Like Jerome Messam before him, Charleston Hughes said all the right things Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Messam — the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ tailback — said he was looking forward to playing his former team, the Calgary Stampeders, on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium. But Messam stressed that he didn’t want to pay back the Stampeders for letting him enter free agency in February instead of re-signing him.
On Wednesday, Hughes went on a CFL-sponsored conference call and inferred that he too wasn’t seeking a pound of flesh from the Stampeders.
“My thoughts are the same as when I go up against any other team,” the veteran defensive end said. “The first one is to play the best game I can play and, two, get the win.”
And there’s nothing more to it?
“Nothing more, man, nothing more,” Hughes replied. “All I care about is winning games and playing the best I can play every down.”
Hughes played 10 seasons with Calgary, but he was traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Feb. 2. Hamilton then flipped him to the Roughriders, who on Saturday are to face the Stampeders in a regular-season game for the first time since the trade.
During CFL Week, Hughes vowed that he would get after Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell whenever the opportunity presented itself. Well, it presents itself Saturday.
“I’ve been going against Bo at practice for years,” said Hughes, who has a league-high six sacks so far this season. “He knows my style of play and I know his style of play. When it’s all said and done, we’re very acquainted with each other.”
Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones has told his charges not to do anything differently while preparing for Calgary than they did while getting ready for Hamilton in their previous two games. That means not trying to exact revenge if the players feel wronged in some way.
When it was suggested to Jones that Messam had said Saturday’s game had a personal feel to it, Jones replied: “What’s he going to do, play 120 per cent now?”
“Has he been saving himself for this one, playing 75 per cent last week?” the head coach continued. “Different guys get motivated to play different ways, so if it means a little more because he has been there before, (that’s good). He has been on three or four (teams in his career), so hopefully that’s good. He can get ready every week.”
Calgary middle linebacker Alex Singleton also was on Wednesday’s conference call and he noted that things won’t get personal when he plays his two former teammates.
“It’s not like you have a grudge against either of them,” Singleton said. “I really like both of them.
“You talk to them before the game, but honestly, once it really gets going, sometimes you don’t even notice the person in the helmet. You see the number and you know who it is, but when the bullets are flying, you’re not (thinking), ‘Oh, I know that’s Messam. I’m going to go harder on this play.’ ”
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The Roughriders are still trying to determine who will play strong-side linebacker Saturday.
Derrick Moncrief, who was injured in Thursday’s 31-20 victory over the host Tiger-Cats, was put on the six-game injured list Tuesday.
Among the candidates to replace Moncrief is former NFL safety Matt Elam, who was signed to the practice roster July 2.
“It’s between him and a couple of guys (as to) who plays,” Jones said. “He has been here the longest — and we may put Duron (Carter) there.”
Carter, a converted receiver, has started at cornerback in the Roughriders’ past four games. Jones noted that Carter already has lined up at Sam this season when the Roughriders have been in certain defensive alignments.
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If Carter lines up at defensive back, he could find himself covering Stamps receiver Eric Rogers.
Asked on the conference call how he would react if he saw Carter’s No. 89 jersey across the line of scrimmage, Rogers replied: “Who’s 89?”
“I don’t really pay attention to who’s covering me,” Rogers said after being told 89 was Carter’s number. “I look at my triangle, which is the corner, the half and the safety that I see at the line pre-snap. Then I think about what I’ve got to do with the leverage and go off of that.
“I don’t really pay attention to who’s covering me. I’m not really one of those guys.”
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The Roughriders’ punt-cover team had its ups and downs in Hamilton.
Frankie Williams burned Saskatchewan for a 98-yard touchdown, but the Tiger-Cats finished the game with a total of 95 yards on their four returns.
“I was really proud of the guys for bouncing back, they showed resiliency, trusted in the process and trusted our system.”
“Giving up the big one hurt,” said Craig Dickenson, the Roughriders’ special-teams co-ordinator. “We had some people there and it wasn’t as if we made a huge mistake. It was just a little bit here and a little bit there. There was one guy a little bit out of position and another guy a little bit slow getting there.
“But credit to Frankie Williams. He saw a little crease — and I’m telling you, it was little — and he hit it. Once he got in the open field, he’s really fast.”
The Roughriders were assessed a no-yards penalty on their first punt Thursday before holding Williams to minus-two yards on their second punt. He scored on Hamilton’s next return before managing minus-two yards and one yard on his final two attempts of the game.
“I was really proud of the guys for bouncing back,” Dickenson said. “They showed resiliency, trusted in the process and trusted our system.”
Calgary’s punt-return team poses another threat. The Stampeders are tied — with Saskatchewan — for first in the CFL with an average return of 13.8 yards.
