Sheets Continues Historic Season With Riders

Kory Sheets continues to reach territory that no other running back in CFL history has touched before.

The second-year running back ran for 139 yards on 24 carries with two touchdowns in the Saskatchewan Roughriders' 30-27 win over Edmonton on Saturday.  Those 139 yards put him over 1,000 for the season and make him the fastest running back to reach that plateau in CFL history.

“Usually that would be (a big accomplishment), but this year I set my standards a lot higher,” he said after the team returned home on Sunday.  “It's just another milestone, we hit that mark and now lets move on.”

Sheets' goal this season is to break Mike Pringle's single season rushing record of 2,065 yards.  After his performance on Saturday, Sheets is at 1,058 yards through eight games, which puts him on pace for 2381 yards, a number that would shatter Pringle's record.

Everyone questioned Sheets during training camp when he made claims that he was taking aim at the CFL record, but he was confident and is now proving the doubters wrong.

“My expectations after last season and seeing what I did, and watching film from all of last season, I left a whole lot of yards out on the field, it totaled up to being 2,000 yards,” he said.  “If I made all my right reads and focused up and played well and followed my lineman, than I could be a 2,000-yard back.”

With such an unbelievable start to the season, if Sheets can stay healthy and continue to put together 100-yard games like he has been this season – he has seven out of eight games – than 2,000 seem like a possibility.

“I'm thinking about it now, but it's still in the back of my head,” Sheets said on the possibility of running into CFL immortality.  “We still have to get wins, that's really what I'm focused on right now.  When we start getting closer to 2,000 yards, that's when I'm going to start thinking about it more.”

After failing to hit 100 yards for the first time this season last week against Montreal, Saturday's game in Edmonton was another one where Sheets looked to have it going right from the opening kick-off.  He seemed just one step away from breaking off a big run and really got going in the second half when he had 13 of his 24 carries, including touchdown runs of 18 and 10 yards.

“You slip and fall sometimes, or you see one guy tackle you and (you think) if I made him miss, or I got one more block, I could have broke free,” said Sheets.  “(Saturday) there was a lot of that going on, the guys out there were blocking well.”

A big part of Sheets' success has been the strength of the Riders' offensive line.  Guard Brendon LaBatte says they're proud of what Sheets has accomplished in the first eight games.

“It's record setting, so it's awesome,” he said.  “He's done a real good job running the ball and we've been fortunate to be in some situations where we've been able to get him the ball 20-plus times a game, and I think that helps to when you start wearing teams down and then he's able to find that extra gear in the second half.”

While Sheets is aiming for that 2,000-yard mark, he said that offensive line is also working towards it.  “I think they probably want it more than me, just to say that they block for a guy to 2,000 yards because nobody has done that in a while.”

Sheets could be in tough next week against Winnipeg.  Despite all their struggles this season, the Blue Bombers sit first in the CFL in run defence, allowing just 80 yards per game along the ground.

The Riders will start working on a game plan to beat that average on Wednesday when they return to the field at Mosaic Stadium.  The Labour Day Classic is coming up on Sunday.