A lot has been made of the Saskatchewan Roughriders offensive struggles so far this season.
After being one of the most efficient offences in the CFL last year, the team has seen a drop off in play this year. The biggest contributing factor in that drop was the large turnover during the offseason with the likes of Weston Dressler, Geroy Simon and Kory Sheets all moving on.
A lot of rookies were forced to take on bigger roles and that coupled with Chris Getzlaf's early injury and Taj Smith's legal troubles, left quarterback Darian Durant searching for consistency.
Through all that however, there's been one constant and that's receiver Rob Bagg. After dealing with multiple knee injuries over the past three seasons, Bagg has been healthy this year and he's been a welcomed sight for Durant during passing plays.
“With all the turnover and different situations that we've had at the receiver position, it's been great to have him as a steady piece,” said Durant this week.
Durant feels that Bagg has taken on a bigger leadership role with so many young receivers and has really been leading by example so far this season.
Through seven games, Bagg is leading the Riders in catches with 25 and receiving yards with 359. He scored his first touchdown of the year last Saturday, the lone Riders' TD in a 16-11 win over Montreal.
“I feel good for sure, but sometimes it's just about the opportunities you get and I don't know what's going to happen next week, but you've just got to make the most of the opportunities you get,” Bagg said.
The Queen's University product was named the CFL Canadian of the Week for his six-catch, 90-yard performance against Montreal. He feels his chemistry with Durant has helped him get off to the strong start this year.
“We've played together for seven years, so if we had no chemistry up until this point we were probably doing something wrong,” he said.
“(Durant) is just giving me a couple shots and really the defence dictates where the ball goes, so it's not anything that I'm doing different, just sometimes the defence shifts and it opens up guys that aren't always open.”
The Riders offence has been winning games by protecting the ball and grinding out yards, while their defence limits the other teams. Bagg said they aren't worried about the numbers right now and just the wins.
“Eventually we are going to explode, so it's just a matter of us believing in one and other and really ignoring all the people that are saying that we don't have a very good offence,” he said.
Bagg, Durant, Getzlaf and Smith are the four returning skilled players on offence for the Riders and the rest came into the year with little or no experience in the CFL.
“They're doing great,” said Bagg. “As a veteran, I've seen a steady progression in terms of their knowledge of the CFL game as well as our playbook since the first day of training camp, so as long as they're improving, we're doing something right.”
Bagg will try to keep his strong start to the year going when the Riders travel into BC to take on the Lions this weekend. They kick off from BC Place on Sunday at 5:00pm.
Tue, Apr 16, 7:00 PM
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