Jaxon Ford singlehandedly earned the CFL\u2019s top special-teams grade in Week 6.<\/p>\n
With his right hand protected by a bulky playing cast, the Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive back emerged from Saturday\u2019s 24-10 loss to the Calgary Stampeders with a score of 84.6 \u2014\u00a0as determined by Pro Football Focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t even know that,\u201d Ford said after Tuesday\u2019s practice at Mosaic Stadium. \u201cI just come in, day in and day out, and do my job to the best of my ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy with the performance. I thought I played well. But obviously we didn\u2019t get the W, so there\u2019s lots to work on from everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford worked through a bone contusion on a knuckle during the Roughriders\u2019 past four games. He was on the one-game injured list for the season opener.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to execute your job when you\u2019re playing with a club,\u201d Head Coach Corey Mace said. \u201cBut with what he brings to this team, we saw the value in having him out there. He has been playing pretty well even with (the cast).<\/p>\n
\u201cYou only expect that when the thing comes off, he\u2019s going to be an even better version of himself. With his will and his desire to get out there \u2014\u00a0even with one hand, if you look at it like that \u2014 we champion those kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old grandson of 1966\/1989 Grey Cup champion and Roughriders legend Alan Ford didn\u2019t even blink when presented with the option of wearing a cast in the line of duty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be out here with all these guys,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to miss any games.\u201d<\/p>\n
He won\u2019t miss the conspicuous cast, either.<\/p>\n
It was removed for last week\u2019s practices but worn one more time during the Calgary game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called it the Q-tip,\u201d Ford said with a laugh. \u201cIn all seriousness, it was a grind to play with that thing, but I\u2019m glad I have it off and there will be an improvement in play.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is quite the statement, considering how well he played with a bulked-up hand on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was lots of bubble wrap and lots of foam,\u201d Ford said. \u201cYou wrap it up and just grind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith all that padding and the cast, too, it was well-protected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even so, Ford maintains he could have made an interception had the opportunity materialized.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew if the time came, I would be able to make the play,\u201d the former Campbell Tartans and University of Regina Rams standout said leading up to Saturday\u2019s road game against the B.C. Lions.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut now, without the cast, it\u2019s going to be unreal. I\u2019m going to be flying around. It\u2019s going to be great. It\u2019ll be a lot better for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just one more question: What becomes of the Q-tip?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going right in the garbage,\u201d Ford stated. \u201cI don\u2019t want to ever see that thing again.\u201d<\/p>\n
FOOTBALL FOOTNOTES: Ford was among three Roughriders to be recognized on the Week 6 Honour Roll. Trevor Harris was PFF\u2019s highest-rated quarterback (87.9). Joe Robustelli led all receivers at 86.1 after catching 11 passes for 191 yards, including his first CFL touchdown. Harris went 36-for-44 for 425 yards while establishing a Roughriders record for completions in one half (27).<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jaxon Ford singlehandedly earned the CFL\u2019s top special-teams grade in Week 6. With his right hand protected by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}