Brendon LaBatte is preparing for a changing of the guard.
LaBatte is expected to move from left guard to centre for the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ CFL game Sunday against the B.C. Lions at Mosaic Stadium. He’ll replace Dan Clark, who was put on the six-game injured list Wednesday with an elbow injury suffered in Saturday’s 30-15 loss to the host Lions.
LaBatte spent some time at centre during training camp and has does some snapping before practices but, until Saturday, he hadn’t played centre in a game since the 2011 season.
“It’s going to be a bit of a change,” the 30-year-old product of Weyburn admitted. “The game’s a little bit different in there (as far as) ID’ing things.
“Obviously, snapping the ball takes a little bit getting used to and is a bit of an adjustment. But I was able to go in during (Saturday’s) game and get through without anything major (or) catastrophic going on, so I guess that’s a bit of a building point.”
Clark was hurt during the second quarter of Saturday’s game, forcing LaBatte to move to centre and giving rookie Dariusz Bladek a chance to play at guard. Clark returned to start the second half, but he couldn’t finish the game and the Roughriders had to juggle again.
During Wednesday’s practice, LaBatte was at centre, Derek Dennis moved from left tackle to left guard and Bruce Campbell lined up at left tackle. Head coach-GM Chris Jones said after Thursday’s closed practice that the Roughriders are still examining their options on the O-line.
But LaBatte is preparing to play centre, meaning he has been working on his shotgun snaps.
“It used to (stress me out), but now it’s just grip it and rip it,” he said. “You’ve got to be at peace with it. If you’re going to sit there and try to micromanage a snap, it’s going to take away from the other parts of your game, so you just kind of let it go.”
Snapping the ball isn’t the only thing LaBatte has to get used to. He also will have to assume Clark’s responsibility of making the calls for the O-line, which LaBatte admitted will be an adjustment.
“I’ve been seeing everything for the last 10 years pretty much from the left guard position,” he said. “(Playing centre) is just different. Your whole process from when you break the huddle and where your eyes start and what you’re ID’ing and what your thought process is is just so much more cerebral than playing guard.
“At guard, you go through the same reads (as the centre) but you’re just kind of a secondary, ‘Yeah, yeah,’ confirming what the centre is saying. You’re kind of locking your eyes into what you’re about to do. At centre, you’ve got to have your eyes up and you’ve got to be able to read it from the safety down into the box.
“It has been an adjustment for sure.”
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The Roughriders have had trouble starting games of late.
Saskatchewan trailed the Lions 6-0 after the first quarter (and 14-0 just one play into the second), was down 10-0 to the Toronto Argonauts midway through the first quarter on July 29, and trailed the Calgary Stampeders 10-0 after the opening 15 minutes on July 22.
“I’m stunned,” quarterback Kevin Glenn said of the Roughriders’ slow starts. “As far as addressing it, you’ve just got to keep harping on the fact that we can’t do it and try different things in order to come out fast, whether it’s changing up whether we’re throwing the ball more on first down on that first play or running the ball or trying to get more success — however we need to do it.
“It’s a trial-and-error type thing. You’ve got to do it in order to get used to it and successful at it.”
Jones said the coaches are examining different remedies aimed at simulating games in pre-game warmups that will make the players get off to a quicker start when the contest starts. Glenn noted the issue doesn’t have anything to do with the way the Roughriders practise.
“It’s more so when we’re going into the game and seeing what the opponents are actually doing and executing from that point,” he said.
“Sometimes we have 11 guys doing one thing and the 12th guy doing something different. It’s not necessarily the wrong thing, but it’s something different and then we slip up and get an accident or a negative play on that play.”
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Brandon Bridge came off the bench in relief of Glenn and threw two touchdown passes in the late stages of Saturday’s game.
The Toronto product became the second Canadian-born quarterback to throw a TD pass in a game this season, joining Calgary’s Andrew Buckley.
According to the CFL, it’s the first time since 1996 that two Canuck QBs have tossed scoring passes in the same season. That year, B.C.’s Giulio Caravatta and Larry Jusdanis of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats turned the trick.
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On Thursday, the CFL announced two players had been fined for their actions in Saturday’s game.
Roughriders linebacker Henoc Muamba was fined for a high hit on Lions quarterback Travis Lulay. B.C. linebacker Micah Awe, meanwhile, was dinged for what the league called “a reckless and dangerous tackle” on Roughriders receiver Duron Carter.
The amounts of the fines weren’t released.
