Craig Dickenson was eager to set the record straight.
Yes, three players have combined to score four touchdowns on punt and kickoff returns for the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders this season, tying a franchise single-season record.
But Dickenson — the Roughriders’ special-teams co-ordinator — wants to remind everyone that more than a dozen players are responsible for the accomplishment.
“Between three (returners), we’ve got four touchdowns, which is awesome,” Dickenson said after practice at Mosaic Stadium. “The common denominator in all of that is the 11 guys in front of (the returners) and that’s where we’ve really got better this year.
“We’ve got great returners, no question about it, but the 11 guys in front of them are really doing a great job — and that has been the difference.”
The team record of four kick-return touchdowns was set in 1958, when Mike Hagler and Harry Lunn each returned two punts for touchdowns. The mark was tied in 1991, when Willis Jacox returned three punts for majors and Albert Brown scored on a kickoff return.
So far this season, Kyran Moore has two punt-return TDs (a 65-yarder against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sept. 2 and a 90-yarder versus the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday), Christion Jones has one score on a punt return (going 61 yards against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on July 19) and Marcus Thigpen has a TD on a kickoff return (a 97-yarder against Ottawa on Saturday).
Moore and Thigpen accomplished a rare double in that game versus the Redblacks; it was just the third time in franchise history that the Roughriders returned both a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns in the same game.
That duo also will join Jones in the team’s record book for combining on four TD returns.
“I didn’t know (it was a franchise record), so it’s obviously a pleasant surprise,” Dickenson said. “But we really try to stay grounded and in the moment. The message (Tuesday) morning was, ‘Each guy can get better.’ We showed them the film of the Ottawa game and we felt like we left a lot of yards on the table, to be quite honest, and I think the guys did too.
“(Tying a record) is a validation that what you’re doing is good, that you’re on the right track, and it’s a credit to the guys who are on the field because they’re the ones who are turning 30-yarders into 50-yarders and 50-yarders into touchdowns.”
Spencer Moore is one of the other 11.
To the longtime special-teamer, the four return TDs are a sign that all 12 players on the Roughriders’ return team at any one time realize the importance of their jobs. And while one player typically gets the glory on a TD — the one carrying the ball — the blockers who toil in relative anonymity certainly should share in the accomplishment.
“It’s my sixth year and I’m a Canadian fullback, so I’m used to that and I’m OK with that,” Moore said with a smile. “As long as I’m doing my job and we’re being successful, that’s all that really matters.
“For our special teams to be successful — and the reason that we have been — is because we have 11 other guys who feel the same way. It’s great for (the returners) and it looks good on the stats sheet, but as long as we have our guys doing the job, that’s what’s important.”
Entering Saturday’s game against the host Toronto Argonauts (5 p.m., CKRM, TSN), the Roughriders lead the CFL in punt-return average (13.8 yards) and are second to the B.C. Lions in kickoff-return average (23.8 yards). Saskatchewan’s four return TDs also lead the league.
Thanks in part to the return teams, the Roughriders also are second in the CFL in average starting position of their drives (37.4-yard line).
Among CFL punt returners with at least 10 attempts this season, Kyran Moore has a league-best average of 22.6 yards while Jones is third at 13.2 yards. Thigpen’s kickoff-return average of 28.5 yards is tops among players with at least 10 attempts, while Jones is fifth at 23.7 yards.
“We know that we have some special guys back there returning the ball; it’s all about everybody making their block,” Thigpen said. “All we need is a little space. We’re fast, we can make moves and we’re athletic.
“We believe in our abilities and (the blockers) know what we can do, so that makes them want to block a little harder for us.”
Dickenson agreed that the Roughriders’ success is a reflection of every member of the return teams.
“The one thing the (blockers) are doing is they’re working their tails off,” he said. “Because they know they’ve got such an explosive guy handling the ball, they know that if he gets some room, he’s got a chance to take it a long way.
“It’s kind of a shared motivation. When you’re a returner and you’ve got guys working hard for you, you want to hit it up in there (against the cover team) for those guys. And when you’re one of the 11 guys who are blocking for the returner, you realize he could go to the house at any moment, so you want to make sure you give it your best to help him do that.”
So far, so good.
The CFL record for kick-return touchdowns in a season is seven, a mark that was set by Toronto in 2003 and matched by the ’04 Argos. The 2018 Roughriders wouldn’t mind sharing that record, too.
“Every time we break it down (after gathering together), we say, ‘To the house!’ ” Thigpen said. “We go in with the mindset of trying to score every time, but if we come up short, we at least want to get a big return or great field position.”
