Riders defence looking forward to challenge of Ti-Cats offence

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ defence will look to shut down a few of the top offensive stars the CFL has this week.

Saskatchewan (1-0) will roll into Hamilton on Saturday to take on the Tiger-Cats (0-1), which are led by the newly formed duo of quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and wide receiver Kenny Lawler. Kickoff for the game is set for 5 p.m. The Green Zone pregame show begins at 3 p.m.

“It feels good because the competition brings the best out of you,” said defensive back Marcus Sayles when asked about going up against top receivers in the league.

“For (Lawler) to be one of the best receivers in the league for the last couple of years, you feel excited whenever you get a chance to line up against him. I know he is going to give me the best and I played with him as well and I will give him my best.”

Riders’ defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator Josh Bell, who was a six-year CFL defensive back, also said defenders enjoy the challenge.

“We love it because we know we’re going to get the ball, especially when you play a Bo Levi, a Kenny Lawler, a Tim White, you’re going to get the ball,” Bell said.

“You don’t have to worry about being bored this game, you know you’re going to get the ball going against those types of guys and you get excited because the more opportunities we get, we expect to come down with those things.”

The defence is coming off a 31-26 win, but did surrender 413 yards and two touchdowns to Ottawa Redblacks quarterback Dru Brown — one of those touchdowns to star receiver Eugene Lewis.

Lawler joined the Ti-Cats after spending the past couple of seasons back with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, where he started his career in 2019 before joining the Edmonton Elks for a single season in 2022. Lawler had 662 yards and four touchdowns in only 10 games last season, but he had perhaps his best game of the season against the Riders in the West Final.

In that game, Lawler had 177 yards and three touchdowns in the 38-22 win to end the Riders’ season.

In his debut with the Ti-Cats, Lawler was targeted 13 times and hauled in six of those for 87 yards and a touchdown.

Just because Lawler had that big game to end their season, doesn’t mean the secondary is out for revenge — just to do their job.

“He’s always going to be someone that’s going to show up on the scouting report but at the end of the day, we play our own defence and we don’t have a specific guy that we just target,” Sayles said.

“We just make sure we play sound football, we play top-down football and make sure we don’t get explosion plays. We know he’s one of those types of receivers and as long as we take that away from him, we know we can be successful.”

Bertrand-Hudon out for practice, Carey receives more reps

A lot of eyes will be on how the Riders roll out their running back room this week after the addition of veteran Ka’Deem Carey.

During Wednesday’s practice, AJ Ouellette received the first snaps at the spot, but with Thomas Bertrand-Hudon not participating due to a groin injury, Carey also received a healthy amount of work.

While that would indicate Carey could end up on the active roster for the game, head coach Corey Mace said that wasn’t the plan as of now.

“We gave Thomas a day — he’s just nursing something tiny, so we expect him to be back (Thursday),” Mace said.

Mace also said that Ouellette and defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. have been cleared for practice, but neither has been cleared for full contact.

“We will still take a look at everything and see if they are good to go for the game,” Mace said. “To get these guys out here and see if they can, that has been a positive for us.”