Wow...Johnson has been a huge addition to this team. He's been all over the field. And Adams is just a terror in the back field. IM really impressed with this defence so far and the best is yet to come. I could say so much about almost everyone on the defence....
Great Job OBIE for acquiring these guys and Coach Marshall for a great gameplan. Holding a team in the CFL to NO OFFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS is an amazing accomplishment (doesnt matter how good or bad the team is).
Id really like to see BARKER at safety thou, as BEVERIDGE is brutally slow, cant support the run and cant get off blocks from WR's. He's good for the occasional knockout shot, but we're usually losing by 20 at that point.
GREAT WIN BOYS...... Now lets see them keep the Al's to under 25 points and we gotta shot next week.
The one piece I think we are missing is a pyscho safety......In my time, it was Hitchcock, Wiseman, Rockford, Bennett.....man these guys could smash you!!!!!!
and thats the one piece thats missing.....If BARKER can turn into that player....WATCH OUT!!!!
Johnson has been a great addition to the team, as noted by the TSN panel at halftime. And Adams did a great job, during the 2nd half in particular. He was one of the main reasons Reid did not get far in 2nd half.
Hickman also deserves some credit, as he had 7 tackles, and he was the one who deflected the Randall pass that was picked off by Knowlton. Something else I should note about the D is that they seemed to do well even without Floyd being there in the 2nd half.
I agree with everything but the statement that Beveridge is too slow. If he was too slow he wouldn't be the starter or even a pro football player for that matter. He anchored a secondary tonight that literally shut down the bombers passing game.
It is 100% impossible to shut down a passing game with a slow free safety.
Zenstate, I respect your opinion. But if you watch the replay on TSN2, watch REID's 60 yrd run in the first half. It was just awful and the replay shows Beveridge before the play, where he lines up, how he cant read the run or attack the run, how REID runs right past him, and then how ROmby BRYANT, who was already blocking Tisdale, brushes BEVERIDGE, and knocks him out of the play.
We cant have that back there...if that was Avon Cobourne or Wes Cates.....TD!
We can get by with BEVERIDGE with DL, LB, and DB playing this good...but he will get exposed eventually.
Darell Adams gives 110% on every play, he represents what Hamilton football is all about, and Jamall Johnson uses his speed to fly all over the field. We have a solid group of guys to build a good defence.
I saw that play from 2-3 angles on TV and Beveridge was blocked when he was still 3-4 yards away from him. Plus the block came from his blind side so he didn't even have a chance to avoid it.
We'll see how it shakes down, but if I were game planning against the Cats, Beveridge would be a main target.
Barker is young and his inexperience can lead to him getting burned. The upside though is that the kid has the athletic credentials in keeping with a first-overall selection, particularly for a Canadian defensive back. I do not think his past injury is an issue, so the question is when does he get time in the line of fire?
Safety is a huge piece of any defensive puzzle. At a certain point, the Cats are going to have to throw Dylan in there. All safeties have had to start from that situation at some point. Being the last line of defence is inherently stressful. The only way to develop Barker is to get him in there and see what he's got. For all the growing pains, I think the Cats will be better off in the medium term.
I totally agree that Barker is the future at that position. I (and obviously the coaches) feel that Beveridge has more experience and is a safer choice.
Maybe once we are more solidified in the east division they can start playing Barker. Also, don't be shocked if they use both at the same time vs. Montreal. You have to use nickel against their air attack.
What we should try this week is using a DB, but playing him in the linebacker area of the field. With all those short, quick passes AC does, it might mess him up a bit with so much traffic there. Even if it does mean using a 3 man front, it gives you all sorts of options with the blitz to.
Yes, the "tad" might be 9 games, not 9 years in Barker's case. LOL
I like Sandy as a veteran presence, a depth guy, and a solid special teams player. It's the slowness issue that concerns me against some of the more high-octane passing attacks in the game. We shall see how things shape up at rover in the weeks ahead.
Johnson was the pick up of the year on defense. He's made an immediate impact and he just slipped in under the radar. I'm glad they didn't go after some big name free agent linebacker, like the couple that became available the other week. Adams is simply a beast. He gets great push up the middle.
Lawrence Gordon seems to have been reborn. He played great tonight as well.