Roberson turning a corner in his Canadian football evolution
Mistakes are going to happen, but all most football coaches want is for their players to learn from their errors.
In that regard, Tre Roberson has been a coach’s dream.
After a tough debut in Week 1 for the Calgary Stampeders that saw him get beat by Hamilton TigerCats receiver Mike Jones for a 76yard gain, Roberson hasn’t made even a minor mistake in the last three games.
In fact, he’s become an integral part of the Stampeders’ CFL-best defence and is making the boundary corner position his own.
“He had a tough first game, there’s no doubt, he got exposed a little bit,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “He’s a guy who works to improve each and every day, he doesn’t take plays off. Tre’s a good player. Lots of things he can improve on, but he’s more than willing to go after it and get it done.”
Roberson has been one of the pleasant surprises of the season since the start of training camp and his performances through four games have been impressive for a guy who has been trying to figure out the intricacies of playing the Canadian game.
As for that one bad beat in Week 1, it seems he’s learned from it and moved on, just like his coaches would have wanted.
“I was preparing for a different speed from another guy, but it happens,” Roberson said. “Plays happen like that and you just keep going and don’t let it happen again.”
Through four games, Roberson has compiled 10 defensive tackles and against the Ottawa Redblacks last week he came down with his first CFL interception.
The pick came after a crazy play in which Alex Singleton was not quite able to get control of the ball before Roberson swooped in to bring it down safely.
“It felt good, it was a total team effort,” Roberson said. “(Brandon Smith) made a great play, Alex almost had the pick, but it fell to me and I’m just glad someone on our defence got it.”
ROGERS OPTIMISTIC
Eric Rogers sounded pretty confident that he’ll be back in the lineup for Saturday ’s game against the Montreal Alouettes.
The star receiver wasn’t included on the roster for last week’s game against the Redblacks, but fortunately it wasn’t because of anything serious.
“Looks like (I’ll be in the lineup),” Rogers said Thursday. “As long as I don’t have a freak injury or a freak accident at home, I feel like I should be in the lineup.”
While he’s still not at 100 per cent in his recovery from a knee injury that kept him out of football for the better part of two years, Rogers has shown that he still has the game-changing talent that had many considering him the CFL’s best receiver in 2015.
He currently has 11 receptions for 201 yards and three touchdowns through three games,
Rogers described the reason for his absence from last week’s game as being a setback in his recovery and while it was nothing major, he did acknowledge that it’s entirely possible that there will be other, similar setbacks in the coming months.
MICHEL WANTS IN
Marken Michel hasn’t been in the Stampeders lineup since Week 1 and he sounds like a man who is eager to get back on the field and catch some passes.
“As a competitor, you put in all that hard work in the off-season and you’re ready to go and show people what you’ve been working on,” Michel said. “It’s one of those things that’s part of sports, you can’t get mad at it. There’s certain things in sports you can’t control, so you can’t get upset and let it beat you up.”
The Stampeders have a wealth of talent at receiver and while Michel was healthy enough to play last week, he was ruled inactive on game day so the Stampeders could deal with ratio issues.
Fortunately, Canadian offensive lineman Spencer Wilson should be in the lineup Saturday, although Dickenson warned that there was still some ratio juggling that needs to get done.
That could mean an extra spot for a Canadian receiver.
“There’s going to be disappointed guys, always is,” Dickenson said. “The ratio has a lot to do with things. We’re still working on that on both ends. Still beat up a little bit on our back end with Canadians.
“The Canadian receivers have done a nice job. I feel like they’ve always bailed us out anyways. So obviously we’ll play the best guys and make the ratio fit for our team.”