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Tiger-Cats look strong in 52-26 rout of Bombers, but what can they take from it?

Tiger-Cats look strong in 52-26 rout of Bombers, but what can they take from it?

While the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' 52-26 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Thursday night saw them put up incredible stats and get crucial contributions from their offence, defence and special teams, the score doesn't tell the whole story. This game was essentially over when Bombers' quarterback Drew Willy left with a head injury late in the first quarter; Hamilton was ahead 17-7 at the end of the first, and it only got more lopsided from there. The Tiger-Cats should still get plenty of credit for the impressive things they did do, and those deserve discussion in detail, but this whole game comes with a significant caveat given the state of the opposition after Willy's exit.

For Hamilton, this victory started with quarterback play. Zach Collaros turned in an impressive showing, completing 26 of 33 passes for 354 yards and two touchdowns. That gave him a remarkable completion percentage of 78.8 per cent. He also spread the ball around well, finding seven different receivers on the night, four for more than 50 yards each. The offensive line gave Collaros time, and the receivers made great catches (Bakari Grant had a particularly impressive showing, hauling in five catches for 117 yards and a touchdown), but it was the man at the offence's controls who really shone.

The Tiger-Cats' defence also deserves a lot of credit. They created plenty of pressure against Winnipeg's vaunted offensive line, recording two sacks and forcing Willy and replacement Brian Brohm into plenty of bad throws. Willy completed three of six passes for 48 yards with an interception before leaving, and that interception came from the Bombers' offensive line struggling to block their marks; Hamilton got through, and Willy rushed a throw to a bad area as a result. Ticats' defenders Taylor Reed and Adrian Tracy also got through on the hit on Willy that led to his injury. Hamilton's defence also excelled in coverage, with defensive backs Emanuel Davis, Mike Daly and Brandon Stewart all recording interceptions, and the Ticats held Winnipeg's quarterbacks to 194 passing yards and primary running back Paris Cotton to 46 rushing yards. That's a good all-around defensive effort.

Special teams were a strength for the Tiger-Cats in this one too. Brandon Banks had four punt returns for 100 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown run, and he added 60 further return yards on three kick returns. Kicker Justin Medlock also had a great game, making all three of his field goal attempts and all five of his extra point attempts. The coverage teams weren't bad either, conceding a longest kick return of just 32 yards despite nine attempts. There's not much to improve on here.

There are a few things Hamilton can work on overall. The ground game still wasn't really present, with top running back Ray Holley collecting just 16 yards on six carries and Banks getting 13 yards on four carries. Overall, the Ticats had just 27 rushing yards (also including a five-yard loss from Terrell Sinkfield and two scrambles for three yards from QB Jeff Matthews). That could be better. So could the punting game; Hugh O'Neill averaged just 38.5 yards on two punts. Those are relatively minor quibbles, though.

However, this all comes with the disclaimer of the opposition. The Bombers were already struggling a bit before Willy left, and after his injury, all the air seemingly went out of their tires. That makes it hard to accurately evaluate Hamilton. How much of Collaros' play was about his success, and how much was about Winnipeg's struggles? How well did the Ticats' defence do to shut down Brohm, or how much of that was just his own poor play? We'll never quite know, and that's why it's hard to get too high on Hamilton after this. Now, we shouldn't get too low on them either; between this and a close one-point road loss to defending champions Calgary in Week One, the Ticats are off to one of the league's best starts. It's worth keeping this win in perspective given the opponent, though. This is a good win for Hamilton, and one that gives them some confidence going forward, but it isn't necessarily a suggestion they're miles ahead of everyone else. All we really know is that they're miles ahead of Winnipeg with a replacement quarterback.