THE CANADIAN PRESS
CFL.ca Staff
EDMONTON — Despite off-season CFL rule changes, don’t expect the Edmonton Eskimos to change their approach of targeting bigger, more physical defensive backs.
That was the message both Head Coach Chris Jones and General Manager Ed Hervey agreed on during an off-season teleconference on Wednesday, as the two answered questions on that topic among many others less than a month away from training camp.
Since Jones took over as the team’s head coach in 2014, the Eskimos have been known to go after a very specific type of defender.
“We want longer players, bigger players, more physical players,” said Hervey, who recently had Vice-President of Football Operations added to his GM title. “Our philosophy won’t change because of the rules.”
“We want to be a physically aggressive football team,” he added. “I trust that our coaches will be able to instill that technique on any player that’s brought in.”
When you add two and two together, it makes sense to wonder aloud how the Eskimos might respond to this off-season’s rule change involving pass interference – a rule intended to eliminate any contact between the receiver and defensive back after the first five yards off the line of scrimmage.
But as Jones puts it, that rule change could swing things into the Eskimos’ favour. The second-year head coach maintains that he’s only preached contact inside the first five yards – not the ugly stuff that happens after that the new rules look to eliminate.
“We’re still going to be trying to target big guys and we’re going to be able to coach them exactly the way we have been coaching them, because we’re not coaching them to grab after two yards anyway,” explained Jones.
“We’re trying to tell them to make contact on the first two steps, and then it becomes basketball.”
Jones has always gravitated towards bigger defensive backs, an idea he said is also catching on in the NFL. That league has also witnessed a recent crackdown on defensive pass interference, yet Jones cites the Seattle Seahawks as a team that’s continued to lean on the same philosophy for its defensive backs with plenty of success.
“If you look at Seattle and some of the more physical teams, they’ve actually been using bigger DBs,” said Jones. “The fact that they’re longer is going to help them, just like a couple of years ago when Richard Sherman made [a game-sealing interception in the NFL Championship].”
“They wouldn’t have gone on and won and the pass would’ve been right there if that were a five-foot-10 defensive back,” he continued. “I’m not going to coach it any different.”
That doesn’t mean Jones and his staff won’t make an effort to coach to the new rule changes, especially in training camp. Some growing pains are expected this season with the new rule as teams get used to how pass interference will be called.
But in the long run, the consensus around the CFL is that the new rules will create a cleaner game that’s based more on skill – something the Eskimos believe their bigger defensive backs would give them an edge with.
“I think it’s going to open up the game for the receivers, but don’t underestimate the ability of the defensive backs,” said Hervey. “The clutching and grabbing is what the intent of this rule was, let’s not lose sight of that.”
The new rule may open up the game for receivers, but perhaps more than anything it’ll also expose poor defensive back play.
“Our defensive backs are still going to have the ability to be physical at the line of scrimmage and within the five yards – that part’s not changing,” Hervey explained. “It’s the part after the five yards, where the grabbing the pads, grabbing the waste and the pulling – that portion is being removed from the game, which will clean the game up and allow better play offensively and the opportunity to see the athletes in general play the game.”
“It’ll be more like basketball, where if a guy can run and keep up with a receiver, he can still do that – he just won’t be able to grab him and pull him back to be able to pull himself back into the play.”
Of the 12 defensive backs currently on Edmonton’s roster, only two are below six feet tall.
