Winning experience
Tiger-Cats RB Green hopes to pick up where he left off
HAMILTON — Alex Green has a bit of an advantage over most of his Ticats teammates.
He was here last year, learning the CFL ways as a 29-year-old first-time running back in this league and getting comfortable in June Jones’ offence, one he ran as a collegian in Hawaii some seven years earlier. But that’s not his advantage.
Based on the numbers, he got pretty comfortable with both the league and Jones’ offence, rushing for 447 yards and five touchdowns in six games.
Green’s advantage over most of his teammates as he returns to the Ticats is having only experienced winning in the black and gold, for the most part.
His arrival coincided with the Ticats changing fortunes last season. While the bulk of this year’s team stumbled out of the gate to an 0-8 start a year ago, Green wasn’t around for any of it.
He signed on Sept. 22 and from that point on, the Ticats were an impressive 6-2, starting with a 140-yard performance in his CFL debut in a win over B.C.
Not even his head coach, who correctly gets most of the credit for that turnaround, can claim that kind of CFL record, having put two losses on his resume before the 6-2 finish.
Green got a late jump on training camp this year after heading home to deal with a family matter, but he’s back now and looking no worse for wear.
He missed the first of two pre-season tune-ups but will get his reps in Game 2 Saturday in Montreal, surrounded by mostly second stringers as Jones gets a look at his depth while preserving the health of his starters in advance of the 18-game season ahead.
At 6-foot and a muscled 228-pounds, Green is considered more bruiser than a back who looks to avoid contact. And that’s a good thing because in Jones’ wide open, pass-heavy offence, the back is first and foremost a blocking back.
No one is more aware of this than Green, who played in Jones’ run-and-shoot offence in Hawaii even after the man himself had moved on.
In fact, Green and Jones have walked the same streets a number of times, albeit at different points in their lives. Both were born in Portland and began playing the game there, and then both went on to Hawaii. But it wasn’t until Green arrived in Hamilton that he actually met the man he seemed to be shadowing for much of his own career.
That the two finally hooked up in Hamilton seems almost something that was meant to happen.
Green certainly doesn’t argue the point that he might be the perfect back for Jones’ offence.
“Just being a big back who can run, block and catch makes me a fit,” Green said. “Obviously, those things are critical in any system but in this system especially with all the passing we do you have to be able to block and then when we do have opportunities to get the ball and make people miss, I think that’s something I do a pretty good job of. It just fits with a big back who can do all three things.”
When Green first arrived in Hawaii, he was a back who could do all three but hadn’t really prioritized one over the other. When he left, though, there was no doubt blocking and protecting his quarterback was tops on that priority list.
“It’s critical,” Green said. “You have a quarterback who needs to be protected no matter how good you can run. If he can’t pass then they’ll just pack the box. To be able to pass you have to be able to pass block. It’s important and sometimes it gets taken for granted at the running back position but it’s one of those things that is a big deal, especially in this league.”
Not every back has that mindset but to excel in Jones’ offence, blocking has to come first.
“It is rare to be honest,” Green said of backs like himself who value blocking over everything else. “You think running back, you think you’re there to run the ball. It’s rare but the one’s that do like to block are the one’s that last and usually become the great ones. Not taking anything away from guys who can’t block or aren’t willing to, but the ones who are willing to block you can see the difference in the level of their game in my opinion.”
Saturday in Montreal, Green will be providing that level of protection for Johnny Manziel as Jones has chosen to leave most of his starters at home and go with the No. 2’s. Green and a few others will be the exception. In Green’s case there was little choice after he missed the first pre-season game.