Nick has real knack for picks
The latest Leader-Post-mortem focuses on a young man named Nick ... as in “Nick of time.”
It was necessary to go far back in time — to 1963 — to find an instance of a Saskatchewan Roughriders player scoring an offensive and defensive touchdown in the same game.
The research became necessary when the Roughriders’ Nick Marshall ran for a three-yard touchdown during the third quarter of Sunday’s 40-27 CFL victory over the visiting Calgary Stampeders. Earlier, Marshall had returned an interception 67 yards for a touchdown.
So once he scored on offence, while quarterbacking the offence when it was in the Wildcat formation, the question became: When was the last time a Roughrider scored an offensive and defensive touchdown in the same game?
Aug. 23, 1963.
Jack Gotta did the honours in a 17-16 home-field loss to Calgary, catching a 21-yard TD pass from Ron Lancaster and returning an Eagle Day interception 34 yards for another major.
Gotta, a receiver by trade, was pressed into double duty after an injury to defensive back Bob Ptacek. Ptacek’s injury created other problems for Saskatchewan, as he was the backup quarterback. Lancaster injured his ribs in that 1963 contest, but had to stay in the game because Ptacek was unavailable.
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Marshall and the recently released Duron Carter have scored on both sides of the ball this season. Carter had a pick-six and a touchdown catch in separate games.
Two Roughriders had not accomplished that feat in the same season since 1963, when Gotta (four TD receptions, one interception return) and Dale West (three TD receptions, one pick-six) pulled off the rare double.
Carter had eight TD receptions and one pick-six in 2017, becoming the first Rider to score on both sides of the ball in one season since Paul Williams (TD catch, pick-six) in 1978.
Lancaster threw TD passes to West and Gotta as a first-year Rider and found Williams for a major as a final-year member of the team.
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On Marshall’s touchdown run, he received fine blocks from two fellow converted defensive players (linebacker Samuel Eguavoen and defensive tackle Zack Evans), along with the ever-reliable fullback, Spencer Moore.
Calgary’s DaVaris Daniels — the intended receiver on Marshall’s pick-six — twice earned a measure of revenge later in the game. Daniels turned Marshall inside out on 45- and 17-yard touchdown passes.
The Stamps’ Bo Levi Mitchell did not enjoy his best day, but still threw four touchdown passes — as many as the Roughriders, as a team, have produced this season. Zach Collaros has two. Brandon Bridge and David Watford have one each.
Mitchell was atypically erratic on short passes, going 13-for-25 on passes that travelled nine or fewer yards downfield.
Mitchell has thrown a pick-six in each of his last three games against Saskatchewan.
Best throw by Collaros Sunday: A bullet to Naaman Roosevelt for a 14-yard gain to Calgary’s eight-yard line in the first quarter. Collaros found a small window between defensive backs Jamar Wall and Brandon Smith, whereupon Roosevelt made a fine catch.
Worst throw by Collaros: Shaq Evans was open down the seam, only to be overthrown. Collaros, a standup guy, pointed to himself after missing what should have been a 35-yard TD.
Collaros is a fine intermediate passer. Both times he has guided Saskatchewan to victory this season, he has been 7-for-8 on throws that travelled 10 to 19 yards downfield. He was also victorious June 15 in a 27-19 conquest of the Toronto Argonauts, against whom he threw his first TD pass as a Roughrider by finding Roosevelt in another tight window.
The Roughriders have allowed only one sack over their past four games. Collaros has not been sacked since returning from an injury two games ago. Over the first four games this season, the Roughriders allowed nine sacks.
Sacks allowed by Saskatchewan after eight games: 10 in 2018; 18 in 2017.
Sacks by Saskatchewan after eight games: 21 in 2018; 17 in 2017.
Saskatchewan’s Charleston Hughes, with a league-high 11 sacks, has already matched his CFL-best total for all of last season (spent with Calgary). Willie Jefferson led the Roughriders in sacks, with eight, last season.