Jeff Hecht did his job — and somebody else’s as well.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ special-teamer and backup safety stepped in at strong-side linebacker after Otha Foster III got hurt early in the first quarter of Friday’s 27-19 CFL victory over the host Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
“We spend a lot of time in practice rotating guys,” Hecht said after the game. “Because Otha was coming back (from the NFL), they told me to be ready just in case he wasn’t in shape. It turned out that meant the third play of the game.
“It was tough. It has been a while since I played that many snaps. We were on defence a lot. I did get pretty gassed, but I just tried to do my job.”
The Roughriders always talk about the next man up, but it was the next men up on Friday.
Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones said after the game that 10 players suffered injuries in the contest, including eight who missed extended periods of time or didn’t return at all.
“Ten injuries is pretty crazy,” Hecht said. “Maybe it was a matter of time — I think we were the least-injured team in the league and we’ve been really fortunate — but it’s part of the game. You’ve got to plug and play.
“Guys are trying to rotate and there’s no one to rotate in, so if there are nine minutes left or three minutes left, you’ve got to find something down deep and use it to try to get yourself through.”
The losses started even before the game. Quarterback Kevin Glenn was scratched due to a hand injury suffered in a 48-28 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sept. 9, so backup Brandon Bridge started Friday’s game.
Then Foster went down and was replaced by Hecht. Then wide receiver Duron Carter sprained an ankle and was replaced by Devon Bailey. Then punt returner Marcus Thigpen suffered a shoulder injury and was replaced by Ed Gainey.
And that was just the first quarter.
Over the remaining 45 minutes, Roughriders such as centre Brendon LaBatte, safety Mike Edem, defensive end Tobi Antigha and linebacker Kevin Francis required medical attention.
Some returned to the game and some didn’t. LaBatte, who initially left in the second quarter with an ankle injury, came back for the third quarter and then departed again in the fourth.
“It’s tough for guys to get dinged up like that, but some guys played through it,” Hecht said. “(LaBatte) came back in and he could barely walk. Tobi, they tried to take him out and he told the trainers to tape it up and that he was going back in, so they’d better figure something out.
“Mike wanted to go back in, but they needed a thumbs up from him and, because of his shoulder, he could only give a thumbs down. That kind of grit is huge.”
Around the Roughriders’ locker room, players marvelled at how others had filled holes as they happened.
Bailey caught one pass in the contest, but it was for a nine-yard touchdown. Gainey returned two punts for 24 yards. Rookie Denzel Radford, who has gone back and forth between receiver and safety all season, had one defensive tackle at safety and added two special-teams stops. And rookie Dariusz Bladek stepped in at centre.
“I’ve never been in a game where we’ve had 10 injuries,” Gainey said. “That’s a credit to the guys in the locker room stepping up and, whenever your number’s called, just doing your job and making sure that we’re playing continuity football.”
Hecht, a seventh-year CFLer, is a defensive back by trade, but he has been taking snaps at linebacker during practice in recent weeks. On Friday, he had five defensive tackles and a forced fumble to go along with one tackle on special teams.
“I’m prepared to go in anywhere,” the 31-year-old said. “I’m the backup Will (weak-side linebacker), the backup Sam (strong-side linebacker), the backup safety, the backup long-snapper — and if they need me anywhere in between that, they can call me.
“The psychological part of the game is not something that’s very difficult for me, but clearly late in the game, the way our defence was on the field, physically I did get pretty winded between special teams and defence. That’s maybe something I’ve got to work on moving forward.”
Jones won’t be able to provide updates on the injured players until the Roughriders return to practice Wednesday, so it’s unclear how many of them will be ready for Sunday’s contest against the visiting Calgary Stampeders.
The Roughriders have a long week, though, so Jones and his staff will have time to either prepare potential replacements who currently are on the practice roster or find new players to fill holes in the lineup.
Whoever is asked to step in will be expected to do his job to the same standard as the man he’s replacing.
“I know we’re not the only team that has had a lot of players go down in a game,” defensive end Willie Jefferson said. “We’ve seen it before, so we just need to try to battle through it.
“It’s next man up, so the next man has got to be ready.”
