FOSTER PROVES A CLASS ACT IN GETTING TO QUARTERBACKS J.J. Adams.
Defensive back perfects the disguise to pull off key strip sack, writes
Purely in football terms, Otha Foster III likes to think of himself as a bit of a Fresh Prince, a dash of a Bad Boy with a little Man in Black sprinkled in.
“I’m probably … like a Will Smith. He’s done all types of movies, different roles. I can play like I’m dropping, like I’m blitzing, like I’m not blitzing … all types of things,” laughed the B.C. Lions nickelback. “In the football world, my acting ’s pretty good. (In the real world), it’s probably like a five, but if I had some acting classes, I could probably jump to an eight real quick.”
It was the Louisiana native’s thespian talents and explosive first step that provided the gut punch to the Edmonton Eskimos last week, his fourth-quarter strip sack of Mike Reilly leading to the points that put the home side up for good in a 31-23 victory.
Crowding the line of scrimmage, the six-foot, 205-pound defensive back managed to fall off the radar of C. J. Gable, the Esks running back with an excellent reputation for pass protection, blowing by him from the blind side before chopping the ball loose from Reilly.
“That’s one thing I tried to do; work on my disguise a little bit, try to do some acting,” said Foster. “On that play, it actually worked. They didn’t see me until the last second. And once I got past the running back, I wasn’t even worried about Mike; I just saw the ball and that’s all I was thinking about — get the ball, get the ball.”
It was the highlight of a defensive performance that saw the Leos shut down one of the most potent offences in the CFL.
Edmonton didn’t record a first down in the third quarter, and scored just three points in the second half.
Foster had one of three B.C. sacks on the day, and his tipped ball led to one of two interceptions of Reilly as the Lions dropped the boom on the Eskimos quarterback, who had only been sacked seven times coming into the game — second-fewest in the CFL. But if he wasn’t getting hit, he was getting harassed or had a hand in his face.
The second half was a remarkable turnaround after B.C. gave up 20 points in the first two quarters. The biggest difference wasn’t the calls made between the hash marks, said defensive coordinator Mark Washington, but the attitude between his players’ ears.
“There were some adjustments we had to make. I think a lot of the adjustments were mental,” he said. “For some reason, we didn’t come out ready to go. And (against) Edmonton, you’d better be ready to go.
“There were no tricks,” added Foster. “We just came out and executed more. I feel like the first half, we were kind of antsy. We weren’t reading our keys as well as we should have been.
“But we came out in the second half more focused, more determined, and we believed we could do what we did.”
One game doesn’t make a season, but it can put a team on the right track. The same could be said within a game, where a single play can be a microcosm, representative of a team’s path.
Travis Lulay looked to have put the Lions up 14-10 just minutes before halftime when he connected on a 14-yard pass to Bryan Burnham in the end zone, but saw the play wiped out by a holding penalty. The next play, Lulay was picked off by Esks linebacker Korey Jones, who streaked 70 yards down the sideline, but a shoestring tackle from a hustling-but-not-so-speedy Lulay — gigantic knee brace and all — saved a score on that play.
“I was dying laughing,” said Foster, who was roommates with Jones when they both played with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. “Believe it or not, before the game I messaged him, ‘I hope you have a good game, but I hope we win.’ And I told him, and these were my exact words, ‘I hope you catch a pick and get tackled at the one and we win.’
“It was funny it almost happened like that. It think it’s just positive energy. I feel like if you
speak it, it will happen.”
The win improved the Lions’ record to 3-0 at home, but it’s away from B.C. Place Stadium where they’ve struggled to get results, going 0-4.
It’s something they’ll try to amend when they hit the road this week to travel to Toronto to face the Argonauts (2-5).
The Boatmen are coming off a bye week, but headed into their break after a dramatic 42-41 comeback win over Ottawa, with quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson going 25-of-37 for 302 yards, four touchdowns and one interception in his first start for Toronto.
Bethel-Thompson, an NFL and Arena League journeyman, had only thrown two CFL passes before then, with one of them coincidentally part of a Lions landmark moment.
In last year’s regular-season finale, he threw a two-yard pass to Martese Jackson, who was brought down by Solomon Elimimian — a tackle that tied the CFL’s single-season record at 143.
“From a defensive point of view, we know our hands are going to be full,” said Washington.
“We’re just going to have to step up to the challenge.”