The summer heatwave has continued this week in Saskatchewan, but the offensive line of the Riders are okay with the warm sunshine as they get ready to handle the pressure that will be coming their way on Sunday when they host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who bolster one of the top pass rushing combinations in the CFL.
The Riders are hopeful they will receive a boost to their lineup with the return of left tackle Terran Vaughn.
Vaughn has been in and out of the lineup for the Riders over the last couple of months. The offensive tackle missed three games in July before returning to the lineup on July 29 against the BC Lions. After suiting up again in Week 10, he was sidelined for last week’s match in BC.
Vaughn was happy to be back on the field for the Riders this week.
“Anytime you can come out on the field with the fellas and playing in front of these great fans, always a blessing, always a pleasure, just ready to get back out there and get back to our ways.”
The heat outside was the talk of Riders practice, Vaughn appreciates the summertime heat in Saskatchewan.
“The one thing I’ve learnt out here is to not complain about the heat, because I know in a couple of weeks I’ll be wishing it was this hot again.”
The other type of heat and pressure that Vaughn will be dealing with this week is the pass rush from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Willie Jefferson and Jackson Jeffcoat have been regarded as one of the top pass rushing duos in the league for quite some time.
“Anytime you’re facing Willie and Jeffcoat it’s always extra added challenge.”
Riders Offensive Coordinator Jason Maas says even though Jefferson and Jeffcoat haven’t posted huge sack numbers in 2022, the duo remains a key threat that Saskatchewan will have to keep their eyes on.
“They make it difficult, I’m sure for all of the coordinators to game plan against them, their whole defence, they’re a good unit to go against, Richie (Hall) does a good job of getting those guys of playing at a high level, but those two mainstays are definitely difficult, as a coordinator going against them, you’re trying to slow them down as much as you can.”
When dealing with the pressure from the Blue Bombers pass rush, Vaughn says the only thing that matters is protecting the Riders starting quarterback, Cody Fajardo.
“At the end of the day, the job got to get done, we got to keep Cody clean, we got get points on the board, however that goes, we really don’t care about style points.”
Despite the Riders surrendering seven sacks last week while he was out, Vaughn believes the offensive line has shown improvement over the last few weeks.
“Every week is a little bit of an improvement, we’re trying to get all the way there solidify and take care of Cody.”
In reversal of roles, Fajardo tried to block the heat of the criticism that the o-line received after last week’s win over BC, as the Riders QB said some of the sacks were the results of his own mistakes.
Vaughn thinks everyone on the offence has some responsibility in order to prevent sacks.
“Just like Cody didn’t dump on us, we can’t let it dump on Cody, we have our faults in it too, and we to have clean it up and keep getting better.”
The native of Beaumont, Texas says that he should be ready to return to the Riders lineup on Sunday against the Blue Bombers. In practice this week Vaughn has been rotating snaps with Andrew Lauderdale at left tackle, but Vaughn that’s being done so everyone can get meaningful reps before Sunday’s contest.
The Labour Day Classic can be heard on 620 CKRM with an opening kickoff at 4:00.
