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“It was hard at first, because running back coaches and offensive line coaches look at film differently,” adds returner-running back Chris Rainey. “We’re trying to do our job as best we can because he’s a first-year guy. We don’t want to get him stressed out. We’ve got talent across the board, so we’re doing everything we can to make him look good.”

As the coach who rolls out the tackling rings and supervises their training, Blasetti is definitely the ringleader of the running group, though he is the one who came into the season with the steepest learning curve.

“I will never be able to make them better athletes than they already are,” Blasetti says. “What I told them early is, I would be able to make them better players through understanding what’s going on in front of them, maybe a little bit more than they’ve been exposed to before. They were going to teach me as much as I teach them. It’s a partnership, and we’re all in it together.”

Despite rushing for just 69 net yards last Friday in Edmonton, the Lions still lead the CFL in rushing by a wide margin. At an average 106.9 yards per game, B.C. is the only team running the football better than 100 yards every time out. Edmonton, at No. 2, is averaging 91.4 yards.

If that form holds until the end of the regular season, it will be the first time in league history only one team has managed a 100-plus rushing-yards average in a single campaign.

Between them, Allen and Jeremiah Johnson — who alternate as the Lions feature back — have 148 carries for 835 yards. Neither is likely to catch league rushing leader Jerome Messam of the Calgary Stampeders, an every-game back who has 810 yards on 155 carries.