Ticats.ca Article on Defensive End Brian Bulcke

The Ticats website has an article on non-import defensive tackle Brian Bulcke returning this week to Calgary after playing his first two seasons there. Bulcke has turned out to be a great free agent signing by the Cats, a non-import defensive starter in the middle of the line.

As Bulcke has turned out to be a great player, I've been wondering why Calgary didn't resign him. He comes from a good school in Stanford and majored in mechanical engineering so he's no moron. He has good size at 6'4" and 280 pounds. In his first year he had 11 tackles and a sack, while last year he had 18 tackles and two sacks so one would expect that his third year would show further improvement.

I then went and looked at Calgary's depth chart for the first game this year and saw that the Stamps started non-import Corey Mace at defensive tackle. So the Stamps were already set there. The Stamps only started one non-import on defense, so it was unlikely that the Stamps would start two non-imports on the defensive line (which would be pretty wacky). So in a way the Cats were lucky that Calgary probably couldn't keep Bulcke with Mace, especially if Bulcke wanted to start.

The Cats were a good destination for Bulcke considering they like going with two import offensive tackles as starters, meaning someone who could possibly start on defense would be given a decent shot.  

Hamilton Tiger-Cats at BC Lions Half-Time

The Cats are at least within five points after a late safety. Probably the turning point of the half was early when Boudreaux was flagged for the weakest horse collar tackle penalty that should have been a sack on Lulay deep in BC territory. At least later in the game the penalties seemed to go more Hamilton's way.

The Hamilton offense was putrid in the first quarter, with no first downs, but the defence at least played well and limited the damage. Not much of a running game. Also teams in the CFL may have figured out that when LeFevour comes in that a running play is going to happen. Good while it lasted.

Burris ended up with a decent completion percentage in the half, although part of that was typical Hamilton short passes that were no where near the first down marker.

Bulcke is having a good game in the interior of the defensive line for Hamilton. Why Calgary got rid of him (or at least didn't resign him) after two years is a mystery to me. A non-import, Bulcke majored in mechanical engineering at Stanford. I'm not sure who was the last good non-import defensive tackle the Cats have had.