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But diplomacy aside, can we be just a bit honest here? Without gratuitously slamming our good Canadian lads, can we agree that with few exceptions, finding that great homegrown behemoth who can neutralize an American pass rusher from a more sophisticated football background is harder than it has ever been?

Good luck getting a Chris Walby or a Hector Pothier, a Gene Makowsky or a Jim Mills through the ever-tightening NFL screen these days.

“Anybody that’s any kind of size is in the NFL,” Lions general manager Wally Buono acknowledged.

Like the quarterbacks those dominant Canadian linemen once protected, they don’t make enough to go around now, which only exacerbates the impact losing a first-string QB has on CFL clubs.

And of this year’s crop, only three of the nine teams have escaped punishment: Hamilton with Zach Collaros, Calgary with Bo Levi Mitchell and Ottawa with Henry Burris. The Ticats and Stamps are in first place in their respective divisions. Ottawa won only two games as a 2014 expansion club, and already has won five this season.

The quarterback is the difference-maker, and teams that are lucky enough to have a plausible No. 2 certainly don’t have a No. 3, which is the predicament in which a number of CFL squads have found themselves as even backups have been racked up.

“If you could pinpoint it, you’d solve it,” said Buono. “Is the quarterback in the pocket, is he out of the pocket? If he’s in the pocket, then you say the

offensive line play is not up to the same level as the defensive line play, or the sophistication of the pressure is more than (blockers) can deal with.