Saskatchewan Roughriders
CFL.ca Staff
BRADENTON, FLA. — The Saskatchewan Roughriders became somewhat versed in Jacques Chapdelaine’s offence before taking the field for their three-day mini-camp in Bradenton, Fla.
On the field, though, they executed it for the first time, officially kicking off a new era of football for the Rider offence.
Darian Durant likens it to ‘basketball on grass’.
“It’s about getting the ball to the open guy,” Durant, asked to describe the new offence, told reporters.
“Not having a primary receiver – just finding the open guy, getting it to him and letting him make guys miss and make first downs.”
The short passing game is one that should work for the Riders, in theory, and may be a welcome shift from the ground and pound mentality that witnessed the breakout of Kory Sheets in 2012.
From Rob Bagg and Chris Getzlaf to Weston Dressler and Taj Smith, there’s no shortage of weapons at the disposal of Durant this season – a quarterback in himself that can also make things happen with his legs if no one’s open.
The result is a bevy of options every time the quarterback drops back.
“That’s what this league is about – getting the ball in the hands of the playmakers and letting him go to work with the ball,” said Durant. “That’s what we’re going to do a lot of.”
The Riders’ receiving corps is undoubtedly their greatest strength going into the season. Bagg and Getzlaf form one of the top national receiving duos in football, last year combining for nearly 1,400 yards despite an injury-riddled season for the latter.
Dressler returned form the NFL in the middle of last year, and with a full CFL training camp under his belt now looks to take the next step in his football career. A dynamic special-teamer on returns, too, he’s among the CFL’s best when it comes to yards after the catch.
Smith, one of the faster receivers in the CFL, provides the deep threat on the Rider offence. He’s back after missing the last two months of 2014 due to injury.
While the team hopes Jamel Richardson can get healthy in time for the season, it seems like the entire offence is buying into the new system.
“It feels great. I wish we could start now,” said Smith. “But it’ll give us time to see where we’re at now and the things we’ve got to work on.”
“We feel like we did a pretty good job as far as our first time together as an offence and I’m just excited for this year and just training camp.”
Smith said the team went through the playbook about four times online before getting to Florida, giving the vets a head start on executing when it comes to actually getting on the field. Having Durant lead the way, Smith added, eased the transition.
“Darian is a good communicator,” Smith said. “He’s real good at letting people know what they’ve got in each spot. That helps a lot. We’ve been looking at home and he’s been doing a pretty good job of letting us know what’s going on.”
“He’s very smart,” he continued. “Just in the meeting room and just sitting by him – he makes sure that we sit by him so if we have questions, he knows just as much as the coach.”
“He’s just like the coach. We’re always in his ear about everything. He just delivered it to us and it goes as smoothly as possible when we’re actually out there.”
Head Coach Corey Chamblin said the Rider offence took its shape over the weekend mini-camp, which ran from April 10-12 at the IMG Academy, complete with all pre-snap motions and any other intricacies Chapdelaine has introduced.
The fourth-year head coach was more focused on his defensive guys, but not surprisingly he described the offence as a more ‘intermediate and horizontal’ approach to moving down field.
“That’s the offence,” said Chamblin. That’s Jacque’s offence – intermediate shots. It’s not a shot-first offence, and what I mean by that is it’s not 20, 30 yards every time.”
“For the most part that’s the way his offence has been and it’s always been successful.”
The one player not reluctant for change is the quarterback, Durant, despite becoming one of the league’s most successful quarterbacks over the past six years. The 32-year-old said he’s confident the new system will bring success, and that it’s the right time to make the change.
“It’ll be good. Sometimes change is good, and just to have something different is good,” said Durant. “What we had in the past was great as well and we won a Grey Cup and we had it at home, and that’s the main thing.”
“But you can’t dwell on the past too much. It’s all about moving forward and that’s what we’re doing.”
The three-day, he added, was a good start – a chance to put it all into execution against a live defence.
“Coach Chap brings so much versatility to our offence,” Durant continued. “We have a great receiving core and that definitely helps us out.”
“I’m loving what we’re doing. It’s just all about everyone getting on the same page and getting in the playbook to make sure we don’t have the simple mental mistakes.”
“This camp is good for the vets to come in and learn the offence and get a head start on everything.”
