Helena –The Saints saw a lot of this in their season opening loss to Rocky. Giving up four sacks to defensive end Ryder Rice alone. Not the best way to start things the for the Carroll offensive line, but for the young group it was part of the growing process. And an area they intend to improve on for this weekend’s match-up with Western.
“So the mental game of it was really there for us, it’s been even better than in previous years,” said lineman Willy Clements. Mentally we were there. Assignment wise, was good. It was technique wise that we failed and that’s getting beat in the simple things. Like the footwork, the hand game, the head game, where you’re placing your head, that kind of stuff. Really simple stuff we’re getting beat and we can’t afford as a young offensive line and a young offense.”
“Just be better, more cohesive maybe allow a bit more communication,” added head coach Mike Van Diest. “Talk about the different fronts and stunts they’re going to see. And then guys just doing their jobs. Sometimes, you know, Ryder and some of the other guys on Rocky’s team just beat us one-on-one. Maybe it was just a bull rush or power, but we’ve got to be able to do things better to be able to sustain drives and get the running game going.
That will be especially important against Western this weekend, because the Saints could only muster 56 yards rushing against the Battlin’ Bears… Another stat the line is well aware of.
“It’s going to start with having to run the ball, we’ve got to be able to run the football on the ground to take some pressure off the quarterback,” said Clements. “Rocky was just, line up in sprinter stance and teeing off on us, so they knew we were pass in the ball. So we got to establish the run game and just fix the little things and that’s not asking too much because we’re perfectly capable of it. We’ve had a good week of practice and it’s a solid group so, not too worried about it.”
Carroll and Western hit the field at Nelson Stadium at 1:00 Satruday.
