Shaq Evans can’t wait to get his hands on something Saturday.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ wide receiver is eager to catch the football — as many times as possible — during his team’s contest with the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field (5 p.m., CKRM, TSN).
His sentiment stems from last Saturday’s 30-25 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks at Mosaic Stadium, where the first-year CFLer endured a few dropped passes.
“It was very frustrating because I know I’m better than that and I feel like I’ve proven I’m better than that over the course of the season,” Evans said after the Roughriders practised at Mosaic Stadium. “But I know that I’ll bounce back after working hard this week.
“I know what I’m capable of. I won’t worry about that (performance) because it’s done with. I’ll move on and play better Saturday night.”
Evans caught the first pass aimed in his direction in the Ottawa game, gaining 46 yards in the first quarter to help set up a Brett Lauther field goal.
After that, however, Evans struggled. His drops helped limit him to that one catch in seven targets.
“I definitely want to prove that that’s not normal, that that won’t happen too often if ever again,” Evans said. “There’s definitely a sense of redemption for Saturday night.
“I think (the cause) was just focus and letting it get to my head because I had the one (drop) early. Then I let it linger in my head too long. It definitely was a concentration issue and a focus issue.
“I normally make those catches every day in practice and my teammates know that. Individually and as a team overall, there was a lack of focus.”
Evans enters Saturday’s game as Saskatchewan’s third-leading receiver in both yards (434) and catches (29) this season. His 52-yard reception against the B.C. Lions on Aug. 25 is the longest completion to a Roughriders receiver in 2018 and he’s tied for the team lead with five receptions of at least 30 yards.
But he has yet to score a touchdown this season and his completion percentage of 46.8 (29 catches in 62 targets) is the lowest among Saskatchewan’s top 10 receivers.
Now the 27-year-old product of Inglewood, Calif., has to prove that his showing Saturday was an aberration.
“You know what you’re capable of,” he said when asked how he can put it behind him. “You’ve been playing football your whole life and you know how to catch the ball. You go out, do what you do and just forget about it.
“You block it out of your mind to the best of your abilities because if you let it linger, it’ll affect you in the future.”
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Crezdon Butler’s number has come up.
After missing Saskatchewan’s past three games — and four of the past five — the veteran defensive back is expected to return to the 
lineup Saturday in place of the injured Matt Elam.
“(Having to watch) is different just because you’ve been a starter the last year and then half of this season,” said Butler, who has been on the one-game injured list for the past three games. “It’s about taking care of your body at that point and being mentally into it on the sideline with the guys.”
Butler has been part of a rotation in the secondary that was formulated by head coach-GM Chris Jones to protect the team’s older DBs. Butler, Jovon Johnson and the since-released Will Blackmon have exchanged roster spots over the past few weeks in the rotation.
“(Jones) told me with me getting up there in age, crossing that 30 barrier, he wanted to take care of my legs,” said Butler, 31. “It has helped and we’ll see how much I have my legs back come game time.”
So … is Butler feeling his age?
“I don’t feel old at all,” he replied. “When (Jones) told me (about the rotation), I looked at him kind of weird. But it is what it is.”
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The Roughriders and Argos met in Week 1, with Saskatchewan winning 27-19 at Mosaic Stadium.
Things have changed a lot for both teams since then, but perhaps more so for the Argos. Quarterback Ricky Ray suffered a neck injury in Toronto’s second regular-season game and has been replaced first by James Franklin and then by McLeod Bethel-Thompson.
The contest Saturday will be the first time the Roughriders have faced Bethel-Thompson, but Jones isn’t selling the 30-year-old CFL sophomore short.
“I know they’re averaging 375 yards a game since he has been in there playing,” Jones said. “He’s a lot like Ricky in the fact that he knows where to go with the football (when his) back foot hits the ground.
“He throws an extremely good ball, he doesn’t seem to get overly rattled when he does get pressure and he gets the ball out.”
Bethel-Thompson has completed 110 of 174 pass attempts for 1,316 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions in five games this season.
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The Roughriders have a 7-5-0 record and have one-third of their 18-game regular-season schedule remaining.
It’s obviously impossible to tell how many wins the team will need in its final six games to determine its playoff fate — and Jones isn’t interested in predicting the future anyway.
“We’re worried about right now (and) just trying to win this football game,” he said. “We need to take them one at a time and hopefully knock ’em down one each week.”
