Justin Dunk
Ticats.ca
Montreal has been forced to shuffle the deck in front of their legendary quarterback.
After losing stud left tackle Josh Bourke for the season – he tore his pectoral muscle in the fourth quarter of the Alouettes October 30 game against Calgary – the Als were forced to find a suitable replacement. Bourke and right tackle Jeff Perrett provided Anthony Calvillo with bookend Canadian tackles for 16 of 18 regular season games. However, with Bourke now permanently unavailable, Montreal slid Perrett over to left tackle and inserted rookie, Jeraill McCuller – who dressed and started at tackle for one game filling in for Bourke on July 24 before drawing into the lineup last week against B.C.
In the two games McCuller saw action in during the regular season, Montreal lost both contests, giving up five sacks and his star pivot managed to throw for just 154 yards combined, with zero touchdown passes and one interception. Calvillo was knocked out of the game in the first half on July 24 against the Riders, and number 13 was benched late in the third quarter a week ago due to ineffectiveness. It is safe to say Calvillo is not as comfortable in the pocket without Bourke, one of the elite linemen in the CFL, protecting his blind side.
Even though he won’t admit it Justin Hickman’s body language showed he is anxious to line up against McCuller, who will be playing in just his third ever CFL game, and Perrett who flipped sides along the offensive line.
“The biggest thing playing tackle is the footwork, so I have to try and take advantage of that,” he said of Perrett and his move to the left side of the line.
As for the first year Alouette on the right side, Hickman is doing his homework, but admits there is not much film on McCuller. Some of the available video available to study, on Montreal’s retooled line, is from the Alouettes 42-point loss to the Lions last weekend.
B.C. kept the Als normally prolific offence in check, giving up just 171 yards of total offence. Although, it wasn’t just Calvillo who had trouble against the Lions.
Montreal’s running back, and the CFL’s leading rusher in 2011, Brandon Whitaker managed just 14 yards on five carries.
Meanwhile, Jamel Richardson, who had set the league on fire all season long, was not his usual play-making self, grabbing two passes for a grand total of five yards.
”They [the Lions] exploited some things that we have seen and they did a great job of exploiting them so hopefully we can go out there and do some of the same things and have some success,” Hickman said.
The success started up front for B.C., sacking Calvillo four times and not allowing him to throw from a clean pocket for most of the evening.
“The front four was just winning, they were winning their one-on-one match ups and that is what we have to do,” Hickman said.
Winning in the trenches is something Hickman has done more than every other defensive end in the league, save for Odell Willis, during the regular season. Four of Hickman’s league leading 13 sacks came versus Montreal — a team he seemed to have a good feel for in 2011.
“It’s been a group effort, we’re just working up front to try and get some wins and I’ve been fortunate to get my fair share,” Hickman said.
Number 95 recorded two of his four multi-sack games against the Alouettes during his outstanding regular season campaign, and with Bourke out of the lineup for Montreal, expect Hickman to make himself very familiar with Calvillo on Sunday afternoon.
