RECOVERED LAUZON-SEGUIN BACK IN GOOD FORM
Gott injury paves way for return of Redblacks DL
It’s been almost eight months since offensive lineman Jason Lauzon-Seguin lined up against a defensive lineman from another team in a game that counted for anything.
But when Jon Gott was injured and left the field in the first half of Friday night’s 28-18 Ottawa Redblacks win in Montreal, Lauzon-Seguin, who’s been sidelined since training camp with a “lower-body” injury, was ready to get back in there in front of quarterback Trevor Harris.
“I felt good,” said Lauzon-Seguin. “The plan was to test it out and I got a good test. I was expecting to be the sixth lineman and do short yardage and stuff like that. Unfortunately Jon got hurt and it was an opportunity for me. You always have questions when you come back from an injury. Is it 100 per cent, how am I going to feel? You just have to go in and throw everything into it.”
It was tough for Lauzon-Seguin to wait until he got healthy enough to play. But it’s part of the business. He knew he couldn’t rush it, that he had to be patient.
“You can’t be frustrated about an injury because it happens so often in football,” he said. “You have to take your time, heal properly and when your time comes up, you have to be ready to play.”
Redblacks coach Rick Campbell said of Gott’s status for Thursday’s game against Calgary, “I think he’s good to go.”
With the possible return of Nolan MacMillan in the near future, the Redblacks will have a lot of veteran offensive lineman to choose from.
“It’s big, not only for depth from a Canadian content point of view, but also they’re really good players and our offensive unit is excited to be getting those guys back,” said Campbell. “It makes a big difference. We had to be a bit patient, but it’s good to have them back.”
Speaking about Lauzon-Seguin, Campbell said: “He did a really good job, Evan Johnson did a good job, too, moving from tackle to guard.”
THE FINISHING TOUCH: Asked what he liked most about the win, Harris said: “No penalties, one sack, no turnovers. It’s pretty simple, it’s a good formula to have, but we have to be better in the red zone and finish some drives.” Asked if the game plan changed in the second half when the Redblacks didn’t have as much success as they had in the first half, Harris said: “You try to find the mindset to just protect the football. But if you look in the second half, we had three drives where we started inside the 10yard line, each time we made it to midfield. That was a huge thing. Any time you can flip the field that much, then re-pin the other team inside the 15 or 10 is huge. It’s easy to say we only got three points, but we had some really good drives. It doesn’t mean we’re satisfied. We’ve got to make sure we finish those drives.” SORRY, ANTOINE: In my game story from Montreal, I gave Antoine Pruneau back-to-back penalties, one for illegal contact (wiping out an interception by Kevin Brown), another for unnecessary roughness. Apparently, neither infraction was him, though the CFL stats still show him taking the illegal contact penalty. Loucheiz Purifoy got the unnecessary roughness.
“I didn’t take a penalty, no PI, no roughness,” said Pruneau. “I was like, ‘Hell, no.’ It was a pick (interception), I don’t want to be responsible for that. I don’t want to take plays away from my guys. We looked at it on the sideline, really we didn’t see a penalty from anybody.”
Said Campbell: “We’ll call in if something needs to be fixed for whatever reason and they’ll change it eventually if they deem it appropriate.”
TO CHALLENGE OR NOT TO CHALLENGE: Friday, I took exception with a coach’s challenge on the final play of the first quarter, with the Redblacks deep in their own territory with Campbell looking for a pass interference call. It was an obvious missed penalty, but was it worth the 18 yards gained, using up your only challenge so early in the game? Explained Campbell:
“My biggest thing is where points are involved. I thought it was a big enough chunk of yards. We were backed up and I felt like we needed some momentum at that time of the game. It was definitely something I was debating in my head, whether it was worth it. I probably wouldn’t have done it at midfield.
“We were backed up, possibly giving up a safety or having to punt and them getting points out of it. That’s my biggest worry, if I think it’s going to lead to points, that would be my No. 1 guide to throw a challenge flag.”
CUT DOWN THE PENALTIES: Speaking about the Montreal game, Campbell said: “I’ve always liked our compete level, our guys worked really hard. We made some big plays and were able to get a big lead. The thing we have to stay on top of is the penalty thing. We’ve been averaging five and we took eight. We need to keep it down in that five-andbelow range. We’ll keep on top of that and keep track for this practice week.”
THE END AROUND: Tweeted former Als star Nik Lewis, on former teammate Jean-Christophe Beaulieu, who caught a touchdown pass against Montreal: “I always said if I was an OC @ jc_beaulieu would have 700+ rushing and 700+ receiving a season. Great Canadian Talent. Can catch, run, and block.” ... Looks like the Redblacks go into Thursday’s game against Calgary relatively healthy, with no further injuries. Said Campbell: “I don’t see anybody from last game being out.”