Ticats Beat Montreal, 34 to 26

Awesome victory at home for the Cats against Montreal. Glenn had a decent game going 20 for 36 for 295 yards with two TDs and no interceptions. Dave Stala had his best game of the year by far, with five catches for 107 yards and two TDs and probably a good shot for Canadian player of the week. Cobourne was OK rushing, with 15 carries for 67 yards. Williams had four catches for 54 yards. Bruce was playing for a whiel there, then he wasn't. I have no idea what the story is there. Porter even chipped in, with a nice 4 yard TD run to the weak side (which I predicted) with a bit of showboating thrown in.

The defence needs to be saluted. Calvillo had 356 yards, but was only 23 for 45 (Michal Bishop type numbers) with a TD. Whitaker ran seven times but for only 30 yards.

Penalties went both ways, but I think the Cats benefitted the most, with a number of facemask calls going their way.

All in all, a most enjoyable game, especially with the Cats beating the Alouettes at home in a game that means something

Crowd seemed decent, but I didn't hear the number.

Alouettes at Ticats Game Day

Same offensive line as last week, imports Simmons and Jimenez as the tackles, with Dyakowski and Rottier as the guards. Hage still the centre.

Bakari Grant gets a start at wide receiver, along with Arland Bruce. Wunderkind Chris Williams and non-import Dave Stala are listed as the slots. No love for Marquay McDaniel as he, Thigpen, Carter and McKay are listed as backup slots or receivers.

Glenn starts at quarterback, Cobourne as running back and non-import Brown at fullback when they use one (hint almost never apart from short running plays to pick up a few yards). So that's five Canadian starters on offense.

Medlock kicks and punts.

Front seven is again the same. Baggs and Hickman are the ends, with Smith and non-import Steele in the middle.

Knowlton, Williams and Johnson are still the linebackers.

Non-import Hinds and Young are the corners, with Thomas and Smith as the half-backs and Shivers as the safety. That's two non-import starters on defence and seven total, the bare minimum.

The Alouettes go with an all-Canadian offensive line. Bourke and Perrett are the tackles, with Woodruff and Flory as the guards and Broduer-Jourdain in the centre.

Bratton and Watkins are the receivers. Richardson and Green are the slots. Calvillo is back at quarterback after being injured last week and Whitaker starts at running back. Non-import Carter is the starting fullback. That's six total Canadian starters on the offense.

On defence, Stewart and Bowman are the ends. Non-import and former Ticat Bekasiak and Wilson are the tackles.

At linebacker, outside it's Cox and Guzman with non-import Emry in the middle.

At corner, it's Estelle and Dix. Parker and Anderson are the halfbacks. Burlingtonian and obviously non-import Crawford is the safety. That's three starting non-imports on defence and nine total, two more than the minimum. Safe to say the Cats have worse Canadian talent than Montreal.

Whyte kicks and punts.

Rob Ford Makes CFL Picks?

How did I not know this? Maybe I don't watch enough TSN. Anyways from this Star article:

In fact, despite the gracious words in his final speech, Ford seemed to dismiss the deputants in an interview with TSN Radio host James Cybulski that was recorded Thursday morning or early afternoon.

After Ford made his CFL picks for the week, he was asked the best suggestion he had heard during the meeting.

Ford responded: “Actually, I haven’t heard anyone wanting to reduce. They just want to keep everything. So I don’t think people understand that if we don’t do anything with the $775 million (budget shortfall), you’re going to be looking at thousands of dollars of property tax increases.”

He added: “I haven’t heard any good suggestions on saving money. I’ve just heard ‘don’t cut this and don’t cut that.’”

I'm guessing he picks the Argos every week, but I'm curious to see how he does for the other teams. Kudos to James Cybulski for scooping the rest of the media.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers Beat BC Lions 25 to 20, Buck Pierce Injured

I only tuned in with a little bit more than five minutes to go. Unsurprisingly Buck Pierce had already been knocked out of the game, but they didn't mention why the rest of the game. Backup Alex Brink looked good for the Bombers getting the winning TD late.

CFL Predictions 2011, Week 5

BC at Winnipeg
Last I checked, Winnipeg is favoured by 2.5 at home which is frankly bizarre. Winnipeg is 3 and 1, BC is 0 and 4 and CFL teams have a massive advantage at home. I even made a post analyzing it. Favouring the Bombers by only 2.5 at home is basically saying on a neutral field, the game would be a tossup. The Riders managed to win last week, but you have to pick the Bombers based on just defence, who will be motivated by the death of their defensive lin coach. As far as I know, the Glassman, Buck Pierce is playing, so I'm not sure what the low spread is based on. Bombers by more than the spread.
Mosquito People 25, Riot People 17

Montreal at Hamilton
The Alouettes are on the road and favoured by 3.5 points. Quarterback Anthony Calvillo is apparently over his blurry eye problem (or is he?) and looked decidely mediocre last week against the Riders. The Cats have won two straight and the Alouettes have lost one. The Cats in recent years have been good at venerable Ivor Wynne and the Alouettes relatively good on the road. I'm really tempted to pick Montreal to win by less than the spread. Instead, I'll be a bit of a homer (both in a sense of being a Ticat fan and also knowing home teams have a big advantage) and pick Hamilton by a rouge.
Ticats 29, Bird People 28

Toronto at Edmonton
The Argos seem to rarely play at home these days. No Lemon Party this week, as Cleo Lemon is injured, so Dalton Bell has the reins (I wonder who is the third string QB this week?). Edmonton is 4 and 0 and at home and favoured by 8.5. Pretty easy.
Frigid People 35 Suck People 21

Calgary at Saskatchewan
This is tough. The Riders are at home, which has to count for something. Calgary is only 2 and 2 and favoured by 2.5, but haven't really impressed me, offensively or defensively. Burris looks tired and old and inaccurate. The Riders apart from last week have sucked utterly. If Sasky goes down early, they're done. My heart says the Riders, but my brain says Calgary. I'll go with the Stamps.
Oil People 25, Combine People 24

Marquay McDaniel In, Maurice Mann Out for Ticats

The Ticats just sent out a tweet saying that wide receiver Marquay McDaniel is now on the 46 man roster and Maurice Mann out. Nobody has really said much about the lunacy that Mann was injured by cutting himself on a Tigercat locker door. I don't blame Mann, but what kind of chamber of horrors is the Ticat locker room?

McDaniel didn't play last week, but I never heard what his injury was. Maybe I wasn't paying attention. Anyways, he's probably likely to play on Friday now, despite apparently being out of favour.

Update: McDaniel is on the game day roster as a backup of Chris Williams.

Ivor Wynne Food and Beverage Pricing

I've always meant to do a post about the pricing of food and beverages at Ivor Wynne, especially to compare year to year. So this is that post.

All I can remember so far is that tallboys of Canadian and Coor's Light are $8.75. Note that you could go before the game to the Prince Edward Tavern and get a pint for significantly cheaper. I'll try on Friday's game to get the prices for as many other things as I can, to allow a year to year comparison. I'll try and include info from the Roger's Centre and the Moncton game too.

CFL Players of the Week, Week 4, Ticats Shut Out

So the CFL Players of the Week are out and despite a road victory (albeit against a winless team) the Ticats were shut out. Winnipeg quarterback Buck Pierce won offensive player, Edmonton's Greg Peach (who?) won defensive player, Edmonton's David Duval won special teams and Winnipeg's Cory Watson won best Canadian player.

The Cats best chance was Chris Young with an 189 yard and TD receiving game. Maybe if he went over 200 yards or had an extra TD he would have had a chance. Pierce's numbers were quite good, 22 for 27 for 361 yards and 3 TDs. That's a pretty awesome completion percentage so I can't really fault the pick. Philosophically, it is difficult for a receiver to beat out a quarterback for this award. All four winning quarterbacks have to have a mediocre week and the receiver's numbers have to be stellar.

Just in case you wanted to know how many awards each team has won, Winnipeg has five, Montreal and Edmonton have four, and BC, Calgary and Hamilton have one a piece.

CFLPower Rankings, Week 5, 2011

1. Edmonton
Nobody is more shocked than me. Difficult to argue that Fred Stamps is the best receiver in the CFL. Good defence too. I'm not sure how long it will last, but the Eskimos could end up with a ridiculous improvement in win total year over year.

2. Montreal
Too early to jump off the band wagon after a single loss, albeit one at home. I'm sort of assuming that Anthony Calvillo will be able to play this week. The Alouettes were not terrible with McPherson in at quarterback and made the game against the Riders close at the end.

What's up with the Alouettes not selling out their stadium? I can understand the opening being on that weird Moving Day (aka Canada Day) and not selling out, but a 3 and 0 team. Weird. At least that adds more data points for my best road drawing team post.

3. Winnipeg
Tempting to put them ahead of Montreal, but the Bombers aren't quite there yet. Impressive defence will keep them in games, especially in this year of mediocre CFL quarterbacks.

4. Hamilton
Winning on the road in BC is never easy for an EST team. Offense looked good in the first half, and the defence looked good at the end shutting down Travis Lulay. Good depth at import receiver and fabulous linebackers. The question remains whether they can beat a team with a winning record. You can't play winless teams every week.

5. Calgary
Looked smelly at home against the Eskimos. Henry Burris is not looking like his usual form. Defence also mediocre. Fortunately for the Stampeders, there's worse teams in the CFL.

6. Saskatchewan
Win a game on the road and suddenly you're no longer the worse team in the CFL. Not a great team by any means, but at least Durant seems like he's a quarterback again and there's receiving production from Dressler and Getzlaf.

7. Toronto
Cleo Lemon left the last game early due to tooth problems and the Argos haven't won since the first game of the season. A good defence means they probably won't descend into total suckitude, but it isn't looking good for matching their 9 and 9 record of 2010.

8. BC
Still winless and lost at home last game. Not a good combination. Buono should have switched to general manager only a while ago, if only to have someone to blame and fire. If the Lions keep honking, Buono really has to go totally. Also to those whose power rankings last week had BC significantly higher, you're idiots.

Ticats Beat BC 39 to 31

Most satisfying victory for the Cats last night in Vancouver. The Cats jumped out to various early leads, twice by 14 points, but I have to give credit to the Lions for coming back and making a game of it. I think of the winless teams in the CFL right now,, they're clearly the best. At the end of the game, I was saying this is where good teams like Montreal pour it on and win the game and the Cats did just that last night at the end of the fourth quarter.

Amazing game by Chris Williams last night. Eight catches for 189 yards and a TD, a veritable festival of YAC yards and broken tackles. Williams now leads the team with 250 yards receiving and you have to think he's a got an excellent shot at offensive player of the week with the most receiving yards in a single game this year. Will he be the only Cat to get 1000 yards receiving this year? Unless Bruce and Mann step up, maybe.

Speaking of Bruce, he didn't have a bad game, with four catches for 56 yards, including a critical catch late in the game.

Stala only caught three passes for 37 yards but two were TDs. The unsportsman like conduct penalty for punting the ball into the stands after the first TD was a bit unfortunate. Hopefully the Cats can get way ahead in a game and Stala can get a TD and do something crazy.

Glenn played well, going 21 for 31 for 334 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions. He ran for 16 yards on 3 carries as well. Did what needed to be done at the end.

Cobourne gained 100 yards on 14 carries, plus 2 TDs, including the monster one at the end of the game. I'm not sure if that's his first 100 yard game as a Tigercat, but it may well be.

The defence generally played well, especially late in the fourth to lock things down. Geroy Simon was kept to 78 yards on 5 catches. Only one sack, a pretty one by Jamal Johnson, but Lulay had a lot of pressure all game.

Special teams was good, apart from Medlock missing his first fieldgoal, a surprisingly short one. Excellent punt coverage too, with the Lions only getting 34 yards on seven points. Ouch.

All in all, a great game on the road by the Ticats.

CFL Predictions 2011, Week 4

Back with another week of predictions and hopefully

Hamilton at BC
This is a tough one. BC has won no games, while the Cats have won one last week. The CFL is a league with a major home field advantage, so generally bad team versus bad team should mean picking the home team automatically. BC is favoured by 3.5 points. The Ticats did look like they were hitting on all cylinders. A bit of a contrarian and homer pick, I'll pick Hamilton in a close one. BC hasn't show me much at all yet.
Hamilton 27, BC 24

Winnipeg at Toronto,
The Bombers have an awesome defence and the Toronto offense led by quarterback Cleo Lemon frankly smells. I don't think either team is particularly good and the Bomber quarterback situation is pretty murky with injuries. The Argos are favoured by 3 at home. I'm going to say the Argos win, but don't cover in a low scoring game.
Toronto 17, Winnipeg 15

Edmonton at Calgary
The Eskimos are hot, winning three straight. The Stampeders have been somewhat meh with a 2 and 1 record. Calgary at home is favoured by 3 points. Seems like odds making for the CFL consists of taking the home team by three. But I digress. I don't think Edmonton is really that great and will lose a few games this year, including this one.
Calgary 35, Edmonton 29

Saskatchewan at Montreal,
Not looking good for the Riders, Saskatchewan has lost all three games, looking as bad last week in Hamilton as the average woman at last call at the Prince Edward Tavern on Barton Street on a Friday night. The Alouettes have won three straight, are favoured by 11 and are at home. They'll cover. Easily.
Montreal 43, Saskatchewan 13

CFL Players of Week By Team After Three Weeks

After three weeks of play, Montreal leads with four player of the week awards (offense, defence, special teams and top Canadian), followed by Winnipeg with three, Edmonton with two, and BC, Calgary and Hamilton with on a piece. My plan at the end of the season is to make a chart comparing team wins with player of the week awards won. My theory is that Toronto as the major media centre will end up with more awards than their wins would warrant, but so far no awards for Toronto. No Riders so far either.

Ticat Attendance Through First Two Home Games, 2011 versus 2010, Down Slightly

For the first two games in 2011, the attendance was 23,852 and 22245, for an average of 23048. For 2010 the attendance was 25,248 and 21,408 for an average of 23,328. That's a decrease of 1.2% year over year. Not much of a difference.

If the Cats had a better record going into the second game the attendance might have been somewhat higher. One problem for the Cats is that the Rider game is traditionally well attended and the 22,245 last week was not a good number for a Saskatchewan game.

The battles over the location of the new stadium is likely having a depressive effect on attendance. A lot of people were angry over how it played out and it could take a couple of years (less if the Cats were to win the Grey Cup) for that ill will to subside.

Ticat Justin Medlock Wins CFL Special Teams Player of the Week

Ticats kicker and punter Justin Medlock won the CFL's special team's player of the week after the Cats 33 to 3 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, going four for four on field goals. Bye bye Sandro DeAngelis, go finish renovating your house.

Former non-import defensive tackle, Jermaine Reid won the best Canadian award with four tackles and a sack. I guess the Cats thought that Eddie Steele could fill the roll of starting non-import defensive tackle for a lot cheaper and so far he has.

Winning by 30 points and only giving up 3 could often warrant two awards, but not this week. Are the Ticats historically underrepresented in the CFL Player of the Week awards? Something worth analyzing.

CFL Rankings Week 4

1. Montreal
How many weeks was Montreal ranked number one last year. A fuck load. How many times will they be ranked number one this year. A fuck load. Playing an excretable 0 and 3 Saskatchewan at home this week, number one next week too.
2. Edmonton
I'm not sure what's happened, or if it will continue, but the Eskimos are a good team for now.
3. Calgary
The Stampeders don't seem like a great team this year, but in the land of the castrated, the one balled man is king. Plus they beat Winnipeg in a close one on the road.
4. Hamilton
This seems like a bit of a home pick, but presently the Bombers have a great defence and are on their third string quarterback going into game four. The Cat defence is good, plus the Ticats have actually scored more points than they have allowed despite a losing record. Kevin Glenn is effectively a one balled man compared to some of the quarterbacks starting this week.
5. Winnipeg
Awesome defence, no quarterback. Against half of the teams in the CFL, that's enough.
6. Toronto
Has won a game, has a credible defence. Starting Cleo "the Party" Lemon.
7. BC
Not Saskatchewn. Has built in advantage against EST teams.
8. Saskatchewan
Lose a bunch of good Canadian receivers and the wheels come off. Defence also now mediocre.

Bombers Quarterback Woes, Trafalis an Answer?

With Winnipeg quarterback Buck Pierce injured yet again and backup Joey Elliot out for the year with a torn ACL making a tackle after an interception*, the Bombers are somewhat pooched in the quarterback department. This article goes over the problem and mentions the next three quarterbacks on the depth chart, Alex Brink, Justin Goltz and Brandon Summers. The Bombers picking up former Ticat third stringer Adam Trafalis wouldn't be a bad idea. Trafalis at least has been around the CFL for a while now. Sure the Ticats picked Jason Boltus as their third string quarterback over Trafalis this year, but with an excellent defence, you might be able to win some games with someone who's been in the league longer than training camp, with the added bonus of making Matt Dunnigan happy. With the way Bomber quarterbacks are dropping, they could soon be playing raw rookie fourth and fifth stringers. Hopefully against the Ticats.

* If you can't make one tackle on a defensive back without totally blowing out your knee, maybe professional football isn't for you.

Ticat Game Day, Battle of the 0 and 2 Teams

One change on the offensive line this week for the Ticats, import Johnson is in for Simmons at left tackle, with import Jimenez in at right tackle as usual. The rest stays the same, non-imports Dyakowski and Rottier at guard and Hage at centre. I don't think the line has been the problem in the first two games, but they haven't been fantastic either.

Import Chris Williams is at one wideout spot, with non-import Carter at the other. Mann and non-import Stala are listed as the slots. Bakari Grant and Marquay McDaniel are listed as backups, so expect to see them in five receiver sets. Glenn still starts at quarterback, Cobourne at running back and non-import fullback Darcy Brown plays in the situations when the Cats aren't using five or six receivers. So that's six starting imports on offense.

Saskatchewan hasn't put up their line up yet on their website, which seems a bit strange.

The game is live on the NFL Network.
The front defensive seven is the same. Baggs and Hickman as the defensive ends and Smith and non-import Steele inside. Knowlton, Williams and Johnson as the linebackers.

Non-import Hinds and Young are the corners, with Dennis and Smith as the defensive halfbacks. Shivers is the safety. That's two defensive starters for eight total, one above the minimum.

CFL Week 3 Predictions

My weekly predictions are back, but I didn't have time to do last night's game. Too bad since I was thinking of saying the Bombers would cover, but still lose. Then I would have looked like Nostradamus.

Toronto at Montreal
Last I checked Montreal is favoured by ten. That seems generous to Toronto, but the Argos defence is pretty good. Considering how the Alouettes have rolled early in season, I can't see things changing. Alouettes get a reasonable lead going into the second half and then expand it.
Alouettes 32, Argos 16

Sasktchewan at Hamilton
The Ticats are favoured by 2.5 points at home, which since home teams are generally favoured by 3 points, means on a neutral field Saskatchewan is the slghtly better team. Arland Bruce or whatever you want to call him is out and Marquay McDaniel is back catching balls. Considering Bruce has caught four balls in two games, that's not as concerning as it would be normally. Chris Getzlaf is supposed to be back in as an import receiver for the Riders, which is good for them considering they don't have non-import receivers Fantuz or Bagg available. This could be construed as a homer pick, but I don't think the Cats are that bad to lose three games in a row early on.
Ticats 27, Riders 20

BC at Edmonton
The 2-0 Eskimos are only favoured by 2.5 points at home against the 0-2 Lions. I don't think that's fair to the Eskimos, but I'm going to go against the grain and go with the Lions. I've become less and less impressed with Kavis Reed's coaching abilities over the years; to me he's a good example of failing upwards. Buono isn't the superstar coach he once was, but he's no Bart Andrus.
Lions 25, Edmonton 23

Buck Pierce Injured!

In tonight's game between Calgary and Winnipeg, Bomber quarterback Buck Pierce left the game with an injured quadriceps muscle. So that's three games in when Pierce went down with injury. However considering it is only an injured quadricep, he could easily be back newt week. Also Calgary won 21-20. Henry Burris had another weak game, going 17 for 32 for 183 yards and one TD.

What's the Deal with Marquay McDaniel?

McDaniel hasn't played during the first two games and currently is listed on the one game injured list. McDaniel had close to 1000 yards receiving last year. He played in the second pre-season game and caught four passes for 48 yards and a TD, second most on the team. In last year's playoff game, he caught six passes for 85 yards, although he lost a fumble.

Considering the suck of the Ticat receivers this year apart from Mo Mann, what's going on with McDaniel? Is he really injured? Are the coaches still mad about the fumble in last year's playoff game? Do the new receivers playing in place of McDaniel have incriminating photos of Marcel Bellefeuille and Bob O'Billovich?

In a recent Scratching Post entry, Drew Edwards reports that "M. McDaniel filled in at wide receiver for Bruce and Belton Johnson was in at left tackle for Brian Simmons." So will McDaniel play on Saturday? McDaniel has never been my favourite receiver, but is an excellent option when Bruce has a couple of guys on him.

Afeter looking up the stats for last year's playoff game, I checked how former non-import receiver Chris Bauman is doing this year in Edmonton. Apparently he's injured (although in the CFL, if you're not on the nine game list, who knows if you're really injured) and hasn't caught a pass.

CFL Rankings Week 3

1. Montreal
Pretty hard to argue against Montreal being the top ranked team.
2. Edmonton
I'll pick the Eskimos over the Bombers, just because they have a more durable quarterback. Buck Pierce could explode at any time.
3. Winnipeg
Their offense is anemic, but early on a tough defence can do wonders. I don't know if they will be here a the end of the season, but I didn't think the Argos would finish at 500 last year either.
4. Toronto
Normally I would have put Calgary ahead of the Argos, but the Argos beat them on the road on week 1. Henry Burris is getting a bit long in the tooth and the Stampeder offensive line hasn't been great so far. Cleo "the Party" Lemon is still mediocre.
5. Calgary
See above.
6. Hamilton
This might be a bit of a homer's pick, but one of the three 0 and 2 teams has to be ranked highest. Bruce has to break out some time. Hopefully.
7. Saskatchewan
Not having Canadian receivers Fantuz and Bagg available this year has to be hurting the RIders ratio wise. Maybe Durant isn't the third best player in the CFL.
8. BC
I don't think BC will necessarily end up as the team with the worst record in the CFL, but they haven't looked great so far. Probably not going to playing in Vancouver for the Grey Cup.

I caught the first episode of the inside the Argos show, the Extra Yard. I kept wondering if the narrator was the old guy from the Labatt's Blue commericals. I also wondered how many cigarettes do you have to smoke to sound like that guy. Also I was surprised to see that Cleo Lemon is actually kind of cocky, which surprised me, considering he's Cleo Lemon. The show was actually somewhat compelling and it was tough watching players being released.

Ticats at Eskimos, Lineup Run Through

Again, I can't watch the game, but obviously hope the Ticats don't open the season 0 and 2. I've seen how that plays out and it isn't pretty. Especially with the Winnipeg "the Real Deal" Blue Bombers going 2 and 0. I'm going to keep calling them "the Real Deal" until they lose.

The offensive line is the same as last week, imports at tackle, Simmons and Jimenez, non-imports at guard, Dyakowski and Rottier and also at centre with Hage. Hopefully he gets the snap count right this week.

One change at receiver, import Chris Williams is in after the other new guy got injured. Is Marquay McDaniel even still on the team or injured? I have no clue and I'm leaving that as an exercise to the reader. Import Bruce is the other receiver. Hopefully he catches more than two passes this week and doesn't get any stupid penalties. Mann and non-import Stala are back as the slots.

Glenn is back at quarterback, with Cobourne as the running back and Darcy Brown as the fullback. That's five Canadian starters on offense.

The defensive line is the same as last week, Baggs and Hickman at end, and Smith and non-import Steele plugging the middle.

Linebackers are again the same. Knowlton, Williams and Johnson.

Corners again are non-import Hinds and Young. Dennis and Thomas are the half-backs and Shivers is the safety. Two Canadians on defence.

Medlock punts and kicks.

For Edmonton on the offensive line, Coston an import is the left tackle and non-import Wojt is the right tackle, differing from the Cats dual import scheme. Kabongo and Mac grad Koch are the guards and Fiacconni is the centre.

Henry and non-import Nowacki are the wide receivers, with Stamps and Bowman the slots. Porter (who?) is the running back with non-import Betrand as the fullback. That's six Canadians on offense.

On defence the Eskimos are listed as using a 3-4 scheme. Peach and Sykes are the ends, with former Argo draft pick Legare as the nose tackle (I'm too lazy to put in the accents).

Munoz and Hill are the outside linebackers (I think). Davis and Sherritt are in the middle.

Williams and Bradley are the two corners. Brown and former Ticat Thompson are the defensive halfbacks. Alexander is the non-import safety. That's two Canadian starters on defence and eight total, one more than the minimum.

Import and former Alouette Duval punts and kicks.

Looking at the Winnipeg Hamilton Game Statwise

I didn't get to see the game live due to being out of the country and I've only watched the first quarter overall of the Ticats home opener, but I thought I might comment anyways.

Glenn's performance was pretty poor overall, 18 for 31, for 187 yards, with one TD. The three picks were the problem. Interestingly, Buck Pierce had a terrible game looking at the stats.12 for 26 for 151 yards? That's Cleo Lemon territory right there. Pierce did have one TD matching his one interception toss. Frankly having those stats and winning the game is a minor miracle.

Mann had an awesome day with 9 catches for 120 yards. Mann was moved to the middle this season and obviously likes it. Every other receiver had a mediocre day. Bruce and Stala only catching two balls apiece isn't very good. Cobourne had a decent day, 75 yards on 15 runs, plus 36 yards receiving on five receptions. Medlock was three for three on field goals, so you can't complain about that.

On defence the Cats had five sacks total. People say sacks aren't a good stat, but five means you're doing something right. Linebacker Jamal Johnson had the best game with seven tackles and two sacks.

So basically it came down to Glenn's interceptions and not being quite good enough on offense with regards to red zone performance. If the Cats can't beat Winnipeg at home, I don't see how well they can do against the likes of Montreal.