Bert Faibish
Ticats.ca
Like a kid who’d had his lunch money stolen one too many times, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats had had enough.
After losing five games in a row to the Alouettes, the Ticats responded with the “statement” game that the media had been talking about all week, dominating Montreal from the opening kickoff to the final whistle and coming away with a convincing 40-3 victory.
“That’s the biggest statement you can make, we shut those boys down and they couldn’t do anything,” said Ticats linebacker Otis Floyd.
“Everyone that’s been waiting to see the potental of this Hamilton defence, we’re showing them and we’re showing them at the right time,” continued Floyd.
In fact, if the goal is to play your best football as the playoffs loom ever closer, then the Ticat defence is right on track.
The unit hasn’t allowed a touchdown in ten full quarters and has forced a staggering 19 turnovers during their three-game win streak.
“When you’re up on a team and you can finish them off and put them to sleep, that’s the sign of a champion,” said defensive end Stevie Baggs, who returned a fumble 80 yards for his second defensive touchdown of the season. “When I was running to the end zone with my guys on defence forming an escort around me, it really symbolized the way our defence has started to come together as a unit.”
As a team, the Ticats could do no wrong and on a night where the defence looked almost impregnable, Kevin Glenn controlled the offence like a well-oiled machine.
Rather than take what the defence gave them, they took whatever they wanted.
“We try to spread the ball around so teams cant just focus on one guy,” said quarterback Kevin Glenn, who distributed the ball to seven different receivers.
“It helped that all the guys out there were making plays and I just tried to get them the ball,” he said.
One of the biggest recipients of Kevin’s even distribution was wide receiver Chris Bauman, who reached career-highs of 116 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
Kevin reached a milestone of his own, tying Ticat hero Danny McManus with his 29th touchdown pass of the season midway through the fourth quarter.
Hamilton now has two games remaining and with one more win or a Toronto loss, will clinch a home playoff game for the second straight year.
