thursday, which isn't really anything new. Dickenson has battled an assortment of injuries during his four-year tenure in B.C., forcing the Lions to always have a capable backup waiting in the wings.

First, it was Casey Printers, who in '04 was named the CFL's outstanding player. But when Printers bolted to the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs following the '05 season, Pierce was promoted from No. 3 to the Lions' backup position.

The respective teams' records would suggest this game being a huge mismatch, but consider last year Pierce suffered an elbow injury facing a Ticats team that posted a league-worst 4-14 record. And a big reason for B.C's early success this season has been the play of its defence, which is allowing under 12 points per game, is ranked first against the run (44 yards per game), tied with Toronto for fewest TDs allowed (three), has yet to give up a rushing touchdown and is ranked second in interceptions with seven.

Compare that to a Lions' offence, that, despite the presence of Dickenson, receiver Geroy Simon — the CFL's outstanding player last year — slotback Jason Clermont and running back Joe Smith (second overall in rushing with 215 yards), is ranked last in the league in total yards (263 per game) and passing (182 yards per game).

Even the Ticats, who are last in the CFL in scoring (11 points per game), have better numbers, averaging 301 offensive yards per game and 236 yards passing.

Bombers at Alouettes

Once again, Winnipeg receiver Milt Stegall will have a chance to surpass Mike Pringle and George Reed and become the CFL's all-time touchdowns leader. Right now, Stegall is tied with the two retired running backs with 137 career touchdowns. More importantly, though, the Bombers need the win to remain within striking distance of first-place Toronto in the East Division after losing 19-15 last week to Edmonton. The Alouettes are coming off their win over Hamilton, their first of the year and a game that saw Anthony Calvillo become just the fourth player in CFL history to reach the 50,000-yard passing plateau.

Roughriders at Eskimos

After going 2-0 under rookie head coach Kent Austin, the Roughriders came back to earth last week with their lopsided loss to B.C. The Riders committed seven turnovers — including four interceptions — in the game, compared to just one over their first two victories. A bright spot was veteran Matt Dominguez, who had seven catches for a game-high 96 yards. The Eskimos needed Kamau Peterson's nine-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter to beat Winnipeg for their first win of the season. Defensively, Edmonton will have linebacker A.J. Gass back in the lineup.

Argonauts at Stampeders

The Argos throttled the Stampeders 48-15 at Rogers Centre just over a week ago as the visitors committed a whopping 10 turnovers. The loss capped a disastrous road trip for the Stampeders, who four days earlier lost 49-8 in Regina. However, former NFLer Mike McMahon starts at quarterback as incumbent Michael Bishop suffered a broken wrist in last week's game and is out six-to-eight weeks. Returning home is good news for the Stamps, who last year tied B.C. for the best home record at 8-1. Argos receiver Derrell Mitchell needs just 29 yards to surpass Paul Masotti as the club's career receiving yards leader.