Lions dial 911 for ailing pass rush
Linemen Lemon, Willis vow to be ‘first responders’ when opposing QBs drop back to pass
Shawn Lemon and Odell Willis are good enough buddies that Willis was one of the first people Lemon messaged when he learned last week that he’d been traded to the B.C. Lions.
Lemon and Willis are also good enough friends that Willis considered Lemon could well be pranking him about the pair sharing time on the Lions’ defensive line.
“He thought I was playing, because we joke around a lot,” Lemon said after Wednesday’s practice at the Lions’ Surrey facility. “He was like, ‘For real?’ And then it went from there. We’re both excited.”
The Lions acquired Lemon, 29, last Tuesday from the Toronto Argonauts for the rights to a player on B.C.’s negotiation list.
The Lions have had trouble putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks and the hope is that a defensive end rotation now featuring Lemon and fellow veterans Willis, 33, and Gabe Knapton, 29, can turn up the heat.
Lemon tried to break into the CFL in 2011 with a Winnipeg Blue Bombers team that already featured Willis. He was released and went home, but he and Willis connected. Lemon says that, over the years, they’ve remained friends and routinely shared scouting reports on opposing offensive lineman.
Willis had little trouble invading a post-practice Lemon media scrum on Wednesday. The jersey numbers for Lemon (9) and Willis (11) were a topic, as you might expect.
“You better call your offensive coach. Offensive coach ... you better be checking the scouting reports . ... 911 is on the way,” said Willis.
Lemon added: “Those are always the first responders. We’re trying to be the first responders (to the opposing quarterback).”
Lemon has 51 career sacks in 80 regular-season CFL games, and piled up 14 sacks just two seasons ago for the Argonauts. There’s certainly a school of thought that adding Lemon to the mix increases the threat up front for B.C. while keeping the likes of Willis and Knapton from wearing down.
You can also argue the rights to a player on a negotiation list isn’t a hefty return, so Toronto undoubtedly feels that Lemon’s best days are behind him.
The Argonauts (1-5) defence has recorded just six sacks, which ties them for the league low. The Lions (2-3) have nine sacks, which is sixth best in the nine-team circuit.
The Blue Bombers (4-3), Calgary Stampeders (6-0) and Edmonton Eskimos (4-2) all have 17 sacks to lead the way.
Lemon had one sack in five games with Toronto this season.
“I was most definitely surprised,” Lemon said of the trade. “But with professional football, you have to hit the ground running. My lifestyle and career throughout the CFL has kind of been a bit of a surprise.”
He certainly gives the Lions more personality.
When he suits up on Saturday for the Lions on the road against the unbeaten Stampeders, it will mark the sixth team in the league that he’s played for, including two separate stints with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
He was talking on Wednesday about the trial and tribulations of being traded. He’s in the midst of moving his wife and their pet dog west.
Lemon is a lineman listed at 6-foot-2 and 251 pounds. He talks about a dog and you automatically think of a German shepherd or something like that. It’s not the case. Lemon has a Yorkie named Dallas.
“I’ve had him since I was a junior in college and he’s my best friend. When I was in a college, we were living in apartments, so I didn’t want to get a big dog. I got a little dog and I fell in love with him,” he said.
It’s easy to suggest he and Willis will also give the Lions stereo chatter when they’re lined up on opposite ends of
the defensive line.
“You have to have fun doing this,” said Knapton, who came to B.C. in a December trade with the Montreal Alouettes, while Willis was a product of a February swap with the Ottawa Redblacks.
“That’s why you started playing — it was fun. As soon as you start treating it like a job, it’s hard.
“You have to laugh, you have to be loud, you have to joke with each other. We have a lot of that now. We have more than I’m probably used to from before, but I like it.” Sewen@postmedia.com Twitter.com/SteveEwen