It's a new year and it's time to talk about who was the best in The ‘07, so let's start with my favourite group (drumroll please), the strong side defensive ends. This is the best position on defence, if not in all football (of course, there is a small bias).
In The '07 I got to watch a lot of games (thanks CBC) and I don't have to politic, or Don King-it-up for any of the teams or its players. I'm sure I will get some "Hey Benefield, don't tase me bro" texts or some Facebook flak about some of my comments, but like good friends, I'll tell you if something is hanging out of your nose, or if she's out of your league, and I will tell you about the strong side defensive ends. So crack open the suitcase of Kokanee you got from your trailer park aunt and let's get it on.
First, I don't go ga-ga over stats like some third-level sitting reporter; stats can only tell you part of the story of who the true players are. Sometimes stats mean nothing -- a QB falls down and you get a sack, great -- but it's baloney.
Great size and speed mean absolutely freakin' nothing if you can't outright play. I'm not talking about being pretty good, or a great guy to have around the locker room either. I had an iPod, three magazine subscriptions and a Martini mixer in my locker -- now that was great to have in a locker room. This isn't some biased, no-position playing media guy talking ball either; this is one of the clan (I did say clan, didn't I?).
The Show Stoppers: Cameron Wake (B.C.), Fred Perry (Saskatchewan), Nautyn McKay Loescher (Hamilton), Tom Canada (Winnipeg) and Riall Johnson (Toronto).
First off, Cam Wake has the size and speed ratio you want in a wide-side defensive end. He has crazy hops, something like a 42-inch vertical (that means explosive kids). Going to Dematha HS didn't hurt either, so the spring hoops games between the Lions franchise and the local high school scrubs should be interesting this spring if Wake's in town, as he may even have a little round-ball game which equals athleticism. Cam even went and changed names (I liked the Prince move), and he completely caught the league by the short and curlies. Double digit sacks is a good year -- double digits and pushing the brink of 20 sacks is unheard of for a rookie.
What makes him good besides his physical tools? I've had a chance to sit back and relax, watch some film, and think about it, and have come up with an idea, so roll with me on this. Cam, just like the new girl in town who shows up and gets befriended by the hot-girl group and becomes killer by association, even if he is still a little rough and not as killer as, say a Kim Kardashian (I chose her because, well, she would kill a bikini). Cam has the friends inside the B.C. Lions defensive line; from left-to-right Tyrone Williams, Aaron Hunt and Brent (I'm from "The can't win in a Bowl game vs. an SEC school Ohio State") Johnson. These three beasts create havoc up the middle with Brent causing the pocket to slide from his pressure off the weak side. Cam gets one-on-one with a tackle, and God forbid a running back. There aren't many Mike Sellers running around the CFL anymore, although there is a Chris Szarka (beast).
With a crumbling pocket and a scrambling QB looking for a place to hide, like stars running from TMZ hoods, Cam is often in the right place at the right time making plays. Cam made more plays and closed more deals then those Entourage guys closing on strange bar-star hotties. Also, Cam has help from his little friends in the back end. The DBs help the Wake campaign because they cause a QB to change his mind more than Lindsey Lohan changes rehab centres. It's paralysis by analysis and that means sacks.
Does he have flaws? Because this was his freshman (I mean, rookie) year, he was a complete unknown. Tendencies were gathered on a week-to-week basis, kinda like Republican takes on the U.S. economy. But what I noticed were a lack of hands, no counter move, and not using his strengths to his advantage to make pass-rushing easier for himself. In other words, for you noobs reading this, he got away with a lot of athleticism versus the weaker tackles, and back of the class offensive line coaches. A guy with this kinda talent shouldn't have to work this hard. The story changed against the better tackles, and better coached lines where he wasn't so dominant. Still, the question remains, will he work on a counter move in the off-season, or will he chill in the off-season and allow the rest of the league to get their grubby fat fingers on the Cam Wake book to figure him out in the dreaded sophomore season?
The Hamilton Tiger Cats don't have much in superstars -- then again, they don't have much in wins the last couple of years -- but at least they have a winner and a budding superstar in Nautyn McKay-Loescher. Nautyn is "the guy", "a beast" and fits the bill in size and speed and comes off the ball faster than T-shirts at a Girls Gone Wild video shoot. He's faster off the edge than a bootleg DVD hitting the street. He has the speed to torch the edge, the size and strength to bull-rush a tackle and has been working on a counter move which could make him a dangerous man in The '08.
Anytime you are on a weak team, with suspect to non-existent DBs and an even more suspect defensive line and you go double digits in sacks, you have big game. Think of it this way -- you put Loescher in the line-up with a good to great team and he's stupid sick, like too much alcohol at a college kegger. Flaws -- Nautyn doesn't set up his spin move properly, gets caught peeking at the QB, and the suspect team around him keeps him the centre of attention. Being a true wide-side player, Nautyn doesn't take many shots at going inside. This tells me he is either (a) a team player (great thing), or (b) hasn't found a trustworthy strong tackle to cover for him in a colour flash. If he wants to become more of a threat in The '08, two things really come to mind; 1. Nautyn will have to take some well calculated chances and dip inside keeping the strong side tackles, and keep quarterbacks honest; 2. Hope and pray for some great free agents and a really knowledgeable defensive coordinator to take a little heat off him. Also he could work the speed bag this off-season and get some violet hands to keep the fat kids off him just in case the crew doesn't materialize.
Fred Perry is what you get when you mix real size (6-foot-2, 240 pounds) and athleticism, and add to the mix the natural ability to rush the passer with the toughness of a defensive end. Fred has survived more stupid systems, clueless coaches and just foul luck then Kevin Costner fans waiting for him to appear in a great movie. Fred is a stand-up, and stand-out, rush end.
His style is like a dirty-dirty AND 1 football highlight film where you just smile, fist to mouth going "ooooo" watching it roll. It's like pause, replay, pause, slo mo, and replay again. Have you ever seen the hoopers up in the NYC playing on the concrete courts? The oohs and ahhs coming from the crowds, the full-shake bizzle. Watching Fred, you see more moves and game than four strippers after Pacman made it rain. For you fundamentalists, he can take the edge with his speed, fake the inside with his jukes and continue to the QB leaving an offensive tackle with a busted ankle, and a pink slip in his locker. To add insult to injury, he has strength to play the run, and a punch to keep offensive lineman off him like Iron Mike before he went to the dark side.
The beauty is, if you fall for a juke he can bull rush you to the turf like a real deal bull rush artist (see Brent Johnson). So this makes Fred's game cold and sick. Throwing some icing on the cake, he can drop and play in space and reads formations and mentally reacts pre-snap. Like I said, he is a "cold" individual.
Flaws: I don't know if it's the Southerner in him, or the Hotlanta in him, or both, or just a big time love of food, but Fred's weight can balloon faster than an out of work starlet living down the street from a Ben and Jerry's. If I had to give him an award, he'd get the Jennifer Love-Hewitt trophy (no, I don't like skinny girls). Also, because he reacts so quickly, sometimes he doesn't have patience and takes the big-time gamble pursuit angle, taking him out of more sacks, and making less plays than he probably should. You live by shake bizzle, and you die by shake bizzle. Funny Dave Chappellian truth -- my mom made fried chicken (GUH), but this dude Trevor (white dude, GUH), his mom made "Shake and Bake." I liked "Shake and Bake" because it was new and different. But even though I like "Shake and Bake," I wouldn't want a steady diet of it, but if I had my way, I'd stay with the fried chicken (GUH) and keep the "Shake and Bake" stuff in proper amounts. Also, the meter is running on the odometer; he'll cover this by being smarter in The '08.
The Bombers haven't had a strong side defensive end since (young 30s) So Cal native Benefield split town. I miss Earls Polo Park. The Bombers found another Californian with less miles to fill the spot and Tom Canada is forging his own path. Anybody that goes not only into the bush, but into the wilds of the South American jungles has a screw loose; any defensive end doing this is out-right dangerous in the wilds of the CFL.
Tom has deceptive speed, under the radar athletic ability and alligator wrestling strength, which he should since he kayaks in the Amazon. Must be the eccentric California pedigree. His closing speed is crazy, and his centre of gravity is that of a shorter man (Jerome Haywood), so he's a rock solid against the run. Canada also has awareness, as he stunts with great results. Some ends aren't fond of stunts, preferring to work on the edge, but Tom is one of the few ends that makes stunts payoff.
But where Tom really put it down is his physical play. Tom will physically dominate offensive lineman and will outright pancake guys who aren't strong, and fundamentally sound. What Canada has is a low-end torque where he can just take tackles and drive them straight to the quarterback and then, like a forklift, he just drops them off and grabs the quarterback. So he accomplishes a few things, he condenses the pocket in a very violent way, causes havoc by dropping a tackle on the quarterback's lap, and hurts O-line morale by bullying their strong-side tackle. Tom can make film study priceless, or a horror show if you aren't properly prepared. He also has an ease of playing the game, rarely being in the wrong place, or out of position.
Flaws: For weight he gets the Tyra Banks award -- he still looks good when he goes heavy set. Tom is one of those guys who can eat a grape and add 10 pounds. Word to Tom: "Go light on the Mayo, dude." His strengths are his weaknesses; his bull rush with a mobile QB can lead to a QB getting out of the pocket if he gets tied up with a grabby tackle. With his physical style, like a speed rusher, he can burn himself out so he needs a change up or two.
Often watching either of the Toronto Argonauts defensive ends, strong side end Riall Johnson or weak side end Jonathan "All World" Brown, you find yourself asking, "what could they do in a real deal 4-3 defence?" Riall looks taller than he is listed at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds; he looks more like 6-foot-5 which is tall for a CFL strong-side end, and possesses some uncanny athletic tools.
For starters, he was a tweener DE-OLB for the Bengals and the Cardinals. He was also tied for first in the NCAA for sacks with 15 back in his days playing for Stanford with this other guy from North Carolina. The other guy happened to be Julius Peppers, who now plays for the Carolina Panthers and is far from being "just a guy."
The scary thing about Riall is his newness to the CFL game. His stats are showing huge improvement each year which says UPSIDE.
Riall has counter moves galore and a "welcome back Ty Jones;" he has a sick spin move. Let me explain; to pull a spin move takes courage. But to pull one on the strong side without hurting the defence is just plain late-night DVD filthy; it's like Shawn White in the half pipe. I like the book ends in Toronto. I, like everyone else, just want to see some more "40 package" thrown in just to see them turned loose. As T.I. said, "Bring 'em Out, Bring 'em Out."
Flaws: The odometer. He turns 30 this year, no big deal. Didn't one of those moronic talking heads from the flat screen say "30 was the new 20?" So he has played a lot of football, but the question is, is he a young 30, or an old 30? I have seen 30s play really young (we smell our own), and 30s play old (seen that too); only time will tell which one he will be. What you want to see from Riall in a football stand point is to be a bit more aggressive against the run, more of an impact player. I figure this will come, once all the southern football stuff is wiped off his memory banks and the CFL with its yard off the ball is hard-wired into his brain. With his size, speed, and football pedigree every game in The '08 should be casual Fridays at the office.
So who gets centre stage?
I like the kid Cam Wake, but I question his off-season diligence and patience at learning a counter move. With his sophomore season coming upon us in five months, will he come with a counter move or have a Reggie Bush-type year?
Can a Nautyn get some help? I give the slight edge to the guy playing on the weaker team who is already working on his counter moves. Edge Nautyn.
Fred, Riall, Tom: The battle royale with extra cheese. Athleticism huge in all corners, I give the edge to Fred being more knowledgeable and playing in a now athletic defensive end friendly scheme. Also with Fred moving all over the board, his stock just rises.
Riall and Tom: Cal Berkeley versus Stanford -- it just doesn't end. I like Tom's power move and effortless, power-surfer style. Riall has the tools but the 30 defence, even though he is now putting up numbers, leaves me wondering what could be? Will Riall be an every week player or will Tom find a counter move and not have to call NutriSystem? I give the slight edge to the Californian (okay, so I'm biased).
Tom vs. Fred: both are athletic backers that are pass rushers, I go with the all-over-the-place Fred over the powerful Tom. They both can hit you from different angles, both can threaten the edge with speed, but I give the nod to Fred based on his sick body of work.
Fred vs. Nautyn: one guy in an end friendly defence, the other in a defence where he is one of the few that are worth watching. Age versus youth, I have to go with Fred. Fred can line up as a backer and rush the passer, he has a vicious inside move. Jukes, speed, a power punch, and understands the leverage game, and the game. Game set match...Fred.
