Mike Abou-Mechrek
Riderville.com
To win a football play, football game, or a football season Jupiter needs to be in Saturn’s orbit, O’Ryan’s belt needs to be on straight and all the stars in the cosmos have to align…and, oh ya you also need to be a great team- not a good team, a great team. To quote Coach Ken Miller, “It’s dangerous to be good, because when you are good you sometimes forget about being great.”
A lot needs to happen on the next Rider play for them, or any other team, to have success. Multiply that by 60 plays a game and again by the 12 regular season and 2-3 playoff games and we are left with an equation that we need a math whiz nerdier than I to figure out how, and which interdependent stars need to align before 5-1 turns into greatness-hoisting Lord Grey’s mug…and lets not lose focus, the Grey Cup is the goal, not beating the Stampeders in Calgary in August.
So let’s begin to align some of these stars…such as Kory Sheets and the offensive line.
My words could never do justice to what I see on the filed from Kory Sheets. You need your eyes, or Rod Pedersen’s voice, to comprehend what he’s doing to defenders. A little bit of this, BAM, a little bit of that, POW and a whole lot of SHAZAM! And that just when he has the ball. As good as the man who is number 1 in our programs (and in our hearts) is he didn’t get to be on pace to shatter the Riders, and CFL record books alone. With all due respect to Jeremy O’Day, Gene Makowsky, Andrew Greene, Fred Childress and Charles Thomas (ahem) (as well as the o-lines the Alouette’s fielded in the early 2000’s) the big boys upfront could be one of the greatest offensive lines in league history.
Our Left Tackle Xavier Fulton is only beginning to get some of the recognition he deserves as being one of the most athletic, tenacious tackles north of the boarder. If he were 3 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier (see: Weston Dressler)we would have never had the opportunity to meet him as he’d be making millions in the No Fun League, where each position needs to look like…well, in his case 6 foot 8 330plus pounds.
Homegrown left guard Brendan LaBatte’s dominance over the CFL cannot be understated. I have followed his career almost as closely as my own. You always watch the guy who fills in for you on your old team and when I joined the Riders in 2007 he ‘replaced’ me in Winnipeg, and shortly after I retired he joined the Green and White, so I could fill this space with notes on how “Blue” plays. Let’s just say that although in the program it would say we played the same position-Guard, it’s like saying Sir Paul McCartney and your rhythmically challenged brother in law who just picked up his first axe at a garage sale, both play the guitar. This man’s #57 deserves to be hanging from the rafters of the new stadium alongside #23, #34, #44…and #60. And why not #71 while you’re at it…but that’s all.
Our Center, Dominic Picard and Right Guard Chris Best could very well be named Western, or CFL All Stars year in and year out but they bring something more to this team-something that this old Do-It-Yourselfer made a living at-something that I take absolutely no credit for but hope rubbed off Big Ol 67 while I played with them in each of their rookie seasons (Dom in 2005 with the Bombers, and on the 07 Riders with (the) Best)- tenacity, hard work, passion and what every team needs…an enforcer. A guy, or guys- that ‘don’t take no crap from no one.’ Whether your teammate is right, or wrong- on the field we are always right. Guys that toe the line and make sure no one is taking liberties on your teammates while they are getting out of a pile up. Guys who will finish a fight an opponent picks with Weston, Darian or one of the other guys we need and who can’t be concerned with such ‘extra circulars’…and if they happen to get ejected from a game or two-so be it. Wave your finger in their face and say “don’t do it again,” while your eyes are smiling…we need these guys to clear the way so that our stars-Durant (et all) can align.
The Right Tackle position has been a question mark since we lost Dan Goodspeed last training camp. Pat Neufeld stepped in in a big way in 2012- only his second pro season- and secured his position in training camp, only to be lost until October with a broken leg. Fellow Huskie (please note the double entendre “husky”)Benjamin Heenan- who trained all off season with Pat-and it shows on both of them, was asked to fill in a role he should be used to after filling in at a high level for (the) Best (at) right guard in 2012.
But guard and tackle are very different positions. Timing, footwork and perspective of the game are all very different. It was never a question of IF Ben, or Pat, could get the job done, but how long it would take for them to adapt to the quicker, faster, more athletic defensive linemen that the CFL has to offer. Like Ben, and Pat, I was asked to start at tackle on a Grey Cup caliber team in only my second year removed from the CIS (CIAU in ‘those days’) and there is a big, big difference in speed, and talent between Canada’s two top football leagues.
Ben and the big boys cannot take all the credit for success thus far in 2013. It’s a lot easier to do what ‘we’ do when the stars around you are all doing the right thing. Starting with the play calling. It’s a lot easier to pass block on 2nd down and 3 than on 2nd and 10 when the defender knows you ‘have to’ pass; and its even easier to run block on 2nd and 8….but I think this might be the beginning of next week’s entry.
( I value your feedback at Mike.Abou-Mechrek@InvestorsGroup.com)
