Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Ticats Mauling of Alouettes Analysis

Well yesterday at Ivor Wynne was most enjoyable from the perspective of a Ticat fan. Despite giving up a TD off a fumble on the first play from scrimmage, the Cats were relentless from that point on, ending up with 44 to 21 victory over the Alouettes. Calvillo looked mortal and perhaps a bit Cleo Lemon like and all was right with the universe in East Hamilton.

Kevin Glenn's numbers on the surface don't look that remarkable, and frankly how the Cats got 44 points from them seems a little weird. Glenn was 14 for 18 for 237 yards with 1 TD and no picks. Often the most important stat for passers is completion percentage and a 77.8% is excellent. That keeps the ball moving downfield and also minimizes two and outs, the real killer in the CFL.

Chris Williams kept up his leading receiver performance going with five catches for 108 yards. No need for Arland Bruce III here. Stala had catches for 59 yards which included a long reception followed by a lateral to Mann for a few more yards. I'm not sure what the head coach thought about that (likely don't do that again), but I've always thought laterals are somewhat under utilized in the CFL. I'm also a bit confused as to who gets credit for yards after a lateral. I assume Mann would have in this case.

Cobourne had a heavy load against his former team, but performed with a 19 carry performance with 102 yards, 2 TDs and a fumble. As long as the average is over five yards per carry, you're usually good in the CFL.

Porter had one of those up and down performances that keep him as the backup. He did well when he came in for Glenn briefly, including a nice long run for a TD up the middle with a celebratory spin across the goal line, but threw a pick six near the end of the game when the game was already long decided. Still a good sign that Porter could come in and keep the team going against the Alouettes when it mattered.

Calvillo had a mediocre day, going 17 for 30 for 216 yards, with no TDs or picks. It seemed a lot of Alouette receivers dropped short passes that should have been caught, but at the same time, pressure from the Hamilton D made Calvillo pass early than he wanted too. Hickman had a good game with two sacks and Johnson had six tackles, a sack and a forced fumble. There were a few passes knocked down that were nice too. Overall the defence looked great against the Alouettes.

Montreal also had penalties up the wazoo and Hamilton had almost none. Trestman probably didn't like that.

Attendance was a bit weaker than I predicted at 26 and change. I had said 28 and change, but the weather with the possibility of rain probably kept some people away. I saw almost no Alouette fans (in fact I think I saw more for the last game against Montreal) whereas if Toronto had been the opponent, I'm sure the game would have closer to a sellout. No doubt the Ticats want Toronto back as the Labour Day opponent next year and for it to remain as Toronto no matter what David Braley says.

No comments: