Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/1/2015 (2076 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

With a single signing last week, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers started solving two of the problems that plagued them in 2014.

What most of us already know is Dominic Picard, a talented, veteran, Canadian offensive lineman, is now coming home to where it all began for him.

What you might not know is, just like Liam Neeson in the movie franchise Taken, he has, "A very particular set of skills, skills he has acquired over a very long career. Skills that make him a nightmare for people like me."

The "skills" that will make him stand out on this offensive line are his attitude and approach to his craft.

First and foremost, as someone who has practised with and played against Picard, I disagree with the prevailing sentiment he is a "dirty" player. He is most certainly not a clean, Lady Byng type candidate, but "dirty" is an over-simplification of his abilities.

On the football field, Picard is an agitator, and he agitates very well. In my mind, to label someone dirty, the intent to injure has to be part of the equation. Picard doesn't try to necessarily take you out of the game, he tries to take you off of your game, and there is a difference. Either way, this kind of in-your-face provocation is something offensive lines in Winnipeg have not seen for some time.

Everybody who knew anything about this football team knew they needed better Canadian starters in the trenches, but they also needed a disruptive and tenacious leader to set the tone both physically and mentally. In one fell swoop, GM Kyle Walters has brought both back to town.

Over his career, Picard wasn't always a pestering agitator. Like many young players, when he started out in Winnipeg, he seemed content to just try to get his bearings and get a feel for the game. The aggression and in-your-face play didn't really surface or become noticeable until he joined forces in Toronto with Rob Murphy, the former dark lord of on-the-edge offensive line play.

Whether Murphy enrolled Picard in his accelerated master's degree program of "getting under the skin of defensive linemen," or whether it just rubbed off on him by association is besides the point. The point is, Picard not only appeared to learn the art of how to have a defender focus all of his attention on him -- and not on the game -- but in my mind, he became one of those rare linemen that started taking all competitive scenarios on the field personally.

Everyone gets beat at some point in a football game -- the players you want on your team are the ones who get pissed off about it. When they lose a battle, they want to respond and do something about it, not just take it and accept it. If you can accumulate enough of those types that ramp up the intensity when they suffer defeat in any form -- especially on the offensive line -- you have something to build on, and that is another intangible Picard will bring into the trenches and into this locker-room in 2015.

As for this week's NFL picks, in the NFC, Green Bay and QB Aaron Rodgers will limp to Seattle to play the Seahawks for the right to go to the Super Bowl. I wish I could make a more compelling argument for why the Packers could win this one, but I can't see it happening in any way, shape, or form, especially when Rodgers is hampered by a calf injury.

In the AFC, with the official passing of the torch from Peyton Manning to Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts, I also feel this is where the journey ends for Luck as they travel to New England. While Luck is currently a better and more dynamic quarterback than both Manning and Tom Brady, Brady has the luxury of working with Bill Belichick, and after coming back from two 14-point deficits last week, seems ordained to have one more shot at a trip to the Super Bowl.





Doug Brown, once a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press.

Twitter: @DougBrown97