Carter walks the walk in win over Stamps

CFL.ca Staff

CALGARY — It was a night of firsts for Duron Carter and the Saskatchewan Roughriders during Friday’s visit to McMahon Stadium.

Carter, the league’s fifth-leading receiver, started his first professional game as a defensive back and recorded his first career pick-six. Meanwhile, in handing the Calgary Stampeders their first home loss in two years, the Riders clinched their first playoff berth since 2014.

After all of that and, of course, an energetic and entertaining post-game media scrum, Carter only had one word left when he went back to his stall in the visitor’s locker-room and sent out a Tweet:

“Life.”

For Carter, nothing could better sum up the week’s events, which culminated in a decisive 30-7 win over the CFL’s top team.

“This was definitely the most fun I’ve had probably in football,” Carter told reporters after the game. “I didn’t have to say anything, the ball came to me. It was fun, I had a lot of fun out there.”

Both offences struggled on a cold, rainy Calgary night, but it was a fun outing for defensive players wearing green and white. With everybody watching Carter, the Riders’ defence had its signature outing of 2017, holding the Stampeders to just 168 yards of offence and 10 first downs.

Calgary’s eight two-and-outs were a season-high, while the Red and White could muster only 3.7 yards per play in the game.

While the Stamps failed to find the end zone, the Riders scored three — one each on special teams, offence and defence.

“The Stampeders are a good football team,” said Chris Jones, head coach and general manager. “They’ve not been playing great football either as of late and they have some holes too — they’re like everybody else.

“They do a whole lot of good things, they do things right. They don’t leave gaps open, they don’t usually throw interceptions, they don’t give up punt returns for touchdowns. That’s not customary for them. They’re a good football program and I’m sure they’ll bounce back.”

A fourth meeting could be in store between these teams come the post-season. In the meantime, the Riders are fighting to stay in the West, moving into a third-place tie with Edmonton with one less game remaining.

Duron Carter recorded a pick-six in his first ever start at defensive back (The Canadian Press)

For now, Carter remains front and centre. Arguably the CFL’s most polarizing player, the lengthy 6-foot-5 athlete was chastised before his first start at defensive back, including by Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell.

In the end, it was Carter, tested early and often, holding it down at boundary corner, eventually scoring the game-sealing pick-six.

“Man, I just, you know, stayed true to my coverage and he put one right in my hands,” said Carter. “I figured nobody on offence was ready to tackle so it was an easy touchdown.

“It’s what’s expected of me,” he added. “Anywhere I’m supposed to be putting touchdowns on the board no matter where I’m at and that’s just how I play.

“I think I did very well. I could have played the two deep balls better, but they were incomplete. You live and you learn.”

Ahead of his first start at corner, Carter said he watched extra film of Mitchell and the Stamps’ offence. But outside of that, he let his athleticism and instincts take over.

“I watched a lot of Bo Levi film and just, you know, seeing where he was going with the ball, watching his eyes and everything and that made me really comfortable with my coverages and it showed,” he said. “It was just same old, same old stuff.

“You can watch so much film but I’m a ‘feel it be’ kind of guy,” he continued. “It really only took the first two series to see where I was at and after that I was really comfortable.”

“This was fun, I was out there playing and it was like pickup basketball. That’s how I felt out there.”

Duron Carter on his first start at DB

While Carter was pleased with his play at corner, Jones offered a measured response after the game. While the fourth-year receiver never looked out of place, he did appear to get beat for what would have been a touchdown by Kamar Jorden, only to see the ball just overthrown.

In the end, where Carter was expected to play both sides of the ball, he didn’t take any snaps at receiver.

“I thought he played OK,” said Jones. “He got beat a couple of times, he let guys get in behind him a couple of times and Bo Levi overthrew him. He’s a good football player and he could play full-time corner if I wanted him to.

“We just didn’t feel we needed him [on offence],” Jones added. “It was a situation where we were moving the football effectively against them, doing what we were doing, and Josh Stanford’s a good football player.”

While Carter dominated the headlines once again, another sub-plot on Friday night was the early exit by Kevin Glenn. Glenn left after completing one of his three passing attempts, with Jones turning to Canadian quarterback Brandon Bridge in an effort to evade the Stamps’ pass rush.

Jones insisted after the game that there is no quarterback controversy in Regina — Kevin Glenn is the starter — but Bridge stepping in has become somewhat of a trend.

“It was one of those deals where they were playing pressure-man, we were having a hard time getting anything generated and so we just went with Brandon early,” said Jones. “Kevin Glenn’s our starter so don’t start speculating on all that. Kevin Glenn’s our starting quarterback.”

The Riders will get back at it in Week 19, when they’ll return home to take on the Montreal Alouettes. And while Duron Carter has proven to everyone that, yes, he can just about do it all, expect him to be back at receiver next week.

Although Carter may have other visions after Friday.

“I’ve been playing receiver my whole life,” said Carter. “This was fun, I was out there playing and it was like pickup basketball. That’s how I felt out there, it was fun, I was totally relaxed and hopefully I can get out there more.”

“We’ll see, we’ll see,” said Jones. “We have [Kacy Rodgers] coming back. We’ll just have to see where we are.”

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