October 25, 2016

Fantastic Four: Ticats’ defensive line running the show

Adam Gagnon/CFL.ca

HAMILTON – It’s no mistake that the front four of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ defence has been wreaking havoc on teams all season long.

The Ticats’ defensive line consists of four guys that have come together this season to form arguably the league’s best group.

John Chick, Adrian Tracy, Ted Laurent, and most recently Michael Atkinson, make up Hamilton’s D-line, pressuring quarterbacks and taking down offences one tackle at a time each and every week.

RELATED:
» Bios: John Chick | Adrian Tracy | Ted Laurent | Michael Atkinson
»
Arceneaux, Chick, Messam named Week 18 Shaw Top Performers
» Watch Recap: Hamilton 39, Ottawa 36

Ticats.ca

John Chick’s Week 18 performance earned him Shaw Top Performers honours (Ticats.ca)

“It has a lot to do with stuff we do off the field,” Tracy said of the chemistry between the four. “We hang out, we have d-line dinners and d-line meetings outside of football. It helps us get to know the person, more so than the player.

“Off field chemistry builds on field chemistry so we’re been able to plug that in and be successful.”

And that they have.

Chick, the all-star defensive end signed by the Ticats during the offseason after he was released from the Roughriders, has been the anchor of the unit.

The 33-year-old has collected 35 defensive tackles and is third in the league in sacks (13) behind Shawn Lemon (14) and Charleston Hughes (15). Chick is also just two sacks away from tying a career high in a single season (15 in 2014).

Two of those sacks and five of his defensive tackles came in the Ticats’ overtime victory against the REDBLACKS in Week 18. In the first quarter, the Utah State alumnus took down Ottawa pivot Henry Burris for a one-yard loss.

But perhaps Chick’s biggest play was during the contest’s extra frame.

On an Ottawa second down, Chick stripped the ball away from the REDBLACKS’ quarterback which was recovered by Tracy. That play led to Brett Maher’s game winning field goal and to Chick receiving Shaw Top Performer honours for the week.

The 6-foot-4, 253 pound, two-time Grey Cup Champion spent six seasons (2007-15) in Riderville, recording 53 sacks over that span. In 107 career CFL games, the Gillette WY. Native has 205 defensive tackles, two special team tackles and 14 forced fumbles (four of which have come this year with Hamilton).

That experience, leadership and constant ability to perform was something that Tracy took from the veteran as soon as he put on the black and gold.

“I’m always a learner, so anything that he would offer I would definitely pick up,” Tracy smiled when asked about Chick offering any advice to the second year defensive end. “He’s a quiet leader. He’s not one that’s going to sit there and force things but any time that he feels like something needs to be said, he will speak up and say it.

“I’ve learned a lot from him on the field as far as football but also off the field as far as being a leader and a man. He’s definitely a great addition and we’re glad to have him.”

And the Ticats are just as glad to have Tracy.

In just his second season in the CFL, Tracy is coming into his own as a starter. He missed most of the Ticats’ 2015 campaign with an injury collecting just 15 defensive tackles on the year.

This season, however, is a different story.

The 6-foot-3, 245-pounder already has seven quarterback sacks, three special teams tackles, two interceptions and 56 defensive tackles – the most of all defensive lineman in the CFL.

“I’ve got to credit Coach O (defensive coordinator Orlondo Steinauer),” Tracy said of his individual success this season. “I think he’s a defensive guru. He uses all of us players in our strengths. And our weaknesses, he doesn’t allow us to be exposed. Plugging me in where ever he needed me to be allowed me to excel.”

Atkinson, who has slotted into the defensive tackle position for the past few weeks in place of Drake Nevis, is the most recent addition to the unit this season but hasn’t taken very long to let his presence be known.

The 27-year-old from Windsor, Ont. displayed exactly why he earned a spot in the starting lineup in Week 18’s match against Ottawa.

“We hang out, we have d-line dinners and d-line meetings outside of football. It helps us get to know the person, more so than the player.”

Adrian Tracy

 

On the final play of the first quarter, Atkinson tipped a Burris pass and dove out to grab it himself for the interception. The incredibly athletic play from the 6-foot, 312-pounder gave the Tiger-Cats optimal field position – the Ottawa five-yard line – for Maher to kick a field goal to cut the REDBLACKS’ lead to 10-6.

In 32 games with the Tabbies since 2014, the national defensive tackle has 19 defensive tackles, two sacks, one interception and one forced fumble.

The last, but certainly not least, piece of Hamilton’s D-line puzzle is Laurent.

Laurent was the only lineman to re-sign with Hamilton from last season after two other free agents, Bryan Hall and Justin Hickman, both left to join the Argonauts.

The Powder Springs, GA., native has 25 defensive tackles and eight sacks so far this season giving the Ticats a steady hand to rely on each game.

Hamilton has led the league in sacks for eleven out of 18 weeks of the 2016 season and currently sit in second, just two sacks behind the Calgary Stampeders.

It’s that consistency among an injury filled season that the Tiger-Cats have endured, full of new faces in the locker room and on the field, that has allowed the defensive line to thrive.

And with first place in the East on the line in their final two games of the regular season, it’ll be up to the four of them to continue exactly what they’ve been doing all season long to chase the top spot.