Alternating backs fuel Lions’ run game

VANCOUVER Jeremiah Johnson is out and Anthony Allen is in Saturday night against the Ottawa Redblacks. Stats and egos aside, that’s just the way it goes for the B.C. Lions, who have the best rushing attack in the CFL with an average of 106.9 yards per game.

The Lions employ an interesting system where they let Johnson, the former Redblacks running back, play for a couple of games, then they turn to Allen. Repeat cycle.

Hard to knock the system, it works. While Johnson has 509 yards, Allen has 326.

The thing is, B.C. has so much more than just a ground game. That starts with second-year quarterback Jonathon Jennings and a receiving corps that includes the very talented and big Manny Arceneaux, the CFL’s fifth-leading receiver with 956 yards.

“You want to give them multiple things,” said Redblacks defensive coordinator Mark Nelson. “You want it to not look like it did in practice or what (Jennings) saw on film. They have offensive weapons. He doesn’t have to do it, he has to be the disher, dish the ball off to his players.”

So how about that ground game that will go against the Redblacks, the CFL’s top run defenders?

“We didn’t do a real good job against Toronto, not as good as we normally do,” said Nelson. “We’re going to be better because you know to stop B.C., you have to stop the run game. Win first down, then let’s go play second down.”

“We’re expecting a dogfight,” said Jennings. “Ottawa’s a good football team, they bring a lot of pressure on defence. It’s going to be interesting to see what they come at us with. When we played them last time, they were a big-man team, a four-down (lineman) team, they’ve turned into a three-down team. They’ve done a lot more zone (coverage) since we played them.”