TORONTO — Marcus Thigpen keeps hitting home runs for his football team.
The 32-year-old tailback ripped off an 82-yard touchdown run for the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders during their 30-29 victory over the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday at BMO Field, giving Thigpen three scoring plays of at least 80 yards this season.
In addition to Saturday’s jaunt, he had a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Ottawa Redblacks on Sept. 15 and an 80-yard scoring run against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on July 19.
“Honestly, I’m not even sure why it’s happening,” Thigpen said with a grin after Saturday’s game, in which he rushed four times for 95 yards.
“There has been great blocking up front and I’m getting to the second level so fast. Then, when I’m in the open field, I feel like I’m the fastest one out there and I feel like I can’t let anybody catch me. It’s more of a pride thing.”
“He’s a very explosive player…”
Thigpen’s explosiveness was apparent in 2009, when he practised with the Roughriders after signing with them. But he didn’t play any games with them that season and, in 2010, was released after training camp.
The Detroit product signed with Hamilton — and he returned the first kickoff he handled as a member of the Tiger-Cats for a 93-yard touchdown. Later in that contest, he returned a missed field-goal attempt 118 yards for a TD.
He played 35 games over two seasons with Hamilton, registering 116 punt returns for 1,055 yards and one touchdown, 86 kickoff returns for 1,643 yards and one TD and 11 missed field-goal returns for 544 yards and three scores. He also rushed 51 times for 316 yards and three TDs and caught 48 passes for 616 yards and three majors.
Thigpen parlayed his special-teams work in Hamilton into an NFL contract with the Miami Dolphins in 2012 — and he returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown in his first game in that league.
He played 50 regular-season games in the NFL with the Dolphins, New England Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts and Oakland Raiders. He finished his career down south with 107 kickoff returns for 2,525 yards and one touchdown, and 95 punt returns for 919 yards and two TDs.
Thigpen didn’t play in 2016 but was signed in September of 2017 by the Roughriders, who took the advice of then-Roughriders quarterback Kevin Glenn. Thigpen hurt a collarbone on a punt return in his first game and spent six games on the injured list before getting back into the lineup.
The 5-foot-9, 195-pounder showed he still hd his explosiveness in the Eastern Semi-Final when, with Cameron Marshall and Trent Richardson out with injuries, Thigpen started at tailback.
He rushed 15 times for 169 yards in a 31-20 victory over the host Redblacks, breaking open a tight contest with a 75-yard TD run in the third quarter that gave the Roughriders a 28-11 lead.
His touchdown Saturday didn’t have quite the same shock value — a couple of defenders actually got their hands on him on his run, which didn’t happen in Ottawa — but it was equally impressive.
“That’s what he does,” Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones said of Thigpen’s ability to go long. “He’s a very explosive player.
“He can play a lot of different positions, he can break tackles and when he gets out in the open field, there’s very few people who can run him down.”
Quarterback Zach Collaros agreed, saying Thigpen “is just a different guy.” The tailback is now averaging a gaudy 8.9 yards per carry this season.
Thigpen’s touchdown run Saturday is the sixth-longest in franchise history, behind a 98-yarder by Alex Bravo (Sept. 29, 1956, in a game against the B.C. Lions), 93-yarders by Ray Purdin (Sept. 12, 1962, Montreal Alouettes) and Ed Buchanan (Aug. 3, 1964, Calgary Stampeders), a 90-yard effort by Pete Van Valkenburg (Aug. 20, 1976, Calgary), and an 85-yarder by Buchanan (Sept. 10, 1967, Ottawa Rough Riders).
Include a non-scoring run of 83 yards by Wes Cates (Sept. 30, 2010, Edmonton Eskimos) and Thigpen’s gallop Saturday is the seventh-longest rush in Roughriders history.
“With our rotation going on at running back, the opportunities are limited, so every time I touch the ball, I’m thinking about scoring,” said Thigpen, who splits time with Tre Mason.
“I know not every run is going to be a big run — I know sometimes I’m going to have to grind it out — but it’s big for the team. It gives us a spark and it builds our confidence as a team offensively because we’ve been struggling to get to the end zone. I feel like we took a step (Saturday).”
Thigpen joins Buchanan as the only players to have two TD runs of at least 80 yards in their Roughriders careers. Turning the trick in the same season is much more rare, however; it’s believed it has never happened before in franchise history.
Thigpen may not know the reason for his long-range success, but there’s no denying that he’s putting together an impressive resumé in his second go-round in the CFL.
“I’m trying to,” he said. “It’s definitely a blessing to still be able to do it at my age.
“I’m just thankful for the opportunities. You never know how long you’ll get to play this game, so I’m going to take advantage every time I get the ball.”
