Liam Richards/Electric Umbrella
The Pittsburgh Steelers had the Steel Curtain.
The New York Jets brought us the New York Sack Exchange.
The Minnesota Vikings gave the world the Purple People Eaters.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders even got in on the act years ago with Gang Green.
So, in 2018, the Roughriders’ defensive line will be known as … what, Charleston Hughes?
“I don’t know yet,” the defensive end said with a laugh after Tuesday’s practice at Mosaic Stadium. “Ask me after Game 1 when we find out our identity.
“We still haven’t played together as a complete group on defence. We’re still building, just like every other team in this league. It’s going to take some time before we actually get defined.”
So Hughes (Twitter handle @sackatchawen) doesn’t have even a germ of an idea in his head for a nickname?
“There might be something in there,” he said, “but I’m not going to release it right now. You’ve got to be patient.”
Fans of the CFL’s Roughriders can’t wait to see their defensive line at work. The unit features two of the league’s top pass-rushing ends in Hughes and Willie Jefferson, one of the CFL’s top Canadian defensive tackles in Zack Evans, unsung contributors in Makana Henry and Eddie Steele, and up-and-comers in Tobi Antigha, Chad Geter, Jordan Reaves and Eric Striker.
Three other younger players — Mathieu Breton, Tresor Mafuta and Curt Maggitt — currently are on the practice roster.
The D-line could be the strength of the defence, provided the linemen live up to expectations.
Hughes has won the CFL sack title three times in his 11-year career. He enters Friday’s regular-season opener against the visiting Toronto Argonauts with 99 career sacks, second-most among active players to the 121 registered by the Montreal Alouettes’ John Bowman.
Saskatchewan acquired Hughes from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the off-season.
Jefferson is coming off a dominant 2017 campaign with the Roughriders. He led the league with 37 quarterback pressures, set a career high with a team-leading eight sacks and knocked down six passes at the line of scrimmage.
Evans enters the season with 22 career sacks, 21 of which came over the past four seasons with the Ottawa Redblacks. The Roughriders targeted the Regina product in free agency and successfully landed him.
Antigha (five sacks), Henry (one) and Steele (one) also got to quarterbacks for the Roughriders last season. But Saskatchewan’s total of 27 sacks was the second-lowest such number in the CFL, which explains the off-season moves.
Now, the as-yet-unnamed D-line is eager to live up to its advance billing.
“We’re excited going into the season,” said Evans, who had one sack in 16 regular-season games with the Roughriders before heading to Ottawa in an expansion draft after the 2013 season.
“We can see the talent we have, we can see the guys we have and we know that we can be a force to be reckoned with. We’re just putting the work in right now to get to the point where we can just let ’er go and have fun.”
Jefferson agreed that the Roughriders’ D-line is brimming with potential, but he added: “Where I’m from, potential can go one way or the other.”
In other words, the Roughriders have to back it up on the field.
“We’ve got to lock in as a defensive line, play our scheme, do what we’ve got to do, do our job and stay focused,” Jefferson said. “We’ve got to try not to do more than what we have to do and just play football — strong, hard-nosed, physical football.”
“We’ve got the potential to be good,” added Hughes. “What we’re going to have to really focus on are the little details. We’ve got to clean up some technique issues and then we’ll be great.”
Hughes has been a great resource for his younger teammates since being acquired. Throughout training camp, he constantly shared tips and information with his mates — and he was doing the same after Tuesday’s practice.
But while the Roughriders’ defensive linemen have been conversing with and practising alongside one another, they’re still trying to figure each other out.
Evans was on the field for just six snaps in Saskatchewan’s second pre-season game — he didn’t dress for the first one — while neither Hughes nor Jefferson played at all in either exhibition contest. The goal was to give younger players like Antigha, Breton, Geter, Mafuta, Maggitt, Reaves and Striker more opportunities.
That lack of game action together doesn’t concern Hughes.
“We’ve been practising full speed for the most part so we’ve got a feel for how each other pass-rushes or plays the run,” he said. “We’re on the right page.”
Now they have to get on the same page when it comes to a handle.
Evans said with a chuckle that he hadn’t given the idea any thought at all and suggested that the group had to establish itself before coming up with a nickname.
Meanwhile, Jefferson was ready to pass the buck altogether.
“We got a little chemistry going in camp going against our offensive line, but we really just want to go against somebody in a different-coloured jersey and find ourselves,” he said.
“The Purple People Eaters, the Steel Curtain and guys like that, they had time to come together. Then the people gave them those names; they didn’t come up with those names. Once we come together and get a couple of games under our belt — and once the CFL and the fans see how we work together — then we’ll get a name.”
