Lions’ Valli finds mental aspect of injuries hard to shake
VANCOUVER — In case you forget, Dean Valli has a good body with good girth.
“He’s a good-looking guy, which is what you want.”
That is how offensive line coach Dan Dorazio famously described Valli’s physique after the B.C. Lions drafted him from Simon Fraser University seven years ago. Dorazio’s honest assessment of the guard also sounded like a passage from a romance novel, and both assistant coach and player have had to live with the accidental humour since then.
But Dorazio was correct about Valli’s physiology and suitability to block huge men in the Canadian Football League.
It is the player’s mind that became the issue, first due to Valli’s unyielding expectations for himself and, in recent years, the doubt caused by two severe injuries to his leg.
Turns out Valli’s 305-pound body wasn’t invincible, even if the 29-year-old from North Vancouver has been close to looking that way since an injury to someone else two weeks ago forced a return to the Lions’ lineup.
Already missing veteran centre Angus Reid and with the offensive line their thinnest position, the Lions lost superb rookie guard Kirby Fabien to an horrific knee injury July 30 in Toronto. Alarmists figured the Lions’ season might be in as much trouble as Fabien.
But Valli, who had knee reconstruction after a torn anterior cruciate ligament undermined and eventually ended his 2012 season, was elevated from his backup role and has played about as well as ever back at his old starting spot.
“His ability to respond to adversity doesn’t surprise me because that’s the kind of man he is,” Dorazio said after Tuesday’s rare practice, which saw Lion players in full pads a second straight day as head coach Mike Benevides ramped up intensity for Saturday’s home game against Calgary.
“Dean’s a good pro. … And when he did step out on the field these last two games, he has played better than he did before he got hurt.”
After knee surgery in the off-season, which followed a broken leg in 2010, Valli was never expected to be fully fit for the start of this season. So it was no surprise Fabien, a 22-year-old first-round draft pick from the University of Calgary, earned the starting job at right guard during training camp. But with two major injuries in three seasons and Valli’s old pattern of getting in his own way, mentally, there was uncertainty about how effective he might be if suddenly called upon.
As general manager Wally Buono explained Tuesday: “It’s all mental, honestly. We used to work on stuff after practice with Dean and it was all mental. Psychologically, we had to get him to understand his leg was healed. But your mind doesn’t want to believe that. Injuries are always tougher psychologically than physically once you come back. Sports is all about those two aspects: physical and psychological. Injured players have to deal with both.”
Defensive tackle Khalif Mitchell, whose trade by Buono to Toronto has left B.C. a little light on the defensive line, helped prove Valli was fine when the Lion replaced Fabien in the 38-12 no-show against the Argos.
“First rush of the Toronto game, Khalif is coming right at me and I say: ‘OK, here goes,’ ” Valli said. “You have to find yourself in a situation to let you know it’s OK. For me, the Toronto game against Khalif, who’s a big, strong guy ... I had to just hope and hope and then you go, ‘Oh, my knee works.’ You basically have to get in a situation that’s out of your control in order to get over that hump.”