O-line hops to it

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This article was published 21/09/2016 (3300 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was quite the sight Saturday afternoon: five 300-plus-pound offensive lineman leaping into the outstretched arms of fans in Investor Group Field’s north end zone.

It was a new variation of the Hardrick Hop (itself a nod to the NFL’s famous Lambeau Leap in Green Bay, Wisc.) started by 6-5, 314-pound Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive lineman Jermarcus Hardrick.

The behemoth first jumped into arms of Bombers fans during the team’s 17-10 Banjo Bowl win Spet. 10 over the Saskatchewan Roughriders as a show of respect to those who have stuck with the CFL team all season.

On Saturday, Hardrick invited his contemporaries to join in after quarterback Matt Nichols plunged into the end zone from a yard out in the fourth quarter of a 46-29 win over the Toronto Argonauts.

None of the theatrics helped the Bombers win the game, of course, it’s fodder for the fans, Hardrick said. But it also represents an evolution of sorts for the club’s oft-maligned front five in recent years.

“Unity,” said fellow offensive lineman Travis Bond. “The O-line is full of excitement.”

It hasn’t always been that way. Winnipeg’s front line has taken the brunt of the criticism for the club’s misfortunes on offence in recent years. But its progression from the start of this year’s training camp to the eve of Week 14 in the CFL has been remarkable, especially after the team’s change at quarterback and an addition to the O-line.

TSN statistical guru Derek Taylor told the Free Press Wednesday since Nichols took the reins, and 6-7, 356-pound mammoth Travis Bond was added to the mix on the O-line, the Bombers starting pivot has been pressured just 28 times — a mere 12 per cent of his drop-backs.

It’s a significant number given the league average is 23 per cent, according to Taylor. (In comparison, former Bombers starter Drew Willy was pressured on 21 per cent of his drop-backs earlier this season.)

Taylor said Bond’s play at left guard has had a positive impact on the two guys he’s squished between — centre Matthias Goossen and left tackle Stanley Bryant — pointing out both Bryant’s and Goossen’s pressures-allowed have dropped dramatically.

“Everybody wants it to happen too fast in this sport,” offensive line coach Bob Wylie said after Wednesday’s practice. “Where I come from, you need five guys to come together and play with one heartbeat, which is tough.

“You only want them to make little steps. We don’t need them to make gigantic strides because there is too much to learn. They get better by doing the little things.”

Wylie’s unit has come a long way since training camp. Not every sack is the fault of his players, but they take the brunt of it regardless. Willy was sacked 14 times in his five starts this season. In seven outings since taking over for Willy, Nichols has only been brought down nine times. In two games, he wasn’t sacked at all.

“We’re playing to where we need to play to win… the only thing they know is how to give good effort in practice. If you watch them, they don’t really stop in practice,” Wylie said. “If we keep doing that, the little details tighten and come together closer.”

Wylie comes across as a happy-go-lucky sort, armed with a quick joke. On Wednesday, for example, the amateur magician asked the assembled media if they wanted winning lottery numbers before fielding questions.

It’s Wylie’s intensity as a coach, however, that draws his players in.

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“You can’t ever do anything good enough in his eyes, which I like,” Bond said. “It always gives you something to work on. I like how he is always coaching us on the little things.

“I had all different types of coaches that didn’t care if you got the technique right as long as you got the right guy. With coach Wylie, it’s always about technique.”

Intense, but never disrespectful and fiercely loyal, Canadian centre Goossen said Wylie will never throw his players under the bus. “He’s got our back and he takes the blame himself if something goes wrong. He’s any easy person to play for.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @scottbilleck

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.