Riders’ Rodgers tackled playoff game- deciding challenge in fine fashion
Revisionist mathematics: one is greater than 157.
One yard the Ottawa Redblacks’ Diontae Spencer didn’t gain against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Sunday’s CFL East Division semifinal turned out to be of greater importance than the 157 receiving yards he did amass.
Trailing 31- 14, Ottawa was in a third- and- five situation on Saskatchewan’s 22- yard line with fewer than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Eschewing a field- goal attempt, Redblacks coach Rick Campbell opted to gamble. Spencer was a logical target, considering that he had piled up 153 yards on eight receptions to that point.
Ottawa quarterback Trevor Harris found Spencer on a short crossing route. There was only one problem: Kacy Rodgers II had diagnosed the play.
The Roughriders cornerback tackled Spencer one yard shy of the first- down marker. The turnover on downs effectively secured the outcome for the Roughriders and a berth in this Sunday’s East final against the host Toronto Argonauts.
Ottawa finished with 500 yards of net offence, but 0.2 per cent of that amount — the one yard Spencer could not get — carried more weight.
“I think it was huge, especially because Spencer was having a great game against us — particularly me — up to that point,” Rodgers said after Wednesday’s practice at Carleton University. “We changed the coverages a little bit, but we basically stuck to what we knew. Based on my keys, I had an idea somewhat of what he was going to run once he motioned down. I just took advantage of that and really just took my shot. If he had run anything else, I probably would have been in a little bit of trouble, but thank goodness he ran what I thought he would and I was able to come up and just make a good play.”
Earlier, it did not look promising for the 25- year- old son of New York Jets defensive co- ordinator Kacy Rodgers.
In the first quarter, Spencer had beaten the junior Rodgers for a 56- yard touchdown pass from Harris. The Redblacks then unveiled an oft- replayed touchdown celebration that included Spencer being held in the air, parallel to the ground, by Dominique Rhodes and Juron Criner. Another Ottawa receiver, Greg Ellingson, then did the limbo underneath Spencer.
Later in the first frame, Spencer got behind Rodgers for a 33- yard gain. “He got the jump on me early in the game, so I had to kind of settle in and refocus and just play better,” Rodgers said. “As a DB, you have to have amnesia because if I would have let that initial touchdown get to me, he probably would have had a lot more yards and a lot bigger game and I probably wouldn’t have made that play I made.”
It has become an accepted part of football parlance to suggest that defensive backs need to have short memories.
That proved true on Sunday. “We’ve all been beaten before,” Rodgers said. “This is professional football. They’re going to make plays. Luckily it happened early in the game, so I had the rest of the game to get it out of my system and recover and make plays to counteract the touchdown.
“At the end of the day, they’re going to make their plays and we’re going to make ours. You just have to talk to yourself and get it out of your head mentally as fast as you can because the defence on the team is still counting on me at the end of the day.”
It can be deceiving to count the yardage totals, as was demonstrated on Sunday.
“They threw 60 times and they got a whole bunch of yards, but none of that matters, Rodgers said. “We came out on top. We made enough plays to get the job done.”
One play in particular finished off the Redblacks.
Rodgers, over and out.