John Kenney/CFL.ca
MONTREAL — While it may sometimes be an overlooked area, Ticats’ return man Frankie Williams reminded those in attendance at Percival Molson Stadium why he was the Most Outstanding Special Teams Player in 2019.
After recording over 184 punt and kickoff receiving yards on the night in Montreal, Williams has claimed the league lead in the category with 216 yards. This is nothing new to the cornerback/returner who is two years removed from a 2019 season where he led the league with a touchdown and 949 yards; 270 better than the next closest player.
Friday’s homecoming for the Alouettes was a reminder of just how impactful a player of Williams’ calibre can be. Not only was he able to inject energy into an offence that ended up scoring on its opening possession, thanks to his 49-yard return, he was a driving force in the Ticats’ secondary that limited Montreal to a single touchdown and picked off Vernon Adams Jr. in the process.
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With an all-around performance like that, it’s hard to go unnoticed.
“His play speaks for itself,” Ticats’ head coach Orlondo Steinauer told the media post-game.
“I thought we did a great job on special teams in general. Everybody fielded a punt from [David] Ungerer to Speedy [Brandon Banks] to Frankie and of course, he had that big play on defence. His play speaks for itself. [I’m] proud of him and he made his plays when presented the opportunity.”
Returning punts and kickoffs rarely end in a touchdown, but what they often result in is great field position for an offence. Dane Evans‘ job as quarterback was made easier due to the effectiveness of Williams and the Hamilton offence as a whole fed off his play.
“It’s huge,” said Evans. “When [Williams] busts those big runs like that and…we have short fields and he’s coming off the field pumping us up as we’re running on for offence, he has no clue what we’re about to do but he knows he just inspired us. Anytime we get a short porch, we’ve got to capitalize on it. Thankfully he gave us a bunch of those tonight.”
Selflessly, Williams credited his ability to break off such big runs to his teammates.
“I think the guys blocking did an impeccable job. Our front did a great job, the back end had great eyes. Just kept working and we finally got us a win,” said Williams.
Defensively, the Tiger-Cats looked to be an entirely different team. Shutting down drives before they could be extended, generating turnovers and breaking up passes was an emphasis during practice that reaped benefits.
“That’s one of the things we worked on this week,” said Williams. “Just making sure we work top-down, keep them bottled up. We know they’re a big-play offensive team, they got a great run game so we just want to make sure we limit those things. We did a pretty good job today and came away with the win.”
Next on the schedule for Williams and the Tiger-Cats is a meeting with their QEW rival, the Toronto Argonauts next Monday at 1:00 p.m. ET at Tim Hortons Field.
