The Saskatchewan Roughriders don’t expect short runs in the long run.
“We’re going to get the run game going,” quarterback Trevor Harris stated leading up to Sunday’s Home Opener, presented by Flynn.
“That should be the least of our worries, because we’ve got an aggressive group up front. We want to play downhill and be aggressive and we’ve got a running back who’s itching to start getting that going, so I think we can expect to get the run game going this week.”
Harris referenced A.J. Ouellette — who, as a member of the Toronto Argonauts, was an East Division All-Star in 2022 and 2023. Over his first two games with the Roughriders, he has 72 yards on 29 carries.
Although his stats are not yet eye-popping, it should be noted that he has outgained the other team’s featured tailback in each of the first two games while helping the Roughriders enjoy a 2-0 start.
Ouellette had 18 carries for 40 yards and one TD — a hard-fought fourth-quarter major that was punctuated by the game-winning convert — in a season-opening, 29-21 victory over the host Edmonton Elks on June 8.
This past Sunday, he rushed 11 times for 32 yards as Saskatchewan posted a 33-30 road victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who are to visit Mosaic Stadium on Sunday (5 p.m., TSN, CKRM).
The Roughriders have held two premier backs — Edmonton’s Kevin Brown and Hamilton’s James Butler — to 27 yards. Brown, Butler and Ouellette each rushed for 1,000-plus yards last season.
“Hats off to the defences out there,” Roughriders Head Coach and Defensive Co-ordinator Corey Mace said. “Hopefully when we talk about that, we’re always in the conversation from a defensive standpoint in stopping the run game.
“We try to pride ourselves on that. But it is one of those deals where if it’s not working for somebody, maybe a co-ordinator kind of aborts the mission from that standpoint and just puts the ball in the air.
“We were giving up some yards in the pass game. It’s going to be hard to rely on the run if it has been struggling for you and you know you can get it through the air.
“There’s a bunch of different intangibles that go into that statistic. At the end of it all, if we’re in the top of the league in defending the run, we’ll be happy with that.”
To this point, the Roughriders have outgained the opponent 73-69 along the ground.
Hamilton’s 30 rushing yards was the 40th-lowest total by an opponent in Roughriders history. Edmonton’s 39 yards was the 81st-lowest figure.
As a counterbalance, the Elks’ McLeod Bethel-Thompson threw for 336 yards in Week 1. On Sunday, the Tiger-Cats’ Levi Mitchell passed for 380 yards — 10 fewer than Harris, who had put up 305 in the season opener.
“Quarterbacks have been off to a pretty good start around the league and it’s a passing league by nature,” Mace said. “But the teams that end up making it the furthest have to have a run game.
“I’m sure, just like ourselves, other teams are looking at how to improve their run game as well.”
And many other teams, as Mace noted, are passing with proficiency. Harris, for example, entered Week 3 with a league-best 695 aerial yards.
“We don’t want to go out and throw for what we’re throwing for right now every game,” Harris said.
“We want to have a balanced attack and be able to utilize our zone-read game and our hard runs.
“We want to be able to utilize play-action, move the pocket, get your quick game going, get your intermediates, and be able to throw it over their head, too.”
Not to be forgotten are the playmakers who do not see regular duty on offence.
“Anybody can make a play out there, no matter if it’s special teams, the return game, or the defence with the forced fumbles and interceptions,” Ouellette pointed out.
“It doesn’t matter who’s out there. Someone’s going to make a play when it’s important.”
That includes Ouellette, who rushed for 11 and eight yards to open a seven-play, 44-yard march that led to a deficit-reducing field goal with 3:44 left in Sunday’s game.
“As long as his helmet’s on and is strapped, he’s a threat,” Mace said. “When you put the ball in his hands, at some point, somebody’s going to have to make the decision to bring him down.
“We’ll always err on the side of Thor.”
