Lumsden-McCarty Pairing Has Much Allure For Esks

28/02/2009 03:44

EDMONTON — The names of football backfield duos still resonate with many, even decades after the sport went all pass-happy.

Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor; Jim Brown and Bobby Mitchell; Jim Kiick and Larry Csonka; Tony Dorsett and Herschel Walker; Rocky Bleier and Franco Harris in the NFL.

North of the border, Dave Thelen and Ronnie Stewart; George Dixon and Don Clark; Jim Germany and Neil Lumsden as well as Chris Skinner and Milson Jones here in Edmonton; and, recently, Thunder and Lightning over there in Winnipeg — Joe Smith and Fred Reid, albeit on a rotational basis.

Now, with the signing of Jesse Lumsden, the Eskimos players and coaching staff are tantalized by the possibilities presented by a Lumsden-Calvin McCarty twosome lined up behind quarterback Ricky Ray.

For GM Danny Maciocia, there’s an obvious parallel, though not a perfect one, with the Mike Pringle-Thomas Haskins tandem with the Montreal Alouettes at the start of this decade. Maciocia tried to transplant that duo out west, convincing first the fireplug tailback Pringle to come to Edmonton, and later swingman Haskins, as much receiver as runner, not unlike McCarty.

Pringle and Haskins never teamed up in Edmonton after Haskins suffered a career-ending brain injury.

And, in any event, the comparison between those two backs and the Lumsden-McCarty tag-team is a loose one. Both Lumsden and McCarty are tailbacks, for starters, as offensive co-ordinator Rick Worman was swift to point out.

And veteran fullback Mathieu Bertrand is very much part of the mix, among other things as a battering-ram lead blocker for either Lumsden or McCarty.

Worman doesn’t necessarily plan to use McCarty and Lumsden as twin tailbacks all that often. But neither would he rule out utilizing that nifty little option, now and then, if it fits the situation.

“The goal is to have some semblance of a balance (between running and passing),” Worman said. “And I don’t necessarily mean, in a three-down game, a balance of 50-50.

“It might be more like 70-30 in reality, versus the 90-10 it was last year and even the year before that.”

Last year, as observers well know, the Eskimos were No. 1 in the CFL through the air, and dead last on the ground.

More from the Edmonton Journal.

SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:

Calvin McCarty and Jesse Lumsden should provide the Eskimos running game with one helluva one-two punch this year. And, with them both being Canadians, the Esks new running game will be a ratio changer too.