Garrett ready to run again
Chris Garrett isn’t Kory Sheets and the Saskatchewan Roughriders don’t expect him to be.
“They both have different skill sets,’’ Riders head coach Corey Chamblin said after Friday’s practice at Mosaic Stadium. “They are two different styles of backs and you have to be able to adapt to what you have. Chris does a good job doing the things that we ask him to.’’
Garrett is being asked to fill in at tailback while Sheets recovers from a sprained right knee that he suffered in a 31-29 loss to the visiting Toronto Argonauts on Sept. 14. Sheets missed Sunday’s 24-22 loss to the visiting B.C. Lions and won’t play Sunday when the Riders are in Montreal to play the Alouettes. That means Garrett will start for the second consecutive time with the league’s rushing leader on the sidelines.
“Those are big shoes to fill because he’s the leading rusher, but I don’t look at it like that,’’ said Garrett, who signed with the Riders on Sept. 4. “I look at my game and what I can bring to the table. I feel pretty comfortable in this offence now and I’m ready to go.’’
Garrett, 5-foot-8 and 185 pounds, was promoted to the active roster on Sunday and he had mixed results. Garrett was held to nine carries for 30 yards in his Riders debut. He added seven catches for 64 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown reception in the closing seconds of the first half.
“I felt that the groove of the game came to me the more I played,’’ Garrett said. “It took me a couple of series (to get going) because things were moving pretty fast and it was my first actual game in a while. I needed that and I look forward to being better prepared for (Sunday’s) game.’’
For the 26-year-old product of Ohio University, Sunday’s game was his first in the CFL since the 2011 Grey Cup game. He was the starting tailback then for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who were beaten 34-23 by the Lions. Garrett was pencilled in to be Winnipeg’s primary running back heading into the 2012 season, but suffered a torn Achilles tendon during training camp.
Garrett returned to the Blue Bombers for training camp after missing all of the 2012 season, but he was released on Aug. 14 without playing in a game.
On Sunday, Garrett recovered after a tough start when he bumped into quarterback Darian Durant on the second offensive play of the game. Durant lost the ball, which B.C. recovered and later converted into a 12-yard field goal by Paul McCallum.
“That was a mishap where my elbow just brushed the ball,’’ Garrett said. “It wasn’t a miscommunication or anything like that. It was a freak play where my elbow hit the ball and it came out.’’
The Riders are looking for a return to the running attack that helped them open the season with a franchise-best 8-1 record. The Riders have lost three straight since then and haven’t been rolling up the rushing yards even with Sheets in the lineup. That’s partially due to injuries along the offensive line and teams hammering Sheets before he could get going.
“We definitely want to get the running game going because it makes us unpredictable and helps out our play action,’’ Durant said. “Running the ball is a big part of what we do.’’