Liam Richards/Electric Umbrella
OTTAWA — Two old friends will try to make each other’s lives miserable Sunday.
Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Kevin Glenn and Toronto Argonauts defensive co-ordinator Corey Chamblin had a relationship even before Chamblin arrived in the CFL in 2007.
On Sunday, when the Argos play host to the Roughriders in the East Division final, the two men will match wits at BMO Field.
“I’ve had a relationship with him longer than probably any other coach I’ve played for, just because I knew him before he even came up to the league …,” Glenn, a 17-year CFL veteran, said Wednesday after the Roughriders practised at Carleton University.
“I’ve known Corey for a while now. But I don’t think that has anything to do with the on-the-field battle. He’s going to do his due diligence to try to put something together and we’re going to do the same to try to counteract his defence.
“I know he’ll have those guys ready and we’re going to try to be ready, too.”
A mutual friend introduced Glenn to Chamblin when the latter was trying to make the roster of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers in 2001.
In 2007, Chamblin began his CFL coaching career as the defensive backs coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Glenn was Winnipeg’s quarterback that season.
In 2011, Chamblin joined the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as their defensive co-ordinator. And who was Hamilton’s quarterback that season? Glenn.
In 2012, Chamblin was hired to be Saskatchewan’s head coach. In the final year of his four-year tenure, one of the Roughriders’ quarterbacks was — you guessed it — Glenn.
In all of their stops together, Glenn and Chamblin never sat down to discuss their respective philosophies. But Glenn has a pretty good idea of what to expect from the Argos on Sunday, when the teams will battle for a spot in the Grey Cup game.
“Being with him on certain teams, you can see and have an idea of how he likes to attack things and (after) playing against him for some years now, you see how he likes to attack,” said Glenn who, at 38, is just two years younger than Chamblin.
“He’s a very good coach and he makes very good adjustments and throws little wrinkles in here and there. That’s one thing that we’re going to pay attention to once we get into the game.”
Glenn and the Roughriders got the better of Chamblin’s defence when the Roughriders played host to the Argos on July 29. Glenn completed 24 of 37 pass attempts for 340 yards with four touchdowns in Saskatchewan’s 38-27 victory.
But Toronto held Glenn in check in the rematch on Oct. 7. The veteran pivot completed just three of eight pass attempts for 29 yards over Saskatchewan’s first four possessions before being replaced by Brandon Bridge in the second quarter.
The Roughriders’ backup QB proceeded to go off, with 20 completions in 28 tries for 292 yards with two TDs in a 27-24, come-from-behind victory.
Saskatchewan’s quarterbacks helped the team go 10-8-0 in the regular season and Glenn and Bridge combined to throw a league-high 35 touchdown passes.
Glenn was replaced by Bridge in five of Saskatchewan’s final seven regular-season games. Glenn gave way to Bridge again Sunday, but not until the waning moments of the Roughriders’ 31-20 victory over the host Ottawa Redblacks in the East Division semifinal.
Glenn was 18-for-28 for 252 yards and a touchdown and rushed three times for 10 yards and a TD as the Roughriders moved to within one win of the Grey Cup game.
The quarterbacks’ productive seasons appear to have answered questions the Roughriders faced at the position after trading Darian Durant in January.
“K.G. is the consummate professional,” Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones said. “If I take him out — either he’s not clicking or they’re not protecting him — he doesn’t sit over there and sulk and go on. He understands that the game is not about he or I, it’s about us. When Brandon has been asked to come into the game, he has been prepared.
“If (Glenn) had not been a professional, this co-existence could not have worked,” Jones added. “It just tells you what kind of person he is.”
In Toronto on Sunday, Glenn will go head to head with another old acquaintance.
Argos quarterback Ricky Ray, who also is 38, is in his 15th CFL season. He has a 4-3 career record in division finals, while Glenn is 2-2.
But Ray has won three Grey Cup titles to Glenn’s none — and the Roughriders’ QB is on a mission to get on the board when the 2017 Grey Cup game is played Nov. 26 in Ottawa.
Guard Brendon LaBatte suggested he saw something different out of his quarterback in the East semifinal.
“I love the emotion that K.G. had on the sideline …,” LaBatte said. “For an older guy like that to get that wound up, that’s saying something. He’s usually a pretty level-headed guy and he was feeling it there for sure.”
