Mike Abou-Mechrek: Now You Know
This week I was going to start discussing the defensive schemes and personnel deployed by the 2013 Riders, but considering us giving up 8 sacks last weekend I have decided to stick with the offense for another week.
Offensive players (not exclusively the linemen) are asked to pass block on any given play for 3-4 seconds. This might seem like a miniscule amount of time for a professional to actually “work” but 4 seconds can be a long, long time and a lot can happen in 4 seconds…especially when you have a 250lbs dynamic, explosive, finely tuned defender wanting nothing to do with you to deal with. Think abou that for a second: the defenders goal isn’t to engage and beat the blocker- he only wants to rip the quarterbacks head off and do the sack dance that he’s been practicing in front of his mirror all off season.
Sacks can happen for a number of reasons and if you have been reading along with me so far this season you may be starting to realize that on every football play all 24 men on the field contribute to the outcome- whether it be a sack or a 40 yard bomb for a touchdown. Some players influence a play more than others but all contribute. For example, if the receivers can’t get open in 3-4 seconds the play may end in a sack; if the quarterback sets up to make his throw in the wrong spot or drifts in the pocket and isn’t where his blockers think he is the play may end in a sack (remember that the o-line has their backs to the QB and can’t see where he is like we can from the stands); if the defensive co-ordinator out schemes the offensive co-ordinator on a given play or if the DC calls a “one plus” blitz and decide to rush one more defender than the offense can block that play may end in a sack; and the most obvious way a play ends in a sack is if the blocker/lineman loses his one on one battle with the defender.
On Sunday the Riders gave up one, or more, sacks in each of these fashions and in all of these examples the o-line is (dis) credited with giving up the sack but as you can see- it’s not always their ‘fault.’ (please note that “fault” isn’t a football term but one I use in this discussion to get my message across. Once a team starts pointing fingers (ahem, Ed Hervey) they don’t have a team at all)
As offensive linemen, next to our family’s wellbeing there is nothing that we hold more sacred than the safety of our quarterback, Regardless of who is to ‘blame’ for the hits on the QB, we take them all personal. With the exception of Dan Clark, we do not directly score points so we need our QB to do that for us and we need points to win a championship. We can not do it alone.
The thing that I may be most remembered for in my Rider career is being kicked out of a game in Hamilton in 2007 (and then emotionally erupting from locker room to give the old “suck it” to the Ti-Cats after my teammates ended the same drive with a TD- with a long snapper and defensive lineman filling in at o-line). What folks may not recall is that I was given the boot for protecting my QB who was being mauled by a Hamilton DB at the bottom of a pile. After the game I recall telling a reporter that I would do it again if I had to because I needed Kerry Joseph to win me a Grey Cup and to do so he couldn’t be concerned with this sort of nonsense- that’s our job. The O-line.
We take sacks and hits to our quarterback seriously. The loss of RG Chris Best for the rest of the regular season is a bigger blow to the Riders and the o-line than some may realize, but with the character and the talent we have on our line and the guys we have behind Chris on the depth chart I know that they won’t let this happen again. I am not saying there won’t be any more sacks. Sacks are part of football and with CFL defenses trending towards pressuring the QB and knocking him out of the game there promises to be one or two more. I am not even saying that we won’t lose again…I’m just saying that this won’t happen again.
(I value your feedback at Mike.Abou-Mechrek@InvestorsGroup.com)
