There's no such thing as a weak and porous offensive line with a beaten up quarterback sending a guy to the all-star team. It's hard to stand out when your quarterback is laid out.
If one guy is an all-star, they're all all-stars.
"If the O-line doesn't play well with me, then we're nothing; we won't win games and we won't go to the playoffs and nobody will be an all-star," said Calvin Armstrong, whose West Division All-Star spot is a tribute to Edmonton's revamped offensive line.
"I owe it to all the guys I play with. They help me out as much as I help them.
"It's definitely a team effort."
But Armstrong stood out, and not just because he's 6-foot-7, 320 pounds.
"The thing about offensive linemen is they really don't get a lot of recognition because you don't hear a lot about them," said head coach Richie Hall. "But he's been solid from Day 1. Very athletic and enabled us to do some things."
The line took substantial heat early in the season when they couldn't get the run going and Ricky Ray was seeing more stars than all-stars, but they've come on strong in the last month, and it's no coincidence the rest of the team has, too.
"We've played pretty well all year long, but the last three or four weeks I think we've really gelled as a group," said Armstrong.
"When Ricky knows that the run game is going, it takes a lot of pressure off of him. He has confidence that the D linemen are going to be worn down by the end of the game and he'll have time to throw the ball.
"I think he has confidence in us now that he knows he's going to be protected. When he gets going and the run game is going, we're tough to beat."
No argument from the pivot.
"They're the heart and soul of your team," said Ray. "If you're controlling the line of scrimmage, you're going to do some really good things offensively.
"We've been running the ball pretty darn good here late in the season. It's not like my numbers have been out of this world.
"The run game has been so good, I've just had to make some key plays at key times. It just takes a lot of pressure off you as a quarterback."
Late hits ...
Hall says return man Tristan Jackson should be good to go by Sunday.
"Any time you participate in practice from start to finish and don't pull yourself out of anything, it's a good sign that he feels confident," he said.
ROBERT.TYCHKOWSKI@SUNMEDIA.CA
