Johany Jutras
One thing (well really there are many but even I have an unofficial word count that I try to adhere to) that I am guilty of is my focus on offence, especially on quarterbacks. I admit it’s sometimes low hanging fruit, but can you blame me? Quarterbacks are the most important and often the most entertaining low hanging fruit out there.
Of all the storylines for Week 19 the one that had me the most intrigued was to evaluate Ricky Ray’s first start in 362 days and the obvious juxtaposition with Jonathon Jennings just starting to make a name for himself with the BC Lions. The obvious angle would be to focus on the two signal callers, one whose career is entering the final stages versus the other where the story is just starting to be written.
But than I noticed a slight slip-up by a player who rarely makes mistakes. Adam Bighill missed a tackle; in fact he got exposed as Brandon Whitaker froze Bighill on a quick juke-step and than just blew right past him. Now to be fair this is the sort of scenario where the offensive player wins the majority of the time. Whitaker had just caught a pass from Ray and there was no one within a ten yard halo except for Bighill. Whitaker had all the space in the world to work with and Bighill was isolated, point running back.
But what I took from this play is just how shocked the announcers were that Bighill was unable to take down the league’s fourth-leading rusher who is 30 pounds lighter and has an entire field to play with. Their surprise that Bighill couldn’t make this wildly difficult play says all you need to know about how good he is at plying his trade as the middle linebacker for the Lions.
If Adam was just an average or even a good defensive player the story of that one play would have centred around Whitaker’s elusiveness. Instead they showed the ultimate form of respect: High, if not unreal expectations. They expected Bighill to bring down Whitaker because he is so good at his job that Rod Smith and Duane Ford just naturally assumed he would be able to accomplish this high degree of difficulty play.
Bighill finished the game the same way he has most contests this year, as the guy with the most tackles for either squad. That should come as no surprise as he leads the league in tackles with 117, 10 more than his closest competitor. So I decided to go back and re-watch all his tackles and be dazzled by all the fireworks. Instead I saw one of the quietest nine-tackle nights you’ll ever see. Mostly what you saw was a guy who was always in position, always one step ahead of the offence, properly reading and taking the correct angles at all times.
Now that last sentence you could easily accuse me of saying that Bighill isn’t athletic. There is enough code in that sentence to say that he gets by on “guile” and film study to overcome some sort of athletic deficiency. That could not be further from the truth. First off, this is a man who two years in a row collected nine sacks on the season. He has picked off seven passes and recovered six fumbles during his 397-game career. Clearly this is someone who has generated many explosive big plays defensively.
One play in particular highlights the makeup of the Lions fifth-year linebacker. In the second quarter, Ray dumps off a pass to one of the fastest men in the league, Chad Owens, who is running a shallow crossing pattern. If you pause the play right when Owens makes the catch you notice that Bighill is right there, step for step with the man who set a league record for combined yardage in 2012 and manages to take him down before he has any opportunity to do some damage to the Lions’ secondary. Yes I know he is built like a fire hydrant mixed with a bicep but Bighill is an athlete in all senses of the word. He is that perfect linebacker who covers the field sideline to sideline. You don’t rack up all those statistics and All-Star awards without being physically gifted.
There is one other play that I want to highlight but before I do, I have one complaint about Bighill. His Twitter account (@Bighill44) could not be more boring and his Instagram account (I don’t know how to link to it, I’m old and I don’t own a camera) kind of scares me. His tweets range from your typical athlete platitudes about working hard and playing hard for your teammates to imploring you to go to Abbotsford Nissan to get a deal on a brand new car.
Than there is his Instagram account. Instagram pics like this kinda scare me:
He looks like that bouncer you do NOT mess with. Even drunk you know this is a guy you don’t want to piss off. Also there is his ode to savageness that can be found here. I’m guessing Adam did not get hazed much at any point during his career.
The other play I wanted to highlight again falls in the category of easy to miss but was sneaky important. In the third quarter with the score 15-12 for the Argonauts, Bighill tackles Whitaker after a two-yard gain. The play is so non-descript that it doesn’t even warrant a replay. But the play is quintessential Bighill as he diagnosis Whitaker’s movements as he tries to bounce it outside. Bighill gets by one block and makes a sure tackle turning a possible second down and four to a second down and eight.
Now I know that doesn’t sound like much, but ask any quarterback how much more difficult the longer second down conversion is and you can start to appreciate that little play. Ricky Ray would miss his target on 2nd and long and the Argonauts would be forced to punt. On their next possession Jennings would throw his second touchdown pass of the day giving the Lions an 18-15 lead, and they would not trail again. A small moment in a big game for the Lions who clinched a playoff spot with their win over the Argonauts.
