Don’t forget Riders’ coach
The big picture may be overshadowing the bigger picture.
A giant image of Kent Austin adorns the west-side facing at Mosaic Stadium. Not far away, the Austin Lot — a parking area for stadium patrons — is named in honour of the gentleman who will coach against Corey Chamblin and the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday.
Chamblin is not one to complain about his lot, even though the opposing head coach — whose Hamilton Tiger-Cats are in town this weekend — is garnering considerably more attention than the Roughriders’ undefeated field boss.
It may seem disingenuous to lament such an imbalance, considering that this rumpled scribe has devoured several forests worth of newsprint in order to admiringly nominate Austin for everything but the Nobel Peace Prize. (That is next week’s column.)
Nonetheless, a balancing of the scales is warranted, considering all that the Chamblin-led Roughriders have accomplished in the admittedly early stages of the 2013 Canadian Football League season.
At 3-0, the Roughriders are the league’s only undefeated team.
Entering the fourth week of regular-season play, Saskatchewan had amassed a league-best 114 points — 27 more than anyone else — while allowing the secondfewest points in the league (67).
Suitably, credit has been dispensed with a spray-gun.
Kory Sheets, for starters, leads the league in rushing yards (442) after three weeks. He is on pace to obliterate the team and league records for rushing yardage in a single season.
Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant has also received kudos after posting the league’s best efficiency rating (135.1).
Durant has received plenty of help from his receivers — principally Weston Dressler, Chris Getzlaf, Taj Smith and Rob Bagg — and a dominant offensive line.
Defensively, the pass rush is vastly improved, the linebacking corps is led by the omnipresent Rey Williams, and the secondary is sound.
The special teams have been strong across the board. So much for concerns about how Saskatchewan’s special teams would fare in the absence of Craig Dickenson, who resigned during the winter following a disagreement with Chamblin about off-season vocational obligations.
Dickenson, who quickly landed in Winnipeg and joined the Blue Bombers, is an excellent coach. But the same can be said of Bob Dyce, who is in his first year as the special-teams co-ordinator.
Dyce was displaced as the Green and White’s offensive co-ordinator when Chamblin successfully wooed former Tiger-Cats head coach George Cortez.
Cortez is justifiably being bathed in praise for the Roughriders’ offensive potency to date. However, Chamblin deserves plenty of credit for enticing Cortez to join the Riders while ensuring that Dyce remained in the team’s employ.
The hiring of Cortez required some aggressiveness. The retention of Dyce required some diplomacy, considering his abrupt and unexpected change of responsibilities. The 36-yearold Chamblin handled both situations with aplomb, despite being the league’s youngest head coach.
Youth can be accompanied by brashness, as was evidenced by Chamblin’s comportment as the Roughriders’ first-year head coach in 2012.
Leading up to a Week 3 matchup with the defending-champion B.C. Lions, Chamblin left a mock game ticket — labelling it the “big ticket” — in each player’s dressing-room stall. That was done to underline the importance of the game.
Subsequently, Chamblin boldly declared that there would be consequences for at least one member of the defence if Calgary Stampeders tailback Jon Cornish rushed for 100 or more yards in one game against the Roughriders.
The Roughriders won the “big ticket” game, and they also contained Cornish. Nonetheless, Chamblin has not been inclined toward a reprise. This year’s media sessions have been largely bereft of bravado.
Without the headlinegrabbing quotes, Chamblin has not always been the centre of attention.
But even while Chamblin has toned down the talk, the Roughriders’ record speaks volumes about the work he has done so far in 2013.