Brandon Banks’ performance in Hamilton’s 14th win of the season on Saturday in Montreal should cement his status as the Canadian Football League’s Most Outstanding Player in 2019.
The diminutive Tiger-Cats receiver made 11 receptions for a career-high 201 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead first-place Hamilton to a 38-26 victory over the Alouettes.
He scored a 55-yard touchdown, a 9-yard TD and an 8-yard major against the Als to give him a league-leading 13 receiving TD’s on the season and coupled with his one rushing, kickoff return and missed field goal return touchdowns, Banks has a CFL-high 15 total scores — one more than Saskatchewan running back William Powell.
But Banks’ eye-popping stat line doesn’t end there.
“Speedy B” also leads the CFL with 112 receptions (also a Tiger-Cats record), 1,550 receiving yards, 657 YAC (yards after catch) yards and eight 100-yard receiving games.
No other player in the league has been as dominant all season long as Banks has and he is one of the main reasons why the Ticats are the No. 1 team heading into the CFL playoffs and a legitimate Grey Cup contender.
Banks’ main opposition, in my opinion, for the league’s coveted Most Outstanding Player Award are Saskatchewan quarterback Cody Fajardo, Montreal QB Vernon Adams Jr., and Winnipeg running back Andrew Harris.
Fajardo has been brilliant for the Roughriders, Adams Jr. has been instrumental in helping turn the Alouettes around, and Harris continues to be the deadliest dual-threat in the league.
But none of them has been as dynamic as Banks who — if he plays in Hamilton’s regular-season finale this Saturday against the Toronto Argonauts — has an opportunity to break four single-season Ticats records.
Plain and simple, the Tiger-Cats are much more outstanding with Brandon Banks who should become the first Hamilton player since Danny McManus in 1999 to win the M.O.P.
List of Hamilton single-season records Brandon Banks could break in 2019:
Receptions – Brandon Banks 112 (previously held by Luke Tasker, 104 receptions in 2017)
Receiving yards – Tony Champion 1,656 (1989), Banks 1,549
Receiving touchdowns – Tony Champion 15 (1989), Banks 13
Total touchdowns – Chris Williams 17 (2012), Banks 16