This kind of went unannounced AFAIK. If I’m incorrect, please feel free to point it out, but I’m pretty sure that at the recent Edmonton home game, Simoni Lawrence became our all time tackle leader with 505.
Rob Hitchcock was the previous all time tackler with 484, so maybe the team didn’t want to announce it on the night his name went up on the Wall of Honour, but I think that Simoni did it in much less time than Hitch did.
Congrats to Simoni for a stellar year!
That is an incredible feat considering all the great defensive players we have had over the years. In only 6-7 seasons he’s accomplished this.
Besides being a fearce competitor, he’s always smiling and positive. Even in the 0-8 season start, Simoni was always positive and never blames anybody when things aren’t going good.
Congrats to Simoni…shhhh, we won’t tell the rider/stamps fans/media; they’ll just be “butt hurt”.
Impressive, yes. But the CFL did not track tackles for whatever reason until relatively recently. Anyone who played before the mid-1980s (I believe) is not in the running for the “all-time” tackles crown.
Lol. Yes he is our best.
That really takes a lot of good defensive players out of the running. Wonder how many Zambiasi has?
That’s actually the guy I checked to see when the stats started registering!
Hall-of-Famer and perennial all-star LB Ben Zambiasi is credited with exactly 69 tackles in his 11-year CFL career.
Guess he wasn’t so good after all.
:o Yikes. Yeah, I’d say that’s inaccurate.
I don’t think they started recording tackles till 1987 so that would mean all his tackles in the first 9 years of his career weren’t recorded.
They only started recording tackles in 1987, of which that year Ben recorded 51 tackles, but that
was his last year as a TiCat, before moving on to Argos.
Don’t forget that he was reaching the twilight of his career in that 87 season, so imagine how many
tackles he would have had in the full 9 other years as a TiCat !!
He was an All Star every year. I would be willing to bet he would have surpassed Hitch and
Simoni in tackles if records were kept for his whole playing career !!
Ben was one of the most dominant linebackers ever to play in the CFL.
I’d imagine guys pre 1987 were racking up some huge tackling numbers.
Shorter passing games, and more rushing attempts would give LB’s way more opportunities for tackles.
Well, guys like Clements and Deiter Brock could really air it out. There were plenty of deep balls but there was also way more interceptions thrown.
I think he had 69 tackles one game that I was at…and baked cookies at halftime for the fans.
Bob Krouse LB 13 years a TiCat. Angelo Mosca DT 13 years a TiCat John Barrow DT/LB 14 years a TiCat.
Simoni is a great player, so no disrespect intended but Krouse, Mosca, and Barrow may have exceeded him in total tackles . Two different eras and the stats from the past are less than adequate in comparison to today .
There’s no doubt that these 4 players would be on an all-time TiCat D team.
Pat Lynch ( Speedy would have “loved” the HAAA grounds practice facility ;))
LMAO. ;D ;D
Lol
I think Simoni may be putting himself in contention for the all-time team.
I believe it’s been over a decade since Ticats chatboard members of the day put together an all-time roster. I remember thinking that one of the “starting” LBs could be dislodged if the right guy came along. At one time I thought Markeith Knowlton or Jamal Johnson might become that guy, but I don’t think either of them put in enough years, or played for strong enough teams.
Simoni is on year 7 (and counting), with 2 Grey Cup appearances (and counting), and playing as well as ever.
Different era, different approach to the game. Back in the day, there was more running, often two running backs, ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, and often 5 man D-lines and/or 4 linebackers. More D-line and linebacker tackles, so hard to compare total numbers by position.
Another year or two at this level, and a Grey Cup, he goes on the Wall IMO.
Hmmm digging into the numbers a bit and you’re right. Lower #'s of attempts and a way lower completion %, but it looks like yards per completion were higher than those of today. Interesting. 