Lions offensive line coming into its own

VANCOUVER — If you're a member of the B.C. Lions' offensive line it's easy to identify the low point of the season.

Molson Stadium, Aug. 29. The Lions with a first down on the Montreal Alouette one-yard-line with time running out and a glorious chance for victory. Counting an extra down due to a Montreal penalty, four chances to punch it in.

And they couldn't get it done.

Fast forward to Wednesday as the team prepares for Friday's encounter in Toronto against the Argonauts. For the team: four straight victories since that demoralizing loss in Montreal. For the offensive line: a string of four games in which they have yielded a total of just six quarterback sacks.

"It's never just one thing," said centre Angus Reid. "It's a multitude of things. The better we play the better the team plays. And the better the team plays the better we play."

Reid basically subscribes to all the popular theories on the reasons for the line's improved play.

"Things are coming together for the whole team," he said. "Yeah, our stats are better. Yeah, our continuity is better. Yeah, (left tackle) Rob Murphy is finally getting into season form after missing training camp. So there are a lot of things and it's not fair to attribute it to any one factor."

Head coach Wally Buono also believes there's more than one factor involved. After the Montreal game he personally challenged this offensive line to re-establish the aggressive approach that worked so well last year when, as a group, they turned what had been become a chronic weak link (two straight seasons where B.C. gave up the most QB sacks) into a team strength (the second-fewest sacks allowed in 2007). However, if he were to pick a favourite reason he'd come down on the side of continuity.

In particular, he points to Sherko Haji-Rasouli's return from a hamstring injury to reclaim his starting right guard spot for the last five games.

"Sometimes you have to hit bottom before you can begin the climb to the top," says Lions' coach, sounding a bit like an Alcoholics Anonymous counsellor. "And that Montreal game was the bottom for our O-line. Since then, I think they've put their minds to what they needed to do to get better."

While Haji-Rasouli was out, third-year Canadian Dean Valli assumed a starting role. Buono says the difference is not so much talent but experience.

"Dean has made tremendous progress," he said. "But at this stage Dean is sometimes like a young puppy. He's so eager he sometimes gets himself out of position. Right now, Sherko knows how to position himself a bit better."

If there's still a bit of a cloud on the horizon it might be the running game. Despite the acquisition of the league's No. 5 all-time leading rusher in Charles Roberts the ground game continues to sputter  twice in the last four games failing to crack the 100-yard mark in team rushing.

"We have two backs (Roberts and Stefan Logan) that might look the same," notes Reid. "They might both be slash-type runners, but they don't run the same. One guy (Roberts) is still trying to figure out how we block things. But it's going to get better because we have a good run-blocking offensive line. It's going to peak at the right time."

(canada.com)