CALGARY — The Saskatchewan Roughriders will face the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday without defensive end Charleston Hughes.
The CFL’s Roughriders announced Friday that Hughes has been removed from the active roster in the wake of the impaired driving charge that was laid against him on Oct. 11.
Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones addressed the situation Friday at McMahon Stadium, where the Roughriders are to face the Stampeders on Saturday (5 p.m., CKRM, TSN).
“We came to the decision between the league, myself and our president (Craig Reynolds) that this was the best course of action to do what we’re doing this week and not allowing Charleston to join us here,” Jones said.
“Charleston has given the biggest portion of his life to this league. To my knowledge, this is the first time something like this has happened. (That’s) certainly not to excuse what happened, but he’s very embarrassed about the situation and very sorrowful for doing that type of thing.
“He has got to basically own it and that’s what he’s doing. Now it’s our job to come down here and play a professional football game.”
Jones said the Roughriders referred to the club’s Code of Conduct in making the decision to sit Hughes and to fine him for his actions. Jones wouldn’t divulge any more details about the decision or how long Hughes will be out of action.
Rookie Chad Geter is to start in Hughes’ spot on Saturday.
“We did what we feel like is necessary,” Jones said. “We feel like it’s something that’s just. There’s not a manual that says, ‘When this happens with this player, this is the response that you have.’ This is what we’ve decided and we’re going to move on and attempt to play a very good Calgary team.”
Jones noted that he expects the CFL and its players’ association to discuss this off-season a policy that would handle similar situations in the future. In the meantime, the Roughriders levied a punishment that they hope will send a message to other players.
“This is no different from a plumber or no different from a construction worker or a teacher; (playing football) is how these guys make their living,” Jones said. “If they do make these same mistakes, they’re going to possibly have that taken away from them. That’s a tough pill to swallow for them.”
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The Roughriders and Stampeders both have a lot at stake in terms of playoff scenarios entering Saturday’s game.
Then again, so does every team in the West Division. According to the CFL, there are 64 different playoff scenarios that face the five teams over the final three weeks of the regular season.
“Sixty-four? That’s surprising,” Roughriders quarterback Zach Collaros said. “I’m not a mathematician, though.”
Collaros also isn’t someone who looks at the standings and all of the various possibilities. In his mind, the best thing for the Roughriders to do is win their final two regular-season games and see what happens after that.
“We have to take it one play at a time, one practice at a time — all those cliché things are what really win football games, not worrying about where you might end up if you win or lose a game and what might be going on in another game,” he said.
“All that stuff is just noise that you can’t control. You have to control what you can and that’s focusing on every play like it’s the most important one — because it is.”
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The Roughriders have been juggling receivers in recent weeks, using four different starting combinations in the past four games.
That includes Saturday’s game, which will see Jordan Williams-Lambert returning to the starting crew ahead of Kenny Shaw and Patrick Lavoie taking over at slotback for Devon Bailey.
“We know it’s next man up,” receivers coach Travis Moore said. “We understand, ‘Hey, we’re a family. We have one goal and one agenda; that’s it.’ It’s not about personal goals. Our goal is to win the Grey Cup and whoever’s on the field, we’ve all got to be on the same page.”
Injuries and lineup changes have resulted in Saskatchewan rolling out eight different groups of starting receivers in 16 games, with myriad combinations of backups. That latter group has included players like Brian Jones and K.D. Cannon who were making their Roughriders debuts that week.
“If we’ve got a younger guy who we’re going to play with, we’ve got to make sure he’s on the same page,” Moore said. “You don’t leave your brother behind; that’s our whole motto.”
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One of the Roughriders’ offensive linemen Saturday will be new to the starting group, as Josiah St. John is to make his first start of the season at right guard in place of the injured Dariusz Bladek.
St. John, the first pick overall in the 2016 CFL draft, has been a backup for much of his career while some of the players taken after him already are established CFL players.
“He has been spot playing just about all year and very quietly has put together some good snaps and (is) starting to gain the respect of his teammates,” Jones said of St. John.
“Like I told him, ‘Don’t put a barometer on yourself because somebody else has success quicker than you do. Just go out, do your job and have fun.’ ”
