Justin Rogers got Kevin Glenn’s goat Saturday.
Rogers, a defensive back with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, intercepted a pass thrown by Glenn at the Hamilton goal line and returned it 110 yards for a touchdown. After Sergio Castillo added the convert, the Tiger-Cats led Glenn’s Saskatchewan Roughriders 7-2 in the contest at Mosaic Stadium.
“It’s frustrating at that point because you’ve got to run,” the 38-year-old quarterback said with a smile after leading the Roughriders to a 37-20 victory. “He’s making me run now and I don’t usually run that much.”
The interception occurred on the Roughriders’ second possession, after Glenn had moved them to the Hamilton two-yard line. He tried to find Nic Demski in the flat for the major, but Rogers had other ideas.
But Hamilton’s lead didn’t last long. After accepting the kickoff, Saskatchewan drove 76 yards in nine plays and took the lead on a six-yard Glenn touchdown run. The Roughriders never trailed again.
“The way that we got down there (before the interception), I don’t think anybody had any doubts that we couldn’t move the ball,” Glenn said. “(Rogers) made a play and he ended up scoring, but that’s what happens in football games.
“The sign of a good team is overcoming that, flushing it down the toilet, forgetting about it and moving on — and I think everybody did that.”
The Roughriders’ ability to rally may have been the result of their quarterback’s experience. Glenn is in his 17th season as a CFL quarterback, so he wasn’t affected by the pick-six.
“Sometimes a younger quarterback can get bothered by it, get frustrated and not anticipate throws because he’s worried about whether a guy’s going to undercut it and pick it off,” Glenn said. “But when you’re a quarterback and you throw the ball enough, people are going to intercept it; it’s going to happen.
“For one of the greats, (Roughriders legend) Ronnie Lancaster, it happened a lot. That’s what happens in football. The best thing for a quarterback to do is not even worry about it. Don’t let it faze you.”
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Glenn was 32-for-43 passing for 380 yards with two touchdowns and the interception, but he also was productive on the ground.
He rushed four times for 12 yards and two TDs — the first time since Oct. 2, 2004, that he had two rushing majors in a game. A member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at the time, he turned the trick against the B.C. Lions.
“Isn’t that crazy? It’s a long time ago,” said Glenn, who on Saturday gave the football from his first rushing major to his eight-year-old son, Kaleb.
Glenn has rushed 10 times for 30 yards this season and, based on his TD runs Saturday, is a main cog in Saskatchewan’s running game. That’s fine by him, who talked Saturday about his “sweet feet.”
“When teams play us, they think that I won’t run the ball, so putting us in that kind of situation down on the goal line gives us kind of an advantage,” Glenn said.
“Our coaches know that I can still do it that close in — not 40, 50 yards out — and we take advantage of it. (Opponents) are on the other end thinking, ‘Oh, he’s not going to do it.’ It’s a good thing.”
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One season after struggling to convert third-down gambles, the Roughriders have become quite proficient at the quarterback sneak.
Glenn got a first down on one plunge Saturday and had another successful sneak wiped out by an offside penalty against Hamilton.
So why, Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones was asked, have things changed on third downs?
“It’s inexplicable,” he replied. “We’ve done nothing any different. We haven’t practised it any different (and) we haven’t stressed it any more. It’s just an expectation level.
“Of course, when you’ve got (brawny guards Peter) Dyakowski and (Brendon) LaBatte in there, it’s maybe a little bit easier as well.”
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Rookie Dariusz Bladek got some action on the offensive line and at tight end during Saturday’s contest.
He also got to return to his roots and spent a handful of snaps on the defensive line.
“It was almost natural, but it has been a while,” said Bladek, who last played on the D-line at Poinciana High School in Kissimmee, Fla. “When I was in Florida, I was leading the state in sacks through the first four games. Then I tore my shoulder …
“I didn’t know where to line up too much (Saturday). I knew the gaps, but I had vets like Eddie Steele and A.C. (Leonard) helping me get lined up. It was fun.”
Bladek played nose guard for a few snaps and was in on short-yardage plays and field-goal defence. Jones noted that Bladek is the “emergency backup interior tackle, jumbo-wise,” so he got the call whenever Steele needed a rest after Ese Mrabure left with an injury.
“We had to have a Canadian in the game in order to make sure that we had our ratio and I didn’t want to leave Eddie hung out there on an extended drive,” Jones said. “If Eddie is saying he’s tired, then he’s tired; he doesn’t ever want to come off the field. When he tapped his helmet (to show he needed a break), we had to use our depth.
“We’ve talked about (using Bladek). We said, ‘Just get in there and rush through the A gap and get as much push as you can.’ ”
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Jones felt his team got a little nudge from the sold-out crowd that took in the contest — the second CFL game played at the new stadium.
“I felt the crowd,” Jones said. “They were into the game.
“Kudos to the people that show up every week. We’ve left a little something to the imagination over the last year or so and, for our people to keep showing up, it’s a feather in our cap to have them in the seats.”