With two games left in the Riders regular season, tailback Wes Cates needs 142 yards to reach the 1,000 yard rushing mark.
Photograph by: Chris Schwarz, Edmonton Journal files
Photograph by: Chris Schwarz, Edmonton Journal files
REGINA — Wes Cates isn’t worried about being the odd man out.
Six starting tailbacks already have reached the 1,000-yard rushing mark this CFL season and a seventh is just 19 yards away. Cates, meanwhile, enters the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ game Saturday against the host Hamilton Tiger-Cats with 858 yards, meaning he needs 142 yards over his final two contests to reach the magic number.
If he doesn’t get there — and if Hamilton’s DeAndra’ Cobb gets the 19 yards he needs for 1,000 — Cates will be the only featured back to fall short.
“You can’t really worry about those things because if at the end of the season I’m the one with a ring, holding up the Grey Cup, I think (the other backs) are going to be the ones feeling left out and I’m not going to be thinking about that 1,000 yards,” Cates said Thursday at the Credit Union Eventplex.
“But the season’s not over yet. I’ve got two games and, realistically, it’s a very attainable goal. I think I need to average around 75 yards. That’s nothing.”
But Cates has had more than 75 yards rushing in just six of his 14 starts this season and has topped 60 yards in only one of his past four games. He had 58 yards on 15 carries in Saturday’s 33-30 overtime victory over the B.C. Lions.
He’s averaging 4.9 yards per carry this season, which also ranks last among the eight starting tailbacks. And only Cobb (with 170) has had fewer carries than Cates (175), who missed Saskatchewan’s first two games with a shoulder injury.
“You would like for a team to lean on the running back and the run game a little more, but we’ve been getting wins and we’ve been getting better in areas where we needed to improve,” Cates said. “As a team, we’ve been improving and that’s what’s most important.
“Would I like to get the ball more? I’d be lying if I said no. I’ve got to be productive with my touches and I guess this season maybe I haven’t been as productive as in previous seasons. But running backs need the ball to be productive.”
Cates rushed for 1,229 yards on 216 carries in 15 games in 2008. In ’07, his first season in Saskatchewan, he gained 866 yards on 152 rushes in 14 games.
His single-game high for carries in a game this season is 19, but he has had 15 or fewer attempts in nine of his 14 starts.
His single-game high for carries in a game this season is 19, but he has had 15 or fewer attempts in nine of his 14 starts.
“One of the things last year in our season is we really rode Wes heavily for a long, long time,” said Roughriders head coach Ken Miller. “Going into this season, our goal was to spread out the number of carries and not just put the saddle on him and rely exclusively on him for the things that he can do. I think we’ve done a better job of managing the touches that he gets.”
“(Backup) Stu Foord’s been a productive football player for us at times, so we want to get him some touches and also keep Wes fresh,” added offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice. “That’s part of what we’re going to do. We feel we’ve got talented guys who can make plays.
“We don’t have to say, ‘Well, he got 1,000 yards.’ We’re not interested in that. The individual goals aren’t what we want. We want a team goal.”
The coaches are satisfied with the production the Roughriders are getting from the ground game, which ranks fifth in the CFL with an average of just over 111 yards per contest.
The loss of starting offensive linemen Wayne Smith (in the off-season) and Belton Johnson (in the first game) affected the team’s ability to run early, but LaPolice said the Roughriders feel they can run the ball when they need to do so.
Not surprisingly, Cates would like more opportunities to do so.
“The more touches you get as a back, the more comfortable you’re going to be running the ball,” he said. “Some games, it’s taken a half or three quarters before I really even get into any type of rhythm. But that’s what the defence has given us.
“Even though I’m last as far as starting backs in rushing, teams are still spying me, loading up the box and respecting the run. We’ve got to take advantage of that and move the ball around.
“I feel we could take more advantage of the run game, but that’s not the way our offence has been working right now. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess.”
“I feel we could take more advantage of the run game, but that’s not the way our offence has been working right now. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess.”
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