Riders look to hold off Ti-Cats’ ground game

The Saskatchewan Roughriders will try to contain the Hamilton Tiger-Cats rushing attack on Saturday.

Hamilton tailback James Butler has 942 yards on the ground to go along with seven touchdowns and face a Riders’ rushing defence that has struggled over the past four weeks.

Butler is also a threat in the passing game, hauling in 51 catches for 403 yards and a touchdown. Kickoff for the game at Mosaic Stadium is set for 5 p.m.

“He’s a versatile back – we faced him a couple of years with B.C. (Lions) and he’s a strong runner – good downhill, good feet and great vision,” said Riders defensive end Pete Robertson.

“He’s a guy we’re going to have to corral with tackles – we can’t just try to arm-tackle or single-man tackle, we have to group tackle and try to control the run.”

Butler is also a familiar face for the coaching staff and a few members of the Riders. Butler attended training camp in 2019 with the team, with the Riders ultimately electing to go with Jamal Morrow after an intense training camp battle.

“Butler is good. That was a good group,” Riders head coach Craig Dickenson said. “It was neck-and-neck and Butler just seems to keep chugging along – he doesn’t ever seem to get hurt.

“He’s strong and durable and he’s a big part of that offence.”

Morrow said he and Butler developed a great friendship during their time at camp together.

“To this day, I still reach out to him and talk to him every few weeks or so,” Morrow said.

“I love what he’s doing and I’m happy for him. I hope he doesn’t do too good this week but I’m happy and proud to see what he’s doing in the CFL.”

It’s just another example of how small the football world can be at times.

“It’s wild how that works,” Morrow said. “It was cool to follow his journey and I’m super excited to see him now.

“You kind of know someone who somebody knows – you’re one person away from someone you know and how everyone is connected together. That’s the great thing about football, how it’s a brotherhood and it’s cool.”

The Riders’ rushing defence will look to see if they can bounce back after a few bad weeks. Prior to the 33-26 loss to the Lions last week, the Riders had given up 721 yards over their prior three showdowns – all of them losses as well.

The Lions only had 64 yards on the ground but only rushed the ball 13 times.

“If people watch the game, you’ll see B.C. didn’t really run the ball – they did a lot of misdirection and stuff like that,” Robertson said.

“We controlled it when they did run it but the biggest thing is when teams really want to run it, they are going to give us more run plays like that.”