Sunday\u2019s home date with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cI feel like we did a lot of good things, and it starts up front (on the offensive line). I wish everybody could see the guys up front and their eyes \u2014\u00a0the way their demeanour changes when they know we\u2019re going to be running the ball and trying to grind it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was awesome to be a part of and I\u2019m glad that it was part of our plan going in. I\u2019m glad we were able to execute.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stevens finished with eight carries for 38 yards \u2014\u00a0his highest single-game totals since signing with Saskatchewan as a free agent in 2025.<\/p>\n
He had three touchdown runs in as many games this season before helping the Roughriders run over the REDBLACKS during Friday\u2019s fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people take pride in teams that run the football and try to grind it out,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cIt presents an old-school mentality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always thought it\u2019s very, very cool to see teams that can put teams in conflict that way and ultimately beat the will out of them. There\u2019s nothing like that. It is a defeated look from defences when they know that they\u2019re struggling to get stops.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s easier to stop a team that is more finesse (in style). You can give them different looks \u2014 zone pressures, man pressures. You can change things up in the defensive backfield or do things to stop a finesse, speed game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot more difficult to stop a power, run-the-football-down-your-throat (attack). It\u2019s a really cool style and a really cool brand of football \u2014 something I grew up with.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up with all defensive players in my family. They look at me like I\u2019m the soft one, playing quarterback. I\u2019ve always tried to prove my worth to not only the people in my house, but also my uncles and whatnot.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike I keep saying, I\u2019m so thankful to be here and to have a role on this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stevens is also thankful for the people who block for him. On Friday, running back Quali Conley helped to clear some of the paths.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we\u2019re able to do these types of things, we add an extra hat in the run game,\u201d he noted. \u201cTypically, if we hand it off to the running back, we get one less blocker. This way, we had me running the football and the running back blocking, so we were able to gain an extra hat. It truly becomes 12-on-12 football.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously very satisfying, but it\u2019s not easy by any means. We work really hard to do it and it all starts up front. If those guys aren\u2019t willing to buy in and ultimately make my life easier, it wouldn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a collective 12-man effort. We need all moving parts to be on the same page for the play to work. That\u2019s offensive football and, luckily, I couldn\u2019t be in a better place for that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tommy (Sandman) Stevens put the game to bed. The Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 short-yardage quarterback closed out last Friday\u2019s CFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-792864","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\/792864","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=792864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}