The Saskatchewan Roughriders were back on the field Tuesday for their first practice since opening the season with a win over the B.C. Lions.<\/p>\n
The Saskatchewan Roughriders were back on the field Tuesday for their first practice since opening the season with a win over the B.C. Lions, and while there were some notable absences in the secondary, the message around Mosaic Stadium stayed consistent: next man up.<\/p>\n
The Green and White began preparations for Saturday\u2019s matchup in Calgary against the 0-1 Stampeders without two defensive backs who played key roles in Week 1. Nelson Lokombo and Rolan Milligan Jr. did not practice on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Milligan left Saturday\u2019s game against B.C. with a shoulder injury, forcing an in-game shuffle in the secondary. Jaxon Ford stepped into the safety spot while Lokombo moved over to halfback. With both unavailable Tuesday, Ford worked at safety during practice while JuJu Hughes lined up at halfback.<\/p>\n
Head coach Corey Mace confirmed Milligan is expected to miss some time, but left the door open for an accelerated return.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it might be a couple weeks for Milligan there, but that guy is a superhuman,\u201d Mace said. \u201cWhatever the timeline is, that\u2019s for the average Joe. I wouldn\u2019t put it past O\u2019Rourke to be back sooner than expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mace added there was relief that the injury wasn\u2019t more serious.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough. We\u2019re in a sport that\u2019s probably a 100 per cent injury rate throughout your career. Some of it\u2019s just kind of luck and with this situation, that\u2019s exactly what it is. We\u2019re lucky that it\u2019s not super long term.\u201d<\/p>\n
If the Riders do need to lean on their depth, Ford made it clear confidence inside the room hasn\u2019t changed. After stepping into defensive snaps during Saturday\u2019s win, the fourth-year Rider said preparation throughout the week makes those transitions easier.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt good to get some defensive reps,\u201d Ford said. \u201cI thought I played well, did my job, and we got the win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford pointed to the culture within Saskatchewan\u2019s defence as the reason there isn\u2019t panic when injuries happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe standard\u2019s the standard, right? Next man up mentality. We\u2019re all pros,\u201d Ford said. \u201cEven though some of us aren\u2019t taking those reps in practice, we\u2019re still mentally taking them and making sure we\u2019re locked in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The transition wasn\u2019t seamless in-game, but communication helped.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot getting those crucial reps throughout the week, being a backup, you\u2019ve got to communicate more pre-snap than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
That same confidence extends to Hughes, who appears positioned for a larger role if needed this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got to do his job,\u201d Ford said. \u201cHe played really well throughout camp and did his thing in that first preseason game. Had a bunch of tackles, even on specials too. I know he\u2019s going to be ready, and he\u2019s a pro just like me, and we\u2019re going to go out there and ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mace echoed that belief.<\/p>\n
\u201cBall player, man. Ball player,\u201d Mace said of Hughes. \u201cHe worked there throughout training camp. He moved to some other places as well. Hellacious college career. We were happy as ever to get him to come to the green and white finally, and he\u2019s been as advertised for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford also reflected on moving into a veteran role in his fourth CFL season.<\/p>\n
\u201cTime flies by when you\u2019re having fun. It\u2019s nice being in that vet role and taking guys under your wing, especially the American guys learning the waggle and all the pre-snap motion.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked to describe what a Josh Bell defence looks like through two weeks, Ford didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmart. Aggressive. Fast. Physical.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injury Report \u2013 Tuesday<\/p>\n
Did not practice:<\/p>\n
\n\tAaron Crawford (knee)
\n\tJayden Dalke (hand)
\n\tJermarcus Hardrick (knee)
\n\tNelson Lokombo (ankle)
\n\tRolan Milligan Jr. (shoulder)
<\/p>\n
Limited:<\/p>\n
\n\tBenoit Marion (shoulder)
\n\tNick Wiebe (head)
<\/p>\n
Full participation:<\/p>\n
\n\tDaniel Johnson (shoulder)
<\/p>\n
The Roughriders continue practice this week before travelling to Calgary to face the Stampeders on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Saskatchewan Roughriders were back on the field Tuesday for their first practice since opening the season with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48,266183],"class_list":["post-742012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-saskatchewan-roughriderscorey-macejaxon-fordjuju-hughes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742012","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=742012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}