On two occasions during this CFL season, Saskatchewan Roughriders guard Brendon LaBatte has appeared to be down for the count.
On both occasions, LaBatte has needed only a few plays to recover from leg injuries and return to the fray.
“It’s unbelievable,” centre Dan Clark said of LaBatte’s ability to come back quickly. “It gives us a spark not only on the field during the game, but it’s an indication of what we expect in our meeting room. That’s what we want our offensive line to be known for.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have been born in this era. Maybe we should have been born a Viking or something. You’ve got to have that mindset where you want to be able to help the team no matter what — and (LaBatte) has got that.”
In the first quarter of Saskatchewan’s game against the host Hamilton Tiger-Cats on July 19, LaBatte took a shot to his left knee while blocking for a field goal. He was helped off the field and taken to the locker room for treatment — and he was back on the O-line in the second quarter.
On the first offensive play of the third quarter in Saturday’s contest against the host B.C. Lions, LaBatte’s left ankle was caught underneath tailback Tre Mason on a running play. Trainers worked on LaBatte behind the Roughriders’ bench and he returned shortly thereafter.
“It’s just a little bit of discomfort; it’s part of it,” the 31-year-old Weyburn product said after Thursday’s closed practice at Mosaic Stadium. “Getting rolled up multiple times in a year is never fun, but unfortunately, that’s the situation I’ve been in for the past two years. It’s just part of the game.
“You can either push through it or you can go sit down and give the job up — and there’s no guarantee in this business that there will be one when you come back and you are healthy. You want to push through and you’ve got to really make that determination because I know from experience that sitting on the sideline hurts.
“You can think you’re in pain until you’ve got to sit on the sideline. That hurts to watch the guys. What I always think to myself is, ‘You can sit here, take a seat and let it really hurt or you can go out there and suck it up for five seconds at a time.’ ”
Clark noted that all of the offensive linemen are nicked up in some fashion by this point of the season, so the hope is that they’ll all try to play through the pain to help their team.
Told of Clark’s “Viking” comment, LaBatte laughed.
“I think that was Chris Best,” LaBatte said, referring to the ex-Roughriders guard. “I always thought I was probably the softest one out of the group.
“Maybe (other O-linemen) are (Vikings), but I’m definitely not.”
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Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones wants his charges to set a standard for themselves — and then meet it on a weekly basis.
The Roughriders have won two straight games, so they’re getting close to achieving that goal.
“We’ve got to do the same things week in, week out,” Jones said. “All you have to do is look at Calgary and what they do week in and week out. They keep possession of the football, they play great defence, they make a play in the special teams and they don’t give up plays in special teams.
“It’s a standard every week that you just show up and play. Don’t worry about the end result, just worry about the standard and the end result will take care of itself.”
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Jones has started using a rotation in the team’s secondary that is based solely on age.
Crezdon Butler, 31, was a healthy scratch against the Stampeders on Aug. 19. Then, in Vancouver on Saturday, Butler returned to the lineup and Jovon Johnson, 34, was scratched.
On Thursday, Jones said the decision to rotate the older DBs was made months ago.
“Anytime (players) get to that 30 mark, you’ve got to start looking at longevity and making sure that they can make it through the year — and not only make it through the year, but play at a very high level,” Jones said.
“We started this years ago with (then-Montreal Alouettes defensive tackle) Ed Philion back in ’02. He didn’t like it because he had always been an every-down player, but we had him, Adriano Belli and Rob Brown and we just started rotating. Then, at the end of the year, we were always playing fresh.”
It’s unclear which DBs will be on the roster Sunday, when the Roughriders play host to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the annual Labour Day Classic.
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Quarterback Zach Collaros has yet to lose a Labour Day game in the CFL, going 3-0 as a member of the Tiger-Cats in their matchups with the Toronto Argonauts.
He also sported an undefeated record in another annual grudge match — the Battle for the Bell, between his alma mater (the University of Cincinnati Bearcats) and its biggest rival (the Miami University of Ohio RedHawks). Cincinnati has won the past 12 meetings between the schools, dating back to 2005.
In Collaros’ mind, though, the Bearcats’ biggest rivals during his time at Cincinnati were the other schools in the Big East, including Pitt and Louisville.
“It was such a small conference, everybody kind of hated each other so we had a lot of rivals,” said Collaros, who’s preparing for his first Classic with the Roughriders. “Naturally, it’s supposed to be Miami of Ohio, but I don’t think they beat us since Big Ben (Roethlisberger) was there. It has been a long time.”
