By Murray McCormick, Leader-PostNovember 5,
REGINA — Stevie Baggs went on the offensive after John Chick was named the Saskatchewan Roughriders' nominee for the 2009 most outstanding defensive-player award.
"I'm happy for John but I wonder what more I had to do,'' said Baggs, a defensive end who heads into the final week of the CFL's regular season in second place in the league with 11 sacks. "I was the defensive player-of-the-week three times and the defensive player-of-the month (for August). I was the only one in the league to do that. I have more tackles and interceptions than John and my play speaks for itself ... I know that you pissed off a lot of Stevie Baggs fans.''
Baggs wasn't his jovial self Thursday after the Riders completed their final on-field preparations for Saturday's West Division showdown with the Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium. Baggs said that he was disheartened about being overlooked.
The player awards are voted on by a local panel of representatives from the Football Reporters of Canada and Riders head coach Ken Miller.
"I've been doing everything that I can do to be the best player that I can be,'' said Baggs, who is in his second season with the Riders.
"People around the league respect me and my peers do. Then they put the voting in the hands of people who aren't in the locker room. I don't know who chooses this ... but my stats are better than John all-around. I don't know what more they wanted me to do. I did everything that I could do.''
Baggs is superior statistically to Chick heading into the final weekend of the regular season. He has 11 sacks compared to 10 by Chick, who is tied for third in the league with three others.
Baggs, who has started all 17 games, has 52 tackles, a team-leading five tackles for losses, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and an interception. Chick, who missed two starts this season at defensive end with a separated left shoulder, has 26 defensive tackles, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
"It wasn't tough in my eyes,'' Baggs said of the nomination. "I'm glad for John because I know how hard he has worked to reach this level. I put in just as much work as he did and winning the defensive player-of-the-year was one of my goals. I'm just going to keep playing as well as I can.''
"It wasn't tough in my eyes,'' Baggs said of the nomination. "I'm glad for John because I know how hard he has worked to reach this level. I put in just as much work as he did and winning the defensive player-of-the-year was one of my goals. I'm just going to keep playing as well as I can.''
It's the first time that Chick has been nominated for the award in his three seasons with the Riders. He was aware that Baggs wasn't happy with how the voting turned out.
"I know that it was quiet (Thursday) morning,'' said Chick. "We're just going to continue to do what we can to get this win. You play to be great and you try to get better every week but we play this team game for a reason. It's to win a Grey Cup and this week will give us an opportunity to do that.''
Miller doesn't feel that a rift will be created by the nomination.
Miller doesn't feel that a rift will be created by the nomination.
"When we get individual awards, we think those are great but it's a team game and if we are successful there is enough glory to go around,'' said Miller. "If we're not, there isn't enough for anybody. The ultimate thing is it's a team game.''
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