Fraser Caldwell
Ticats.ca
Expect Lions to be “in the zone”
Speaking in the wake of his team’s final full practice before Friday’s tilt against the B.C. Lions, the Ticats’ Head Coach and Director of Football Operations George Cortez addressed the defence his is set to confront in Vancouver.
He admitted that the early evidence from the west coast suggests that the B.C. outfit will be deploying a zone defensive system more often than not, but cautioned that the young season presents a limited sample size.
“Generally speaking, you try to run away from man coverage and you try to divide zone coverage,” said Cortez. “[The Lions] don’t play all zone but they do play a lot of it. It’s hard to peg a percentage because they’ve only played one real game. Some of it was probably controlled by the fact that in the fourth quarter, they were playing with a fairly comfortable lead. They were probably playing a little more basic than they would have been if the score had been 17-16 or something like that.”
The coach argued that the Black and Gold would have to string together drives against such a system, as zone defences are constructed to avoid conceding big plays while allowing smaller gains.
“Usually you don’t get as many big plays, because in man coverage, there’s always a possibility that someone blows a coverage,” explained Cortez. “Or if you get away from a guy, he might not be able to catch up. While in zone, unless there’s a complete coverage bust of some kind, you usually get a completion and they tackle you at some point after you catch the ball.”
Preparation is tailored to the opposition
On the topic of his message to his players throughout a bounce-back week, Cortez indicated that his communications on a weekly basis are designed according to the team’s next opponent.
“The messages depend on the team that we’re playing,” said the coach. “They revolve around what the other team does and what we need to do against that team. If you’re talking about personnel, we’ll have a similar personnel group. As far as what we’re doing on the field, that varies a lot every week no matter what happens because it’s all built around the other team. From the stands it might not look like it’s any different to be honest. But for us and for the other team it would look different.
“You always have a plan as to how you want to prepare, and it’ll be pretty much the same unless something interferes with that plan. We would love to play with the same guys from week to week to be honest, because you can get a lot better a lot faster if you’re practicing with the same guys doing the same things. Other things get in the way of that sometimes though, injuries or whatever.”
Evolution of a “new team”
Asked whether his team was experiencing growing pains due to their relative lack of experience, Cortez argued that the process has much more to do with the change of leadership and system that brings newness to even the most veteran Tiger-Cat.
“When you have a change, every team is new and it doesn’t matter what the experience level is behind them,” said Cortez.
“They don’t have experience with a particular regime or a way of playing. A specific player might have played a lot but maybe he hasn’t played with the two guys beside him or the unit in front of him. Every team is in motion to become better.”
