The most valuable player for the Cats the past two years

I was talking to a good friend (and big Ticat fan like me) the other day.. we were talking about the Cats resurgence to a respectable team over the past two years. He posed this question: Who is the most valuable player in the Cats return to respectability.

Now, some would say Kevin Glenn. Understandable. There is no more valuable position on the field than QB.
Some might say AB3. Our best player, and probably my second choice.
Some may also say Knowlton. Our best player on defense.

All good choices. But my answer: Otis Floyd!

For two reasons. One reason is more of a broad example. the other more specific to a moment.

Reason 1: Before 2009, this team suffered from a culture of losing. Nearly a decade of losing seasons, free agency flops, and coaching busts, made this team no longer desirable to be a part of. When Obie (our most valuable off the field) brought in Floyd, he changed all that. Floyd walked with a swagger, that this team needed for a long time. He talked the big talk and backed it up on the field. He made it cool to be a Ticat again. More importantly, he made us feel proud to be Ticat fans again.

Reason 2: July 10, 2009. The turning point in the Ticat fortunes. Ticats playing in BC vs the perennial powerhouse Lions. The Cats (and the other Eastern teams) hadn't won there in an ice age. We just came off a humiliating loss to the Argos in opening week. It's a back and forth affair, both teams keeping it close. The final drive: Buck Pierce marches the Lions down the field. It's not looking good. A FG wins it for Lions. At midfield, Pierce throws a dart to... former teammate Otis Floyd. We won the game. And how important that game was. We don't win that game, who knows what happens the rest of the season. They needed that win. Deandra Cobb may have been the most valuable for that particular game, but Floyd was the clutch player.

I understand Floyd's close to his 'best before' date, so I have no problem with the Cats signing Williams to take his place. Just some recognition to a great football player, and one who should not be forgotten in the minds of Cat fans. While he had a great career with Calgary and BC, his legacy as a player should be the leadership and swagger that helped propel the Hamilton TigerCats back to respectability.

Who do you think the most valuable player has been?

1.Kevin Glenn
2.Markeith Knowlton
3.Arland Bruce
4.Otis Floyd
5.Geoff Tisdale

Knowlton. Bruce is the first runner up.

Dave Stala gets my vote. Based on pure speculation :slight_smile: from a distance, Stala seems to bring a work ethic, confidence and determination to The Cats. (the fact he played for St Marys is just coincidence)

Best in order, Glenn, Stala, Floyd, Bruce, who is the new guy again from late last season? Oh yea Steve Baggs, who can forget this guy?

8)

Knowlton hands down.

Jamal Johnson.

Imagine 2010 without Kevin Glenn. It would have been very ugly. Lots of other folks deserve credit too, but in this league, it all starts and ends with the quarterback.

His stuff on Jyles in that one game against the Peg last year was just frickin’ awesome. So happy he re-signed here. You could really make a case for all those mentioned in this thread so far.

http://cfl.ca/video/index?channel=7#show_video

There’s the textbook tackle.

But the reason I say Jamal Johnson is remember that 1st game of the season in 2009 against Toronto? We had Floyd at the Will spot and Dennis Haley in the middle (With Knowlton at Sam of course). Jamal Robertson made the defense look silly and had 134 rushing yards to go along with 53 receiving yards on just 17 touches. A few days later Jamal Johnson gets cut from the Buccaneers, Obie signs him and we’re then able to move Floyd to the middle and Johnson to the Will spot and voila! Run Defense as been as stout as ever since then and Johnson has played in every game and racked up over 200 tackles in two seasons.

Of course, one could make an argument for a number of players being the MVP for this team over the past two seasons.

Jamal Johnson

Johnson is the man who single handily shut down Corey Boyd for the entire season and was making huge tackles like they were going out of style. Johnson, Baggs and Hickman are the kind of guys that make quarterbacks wake up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat. Partially from the nightmares they give and partially from the concussions they received during the game.

For number 2, I have to go with the easy pick and go with Kevin Glenn, if only because we would not have had anywhere near as successful a season with Porter at the helm.

Number 3 goes to Knowlton, not for doing any one thing well but for doing everything well.

Number 4 and 5 go to Arland and Stala. Without Arland to go long, and Stala to make those 2nd down conversions, our offence would have suffered a lot more then it did this season.

Honourable Mention goes to Marwan Hage, because speaking from experience, playing Centre is a painful, thankless job.

Offense: AB111

Defense : MK

End of discussion.

Arland Bruce hands down.

This team turned the corner when we acquired him.

Period.

Bruce does get a lot of credit however, the day Glenn became the #1 quarterback is the day the cats were a good team again…

8)

Kevin Glenn.

Oski Wee Wee,

Russ