Aug
Kabongo holds his ground
Courtesy Edmonton Journal:
Just for a little variety, Patrick Kabongo held his own on Monday.
The mammoth Edmonton Eskimos offensive lineman, who was flagged not once or twice but thrice for clutching and grabbing Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday, sauntered into the dressing room, threw down the delicious, meaty Italian Centre Shop sandwich he had been clutching in his left hand and turned to face an even hungrier media scrum.
He held our gaze. He began to hold court. Because he holds Canadian Football League officials in such high regard, he occasionally held his tongue.
Throughout the minor grilling, he maintained a firm grip on the seriousness of the subject.
Holding all manner of things apparently comes naturally to the big fella.
“It was hard for me to take,” he said, holding his head high. “I compete. I always feel I have to play my best out there and that wasn’t my best.”
On some game days, there are few CFL offensive linemen who can hold a candle to this genial giant. He’s a clutch player. At six-foot-six and 315 pounds, he is an increasingly mobile mountain who helps anchor an offensive line that usually affords quarterback Ricky Ray enough time to do his job.
The Eskimos have given up a paltry 11 sacks through one-third of the 18-game season, trailing only the Montreal Alouettes and Winnipeg Blue Bombers in that important category.
But Kabongo received a painful lesson in humility, discipline and technique on Saturday at Ivor Wynne Stadium, and he will be all the wiser for it.
At least he ought to be.
“It was one of those things that happens,” said CFL director of officiating Tom Higgins. “I know he’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“If you keep your hands where they are supposed to be and your feet moving and knees bent, nine times out of 10 they won’t make the call because there is no reason to.”
Kabongo clings to the notion that there was no reason for any official to make two of the three calls against him on Saturday. He fessed up to only the first one, which negated a nine-yard run by Arkee Whitlock in the opening quarter.
That said, Kabongo wasn’t about to hold anybody else responsible for his actions.
“The refs are the refs. They make their calls. I respect that. I wasn’t mad at them. You’ve got to look at yourself first. The refs are pretty good in this league.”
The officials are getting better, but holding calls will always spark debate with coaches, players and fans because of their nature and prevalence.
“There has been a little leeway to allow the hands to be different,” said Higgins.
“They don’t have to be inside the frame (essentially the torso). They can be on the shoulders. It almost looks like you are bear-hugging the defensive lineman. Where you can see cloth, where you can see the back turning unnaturally, those are indicators.”
The old adage goes that referees could call holding on every play, but fans don’t pay to see zebras throw flags, so discretion is paramount. Referees and umpires, who combine to make 90 per cent of the holding calls in a given game, have to identify the foul while deciding whether or not it affected the play in a significant enough manner to warrant a flag.
Higgins readily admits that his crews miss calls every game, but they strive to be fair and accurate.
After taking three of the Eskimos’ seven penalties for half of the 60 yards they surrendered on Saturday, Kabongo might well have felt unfairly targeted.
“As offensive linemen, it’s going to happen,” said Calvin Armstrong. of the Eskimos. “They watch us closely. Any one of us could have gotten three holding calls. After you get the first call, they’ll watch you a bit closer.”
Whether or not that’s the case, and Higgins said officials do not target anybody in particular on any play, the flags kept flying in Kabongo’s direction. As you might expect, one of them hurt more than the others.
SETTLED FOR A FIELD GOAL
His second holding penalty wiped out a 26-yard touchdown strike from Ray at 7:16 of the third quarter with Edmonton up 18-14.
The Eskimos went on to settle for a field goal and a 21-14 lead that wouldn’t hold up. Kabongo felt so bad about that call that he went to his teammate after the game to apologize.
“The one thing I said to Jamaica was I’m sorry, because it was his first touchdown. It would have been.”
Hold your horses there, Patrick. It was Graeme Bell who scored the TD, not Jamaica Rector. Kabongo had been flagged so many times that he apparently lost track. It was Kabongo’s third and final holding penalty that negated Rector’s 10-yard catch to start the fourth quarter.
Bell joked that Kabongo owes him a steak dinner.
“Yeah right. I love Graeme Bell. Great player. But it’s part of the game.”
Three holdings calls had never been part of any previous game for Kabongo, not even at the University of Nebraska.
“I played D-line in college. You can hold as much as you want,” he said with a laugh.
With that, the media could no longer hold his attention. He was off to inhale his sandwich and prepare for Thursday’s game against the Calgary Stampeders.
“If anyone is going to rebound and have an amazing day, it’s Pat,” said fellow lineman Aaron Fiacconi.
We’ll hold him to it.
