Hamilton certainly took opportunity with the time they had to regroup during halftime as they held on to a 5-4 lead against Montreal. The offence was able to turn things around while the defence kept their foot on the gas by carrying over their dominance put forth in the first half. Come the final whistle, the Ticats’ came out on top of a convincing 31-7 win in downtown Montreal. Ticats.ca’s Ethan Ready took some time to look beyond the box score and dig deep into the stats sheet for this week’s edition of MNP By The Numbers.
12 – Each of the Ticats’ defensive starters recorded at least one tackle against Montreal. The front four combined for 21 of the 45 defensive tackles made by the Ticats’ unit.
8 – The Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ defence tallied eight total quarterback sacks against the Alouettes. Following Brandon Banks’ tempo boosting 86-yard punt return touchdown, Montreal’s offensive line found themselves that much more vulnerable to Ticats’ Defensive Coordinator Orlondo Steinauer’s blitz heavy defensive scheme, allowing 5 sacks in the second half of play in Montreal. While Adrian Tracy stood out with his dominate defensive play, he recorded his first career sack against the Als.
56 – Brett Maher recorded his longest field goal in his CFL career when he notched a 56-yard field goal to give the Ticats the lead against the Alouettes right before halftime. Maher has already had two of his best games in terms of points in 2016, including his 17-point outing against Montreal where he made all five of his kick attempts along with two extra points. He scored 16 points in the Ticats’ season opening victory against Toronto. His highest scoring game in his career was an 18-point performance in 2014 when he was a member of the Ottawa Redblacks during their inaugural season.
187 – Perhaps a surprising statistic, considering the pass heavy offence that Ticats’ coach Kent Austin runs, but running back CJ Gable leads the CFL in rushing yards with 187 off of 42 attempts. Gable has proven himself reliable in picking up yards when needed as he’s averaged 4.5 yards per carry. The Ticats’ offence was able to piece together a scoring drive which was capped off by Gable’s first rushing touchdown of the 2016 season off of a nine yard run.
1 – The Ticats’ defence ranks first in two statistical categories through four weeks of the 2016 CFL season. Hamilton has managed to drag down opposing quarterbacks on 17 different occasions and has forced 11 turnovers. The Black and Gold also have three players in the top ten in sacks with John Chick leading the league with four. The other two players ranking among the leagues top are Simoni Lawrence and Drake Nevis, who both have three on the year.
50.2 – Punting the ball has notably been where Brett Maher has found the most consistency in his game. He continues to lead the league in average yards per punt with 50.2.
