Terry Jones
PostMedia
Until further notice, there will be no ‘Name The Offensive Line’ contest.
The subject came up late last season.
“But we don’t need or want a nickname. We just want to be known as that nasty Edmonton offensive line that is one of the best offensive lines in the league and that everyone else wants to be.”
Just as well. ‘That Nasty Edmonton Offensive Line That Is One Of The Best Offensive Lines In The League’ doesn’t fit all that well on a t-shirt, anyway.
“We just want teams to hate to play us,” said tackle Matt O’Donnell.
“We just want to be so mean, so physical and so overpowering that they just hate to play us. That’s just who we want to be. We want to out-physical and out-work and out-hustle everyone. Nicknames are for the other guys. We’re just the offensive line. We just work for each other.”
As a rule offensive linemen, despite performing in front of 40,000 people, are basically a bunch of big guys in their own witness protection program. They’re mostly anonymous.
That’s no longer the case with six-foot-eight Sorensen, six-foot-eleven O’Donnell, six-foot-six Simeon Rottier, six-foot-four D’Anthony Batiste and six-foot-seven Tony Washington.
In just two seasons they’ve become a study in stability together.
Back in 2013, and for several seasons prior to that, the offensive line had steady movement.
“Matt and Sim are the only ones left from the 4-14 season,” said Sorensen.
“I was starting in Winnipeg when they brought me and a few other guys in here because they were trying to change the culture. I looked at it as an opportunity because they were looking to develop a mean and nasty offensive line to get the job done and keep the quarterback safe. I think over the two years we’ve become that. We’ve come together to be a veteran group that plays hard and plays mean that doesn’t want anybody to come near our quarterback.
“When you have an offensive line that can stay together and work together for multiple years, they just get more and more comfortable with each other. You just know where everybody is going to be and what everybody is going to do. With the whole group working together, you get rid of the biggest enemy of the offensive line, which is confusion.”
The one thing that’s different going into this year than last year is that they are Grey Cup champions.
“It definitely builds in some confidence. Our group won the Grey Cup last year. But that was last year. This is this year and people are going to be coming for us if you are the Grey Cup champions,” said Sorensen.
And how many teams in the league do not draft a single offensive lineman and end up with the same group?
“Honestly, going through such a low time like that in that 4-14 season just makes you appreciate playing with a group like this that much more when you have a good thing going,” said Rottier.
“To come out the other end and be champions and feel we still have a good thing going here, I just feel pretty blessed to be here,” he added.
“We’ve had a complete overhaul and now we’re a group all coming back and starting the season together to defend our Grey Cup championship and we have a lot of chemistry together,” said O’Donnell who missed the first half of last season attending an NFL camp.
“I’d say chemistry and continuity are the biggest things.”
But O’Donnell says there’s no resting on last year’s laurels.
“Starting this year, everyone is going to have us circled on the calendar. We need to work even harder and keep our head down. Just because we won last year doesn’t mean anything this year.”
But the EE O-Line is still growing together. They’re still climbing the ladder together.
Meanness is growing within the group says O’Donnell.
“It’s growing with the chemistry and confidence but winning helps with that, too — especially when you start physically overpowering people and imposing your will on them. I think it’s always been there. We just keep growing with it every day.”
Besides that, they have to get Rottier into a Grey Cup game. He missed last year’s due to an injury sustained in the West Final.
“When I found out I wasn’t going to be able to play it was pretty tough but when I got to the game I got to thinking about all the guys who had contributed throughout the year. There wasn’t just me who was injured,” said Rottier.
“Getting back and playing in it has been a big motivation for me the whole off-season. I want to get a chance to play in that game. I’m going into my eighth year now. I really want to play in that game.”
