The revolving doors of the Saskatchewan Roughriders injured list continue to spin.
Receiver Duke Williams will be sidelined for the foreseeable future with hip and ankle injuries suffered in Friday’s game against the BC Lions. The green and white will also be without the league’s leading rusher, Jamal Morrow for the next 6-8 weeks following surgery to a broken hand.
Despite the key losses, there was some good news for Saskatchewan on Monday as receivers Kyran “Swerve” Moore and Shaq Evans returned to the field. Following practice, both players declared themselves ready to go when Saskatchewan visits BC on Friday.
If Moore suits up, it will be his first game action since last October. The wide receiver was ecstatic to be back at Mosaic Stadium on Monday.
“It felt great, it’s been a long, long nine months. ” He added “Just being out here, being able to practice with them man, means everything to me.”
Moore added there’s a lot of nervous excitement this week.
“It’s like the first day of school, butterflies in my stomach,”
For Evans, he has been sidelined with a foot injury suffered in Montreal against the Alouettes on June 23. The 31 year old says it has been a grind returning to the Riders lineup.
“The last 8-9 weeks have been tough mentally, but I went through it last year, it was a little easier and I’m happy to be back out here with my guys and help contribute to win football games again.”
The former UCLA Bruin says that he wanted to show his teammates his dedication of getting back into the lineup.
“Do the best I can to be there for the team and to show them I’m still a hard worker, even when I’m injured, I’m working hard to get back.”
Heading into this week, Saskatchewan ranks 8th overall in the league in yards per game with an average of 315.7. The Riders opponents this week, the BC Lions are the top ranked team in CFL averaging 463.7 yards per game.
At times this season Moore felt the Riders offence was missing something.
“Sometimes I felt that we didn’t have enough energy as a whole.” The 25 year old noted that at his teammates like Kian Schaffer-Baker and Williams were able to provide big plays. but the offence was still lacking the explosive plays at times, which is a void that he thinks he can fill.
Consistency is what Saskatchewan’s offence was missing according to Evans.
“I think we have the players, I think we have the personal to execute every week, I just think we haven’t found our rhythm because of COVID and injuries and things like that.” He added that he believes once the Riders are able to regain a fully healthy status, they will be able to find the rhythm that they are looking for.
It was perfect timing for the returns of Moore and Evans to coincide with each other. Moore is hoping that he, Evans and Cody are able to turn back the clock and regain the success they enjoyed in the 2019 season.
Moore says it’s another difficult for the Riders with the subtraction of Williams from the lineup.
“One of the stories behind our team this year whether it’s COVID or injuries, adversity all throughout the year and I feel like we all know how to fight through it, so I told Duke, me and Shaq are going to hold it down until you get back.”
Evans and Moore are slated to return to the starting lineup on Friday, when the Riders head to Vancouver to meet the BC Lions.
You can listen to the game on 620 CKRM with Countdown to Kickoff at 5:30, and opening kickoff at 8:30.
