Solomon Elimimian

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TheLionKing
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http://www.bclions.com/video/index/id/102725

Love the way SolE plays football.
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cromartie
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Yes. It's a good thing we didn't trade him straight for Kevin Glenn, now, isn't it?
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notahomer
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TheLionKing wrote:http://www.bclions.com/video/index/id/102725

Love the way SolE plays football.
Yes, bclions.com is a GREAT source of Lions video content.

I've been following the "Getting to know" series (Cord Parks, Eric Taylor and Dante Marsh). Get to know a little bit of those extra little things about the players.

I really did enjoy this piece on Sol E. too. I guess it played on the pre-game for TSN, so thankfully I was able to catch it last night........
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almo89
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notahomer wrote:
TheLionKing wrote:http://www.bclions.com/video/index/id/102725

Love the way SolE plays football.
Yes, bclions.com is a GREAT source of Lions video content.

I've been following the "Getting to know" series (Cord Parks, Eric Taylor and Dante Marsh). Get to know a little bit of those extra little things about the players.

I really did enjoy this piece on Sol E. too. I guess it played on the pre-game for TSN, so thankfully I was able to catch it last night........
The Lions video team is top notch. Their shooting style looks very film like and not your typical video. Makes it look very professional.
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notahomer
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almo89 wrote:The Lions video team is top notch. Their shooting style looks very film like and not your typical video. Makes it look very professional.
I know quite a few people who work in the film industry. I also have seen some footage editors at work. Its another one of those areas where we, the consumers of the product, know what is good product but have NO CONCEPT or idea of how that gets to its completed stage. I'm constantly baffled at how much work goes into a professional video piece. Its easy to pick out poorly done video but I'm often at a loss as to why the professional stuff is better (but it is :cool: ).
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notahomer
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http://www.theprovince.com/sports/footb ... story.html
METRO VANCOUVER - An Oct. 13 Sports Illustrated feature on former B.C. Lions defensive end Cameron Wake had current linebacker Solomon Elimimian recalling a similar melancholy period, when he thought his football dreams were over, too.

In 2006, Wake, now a three-time Pro Bowler with Miami Dolphins and one of the leading pass rushers in the National Football League, was stuck in an office cubicle, working a nine-to-five job with a mortgage company, after he didn’t get callbacks from a number of NFL teams.

When somebody finally did reach out to him, a year later, the call came from Canada. It was the Lions, inviting Wake to free-agent tryout camp In Virginia.

When he arrived at B.C’s 2007 training camp in Abbotsford, Wake was listed fourth on the depth chart at defensive end, undoubtedly the last time any football organization sold him short.

Two years later, with a couple of CFL defensive player of the year trophies in his kit bag, Wake was off to Miami.

“I was fourth on the depth chart in my first camp with the Lions (2010),” Elimimian remembered Wednesday, following practice for Saturday’s game in Winnipeg. “So I can identity with him (Wake). Big time. The only difference is I didn’t have a job. I’d been cut by the Buffalo Bills (2009). I was in L.A., looking for work but I couldn’t find it, even though I had a college degree. I was living with my mom. Thank God my mom loved me enough to stay with her without having a job.”

Elimimian showed up at a Lions’ free-agent camp the following spring, although the team was really more interested in checking out his college teammate, Adam Leonard, another linebacker who played with him at Hawaii.

Now, four years later, the 2010 CFL rookie of the year is on the cusp of winning his first defensive player of the year award, another, like Wake, who uses the memory of being ignored and under-appreciated as internal stimulus.

“You never forget what you’ve come through. You never forget where you came from,” Elimimian said. “Those are the experiences that motivate you to get better.”

With three regular-season games remaining, Elimimian has pulled clear of the defensive player of the year field, somewhat in the manner of Secretariat winning the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths.

His 121 defensive tackles -- an average of slightly more than eight per game -- are 47 more than his nearest pursuer, Brandon Smith of the Calgary Stampeders, and just nine away from the CFL single-season record of 130 set by Edmonton’s J.C. Sherritt in 2012.

But that’s just the tip of the statistical story.

In 2012, Sherritt’s total of 130 defensive tackles represented 16.9 per cent of Edmonton’s team total of 767 that season.

Elimimian's portion of the Lions’ team total of 582 defensive tackles in 2014 is 20.8 per cent -- incredible, when measured against the greater number of tackle opportunities afforded Sherritt, in the year he set the record and was named CFL defensive player of the year.

In 2012, the Eskimos defence was not only the league’s worst team at defending the run, it was second-worst at defending the pass, and gave up a total of 44 touchdowns.

The Lions’ defence in 2014 has allowed the fewest average points per game (18.1), the fewest first downs and passing yards and is second-ranked against the run (Edmonton is first, an average of 4.4 yards better than B.C.)

Because of the unit’s efficiency, the B.C. defence is on the field an average of 28 minutes and 44 seconds per game, the lowest in the league. Typically, Lions defenders are involved in 55 plays per game, compared to 59 in 2012 for the Eskimos. Over the course of 18 games, that should result in 72 fewer opportunities for Elimimian to rack up tackles compared with Sherritt in his record year.

While Elimimian is chasing history, the Lions’ defence already has achieved a stat for the ages. The number of games in which B.C. hasn't allowed a touchdown to be scored -- six -- “is the most I can find for any club since 1950,” according to league statistician Steve Daniel. “So that is confirmed (a CFL single-season record).”

“Wow. I didn’t know that,” admitted Elimimian, who was been on the field for virtually every defensive play (except for a short stretch with a leg issue). “Hopefully, we can keep that up. These next three games are going to be big for us. For me, the objective is getting this team to the playoffs and ultimately winning the Grey Cup. If I keep playing well, and give our team a chance to get there, that’s what I’m here for.”

Though he’s arrived as the most dominant defender in the CFL, Elimimian still clings to a mantra from his earlier days of unrealized dreams.

“My attitude hasn’t changed since I was a rookie, trying to make this club,” he said. “You should always play with a chip on your shoulder.”

mbeamish@vancouversun.com
WOW! New CFL record for most games without a TD allowed on defence!!!
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