Lionbackers.com

David Menard gets his first start at defensive tackle against the Eskimos for the injured Jabar Westerman, alongside Bryant Turner Jr., as Mic'hael Brooks is still bothered by his sprained ankle but remains on the 46-man roster. This is a tough match-up against the Esks, who rushed for 137 yards against the Lions and ate up the clock in their first meeting last month. Menard and Turner are undersized pass-rush specialists who are more suited to playing defensive end. Menard has made only four tackles this year, and two of those were sacks. Turner has been more productive against the run, making 11 tackles, including two sacks, in just seven games. If they can't hold their gaps, it could be a long day for the B.C. defence.

Our game against Edmonton on Saturday will also feature the first time Mike (Benny Bumps) Benevedes returns to BC. Place, as a coach for another team.

Benevedes defence had a good game against us last time. Benevedes, who usually plays simple Buono inspired simple defense, with a four man rush and a lot of zone, surprised by playing us Man/Cover 2. Benevedes likely saw the game tape of Calgary playing us that way and decided to do the same.

Benevedes, commenting on his return to B.C. Place said this week:

I

don’t know if people remember, I was head coach there for three years,” said Benevides, who is making his first visit to BC Place Stadium as a member of the Eskimos staff.

I sure remember.

I remember the posing, the hat on backwards, the 'cool' shades, the slogans on the wall, the comments that made me cringe, the dum things he sometimes said (eg: getting Kevin Glenn for a first round draft choice was the best trade in CFL history), the horrific pre-game and half time speeches, the ranting at refs on the sidelines, and of course 'Benny Bumps', even though I don't want to remember.

In terms of being a football coach, Benevedes comments:

“It’s what I was made to do,”

Ok!

Benevedes also comments:

“You have to see the big picture sometimes in life. I always take a lot of pride in being able to see things for what they are.”

Big picture guy! That's you Mike!!

Benevedes on Jonathan Jennings:

He’s very dynamic and he’s one of the young stars in our league. But this league has been filled through history with athletic quarterbacks that have found early success. Where he goes we’ll see.

Benevedes attempting to define Jonathan and devalue Jennings as an 'athletic' quarterback burns me. I so badly want Jennings to kick Benny's butt by shredging his defense on Saturday. If he does, he will get a five out of five 'Benny Bumps' rating.

There is a saying that "the trend is your friend". Right now there are few trends that our not our Leos friend, and its not just that we've more than doubled our season's number of interceptions thrown over the past four weeks.

Our running game has also slid badly. Anthony Allen only averaged 2.5 yards per carry in his last contest in Winnipeg. Jeremiah Johnson averaged only 3.8 yds. a carry last game. Both averages were fattened by a couple of longer runs. Both were stopped for very small gains or a loss on many carries. Its a trend of a Dorazio led offensive line that our running game usually slides backwards from mid-season onwards.

Nor can it be blamed on cooler weather or the bumps and grinds of the season. In this last third of the season, not only are CFL teams rushing the football more but they are also rushing it better. The CFL average rush over the past 20 games has gone up 28%, from an average of 4.7 yds. per contest to 5.7 yds. per carry. Teams are rushing the football an average of 4 more times per game as they prepare for playoff football.

Disturbing for our Leos is not only that we're not rushing the fooball as successfully as the start of the season with our starting tailback, whether its Allen or Johnson but we're also having a lot of tailback rushes end up with little gain, setting up and long. Last game, we introduced some new running plays, other than the inside zone read (eg: the jet sweep netted Sinkfield 21 yds. against the Bombers) and hopefully we will continue with it.

The Eskimos began their 3 game winning streak by beating our Leos. They also ran the football well against our defence in that game. That was only the second time in the season that Edmonton had rushed for over 100 yds. Since then, the Eskimos have had antother two 100 yd. plus rushing games. Rushing the football more and more successfully hasn't hurt the Eskimos passing game eiher -as Reilly has thrown for 300, 355, and 346 yds.

Jeremiah Johnson only had 41 yds. rushing the last time we played Edmonton. Anthony Allen only got 28 yds. on 11 carries in Winnipeg (2.5 yds per carry). Jeremiah Johnson only had 51 yds on 13 carries when we lost to the Bombers at home.

Not running well on first down hurts. It creates second and long situations, it makes play action less effective. An effective rushing attack puts defensive lineman on their heels and helps negate a pass rush.

Reilly was not sacked in his last contest. Edmonton's running game is really helping to protect Reily. As most team's offensive lines improve, as the season progresses, our offensive line play usually goes the other way - the focus has to be on Dorazio for this long term trend, as well as our usual simple one play running attack along with our scheme.

Hopefully we'll rush the football better against Edmonton this time, use some of our new running plays, and make our offence more effective.