Unselfish play on display in victory over Edmonton

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This article was published 01/07/2019 (2259 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Unselfish play will always be a key factor in the success of any football team. When you have a special player such as Lucky Whitehead, it becomes even more important.

When you talk about “unselfish play” in football, you are referring to those moments where players sacrifice themselves for the betterment and achievement of another or the group, for little to no personal gain. It is most commonly on display with the offensive line. They have to spend countless hours in the gym and on the field, honing their craft, just so a player such as Andrew Harris can win a rushing title, or so a quarterback such as Matt Nichols can stay upright in the pocket and has time to make good decisions. They don’t really have any statistics they can hang their hats on other than the success of those around them and the overall production of the offence. When Harris rushes for more than 100 yards, and Nichols doesn’t get sacked, that is about as good as it gets for the offensive line.

While it is inherent in the job description of offensive linemen to help protect and spring the weapons on their team, trust me when I tell you, if they don’t like or feel appreciated by the people they are shelling out for, they aren’t as eager to put it all on the line. It is why you commonly see running backs and quarterbacks — especially the insanely rich ones — lavishing their offensive linemen with gifts and perks. It doesn’t matter how talented a pivot or tailback may be, if your offensive line isn’t convinced you fully appreciate them and are fully aware of their efforts, you don’t stand a chance back there.

Unselfish play can be found in other areas on the football field, too. On the defensive line, you could take up two blockers so the linebacker behind you can flow freely to the football. You can occupy a blocker during a blitz so a defensive back can come free off the edge. And if one defensive lineman is winning all his one-on-one battles, you can run stunts and make concessions to keep him isolated on that matchup.

Heck, even the odd quarterback makes an unselfish play, when a run cuts back toward him and he throws a half-hearted block or walls a defender off so his back can gain more yardage.

Indeed, unselfish play is the foundation of every winning football team, but it becomes even more important when you unearth a special player like Whitehead. In case you missed it, Whitehead scored two touchdowns in last Thursday’s victory, and quite frankly, on a night where the offence and defence were not playing their best football, without his contributions, they don’t come out on top.

On the first touchdown, Whitehead was isolated, one-on-one, on the far side of the football field. Once he had his defender break on his first move, it was merely a race after that, and Whitehead isn’t going to lose many of those. With a well-placed football from Nichols, there was no way anyone was going to stop him on his way to the end zone.

The second touchdown exemplifies why unselfish play could be a key for this team offensively. The play was nothing more than a quick wide-receiver screen to Whitehead. A harmless little play, and if you averaged six or seven yards on it, you’d be happy. As soon as Nichols took the snap, he flung it out to Whitehead, who was waiting for it on the line of scrimmage. Whitehead was in a bunch formation flanked by Chris Matthews and Drew Wolitarsky. While he waited for the ball to arrive, Matthews and Wolitarsky made this play happen. They occupied the first two defenders coming downhill to stop this play, and sprung Whitehead. They weren’t highlight-reel blocks, they didn’t “throw anybody out of the club,” as devastating blocks are often described, but they were enough to get Whitehead up to speed and give him a crease, and that is all he needed.

When you have a weapon like Whitehead on the roster, who appears to be capable of scoring from anywhere on the field, no matter how innocuous the play call is, and you have a superstar receiver like Matthews, who has bought in and is leading the way with a critical block downfield, you end up having the chance to steal some games when the rest of team isn’t necessarily playing their best football.

Doug Brown, once a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears weekly in the Free Press.

Twitter: @DougBrown97