October 17, 2018

The Roughriders’ Eddie Steele is on a roll

Eddie Steele is in uncharted waters.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ defensive tackle has recorded at least one sack in each of his team’s past three games — the longest such stretch in Steele’s eight-year CFL career.

He had one sack in back-to-back games in 2015 and turned the trick twice during the 2014 campaign, but he never before had recorded a quarterback takedown in three straight games.

Then came this season, when he had one sack against the Montreal Alouettes on Sept. 30, two sacks versus the Edmonton Eskimos on Oct. 8 and one sack against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday.

The streak follows a stretch of three games in which he was a healthy scratch.

“I don’t really have a specific answer (for the sack streak),” Steele said after Wednesday’s closed practice at Mosaic Stadium. “For the most part this season, I had been practising on the O-line and now I’ve been focusing on defence and really sharpening my technique.

“Luckily, I’m just playing at a high level.”

Steele’s four sacks represent the second-highest single-season total of his career. The 6-foot-2, 280-pound product of Winnipeg had six sacks for the Eskimos in 2014.

“It means a lot to me to contribute like this, especially because this season hasn’t gone exactly how I wanted it to go personally,” said Steele, who also has 15 tackles, one knockdown and one tackle for a loss this season entering Saturday’s game against the host Calgary Stampeders (5 p.m., CKRM, TSN).

“We’ve had a lot of team success, but personally, it hasn’t exactly been up to my standards. To be able to come back after getting scratched for three weeks and to contribute the way that I have definitely feels good.”

For much of the first half of the season, Steele practised with both the defensive and offensive lines.

Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones repeatedly said that Steele could start on the offensive line if required — and Jones knew whereof he spoke. He occasionally deployed Steele at guard when the two men were with the Eskimos in 2014 and ’15.

During many practices this season, Steele and his green jersey stood out among the offensive linemen in their white jerseys while the defence worked out at the other end of the field.

“It’s not a negative thing at all,” Steele said. “It’s just showing that the coaching staff trusts me to be able to do multiple things.

“It’s kind of a testament to who I am as an athlete and my character,” he continued. “There aren’t a lot of guys in the league who can practise both ways and play both ways. I would practise at O-line all week and then I’d go play games at D- tackle. There aren’t a lot of guys who can get away with that.”

While Steele has taken a couple of snaps on offence this season due to injuries, he predominantly has stayed on defence. But even on that side of the ball, Steele has spent a good part of the campaign backing up Zack Evans and Mic’hael Brooks in the interior of the Roughriders’ defensive line.

Steele dressed for Saskatchewan’s first 10 regular-season games as a backup, but then was a healthy scratch for games against Winnipeg on Sept. 8, the Ottawa Redblacks on Sept. 15 and the Toronto Argonauts on Sept. 22.

“It was tough,” Steele said of being one of two players on the game-day reserve list. “I’m a competitor. Everybody here is a competitor; we all want to play. It had never happened to me before in my career.

“I just played my 121st regular-season game this past week and I’ve been a full-time starter for probably 80 or 90 of those games. It’s not something that I’m used to. But I dealt with it in a pro manner. I showed up, I worked hard, I stayed to study and I stayed to work out — and when my opportunity came, clearly I was ready for it.”

Steele returned to the active roster for the game in Montreal and started his sack streak against Als quarterback Johnny Manziel.

“There was for sure a little extra motivation when I got the opportunity to get back into a game,” Steele said. “I really wanted to prove myself.”

Jones has been using a rotation to sit some of the Roughriders’ older players this season — for example, defensive backs Crezdon Butler and Jovon Johnson have been on and off the roster — and the 30-year-old Steele was part of that crew.

“He’s not a spring chicken and he’s one of those guys (for whom) the weight room is something that is very serious for him,” Jones said. “He got to take two or three weeks off, let his body rest and stay in the weight room. His production over the last three weeks is indicative of something that was a good move for us.”

Brooks suffered a season-ending ankle injury during the Roughriders’ 31-0 loss to the host Bombers on Saturday, so Saskatchewan needs players to step into the void at defensive tackle.

After missing the game in Winnipeg, Makana Henry could return to the lineup Saturday in Calgary, but Steele is expected to get the start.

“I’ll try to keep doing what I’m doing, keep playing hard and keep working on my fundamentals at practice,” Steele said. “Hopefully the good football continues to flow.”