KeeSean Johnson, Kian Schaffer-Baker, and Sam Emilus are looking to regain their early-season chemistry.<\/p>\n
The Saskatchewan Roughriders should have all three of their top receivers back together for the Western Semi-Final, and KeeSean Johnson, Kian Schaffer-Baker, and Sam Emilus are looking to regain their early-season chemistry.<\/p>\n
The so-called three-headed monster\u00a0opened the season as a major threat before injuries disrupted their time together. A foot ailment forced Emilus to miss an Aug. 1 game in Edmonton\u00a0and then Schaffer-Baker sustained a knee injury in that contest.<\/p>\n
The only game all three played together since then was Oct. 17 against Montreal, when Johnson hauled in the winning touchdown in the final minute.<\/p>\n
Johnson was held out of the regular-season finale against Edmonton after that performance due to an ankle injury. He said the choice to play was out of his hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a coach\u2019s decision, and that was something I had to take into account and stick with,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
Johnson was a full participant in Wednesday\u2019s practice after getting in limited work Tuesday. All signs point toward him being available for Saturday\u2019s big tilt against the B.C. Lions. He said he is feeling good and taking things day by day.<\/p>\n
For Johnson, having his teammates back is about more than what they bring to the offence. He described Schaffer-Baker and Emilus as brothers, pointing to the friendships they have built away from football.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hang out outside the field \u2014 do a lot of things \u2014 play cards, just have fun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While the three receivers compete for opportunities and production, Johnson said their relationship is built on mutual respect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always wish well for each other and want each other to succeed in life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That bond has also helped fuel Johnson\u2019s game when injuries have kept one or more of his teammates out of the lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never want to see a brother go down, but that just gives you more motivation to play for something \u2014 play for a brother that can\u2019t be out there with you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When the trio was healthy and playing together early in the season, Johnson credited the coaching staff, offensive line, and quarterback for helping create opportunities for all three receivers.<\/p>\n
But getting all three receivers back on the field is only part of the equation.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan\u2019s offence struggled for much of its Oct. 17 matchup against Montreal before Johnson\u2019s late touchdown secured the win. The Riders put up 329 yards of net offence, but 74 of those yards came on the game-winning drive.<\/p>\n
With the playoffs approaching, the Riders will need more consistent production if they hope to capitalize on having their receiving group healthy and together.<\/p>\n
Coach Corey Mace said that having the three receivers working closely with each other at practice will be key to getting the trio back into rhythm.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just more reps,\u201d Mace said. \u201cIt\u2019s good that we\u2019ve had them all rolling together since (the game against Montreal).<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hope it\u2019s like riding a bike, but I\u2019ve been digging what I\u2019m seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the Riders prepare for their playoff matchup with the Lions, Johnson said the focus should remain on play execution and remembering to enjoy the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce everybody\u2019s having fun, I feel like that really makes a game go by,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
If Saskatchewan can turn its returning receiving talent into a more consistent offensive performance, the trio could become a major factor in a Riders\u00a0postseason push.<\/p>\n
The Rider Broadcast Network pregame show begins at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KeeSean Johnson, Kian Schaffer-Baker, and Sam Emilus are looking to regain their early-season chemistry. The Saskatchewan Roughriders should…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":950425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-950424","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\/950424","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=950424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/950425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=950424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=950424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=950424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}