Saskatchewan’s defence is on the run

TORONTO — Members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ defence will not be in a charitable mood Saturday.

Sure, Saskatchewan’s players are as interested in good causes as the next man. But the Roughriders want to limit the efforts of Toronto Argonauts tailback James Wilder Jr., when they face him in a CFL game at BMO Field (2 p.m., CKRM, TSN).

Wilder, you see, is the driving force behind #runWILDERforacure, a campaign to raise funds for breast cancer research. During the month of October, Wilder will donate $1 for every rushing yard he gets and $100 for every touchdown he scores to the cause.

More than a dozen running backs in the CFL and NFL have joined Wilder’s campaign since he launched it Monday.

“It’s a great cause, but no donations tomorrow from his end; that’s the plan,” Roughriders defensive tackle Eddie Steele said Friday, tongue in cheek. “Maybe the other guys who are donating, OK, but not from him.”

Wilder may be catching the Roughriders at a good time for his campaign.

Saskatchewan’s past four opponents have combined to rush for 577 yards, with the Ottawa Redblacks (203 yards on Sept. 29), Calgary Stampeders (148 yards on Sept. 24) and Winnipeg Blue Bombers (138 yards on Sept. 9) each exceeding 100 yards along the ground against the Roughriders.

Calgary’s Jerome Messam (23 carries for 127 yards) and Ottawa’s William Powell (26 rushes for 187 yards) both cracked the century mark versus the Green and White.

Saskatchewan’s run defence enters the week ranked eighth in opponents’ attempts (258) and yards per game (104.6). And now it faces Wilder, who has run for 380 yards over his past three games.

The 6-foot-2, 232-pounder had 11 carries for 190 yards against the Edmonton Eskimos on Sept. 16 and 10 rushes for 141 yards versus the Montreal Alouettes on Sept. 23. Wilder was less productive in his most-recent game, though, as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats held him to 49 yards on 13 carries on Sept. 30.

“We know what we’ve got to do up front,” said Steele, whose team limited Wilder to 35 yards on 11 carries in Saskatchewan’s 38-27 victory over the visiting Argos on July 29. “Hamilton played well against him, but we have a different game plan and we’re going to execute our game plan.

“But there’s no denying it. The whole league knows about it: We haven’t stopped the run in the past two games. (The Argos) are going to test us and we know the challenge we’ve got.”

Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones, who also oversees the club’s defence, said one of the keys to stopping Wilder is getting a bunch of defenders to the ball. In his terminology, Saskatchewan is going to try to “populate the football.”

But that may not work if the defence keeps having alignment issues.

“We’ve got to get in our gaps; that’s the main thing,” Jones said. “Ottawa, you can’t take anything away from what they did last week. They ran for 203 yards.

“There were some times, yes, that physically they beat us and (Powell) did a good job of breaking tackles. But at the same time, we compounded that with failing to execute assignments — simple assignments, like getting in our gaps, reading the guards and folding over when we’re supposed to.”

That explains the emphasis on the run defence during practice this week.

“It’s not so much attitude right now; we’ve just got to get everybody in the right gaps,” linebacker Sam Eguavoen said. “Coach Jones is a stats guy. He watches so much film and he counts all the yards that were gained on us and it’s really just us not being in the right gaps.

“It’s going to get cold later in the season and teams are going to start running more. If you can’t stop the run, you can’t win.”

Powell made many of his yards by cutting back on the Roughriders as they flowed to the ball. Saskatchewan also deployed three defensive linemen through much of the first three quarters before opting to put more defenders in the box in the final frame.

That strategy paid off. Powell, who had 111 yards rushing in the first half and 190 through three quarters, had minus-three yards rushing in the fourth. Quarterback Ryan Lindley didn’t hit the passes he had to complete and Saskatchewan was able to rally for a come-from-behind, 18-17 victory.

“Wilder is a good back, but he and Powell are two different types of back,” Eguavoen said. “Powell cuts really hard and tries to influence the defence to overrun the ball. Wilder is more patient. He’s more one cut and more downhill.

“I don’t see Wilder doing what Powell did last game.”

While opposing offences are getting production along the ground, the Roughriders are struggling in that area.

Saskatchewan has rushed for 223 yards over its past four games and is averaging a league-low 69.8 yards per game. It has exceeded 100 yards rushing in a game just three times this season.

The Roughriders go into the week ranked eighth in the CFL in both rushing attempts (192) and average gain per rush (4.7) and seventh in average time of possession (29 minutes 36 seconds).

Those numbers could explain the desire to get former NFL first-round draft pick Trent Richardson onto the roster at tailback for Saturday’s game.

But the run defence will be under the microscope again today as the Roughriders try to improve their record to 8-6-0.

“We’ve got some things to work on,” Jones admitted. “But I’d much rather give up some runs here or there than plays over the top for touchdowns.”