Aug
Smart ready to return in BC
Courtesy Edmonton Journal:
Ryan Grice-Mullen says he’s starting to like the return-man job.
Ryan Grice-Mullen says he’s starting to like the return-man job.
Photograph by: Wayne Leidenfrost, The Province, The Province
It was an idyllic thought on a nostalgic day for the Lions.
Reset their record to 0-0. Forget those hits to the head taken by Buck Pierce in the first half of the season. Turn back the clock to the way they envisioned their offence to start the CFL season.
“It would be nice, but you can’t do that,” Ian Smart said Sunday.
Yes, they are stuck with the 3-5 record, but you could at least go back to the way the Lions lined up to start the year. And as they practised at the site of their former Empire Stadium home on the PNE grounds for the first time in more than two decades, coach Wally Buono admitted he was at least giving it more than passing consideration.
Eight games ago, Smart was the starting tailback and Ryan Grice-Mullen was their home-run receiving threat. Injuries and other forms of misfortune got in the way of the plan. Now Smart is behind rookie Martell Mallett with Grice-Mullen an acknowledged threat as a returner.
“That’s my struggle,” Buono said as he weighed his options. “Ian has got a little jump in his step. Ryan has been more effective as a returner than he has as a receiver. Do I make him a receiver and he touches the ball maybe three times?” Grice-Mullen lost his wideout job on offence because of a few too many drops, but the move to special teams has worked wonders. Two games ago, the Lions’ speed burner was given the highest honour for a returner when Toronto Argonauts kicker Justin Medlock routinely followed one of his 50-yard field goals by deliberately hitting the ensuing kickoff shallow so as to avoid giving Grice-Mullen the ball.
“Who does that in the CFL?” Grice-Mullen said. “Of course I didn’t want to sit down [on offence] but maybe it was a good thing. I’m starting to like returns.” Smart similarly grew into the return job when he first joined the Lions upon being cut by the Montreal Alouettes, who provide the opposition Friday at B.C. Place Stadium.
“But it’s a role you’ve got to take on in order to get a job,” said Smart, who suffered groin and hip injuries early this year and hasn’t had a role since. “With Ryan playing there’s no need to break up the groove he has going, so whatever role I will get I have to accept.” The only absolute with Buono is that neither player will be asked to contribute in more than one way, which is not an ideal recipe for an offence still trying to gain traction.
Coaches point to the Lions’ 14 touchdown passes so far. They don’t mention that their quarterbacks are nearly on pace to tie the club record of 37 interceptions set 40 years ago.
So with two extra days in the current practice week, the coach gave Grice-Mullen additional reps on offence and sat Geroy Simon. Smart continued to push Mallett.
Though it is not a notion held throughout the organization, Buono has resigned himself to believing his team will not be getting back Stefan Logan, who had 63 punt-return yards on four tries Saturday in his second pre-season game with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.
The trick now is to settle on his replacement, and the right fit for two critical elements to the reconstruction process.
