Glenn has eye for receivers from Hawaii
The latest Leader-Post-Mortem focuses on a Saskatchewan Roughriders offence that, thanks to Chad Owens, has some Hawaiian punch.
On Friday, Owens became the first Hawaiian-born Roughrider in 15 years to score a touchdown.
Kevin Glenn threw a two-yard touchdown pass to The Flyin’ Hawaiian as the Roughriders routed the visiting Montreal Alouettes 37-12.
Glenn was also behind centre for the Riders on Oct. 25, 2002, when he hit Dylan Ching — who was born on the island of Maui — for a 29-yard scoring strike during a 27-21 loss to the host Edmonton Eskimos.
HOT-DOGGIN’ IT
The Riders’ Bakari Grant showboated — or slow-boated — his way out of six points by slowing down and celebrating before reaching the end zone for what should have been a TD reception.
Good for the Alouettes’ Tevaughn Campbell, who never gave up on the play and stripped Grant of the football at the oneyard line. Montreal recovered the fumble. Roughriders field boss Chris Jones was suitably steamed.
It should be an easy speech for any coach, delivered on Day 1 of training camp: “Celebrate all you want once you reach the end zone. But get there first.”
Grant’s gaffe was the first of its kind in Riderville since Sept. 19, 2001, when Glenn found Demetris Bendross in the end zone at McMahon Stadium for what should have been a touchdown.
However, Bendross released the ball so quickly after making the catch that the officials ruled the pass incomplete.
“They told me it went right through my hands,” Bendross told Darrell Davis of the Regina Leader-Post after a 21-14 loss to the Calgary Stampeders. “How can I take the ball like this and put it into my other hand, then have it called a fumble? That’s a spike! I was spiking the ball! ”
DOUBLES’ TROUBLES
Darian Durant’s return to Regina was anything but triumphant. The Montreal pivot struggled in two quarters of duty Friday, completing nine of 20 passes for 126 yards, with an interception, before leaving the game with a knee injury.
His PPP — Positive Plays Percentage — of 28.0 was by far the lowest of any quarterback who has played at least one half of football against Saskatchewan this season.
The previous low was 37.7 by the Stampeders’ Bo Levi Mitchell on Oct. 13, when the visiting Roughriders prevailed 30-7.
The PPP was invented by this statistical nerd as a means of evaluating the consistency with which the Roughriders execute on both sides of the ball.
Per this formula, a win is awarded to the offence or defence on each play from scrimmage. A positive outcome for the offence is defined here as a touchdown, a first down, a firstand-10 play that gains at least five yards, or a second-down play that creates at least a third-and-short opportunity.
Durant had a PPP of 56.9 on June 22 when Montreal defeated the visitors from Saskatchewan 17-16.
Montreal’s overall PPP on Friday, when Matt Shiltz handled the second-half quarterbacking, was 35.4. Shiltz’s PPP was 43.4.
Saskatchewan, meanwhile, had a PPP of 56.1 while using three quarterbacks — Glenn (53.6), Brandon Bridge (52.2) and Vernon Adams Jr. (62.5).
After 17 games this season, Saskatchewan has a PPP of 52.9. The opposition: 49.9.
DURON DATA
Duron Carter leads the Roughriders in receiving yards — 1,043 — but the single-game totals have been erratic.
Carter has reached four digits despite having five games with 12 or fewer yards — the totals in those cases being 12, 12, six, five and four. He has 1,004 yards over the other 11 games in which he has started at wideout for Saskatchewan.
Memorably, Carter scored one of his team-leading nine TDs during the one game in which he did not play a single down on offence. During the 30-7 victory in Calgary, Carter played cornerback and returned a Mitchell interception 43 yards for a touchdown.
One week earlier, Carter had amassed 231 receiving yards in a 33-32 loss to the visiting Ottawa Redblacks.
Conclusion: The numbers are all over the place, much like the deployment of Carter.
SLOT MACHINE
A perusal of the (cough!) dusty files shows that there were some interesting bookends to Joey Walters’ stats in 1981, when he set an enduring Roughriders single-season record for receiving yardage — 1,715.
Walters began the season with a two-catch, 11-yard game, and had only two grabs for 22 yards in Saskatchewan’s 16th and final contest. Over the 14 games in between, though, the spectacular slotback caught 87 passes for 1,687 yards and 14 TDs.
He averaged 120.5 yards per game, excluding the opening and closing contests, and reached triple digits on 11 occasions. Included were two streaks of five consecutive 100-yard games.
After an 11-yard opener, who would have envisioned such a historic season?
Comparably, did a 1,000-yard season appear to be in the cards for Carter when his first four single-game totals as a Roughrider were 12, 69, 63 and 12?
NUMERICAL NUGGETS
After disposing of Montreal, the Roughriders have now defeated every team in the league this season. Saskatchewan last accomplished that feat in 2013, when the CFL had eight teams. A ninth franchise, Ottawa, debuted the following year.
Saskatchewan also defeated all eight other teams in 1967, 1970 and 1973. It was tougher to do back then, since the home-andhome interlocking schedule was not implemented until 1981. The 1967, 1970 and 1973 Roughriders went 4-0 against Eastern Conference teams.
Grant is on the verge of giving Saskatchewan three 1,000-yard receivers for the first time since 2013. Carter (1,043) and Naaman Roosevelt (1,035) have already hit that milestone. Grant is five yards away. Chris Getzlaf (1,045), Weston Dressler (1,011) and Taj Smith (1,007) were the Roughriders’ 1,000-yard receivers in 2013.
Ed Gainey, with a leaguehigh 10 interceptions, is only the fourth Roughrider to reach double digits in picks. The others: Terry Irvin (11 in 1984), Dale West (10, 1963) and Ken McEachern (10, 1980). Gainey had another pick, for a touchdown, called back due to a roughing-the-passer penalty in Calgary.
With 25 TD passes, Glenn is tied for fourth in the league with the Toronto Argonauts’ Ricky Ray, a future hall of famer. Glenn has thrown two more TD passes than Mitchell — the league’s reigning most outstanding player — and has an impressive quarterback-efficiency rating of 100.7.
Glenn is tied for the 10th-best single-season TD-pass total in franchise history. The leaders: 35 (Kent Austin, 1992); 32 (Austin, 1991); 31 (Austin, 1993; Durant, 2013); 30 (Henry Burris, 2000); 28 (Glenn Dobbs, 1951; Ron Lancaster, 1966); 27 (Austin, 1990); 26 (Durant, 2010); 25 (Lancaster, 1966; Lancaster, 1969; Durant; 2009; Glenn, 2017).
Most touchdown passes by the Roughriders in a season: 41 (1991); 38 (1989); 36 (1992 and 2000); 35 (2013); 34 (2017).
During Sunday’s classic World Series game, the Houston Astros put a higher number on the scoreboard (13) than either of the Roughriders’ last two opponents.
Until next week ... aloha!