Some Roughriders are in familiar territory

OTTAWA — Bakari Grant knows all about the CFL’s version of the Final Four.

When the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ slotback and his teammates take on the Toronto Argonauts on Sunday in the East Division final, it will mark the fifth straight season that Grant has appeared in a division final and the sixth time in his seven-year CFL career.

In 2016, Grant and the Calgary Stampeders played in the West Division final (and won). His Hamilton Tiger-Cats appeared in the East final in 2015 (a loss), 2014 (a win), 2013 (a win) and 2011 (a loss).

That’s a pretty good resumé, but Grant isn’t impressed.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” he said Friday after the Roughriders practised at Carleton University. “I play for one reason and one reason only.

“As soon as you lose a Grey Cup, you get that feeling like it doesn’t matter that you finished in second place. It’s just as bad as ninth place. You didn’t win it and that’s what you play for.

“You prepare the whole year for one result and when you don’t get it, it’s disappointing. So (Sunday’s division final) is just another game.”

Despite reaching the Grey Cup game three times in his career, Grant has yet to win one. In that way, another veteran of multiple division finals — defensive tackle Eddie Steele — is ahead of Grant.

Steele is set to appear in his fourth straight division final and the fifth in his seven-year CFL career.

He and the Edmonton Eskimos appeared in the East Division final in 2016 (and lost) and in the West championship in both 2015 (a win) and 2014 (a loss). He also was part of the Hamilton squad that lost the East final in 2011.

“(That history) is pretty special, but I only have one Grey Cup to show for it,” said Steele, a 2015 CFL champion. “It’ll mean a lot more if we get it this year, I’ll tell you that much.

“You could say it has definitely been a successful career. Let’s add another Cup to it and I’ll be really happy.”

The winners of Sunday’s game (noon, CKRM, TSN) advance to the Grey Cup game, Nov. 26 in Ottawa. They’ll face the champions of the West Division — either Calgary or Edmonton — in the CFL’s title game.

Players like Grant and Steele have been sharing their knowledge with their less-experienced teammates since the stretch drive started.

The playoff veterans have been in big-game situations previously and know the importance of every play — and those kinds of lessons could be lost on post-season neophytes.

The veterans also know the distractions that come along with playoff football and can help their teammates avoid those pitfalls.

“A game like this, there are fewer distractions than during Grey Cup week, but it’s still about how you handle yourself throughout the game,” Grant said.

“You’re playing one of the top four teams in the league right now. Teams are hot coming in or they’re coming off a bye week. When they make a big play, how do you react? How do you keep the emotion level of the team steady? You have your highs and lows, but how do you keep the majority at that baseline level and move on to the next play?”

Before the Roughriders faced the Ottawa Redblacks in the East Division semifinal, Steele said he wasn’t going to tell his younger teammates to listen to him because he knew everything about the playoffs.

On Friday, however, Steele admitted his information-sharing is becoming more prevalent as the Grey Cup nears.

“We’re so close,” he said. “Honestly, I’ve been daydreaming about it every day. With the group we have, you could almost say that this team is a bunch of castoffs in a sense. We’re a bunch of randomly paired guys who are doing something special.

“We haven’t been together for a long time. The team in Edmonton (in 2015) was together for three or four years and we knew each other inside and out. That’s not the case here — and I love the fact that it’s kind of us against the world.”

Before the playoffs began, computer programs said Saskatchewan had the lowest odds of winning the Grey Cup. Then, after the Roughriders beat Ottawa 31-20 in the East semifinal, they had the lowest odds of the four survivors of getting to the CFL final.

Not surprisingly, the Roughriders are using that kind of information as motivation. And head coach-GM Chris Jones has suggested his players enjoy the pressure that comes with the win-or-go-home nature of the playoffs.

Grant agreed with that assessment.

“You’ve got to think about how we’ve been conducting ourselves the whole year,” he said. “Every Day 2 has been a competition between the defence and the offence. It’s 1’s versus 1’s and no matter who wins, the other side is always talking.

“It’s that brotherly competitiveness that I think a lot of the guys on this team have — and if they didn’t have it, they’ve gained it throughout the year because we’re so competitive.

“That aspect of competition and wanting to win is what drives our team. We’re built for these situations.”

EXTRAS: Jones confirmed Friday that guard Brendon LaBatte won’t play Sunday. The veteran O-lineman injured his left leg during Saskatchewan’s regular-season finale Nov. 4 against Edmonton. He has returned to practice, but Jones isn’t ready to use LaBatte versus Toronto. Derek Dennis again will start at left guard … Jones also said that tailbacks Cameron Marshall (knee) and Trent Richardson (ankle) won’t play against the Argos. Marcus Thigpen, who rushed for 169 yards and a touchdown in the East semifinal victory in Ottawa, will be one of Saskatchewan’s tailbacks in Toronto.