OTTAWA – Fun fact about Dustin Crum – the next quarterback up for the Ottawa RedBlacks and the man who will be staring over the line of scrimmage at the likes of Willie Jefferson, Jackson Jeffcoat, Adam Bighill & Co. Saturday night:
The rookie pivot, who will be making his first pro start for an injured Jeremiah Masoli, majored in aerospace engineering during his days at Kent State. Cool, right?
Well, this just in: it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure the Blue Bombers defence will be doing anything and everything to try and confuse and torment the young man for roundabout three hours at TD Place.
“Most definitely,” began Jefferson with a grin when asked if he planned on saying anything to the rookie QB ‘just to let him know you’re there.’ “Him and his offensive line haven’t had too much time together with him just being thrown in at the end of (last week’s loss to Hamilton).
“We’ll just try to make it hard for him, make the noise a little bit more… just make it hard for him by trying to get into his head before the snap. After a while when we get a key on his snap count we’ll try and call his snap count for him. We’ll make it hard for his offensive line, talk a little noise and try to get them rattled and when we get a chance to hit the running back, we’ll talk to him a little bit and make him a little rattled so when he talks to the quarterback, they’re all just talking about what’s going on… and it’s nothing good.”
The Crum-replaces-Masoli narrative has been beaten to a pulp all week in Bomberland and will continue to be pulverized through Saturday night because it is one of the most-compelling parts of a matchup that has a 4-1 Blue Bombers side as 9.5-point road favourites here in the nation’s capital.
Interestingly, when asked if there is a challenge to steer clear of the RedBlacks being forced to make another change at QB in order to stay focussed on their own business, Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea shrugged before cleverly slipping in a reference ‘Ogie Ogilthorpe’ reference from ‘Slapshot.’
“It’s just a matter of fact,” said O’Shea. “I don’t think it draws any emotion from our guys one way or another. So and so is back – ‘Ogelthorpe’s back’ – I don’t think it draws an emotional response. It’s just… it is.”
Clearly the Blue Bombers aren’t opening their defensive playbook for everyone to see on the eve of Saturday’s matchup, but Crum will be tested by a crew that has surrendered just 14 points over the last two games in wins over Montreal (17-3) and Calgary (24-11).
“Lanes close a lot faster in pro football, for sure,” said Adam Bighill earlier this week. “Guys are faster, they take better angles, and the hits are a little bit more severe and discourage that kind of behaviour (from Crum, who rushed six times for 91 yards).
“That’s what we try to do: discourage that kind of behaviour. If you’re going to run, you better get down. Nonetheless, a running quarterback can present challenges, you just have to be aware of that unique challenge.
“We’ve just got to play our football – play fast, play physical and he’s going to have to adapt to that. We’re going to dictate a lot of things and he’s going to have to adapt to what we do. We play our game.
“… “We’re masters of our craft and understand what we’re trying to achieve. If we execute our targets extremely fast, we’re going to make life really hard on him. It doesn’t matter what quarterback it is, especially a rookie quarterback. Guys up front are going to get pressure, guys on the back end are going to cover and hopefully force him into some bad throws and bad decisions.”
More on the Blue Bombers vs. RedBlacks in this week’s Game Day Playbook…
RESPECT ALL, FEAR NONE: The Blue Bombers don’t do a whole lot of chest thumping – haven’t over the last few years, to be honest – and won’t fall into the trap of taking an opponent lightly. And that comes from the top on down. Here’s O’Shea on the RedBlacks:
“A tough opponent – as I said before, you put on the tape, and you see ultimate effort. They’re running around, they’re playing a physical brand of football, they’re going to hit you and hit you hard again and again and again. I mean, that’s the start of any contact sport and when you’ve got that, you’ve got a chance.”
To that end, here’s RedBlacks receiver Jaelon Acklin in an interview with Tim Baines of The Ottawa Sun:
“We know (the Bombers) are a very good football team. They’re very well coached. They don’t really have any weaknesses. But you look forward to stuff like this, going against the best of the best. No one here is going to be afraid or intimidated. We’re going to try and throw the first punch and see what happens.”
INCREASED WORKLOAD:
The news that Janarion Grant has been moved to the six-game injured list will mean even more touches for Greg ‘Nighthawk’ McCrae, the slotback/receiver/returner who has jumped off the page in the last two wins.
McCrae has been listed as the club’s primary return man for Saturday, although Demerio Houston, Nic Demski, Abu Daramy-Swaray and Evan Holm could all also be called into action in that department.
“My running back coach (at Central Florida) was our return coach, so a lot of times during the special teams period we would go back and catch punts and kicks and work on those skills,” McCrae said Friday.
“A lot of skill players like to touch the ball. But I also like to do other things just to help the team win – whatever that is, whether it’s touching the ball or going out there making a block or just running off a guy for my teammate, whatever it is that they need me to do I’m going to do that to make sure that we end up with a ‘W’ at the end of the day.”
That’s a soft sell from McCrae, because the rest of the offence is intrigued what he can do when he gets more touches.
“He’s a very smart guy,” said quarterback Zach Collaros. “He can play multiple positions for us – as you guys know he played a lot of wide receiver for us last season – and you guys have seen what he can do with the ball in his hands from the running back position. I think he’s perfect for this league, I think he’s perfect for down south, too, because he’s a really talented, dynamic guy who can catch the ball out of the backfield, he can be split out and run routes on defensive backs, in the return game you saw what he can do last week.
“Any time he’s in the lineup Dru (Brown), me and Dakota (Prukop) sit there and draw up a thousand different ways to get him the ball. We usually don’t get all those plays in, but he’s a fun guy to have out there and definitely a piece of the puzzle that you have to prepare for as a coordinator on the other end during the week because if he’s out there he can burn you in the pass game, but in the run game he’s special, too.”
