Riders quarterback Durant hampered by injured foot
REGINA — Darian Durant didn’t start off his work week on the right foot Wednesday.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback was once again sporting a walking boot on his injured right foot, which he sprained in the fourth quarter of Saskatchewan’s 3928 CFL victory over the host Toronto Argonauts on July 11.
Durant wore the boot early last week, but removed it a few days prior to Sunday’s game at Mosaic Stadium against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He ended up playing in that game and stayed in until the latter stages of the Roughriders’ 37-0 victory.
However, Durant told the media after Wednesday’s practice — in which he didn’t participate — that he had been wearing the boot since the game to ease the pressure on his foot while he walks around.
“It kind of swelled up on me a little bit over the past couple of days,” Durant said. “We’re just being smart about it, being cautious, and we’ll see where we’re at (today) ...
“I guess it’s just coming from the pounding — starting and stopping, dropping (back), running, all of the normal things that happen during a game. It really didn’t respond well to that.’’
Durant hopes to be on the practice field Thursday for the Roughriders’ last workout before they travel Friday to Guelph, Ont., where they’re to face the Tiger-Cats in a rematch Saturday.
Even if Durant doesn’t practise today, that doesn’t mean he won’t play Saturday.
“When you’re playing a team back to back, it’s more so a carry-over for both teams,” Roughriders head coach Corey Chamblin said.
“It’s kind of hard to come up with a brand-new game plan, so there would be some things that are similar and you would add one or two things. So at this point, I wouldn’t say (practising today is vital). Really, it may even go down to a game-time decision.’’
Chamblin stressed the Roughriders want to be cautious with Durant so as not to set back his recovery. Be- cause of that, the fact Saskatchewan has a bye week following Saturday’s game may not play into the coaches’ decision.
Durant, meanwhile, just wants to get back on the field ASAP.
“We have a couple of new concepts, some things that we’re trying to work on and iron out, so I want to be out there to try to execute those things,” said Durant, who was 20for-32 passing for 347 yards with four touchdowns in Sunday’s game.
“Me being a vet, of course sometimes I don’t really have to be on the field to execute those things. We’ll see what Coach says and how it feels (today).’’
The veteran pivot admitted he has some concerns about how his foot would respond on the flight east, primarily because it didn’t react well on the Roughriders’ flight home from Toronto.
As a result of that experience, the training staff plans to tape up Durant’s foot for the flight to provide some compression and potentially prevent swelling. Having overcome the injury last week to be able to practise and play can only help Durant this week as he tries to do the same thing.
“I know exactly how it’s going to feel during the game and where I’ll be,” he said.
“Just knowing how it’s going to react, how it’s going to feel during the game, how it’s going to respond to medication, ice, (stimulation) and all that kind of stuff, it gives me a good idea of where I’m going to be come Saturday.’’
If Durant can’t play, backup Drew Willy — who worked with the starting offence Wednesday — would get the start in Guelph.
While Durant said his foot doesn’t feel worse now than it did in the days leading up to Sunday’s game, he admitted the shorter time frame between games could lessen his chances of playing.
“We’ll see. I’ve had dramatic improvements,” he said. “If you look at last week, each and every day I felt that much better.
“We’ll see how it feels (today). Then we still have Friday and Saturday night.’’