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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/09/2014 (4036 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MEAN PUPPY

VANCOUVER — Why is it even though there are bigger players and faster players, the universal consensus is nobody in the CFL hits harder than B.C. Lions middle linebacker Solomon Elimimian?

According to Lions head coach Mike Benevides, Elimimian was a mean puppy.

“He has that ability to uncoil on impact,” he said. And what that is, is your ankles, your knees and your hips are able to unleash and really uncoil at the point of impact. And he’s just got a natural gift for that…

“You can work on that as a player. You can grow at it. But it’s kind of like what they say about a puppy — if he doesn’t bite as a baby, it’s kind of hard to get him to bite later on.”

Elimimian wasn’t making any apologies on Friday for a bite that last week ended Ottawa Redblacks RB Chevon Walker’s season with a broken arm.

“It’s just a mindset — if you think you’re small, you’ll play small. If you think you’re big, you’ll play big,” said Elimimian. “It’s just about passion and ‘want-to’… You can teach all you want, but when you see a guy’s eyes and it’s just you and him in the hole, do you really want to make that tackle?”

DENMARK BACK

The Bombers announced Friday they have signed slotback Clarence Denmark to a contract extension through the 2016 season.

Denmark leads the team in receiving yards with 646 and is second overall in the CFL.

Now in his fourth season with the Bombers, Denmark led the club in receiving yards last season and in his tenure as a Bomber has caught 225 passes for 2,985 yards and 11 TDs. He also has a current active streak that has seen him catch at least one pass in each of the last 26 Bombers games.

“It’s always good to feel wanted and to get an opportunity to continue to stay around with the team I started with,” Denmark said Friday.

“A small raise and that’s always good — just to feel like you’re wanted and you’ve done enough to earn that kind of respect around the league and with your team.”

2ND THOUGHTS

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea had an interesting idea Friday for how his team can get better in the second quarter after a disastrous second quarter last week in which the Bombers gave up 26 points to the Saskatchewan Roughriders — the franchise’s fifth-most points allowed in the second frame since 1936.

“We’re going to skip the second quarter — go direct to the third. And then we’re going to play a fourth and a fifth,” said O’Shea.

BY THE BYE

The Bombers get a week off after tonight as they finally receive their first of two bye weeks this season.

Upcoming bye weeks have historically led to some poor performances by CFL teams, as players look ahead to travel plans and forget about the game coming up. But QB Drew Willy says his team’s focus was fine this week.

“I think it’s been pretty good. Obviously sometimes guys do get looking to a bye week, especially when it’s so late and you haven’t had one. But guys really haven’t been talking about it. We’re really focused on what we need to do here in Vancouver.”