Fraser Caldwell
Ticats.ca
Ticats looking to contain Joseph and the Eskimos backs
Speaking in the wake of his team’s Wednesday workout, Ticats Head Coach George Cortez indicated that his team would have to be mindful of Edmonton’s rushers on Saturday.
The Eskimos have a plethora of options at tailback – with Jerome Messam returning to head a unit that includes Hugh Charles and Cory Boyd – and a mobile man under centre in Kerry Joseph.
“They play with three tailbacks, so they always have a fresh guy in the game, sometimes two,” said Cortez of this weekend’s visitors.
“Kerry (Joseph) does a great job of making plays when there’s not necessarily a play to be made sometimes. He’s a really strong runner – always has been and still is – and has good arm strength. I think he’s done a nice job for them.”
The coach explained that the sheer number of players involved likely makes rushing a priority for the Eskimos.
“You would assume that any team that carries three tailbacks is probably going to attempt to run the ball a fair amount,” said Cortez.
“Kerry has not carried the ball an unusual amount, but he’s scrambled for yardage when the opportunities are there. You’ve got to do a good job of keeping him contained and be able to run to him and run him down. He’s a big guy but a strong runner.”
Chemistry not an issue for the defensive line
Cortez once again addressed the addition of ex-Stampeder Torrey Davis to the Ticats trenches on Tuesday. He reiterated that Davis is expected to improve the team’s interior line play as Hamilton moves forward.
“We think that Torrey will give us an opportunity to be better inside,” said Cortez. “We looked at him on tape and at times he was pretty well unblockable. We hope that he brings that to us, and when you have a guy that’s making a big pile in the middle, it makes it better for everybody.”
The coach dismissed any notion that the recent additions to Hamilton’s defensive line would affect its performance. He argued instead that the duties of the men in the trenches are typically carried out individually.
“If you were a team who ran an enormous amount of line stunts, it would probably be a humongous factor, because guys have to work together,” said Cortez of the effect of rotation on his line’s chemistry. “We run some – more than some people and less than others.”
“I hate to say that those guys are on an island all the time, but they kind of are.”
Eskimos keep it simple on defence
Cortez spoke to the character of Edmonton’s defence, and argued that the Eskimos maintain a fairly basic approach when combating an opposing offence.
“They’re like the B.C. Lions in that they’re pretty basic in the structure of what they do and they have a strong belief that that’s the best way to do it,” said the coach of his next opponents.
“I haven’t watched every play they’ve run this year, but I’ve been through seven or eight of the 10 games they’ve played and they’ve played pretty much the same way.”
“Having said that, they play about seven or eight coverages. So it’s not the same coverage every time. But their fronts are pretty much what you’d expect.”
Looking for opportunities to run
Asked to remark on the statistical success of Avon Cobourne, Cortez cautioned that the veteran rusher was still operating on a small sample size.
The coach suggested that a rusher’s total number of touches is often dictated by circumstance, and that the Ticats would be looking to find such situations more regularly.
“His stats are way up there, but we haven’t given it to him enough,” said Cortez of Cobourne. “That’s always a factor.
“The difference I see between our number of carries and that of maybe the B.C. Lions is that they’ve been ahead in the fourth quarter and handed off the ball more often, and we haven’t always had that luxury.
“When you’re making that kind of yardage, you’d like to be in a situation where you can hand it off more.”
