CARTER EXPLOITS CONJURE UP COMPARISONS TO 1934
Information vital to the latest Leader-Post-mortem was gathered in the Leader-Post’s morgue.
Downstairs, not far away from the state-of-the-art boiler room, one can find dusty bound volumes of this newspaper that date back to the late 1800s, when yours truly was a cub reporter.
This seasoned scribbler felt the compulsion to visit our “morgue” after watching the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Duron Carter catch 11 passes for 231 yards during Friday’s 33-32 CFL loss to the visiting Ottawa Redblacks.
Carter moved into a tie for the fifth-highest single-game receiving-yardage total in franchise history. Chris DeFrance leads the way with 260 yards (amassed on Aug. 5, 1983), followed by Andy Fantuz (255 yards; Sept. 17, 2010), Jeff Fairholm (244; Sept. 26, 1992), Fantuz (240; Oct. 14, 2007) and the tandem of Carter and Steve Adkins.
Like Carter, Adkins had 11 receptions for 231 yards, without scoring a touchdown.
Adkins’ gem dates back to Oct. 6, 1934. Hence the need to flip through yellowed back issues.
Some 83 years ago, the L-P’s Dave Dryburgh documented the Regina Roughriders’ holiday weekend “rugby” doubleheader.
On Oct. 6, Adkins’ 231-yarder helped Regina defeat the Saskatoon Hilltops 29-9. Two days later, the Riders blanked the Saskatoon Varsity 25-0.
In the opener, Walter (Oke) Olson and Paul Kirk of the Roughriders combined to complete 17 of 24 passes for
460 yards — “without a doubt a record since the aerial toss was introduced into Canadian rugby,” Dryburgh wrote.
Against the Varsity, Olson and Kirk were a combined 8-for-14 for 173 yards. Adkins had 133 of those yards, on seven receptions.
Oddly enough, Adkins’ scoring over those two games was limited to two receptions that each produced a one-point convert.
The ultra-athletic Adkins caught one TD pass in six regular-season games. He added a TD reception in the 1934 Grey Cup game, in which the Roughriders lost 20-12 to the Sarnia Imperials. That was the final game of his only season with the Riders.
Adkins graduated from the University of South Dakota, at which he excelled in football, basketball and track.
In 1973, Adkins was inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. According to a biography on the Hall’s website, he coached at his alma mater and in the high school ranks. He later entered the insurance business.
Adkins served with the United States Army in the Second World War, earning the rank of major.
He died on Oct. 26, 1998, at age 89.
FAST FAIRHOLM FACTS
The most noteworthy aspect of Fairholm’s 244-yarder is the fact that he piled up so many yards without making an extraordinary number of receptions during a 39-32 loss in Toronto.
Fairholm’s average per reception:
40.7 yards!
His gains: 23, 43, 71 (TD),
9, 66 (TD) and 32.
IT’S THE BLITZ
Roughriders head coach, defensive co-ordinator, etc., etc., Chris Jones was more aggressive than usual on Friday.
Jones dispatched five or more pass rushers 36.4 per cent of the time against the Redblacks, according to data compiled and kindly shared by TSN’s Derek Taylor. Saskatchewan had blitzed on one-quarter of its defensive plays in the previous game — a 27-24 conquest of the host Toronto Argonauts on Oct. 7.
Get this: Jones used the threeman rush only 15 per cent of the time on Friday, compared to 50 per cent in Toronto.
Friday’s pass-rush stats, as broken down by Derek:
Three-man rush: Redblacks quarterback Trevor Harris was 2-for-5 for 52 yards.
Four men: 11-16, 137 yards, one TD.
Five men: 1-3, 18 yards, one interception.
Six men: 0-3.
Seven men: 3-6, 55 yards, one TD.
SACK SLUMP
The Roughriders have gone two full games without registering a quarterback sack.
Willie Jefferson has Saskatchewan’s only sack in its past three contests. The sack drought has reached 128 minutes 13 seconds.
Overall, the Roughriders have 22 sacks — only the hopeless Montreal Alouettes, with 20, have fewer — and are also near the bottom at the other end of the spectrum.
Saskatchewan has allowed 36 sacks, the third-worst total in the league. The B.C. Lions (37 sacks against) and Toronto (38) are behind the Roughriders in terms of pass protection, or lack thereof.
ROBO-CRAPIGNA
The Roughriders’ Tyler Crapigna is the second-most-accurate placekicker in the league, at least in terms of field goals.
Crapigna has made 31 of 35 three-point attempts (88.6 per cent). The Calgary Stampeders’ Rene Paredes leads the way at 48-for-53 (90.6 per cent).
Surprisingly, though, Paredes has missed six of his 39 convert attempts, whereas Crapigna is 40-for-40.
Taking converts and field goals into consideration, Crapigna leads the loop at 94.7 per cent (71 of 75). Paredes has made 88.0 per cent of his kicks (81 of 92).
Crapigna has made has last 16 field-goal attempts.
DEAD ZONE
Ottawa scored three TDs in as many trips to the red zone on Friday. Saskatchewan was 2-for-6.
Some other numerical nuggets, expertly extracted from the CFL’s weekly statistical release — a Steve Daniel production:
Saskatchewan leads the league in TD passes, with 32 (Kevin Glenn has 23; Brandon Bridge has nine).
Glenn is one of four starting quarterbacks with a triple-digit efficiency rating. Harris is first at 105.4, followed by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Matt Nichols (104.1), Toronto’s Ricky Ray (100.9) and Glenn (100.3). Bridge, by the way, checks in at 129.8. His sample size is considerably smaller than that of Glenn, et al.
From the you-can-look-it-up department: Glenn’s efficiency rating is higher than that of the Edmonton Eskimos’ Mike Reilly (99.7) and Calgary’s Bo Levi Mitchell (99.0)
The Green and White is No. 1 in average yards per first-down play (7.3). Even so, Saskatchewan is a middling fifth in second-down conversions (48.3 per cent).
The defences of Saskatchewan and Calgary are tied for top spot in average yards allowed on first down (6.0).
The Roughriders have permitted the fewest rushing TDs (seven) despite being one of only three teams to allow an average of 100-plus yards along the ground. The bottom three: Saskatchewan (102.1 yards per game), Edmonton (104.5) and, bringing up the rear in typical fashion, the Montreal Alouettes (115.9).